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11oticeo Notion: To investigate the procedures of Senate Committees and to 

clarify their responsibilities to Senate. 

(Signed) "Michael A. Lebowitztt,

Under the Universities Act, Senate is charged with the duty to provide 

for the government, management, and carrying out of curriculum, instruction 

and education offered by the University. While this is the broadest 

•.definition of Senate's responsibility, one which clearly indicates its place 

As the highest academic body 

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in the University, the Act specifies other duties 

• among which are' regulation of the library, preparation of a calendar, awarding 

--scholarships, making recommendations' to the Board in 

the

interests of the 

University and other items which may be found in the Act. It is in fact the 

multitude 

of responsibilities assigned to Senate 

which

makes necessary the 

creation of Senate committees to carry out the basic work 

which

is Senate's 

.legal responsibility. 

The creation of a committee system, however, does not relieve Senate of 

its responsibility. Balanced against the relative efficiency of 

working

committees 

is the fact that Senate members have been elected (and appointed)

.by.constituencies 

which

in effect have charged 

them with a

trust to perform 

the fu 

ctions of Senate as specified in the Act. 

While Senate may delegate

some

of its tasks, it can not delegate its ultimate re'sponsihility 

comnittees.

It is this conception of Senate as ultimate body which appears to be 

the

• only feasible manner in which Senate can perform its duties. Neither a 

Ser1te which spawns independent and unaccountable grouplets nor a Senate 

immersed in minute detail will provide the general direction of education at 

• the Uriversity which is required. It is only with this simultaneous binding 

and freeing of Senate that it will be able to perform the role conceived for 

it under the 'Act and affirmed last year in the. Joint Faculty referendum 

• (which passed, 146-28): 

That Senate, the highest academic body, should 

function as the body within the University in 

which faculty and students make the major 

academic decisions and set the educational 

policy for the University. 

pne.of the major problems which Senate faces, therefore, is its need to 

dispse of 

some

of its jobs (which presently are not receiving adequate 

atertion in the Senate itself) and to turn.its attention more to the 

broad 

, er questions of university policy. Before this can, be done, however, 

Senae must examine existing problems with its.committee process; only 

afterexamining the procedures of existing Senate 

committees

and clarifying 

the responsibility of these committees to Senate can 

consider adding to 

the tructure. ? . 

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Thee appear to be a number of serious problems related to the present 

Senate committees, problems which initially provoked this paper. In general, 

Senate does not know what its committees are doing, has no way of examining 

them in a normal procedure and has no way of checking to see if they have 

exceeded, their authority or have performed adequately. To be sure, there 

are ad hoc mechanisms; but these do not provide a basis for establishing 

normal relationships with committees. 

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Inthe case, for example, of the Senate Committee on Scholarships, 

Awards, and Bursaries this committee was scheduled to make' 

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a report to 

Senate for its June meeting. Because such a report was anticipated, Paper 

S.216was dealt with at the April 8, 1969 meeting by postponing it until 

the June meeting. Senate has yet to receive a report from this committee or 

a request for an extension. In addition to its failure to report, numerous 

questions have 

been 

raised about the procedures which are being followed by 

the committee. In the granting of the Gordon M. Shrum Award this year, for 

examp1e, it has been argued by several people dissatisfied with the decision 

that the committee did not follow its own procedures. While it should not 

be Senate's job to do the work of this committee, it is our responsibility to 

insure that its procedures are clear and that the committee has in fact 

follcwd them. 

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In

contrast to the performance of the above committee, the Senate 

Librar Committee presented a report to Senate for its annual meeting and 

has instituted the policy of making regular semester reports (S.237). RaLher 

than recognizing (and connending) the committee for its action, Senate, in 

the absence of an established procedure, has allowed this report to go un- 

noticed. 

At its meeting of October 

7,

1968, Senate established an ad hoc Senate. 

Comrnittee on Faculty Status. This committee has yet to make a report to 

Senat. However, it has been reported to me that the committee did make a 

reports. which went to the Chairman of Senate and which was returned by the 

Chairman to the committee as unacceptable in a number of its recommendations. 

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If this 

information is accurate, then serious questions concerning the 

responsibility of this committee (and other Senate committees) to Senate 

• rather than its Chairman must be raised. 

