DRAFT UNTIL APPROVED BY SENATE

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

SEPTEMBER 21, 1992 KLAUS RIECKHOFF HALL, 4:30 P.M.

OPEN SESSION

Present:

Munro, J., Chair

Alderson, E.

Absent:

Barrow, A.

Blackman, R.

Bawa, M.

Blaney, J.

Beattie, S.

Boland, L.

Bowman, M.

Ciria, A.

Carlson, R.

Clayman, B.

Cercone, N.

Cohen, M.

D'Auria, J.

Dawson, J.

Dobb, T.

Dill, L.

Driver, J.

Ethenngton, L.

Evenden, L.

Fickling, D.

Flores, J.

Giffen, K.

Hoegg, J.L.

Gray, P.

Hoffer, A.

Green, C.

Jones, C.

Haje, P.

Leiss, W.

Heinrich, K.

Lim, K.

Hoeflich, K.

Morrison, T.

Luk, W.S.

Nielsen, V.

Marteniuk, A.

Pinfield, L.

Mauser, G.

Plommer, T.

McKeown, B.

Rae, B.

Menzies, R.

Saywell, W.

Osborne, J.

Shannon, D.

Palmer, E.

Smith, S.

Palmer, L.

Wade, S.

Percival, P.

Walker, A.

Rieckhoff, K.

Warsh, M.

Shapiro, S.

Wotherspoon, A.

Stewart, M.L.

Thomson, K.

Winne, P.

In attendance:

V. Loewen

R. Ward

Heath, W.R., Secretary

Grant, B., Recording Secretary

S.M. 21/09/92

Page

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

The Agenda was approved as distributed.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE OPEN SESSION OF JULY 6. 1992

Referring to the bottom paragraph on Page 5, P. Gray objected to statements

contained in the Minutes about funding for the on-campus offering of the First

Nations Minor program and suggested substantial amendments to the paragraph.

Brief discussion followed.

Moved by L. Palmer, seconded by P. Gray

"that the approval of the Minutes be tabled until the next meeting of

Senate"

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION TO TABLE CARRIED

I) ?

Paper S.92-53 - Follow-up information from Annual Report of the Senate

Committee on Scholarships. Awards and Bursaries (For Information)

V. Loewen, Director of Financial Aid and Awards was in attendance to respond to

questions.

It was noted that it would have been interesting to receive information as to the

value of particular scholarships and an indication as to whether or not distinctions

are made between the awards by gender. Senate was advised that this

information was available if the committee so wished. It was pointed out,

however, that the value of Open scholarship awards are determined by the

number of courses taken and the corresponding amount of tuition that a student

incurs so the awards have no fixed amounts.

Reference was made to the statistics which indicated that, on one hand, women

were receiving a larger porportion of scholarships than men, while on the other

hand, the opposite ratio appeared to apply to the Honor Roll. If both awards are

determined by academic merit, clarification was requested with respect to this

apparent contradiction in data Senate was advised that the criteria between the

two are quite different and a brief explanation with respect to the specific

differences was provided.

ii) Referring to the policy on International Activities approved by Senate at its

last meeting, the Chair explained that within the policy there are several

references to contracts, contributions agreements, and letters of understanding

signed by the President, but the Policy does not specifically identify those

agreements which may be signed by the President but which also require

Senate/Board approval. Suggestion was made that the Policy be expanded to

identify the latter type of contracts/agreements/letters in order to clarify that the

Policy is meant to apply to international activities that are of University level

importance rather than those merely undertaken by particular faculty, staff, or

S.M. 21/09/92

Page 3

. ?

students. There were no objections to this suggestion, and the Chair indicated

his intent to have this amendment written into the Policy.

iii)

Inquiry was made with regard to the status of the notice of motion

presented by C. Green at the last meeting of Senate. Senate was advised that

SCAR had judged the motion to be unnecessary since Senate had already

delegated authority in the terms of reference of the new Senate Committee on

International Activities to deal with this exact issue. Concern was expressed that

the Committee had not yet been officially established and in the- absence of an

October meeting of Senate could not be formed until the next meeting of Senate

which would take place in November. However, it was pointed out that election

of members to this Committee will take place by mail so that the Committee will

be formed as it would normally have been in October.

iv)

New Senators, J. Osborne, Associate Vice-President, Academic, E.

Alderson, Dean of Arts, and J. Dawson, Faculty of Education were welcomed to

Senate by the Chair.

Senate was reminded of the Convocation ceremony scheduled to take

place on Friday, October 2nd and Senators were urged to participate.

REPORT OF THE CHAIR

[

R. Ward, Vice-President, Finance was in attendance in order to respond to

questions.

Reference was made to the allocation for snow removal within the budget of

Facilities Management and inquiry was made as to what had happened to this

particular amount of money since there was no requirement for snow removal

last year. Senate was advised that normally any unused funds at the end of a

fiscal year are applied to activities which are overspent in other areas within the

total operation of the University. Specific information was unavailable at this time

but would be provided at a subsequent meeting.

