DRAFT UNTIL APPROVED BY SENATE

MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE SENATE OF SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY HELD ON MONDAY,

APRIL 6, 1992 KLAUS RIECKHOFF HALL, 7:00 P.M.

OPEN SESSION

Present:

Saywell, W.G., Chair

Barrow, A.

Absent: ?

Bawa, M.

Blackman, R.

Beattie, S.

Blaney, J.

Cercone, N.

Boland, L.

Choquer, K.

Bowman, M.

D'AUIia, J.

Brown, A.

Evenden, L.

Bukovac, S.

Gray, P.

Carlson, R.

Leiss, W.

Covell, M.

Menzies, R.

Dill, L.

Morrison, T.

Dobb,T.

Etherington, L.

Nielsen, V.

Gee, E.

Saunders, A.

Giffen, K.

Soheili, A.

Haje,P.

Swartz, N.

Heinrich, K.

Toohey, K.

Hoegg, J.L.

Warsh, M.

Hotter, A.

Winne, P.

Jones, C.

Wotherspoon, A.

Lim, K.

Luk, W.S.

Marteniuk, R.

Mauser, G.

McKeown, B.

In attendance:

Munro, J.

-Jkl,I.

A. Barton

Northcott, P.

J. Nance

Palmer, E.

S. Montgomery

Palmer, L.

Percival, P.

Pint ield, L.

Rae, B.

Reilly, N.

Rieckhoft, K.

Shannon, D.

Shapiro, S.

Smith, S.

Stewart, M.L.

Thomson, K.

Verdun-Jones, S.

Wade, S.

Walker, R.

Heath, W.R., Secretary

Grant, B., Recording Secretary

S.M. 06/04/92

Page 2

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

The Agenda was approved as distributed.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE OPEN SESSION OF MARCH 2. 1992

The Minutes were approved as distributed.

Ec.

Referring to the motion at the bottom of page 3 with respect to FTE

enrolment targets, Senate was advised that it is now believed that SFU's Access

enrolment target will increase by 200 rather than the originally anticipated 500

FTEs which will result in a target of minus 170 FTEs for 1992-93.

ii)

Reference was made to Item 6 (ii) under Other Business on Page 7, and

in response to an inquiry about the name of the Chair of the Senate Committee

on International Students, Senate was advised that the Vice-President, Academic

had designated S. Shapiro. An objection to this appointment was ruled out of

order by the Chair.

iii)

In response to an inquiry about information pertaining to degree

completion times for students in the Engineering Science program, it was noted

that this information had been provided to Senate at its last meeting.

;1.it.1IL1I;

AppointmentsOn

behalf of Senate,

the Chair extended congratulations for the following

appointments: E. Gee, Acting Dean of Graduate Studies until the end of August

1992; A. Barrow, Dean of the Faculty of Education; and K. Heinrich who has

been appointed to the governing council of the University of Northern B.C.

ii)

Elections - Paper S.92-29

Senate's attention was drawn to paper S.92-29 which was distributed prior

to the meeting for information with respect to the results of recent elections to

Senate and the Board of Governors.

iii)

Budget

Senate was advised that the basic thrust of the budget was no surprise

and in fact the University had been planning for a difficult budget. However the

University had not anticipated such a reduction on the revenue side. The Chair

explained that close to two million dollars had been lost over what had been

expected due to such things as a major reduction in the University's equipment

budget, a freeze on tuition fees which included all students except foreign

students, and a significant reduction in Access Program funding at both the

undergraduate and graduate levels. When all of these things are taken into

consideration along with increases in obligatory costs such UIC payments, CPP

payments, utility increases, negotiated agreements relating to pension plan,

TSSU workload and the traditional progression through the ranks for faculty and

administrative personnel, it is expected that the University will have to deal with a

S.M. 06/04/92

Page 3

projected deficit of approximately four million dollars. Provincial law does not

. permit universities to run a deficit so efforts must be made to reduce the

University's total expenditure. This was the reason for the communication

recently sent to the university community announcing a freeze on all

appointments. In addition, consultations are underway with the Deans and

Chairs of Departments to seek their advice, and a meeting between the President

and the Senate Committee on University Budget has been scheduled. It is

hoped that a budget will be available to present to the Board of Governors at its

next meeting.