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At its 

meeting of September 23, 1968, Senate established the University 

• Tenure Committee as a standing committee of Senate. It.may be presumed that 

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Senate, in so doing, was acting under Section 54(k) of the Universities Act 

.(its 

duty 

'to make such recommendations to the Board as may be deemed proper 

fot promoting the interests of the University or for carryingout the objects 

and provisions of the Act) and, further, that Senate intended that the 

commiJttee would function according to the procedures outlined in the 

• Academic Freedom and Tenure Statement. Since the establishment of this                        

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committee, however, the committee has violated the procedures set out in 

the Academic Freedom and Tenure Statement in a number of ways and, acting 

as aSenate Committee, has given several faculty members cause to believe 

that thir academic careers have been injured. At no time during the life 

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of

this committee, furthermore, has the committee brought its specific 

ptocedures and terms of reference before the Senate for its approval. 

-(Documents on cdtrnittee procedures follow in Appendix A.) 

Also at the September 23, 1968 meeting of Senate, following a motion 

.which 

originated

in the Faculty of Arts, Senate created an ad hoc committee 

to

report on "The Effects Upon the Quality of Education Through the 

-Allocation of Budgets by Other than a Weighting Sysem"(S.139). The 

.committee, composed of three Deans and any others appointed by the President, 

does 

not appear to have discharged its responsibility to Senate. 

Clearly there: are some definite problems in current committees, both 

in

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procedures they are following and also in the lack of clarity concerning 

t'helr responsibility to Senate. Senate must deal with these problems and 

establish clear guidelines for all present and future committees. 

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General Recoinmedations: 

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The following general procedures for Senate committees are intended 

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to

clarify the relationship of committees to Senate. They draw heavily 

--upon the established relationship between the Faculty Council and the 

• Senate, as set forth both in the Universities Act and in previous Senate 

• practice. The presumption is that Senate Committees, established by 

Senate,: should not exercise substantially more power and independence in 

relation to Senate than does the Faculty Council, which is specified 

as an independent body by the Universities Act. 

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Moved: 

(I) That all Senate Committees provide to Senate a 

.  description of 

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their 

internal procedures and working rules, and that this 

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include information on frequency of meetings, subcommittees 

and normal items of business. 

(2)

That subject to the approval of Senate, a Senate committee may.- 

make general rules within the jurisdiction assigned to it. 

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(Reference: Universities Act, 61.(b), (c), (d).) 

(3)

That Senate Committees will generall deal with all matters 

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assigned to them by Senate. ? 

(Reference: 61.(e'.). 

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(4) Any person aggrieved by a decision of a Senate Committee. shall 

H have a right of appeal therefrom to the Senate. (Reference: 62) 

(5.) In the event of the aforesaid appeal, Senate members shall have 

access to the Minutes of the Senate committee. Access shall be 

taken to mean that these will be available for Senators to inspect 

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in

the office of the Registrar. 

(6)

That all Senate committees shall make an annual report to Senate 

for its October meeting. (The choice of an October report is 

based upon the term established for committees in the Senate 

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Rules 

of Procedure. In general, a June report will be undesir- 

able because of the turnover of Senators at this time.) 

(7)

The annual report of a Senate Committee may be disposed of: in 

several ways: 

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(a) It may be received at the October meeting and 

tabled immediately or postponed to a later date. 

This procedure will be the normal one followed in 

all

non-controversial cases. Under this procedure, 

the report may be brought from the table as any 

other tabled report or motion. 

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•(b) It may be discussed at the October meeting if a 

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minimum of two Senators (corresponding to a mover 

and seconder) have given one week's notice of 

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their desire to discuss the report to the Secretary 

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of

Senate; this week shall be required in.order to. 

permit the Committee Chairman (or his designated ? 

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representative) to make arrangements to appear at 

the Senate meeting. (This procedure will also act 

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to limit 

ill-considered and spontaneous-discussion.) 

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(8) In general, when a Senate Committee does not provide an annual 

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report for the October meeting of Senate, it shall be considered 

defunct. ? 

Particular Recommendations: ? 

That the Senate Committees mentioned in the body of this report (Awards 

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Scholarships, Faculty Status, and Tenure) prepare reports on their 

procedues immediately for Senate and that the Committee chairmen appear at 

a special meeting of Senate to take place no later than two weeks from 

September 8. 

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