Further discussion took place with respect to the information on debt

management (page 18), nbn-credit activities (page 9), and the instruction and

research categories (page 9), as well as the role of student fees, including the

Athletic/Recreation fee, within the total operating budget. Reference was also

made to page 4, Table 2, and further information was requested with regard to

the sources of funding for sponsored research. Since this information was not

immediately available, Senate was advised that it would be provided at a

subsequent meeting.

Other Business

i) Referring to the directive from Senate requesting SCUS to review the

issue of final exam scheduling, inquiry was made as to the status of this matter,

and objection was raised to the fact that some senators who had requested

invitation to attend SCUS meetings with regard to this issue, had not been

S.M. 21/09/92

Page 4

notified of any meeting dates. Senate was advised that SCUS was still in the

process of trying to obtain feedback from the University community. Very few

submissions had been received in response to the initial advertisements in the

Peak and SCUS had only met once to determine other ways of gathering more

information prior to starting committee discussion on this issue. As a result, a

questionnaire has been prepared and recently distributed to Chairs/Directors,

Departmental Assistants, and Chairs of Faculty Undergraduate Curriculum

Committees with response requested by October 2nd.

ii)

Concern was expressed that the graduation of students was being

delayed because of insufficient upper level course offerings, and in some cases,

students were finding it necessary to take courses outside their programs of

study thus adding to the cost of their education just to satisfy requirements for

student loans. Senate was reminded that more courses required more money

and without an increase in tuition fees or Government funding, the University was

unable to offer as many courses as students might like.

Opinion was expressed that reducing student numbers would help to alleviate

this problem, and reference was made to the past several years wherein Senate

has approved increases in student intake on the basis that resources were

available from the Government's Access program to adequately fund the

increased quotas. Information was requested with respect to whether or not over

the past two years specifically the ratio of students being able to get the courses

they want had improved or deteriorated under the Access program. Inquiry was

also made as to whether or not information with regard to individual student

requests for specific courses was available.

Senate was informed that information, including student demand for courses at

particular levels, as well as information with respect to the Fall registration would

be provided to Senate at the next meeting.

iii)

Senate was informed about reductions which had taken place this Fall in

the scholarship programs, particularly Entrance Scholarships. It was explained

that $160,000 had been cut from the Open Scholarship Program, and $311,000

had been cut from the Entrance Scholarship Program. Prior to these budget

allocations being made, the Senate Policy Committee on Scholarships, Awards

and Bursaries had recommended that any necessary budget reductions be

equalized between these two scholarship programs. However, it appears that

action to the contrary has been taken without reference to SPCSAB's decision.

Although the issue has been brought to that attention of the Chair of SPCSAB

who has agreed to bring the matter to the Committee at an early date, it was felt

that Senate should also be alerted to this very serious situation.

iv)

Concern was expressed about the overcrowding of classrooms and

particular reference was made to the large lecture halls which have students

standing in the aisles and sitting on the floor. Senate was informed that

departments control the number of students admitted to particular courses and

that the registration system itself will not allow a department to add beyond the

number of spaces available for a particular room. In cases where rooms are

currently overcrowded, it was suggested that many students who are not officially

registered for the course are attending in the hope that a space will open up.

Usually by the end of the third week, the drop period has ended and that causes

S.M. 21/09/92

Page 5

. the enrolment/attendance to drop significantly. Specific reference was made to

BiSc 302 which is said to have an enrolment of 125 in a lab space which can only

support 75 students. Senate was advised that this would be brought to the

attention of the Departmental Chair in the Department of Biological Sciences.

Objection was raised to the meeting time of 4:30 p.m. and reference was

made to the fact that Senate had previously expressed a preference for evening

meeting times. It was pointed out that past tradition has been to have an early

meeting time when the main business on the agenda was graduands. SCAR had

therefore made this change in time in the belief that this was Senate's wish. Brief

discussion took place with respect to the wish of Senate in this regard, and the

Chair indicated that SCAR will take the objections to the earlier meeting time into

consideration when the question next arises.

vi)

E. Palmer advised Senate of her intent to bring forward a motion that

future semester schedules should elect Friday for holiday observance instead of

Monday whenever a nominal holiday date falls on a Saturday or Sunday, except

in the case that the Friday is also the last day of lectures for that semester, in

which case the succeeding Monday should be elected.

Brief discussion followed in which an inquiry was made as to why, since there

was no Monday holiday involved, the Spring 1993 semester was starting on a

Tuesday instead of a Monday. Senate was advised that past experience had

indicated that following the Christmas holiday closure an extra day was needed

to get the University up and running before the start of classes.

viii) P. Haje wished to alert Senate that complaint has been made to the

Human Rights Council for violation of human rights with respect to international

students. He alleged having S. Shapiro chair the Senate Committee on

International Students is a conflict of interest.

8. ?

Information

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

November 2, 1992.

The Assembly moved directly into Closed Session at 5:45 p.m.

W.R. Heath

Secretary of Senate