At the request of the Senate Policy Committee on Scholarships, Awards and

Bursaries, R. Blackman, as Chair was asked to bring to Senate's attention the

Committee's concern about the budget for scholarships and awards. Senate had

no objection to A. Blackman's request to present the following statement from the

Committee to Senate for consideration:

"This Committee urges the administration to give financial aid and

awards the highest priority when establishing the 92-93 operating

budget. We recognize that all components in the university budget

are vulnerable in this time of financial exigency however we feel it is

particularly important to protect those components that serve to

reward the very best students and to support those most in need."

Senate was invited to show its support for the statement and responded by

enthusiastic clapping on the table.

• In response to an inquiry to the Vice-President Academic as to what his priorities

will be in arriving at the distribution of funds under his control, J. Munro advised

that in a period of serious financial restraints his overriding priorities are not to

damage the programs of students, particularly undergraduate students that are

pursuing degrees, and not to damage the excellence in research that the

University has achieved over the years.

The following are the results of elections to the Senate Committee on

Instructional Methods and Organization (SCIMO):

Four Faculty members elected by Senate for no specified term of office.

Candidates: L. Boland, P. Coleman, C. Day, M. Dubiel, N. Dyck, J. Jones, J.

Ogloff, L. Palmer, G. Poole, G. Strate, L. Weldon.

Elected:

Peter Coleman, Leigh Palmer, Gary Poole, Grant Strate

One Undergraduate Student

elected by Senate for no specified term of office.

Candidates: Z. Barabas, J. Laidley

Initial balloting resulted in a tie vote; second balloting was required.

Elected: ?

Zoltan Barabas

S.M. 06/04/92

Page 4

One Graduate Student

elected by Senate for no specified term of office.

Candidates: V.R. Black, K. Giffen ?

Elected: ?

Ken Giffen

In reply to a concern that all members of the Committee are male, the Chair

indicated that he had deliberately reserved naming one of the two presidential

appointments to the committee until after the election in case a balance issue

arose. He advised that he would take these concerns into consideration when

making the appointment.

MIEL

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Moved by J. Munro, seconded by S. Wade

"that Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of

Governors as set forth in S.92-24, the change in degree

requirements for the Master of Resource Management to allow

students to take either MRM 642 or MRM 644 rather than

requiring MRM 642 alone"

Question was called, and a vote taken. ?

MOTION CARRIED

ii) ?

Paper S.92-25 - Department of Psychology - Experimental Psychology

Program - Change in M.A. degree requirements

Moved by J. Munro, seconded by R. Blackman

"that Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of

Governors as set forth in S.92-25 the changes in the M.A. degree

requirements in the Experimental Psychology Program"

It was noted that the credit hours for a large number of courses had increased

and concerns were expressed that this would result in budgetary implications and

increase the cost of the program. Senate was advised that not all of the courses

are given every year; in fact some of them are offered quite infrequently, and the

increased faculty teaching load represented by this change will be significantly

less than the equivalent of one additional faculty load per year. In response to an

inquiry as to whether the faculty resources might not be better employed at the

undergraduate level where courses are over-subscribed, it was noted that the

Psychology Department already teaches a large proportion of the undergraduate

student population and the Department felt the graduate program needed more

attention. Senate was also advised that although the Psychology Department is

making a relatively minor shift in teaching distribution to favour the graduate

program, the Department feels confident that they will be able to continue to

S.M. 06/04/92

Page 5

serve the undergraduate student population well and without any great increase

in sessional instructors. Bnef discussion followed.

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

3 ?

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Moved by J. Munro, seconded by S. Wade

"that Senate approve and recommend to the Board of Governors

the proposed agreements with the University College of the Fraser

Valley dated 26 February 1992 covering:

• Selection, Recruitment and Assignment of Faculty;

• Curriculum Development, Grading and Evaluation

• Program Administration and Monitoring"

In response to an inquiry concerning the impact of this arrangement on the

Library resources, it was noted that inter-library loans service would have to be

provided and expectations are that students from the University College of the

Fraser Valley would make some use of SFU's library resources. However, it was

pointed out that the Provincial Government has provided a grant to cover the cost

• of the partnership agreement and some of that grant will be allocated to the

Library. It is anticipated that program proposals will be presented to Senate at its

next meeting and further details will be available at that time.

