SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

Paper S-82

•To ................ Senate

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... . ....... ....... ... ............................... ..... ..... ... .....From.....D.

Tuck,...........................................................

Acting Dean of Scienc...................................

Subled....

Administrative ... Loa.d on Faculty

Date....

October. 31,.1967

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Members.

Every member of the faculty must be aware that while

considerable lip service is paid to the importance of teaching and

scholarship, the time of faculty members, and especially senior

members of the faculty, is completely misused. These people,

appointed by yirtue of their ability in teaching and research are

spending a large proportion of their time as administrators. It may

well be that this is due in part to the difficulty of getting administrative

positions established in the budget. I suggest, however, that we ought

to be setting our sights above this, since the scholastic reputation of

the University will depend on the impact it makes on the general

university world by good teaching and good research. It follows that the

heavy load of administration on faculty members merely delays the

time in which academic excellence is likely to be achieved in this

University.

While most people came here expecting to be involved in son-ic

administration, the signs are that the administrative load upon faculty

members is constantly increasing, so that faculty find less and less

time for teaching and research. There are a number of actions which

could remedy this, and which will no doubt be the subject of future

discussions, but the one which I- wish to bring to the attention of this

Committee is concerned with the situation in the summer semester.

Many faculty members take their research semester during the summer,

and many, particularly in the. Science Faculty, stay on campus in order

to make use of the facilities here. Unfortunately, much of the administrative

machinery of the University continues to grind on during the summer

semester and a member of faculty who sits on a committee for example

is then faced with a dilemma: he can either give up his work on the

committee (which reduces its efficiency), or he can continue to attend

in the hope that the committee will achieve what it set out to do. A

faculty member who adopts the latter point of viewmay (and does) find

a considerable fraction of his research time cut out. Members of the

University are growing increasingly resentful of a situation in which

the summer semester is merely a period in which one does not teach,

rather than as at other universities, a period in which research can be

carried out in a relatively uninterrupted manner. From a poll of faculty

members in Science, I know that this resentment is widespread.. Here

is a situation in which the real purpose of the University is being seriously

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hindered by administrative duties. I would like to suggest that we could

overcome this particular evil to a large extent by cutting out as much as

possible of the committee work during the months of June, July and August.

I think Senate could set a startling example to the rest of the University

by declaring now that it will hold no meetings during those months, except

on an emergency basis. No doubt people will protest that important

business must be carried out in those months, but I believe that with a

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little foresight we can prevent such business arising. From discussions

with colleagues, I can see little which cannot be put off until the

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• September meeting of Senate. Furthermore, if Senate itself refuses

to meet in June, July and August, the many committeeswhich depend upon

Senate and which report to it directly or indirectly,will also cease to

function automatically. Faculty meetings would also be needed only in

emergencies. This would, I believe, do much to restore to members

of the faculty that time for research which is their right and responsibility.

I hope that these matters can be discussed in Senate at

its

meeting.

D. G. Tuck