Reference was made with respect to the first two sentences in point #2 on page

one. Opinion was expressed that these two sentences appeared to be in conflict

with one another and request for clarification was made. It was noted that two

stages are identified in the process; the first one is that SFU departments will

review vitae, the second is that a joint committee will also participate in the

review process but Senate's attention was drawn to point six on page 2 which

specifies that final approval on the assignment of existing and new faculty to

teach upper level courses rests with the University. It is the University's

understanding that the joint committee would not be able to overrule a

Department if a Department should find a candidate unsuitable. It was also

pointed out that approval on the assignment of faculty to teach upper

level

courses at UCFC would be done initially and would continue indefinitely unless

some problem developed.

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

ii)

Paper S.92-27 - Department of Archaeology - External Review (For

Information)

J. Nance, Chair of the Department of Archaeology, S. Montgomery,

Undergraduate Archaeology Student Representative, and A. Barton, Graduate

S.M. 06/04/92

Page 6

Student Archaeology Representative were in attendance in order to respond to

questions.

Reference

was made to the comments of the reviewers with respect to

inadequate resources and opinion was expressed that this is a recurrent theme in

all of the external reviews presented to Senate and that Senate itself must bear

some of the responsibility for this situation.

Concern was expressed about the issue of gender bias toward female students

in the Department which was commented upon in the report and discussion

turned to this issue. Senate was advised that the University Harrassment Officer

had been invited to address this issue with faculty members in the Department

and all members of the Department are now aware and sensitive to this issue. It

was acknowledged by the undergraduate students that the Department had

taken their concerns seriously and was taking steps to prevent any further difficult

situations from occurring.

Discussion turned briefly to the issue of sessional instructors. In response to an

inquiry about student complaints about grading by sessional instructors, Senate

was advised that guidelines for TAs and Sessional Instructors establishing

standards and procedures for course structure and grading are under

preparation.

Senate's attention was drawn to the concerns of the undergraduate students with

regard to the Archaeology Field School and it was pointed out that the

Department is in the process of drafting guidelines for participation in the Field

School and it was noted that the Department has been very responsive in

addressing the concerns of the students in this regard.

Further information was requested with reference to points 19, 23 and 25 on

pages 3 and 4 of the report which dealt with course offerings and completion

times. In response, Senate was informed that the Department felt the report was

somewhat inaccurate in their assessment in this area. It was felt that the variety

and diversity of courses was at issue rather than the number of courses offered;

and it was explained that the number of faculty in the department, particularly in

the area of physical anthropology, accounts, in part, for the lack of variety in

courses. However, an additional faculty member will be added and hopefully the

variety of courses will be increased.

d) ?

Senate Committee on Agenda and Rules

Paper S.92-28 - Responsibilities and Terms of Appointment of Faculty

Deans

Moved by J. Munro, seconded by S. Wade

"that Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of

Governors, as set out in S.92-28, the Responsibilities and Terms of

Appointment of Faculty Deans"

S.M. 06/04/92

Page 7

Senate was advised that the revisions essentially update documents approved in

1970 in order to reflect the current role of Deans.

Question was called and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

Other Business

Concern was expressed about the gender specific language contained in the

University Act, and inquiry was made as to why the language had not been

changed. It was pointed out that the University Act is the responsibility of the

Provincial Government .

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The following notice of motion was received from K. Rieckhoff:

"that Senate establish regulations which will ensure that no new

or revised courses and programs, or offerings of existing

courses and programs at new locations, including individual

offerings of special topics courses, can be offered unless

adequate library resources are in place, or funds for them

guaranteed in the base budget of the Library"

Information

The date of the next regularly scheduled meeting of Senate is Monday, May 11,

1992.

The Assembly moved directly into Closed Session at 8:10 p.m.

W.R. Heath

Secretary of Senate