DRAFT UNTIL APPROVED BY SENATE

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

FEBRUARY 14,1994 IN KLAUS RIECKHOFF HALL AT 7:00 P.M.

OPEN SESSION

Absent: Bacani,J.

Bullock, D.

Clayman, B.

D'Auria, J.

Dobb, T.

Dunsterville, V.

Eaton, C.

Gitfen, K.

Hoetlich, K.

Jahn, R.

Jespersen, J.

Mauser, G.

McAskill, I.

Segal, J.

Waite, K.

Warsh, M.

In attendance:

Asmundson, C.

Hotter, A.

Van Snellenberg, J.

Present:

Stubbs, J.O., Chair

Alderson, E.

Amason, K.

Barrow, R.

Beattie, S.

Blaney, J.

Boland, L.

Bowman, M.

Carlson,

Cavers, J.

Chunn, D.

Ciria, A.

Crawford, C.

Dhir, R.

Dill, L.

Driver, J.

Etherington, L.

Hafer, L.

Heinrich, K.

Hoegg, J.L.

Jones, C.H.W.

LeMare, L.

Lord, T.

Luk, W.S.

Mamchur, C.

Marteniuk, A.

McInnes, D.

McKeown, B.

Mezei, K.

Morrison, T.

Munro, J.

Naef, B.

Osborne, J.

Palmer, E.

Palmer, L.

Percival, P.

Pint ield, L.

Smart, C. (representing S. Shapiro)

Stewart, M.L.

Swartz, N.

Wade, S.

Wickstrom, N.

Wideen, M.

Wong, L.

Wotherspoon, A.

Wrenn, P.

4 0 ?

Grant, W.R., Secretary of Senate

Grant, B., Recording Secretary

S.M. 14/02/94

Page 2

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

The Agenda was approved as distributed.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE OPEN SESSION OF JANUARY 10, 1994

The Minutes were approved as distributed.

BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

There was no business arising from the Minutes.

REPORT OF THE CHAIR

The Chair expressed appreciation to M. Bowman, for chairing the last meeting of

Senate, and conveyed regrets from the Chancellor who was unable to attend this

evening's meeting.

Referring to the recent visit to Simon Fraser University of The Honorable Dan

Miller, Minister of Skills, Training and Labour, the Chair reported that the focus of

his visit was students at the university. The Minister visited students in a number

of areas in the University, met with the Student Society, and officially launched

the construction of the Student Services Building while on campus. Mr. Miller

appeared to have a positive experience and expressed an interest in returning for

a further visit.

The Chair reported that budget information for the University will not be available

for another six to eight weeks. With regard to planning, the Chair indicated that a

considerable number of responses have been received in response to the report

of planning and budget modelling which had been circulated to the University

community in December. There appears to be quite

positive support for the

proposal regarding planning and a generally supportive response to the

document as a whole. It is hoped that the two working groups that were

identified in the document - the Presidential Committee on University Planning

and the Planning Coordinator position - will be established within the next couple

of weeks. It is hoped that interim reports will be available by the end of August,

and final reports by the end of December.

REPORT L.1COMMITTEES

a) Senate Committee on Academic ptannina/Senate committee on

Undergraduate Studies

Paper

L51, -

Faculty of ApUlied Sciences - Undergraduate Curriculum

Revisions

Moved by J. Munro, seconded by S. Wade

"that Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of

Governors, the curriculum revisions for the Faculty of Applied Sciences

- School of Kinesiology, as set forth in S.94-10"

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Page 3

. A. Hoffer, Director of the School of Kinesiology, C. Asmundson, Chair of the

Kinesiology Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, and J. Van Snellenberg,

Departmental Assistant, School of Kinesiology were in attendance to respond to

questions.

By way of introduction, Senate was advised that the proposal represents a major

restructuring of the undergraduate program in Kinesiology. The proposal comes

to Senate primarily from SOAP and its sub-committee SCEMP, but also received

consideration by SUAB. Senate's attention was drawn to the difference of

opinion between committees as outlined on the blue cover memo and on pages

88 and 89 of the documentation. Senate was advised that Kinesiology had

wanted all the conditions as set out on page 89 in sections 2 and 3 to be

requirements, but SUAB had changed some of them to strongly recommended.

Amendment moved by R. Marteniuk, seconded by A. Wotherspoon

"that the phrase 'and they are strongly recommend to' which

follows 2-a and 3-c on page 89 be deleted"

Disagreement arose as to the nature of the recommendations made by SUAB,

and it was noted that SUAB had not inserted the phrase 'strongly recommended'

but had in fact voted against the proposition of admission directly to the major

from high school.

Senate was advised that the Department of Kinesiology is of the firm opinion that

a strong Science background is necessary if students are to take full advantage

of the undergraduate program and, since it was their belief that SUAB had not

approved the specific requirements, the words strongly recommended were

inserted to draw student's attention to the desirability of including this Science

background in their preparatory work.

Question was called on the amendment,

and a vote taken. ?

AMENDMENT CARRIED

Discussion turned to the issue of direct admission, and Senate's attention was

drawn to the rationale outlined on pages 90-91 of the documentation. Senate

was advised that the overall objective of direct admission is to help tighten

enrolment management procedures for the benefit of both students and faculty,

and to increase the quality of students. Students coming into the program will be

better prepared not only because their studies at high school have been defined,

but alsO because the whole aspect of student recruitment at high school and

college is made more direct.

It was noted that two particular programs, Biological Sciences and Biochemistry,

compete with Kinesiology for pre-medical students and it was felt that offering

guaranteed admission to courses by one Department was not in the interest of

the other two, and that Departments should be competing for these students on

an equal basis.

S.M. 14/02/94

Page 4

Objections were raised with respect to allowing direct admission to the major

from high school. Reference was made to the reported enrolment problems in

KIN 142 which this proposal seemed to most directly address, and opinion was

expressed that there appeared to be no justification for guaranteeing direct

admission of high school students to SFU courses over already registered

students with more priority.

Amendment moved by L. Palmer, seconded by L. Boland

"that section 2 dealing with direct admission from secondary schools

be deleted from the proposal"

Senate was advised that even though KIN 142 is a required course, it has often

not been possible for Kinesiology majors to get this course until their third or

fourth semester. While direct admission will not change the number of

Kinesiology majors in this course in any given year, it will allow Kinesiology

majors to take this course in their first semester. However, in the long term,

majors would not be displacing other students in the course as there will be no

change in the total number of course enrolments.

Reference was made to a long standing general principle of Simon Fraser

University that stresses freedom of movement and allows students to shop

around during their first two years of study at SFU, and opinion was expressed

that direct admission goes against this principle by locking students into a

program of study. It was countered that students are free to change their

programs or departments at any time and that the requirements and selection of

courses as set out in the Kinesiology major program actually allow for many other

options should a student choose not to stay within Kinesiology. The range of

course requirements force students to take courses from seven different

departments plus students have 32 credits of free electives so they could, in

addition, sample courses from several other departments. Since direct

admission was felt to be a significant change in principle, suggestion was made

that much more debate was warranted within the University community prior to

specific departmental approval.

Concern was expressed that access to courses/programs appeared to be

determined on the basis of a target or quota system for applicant's of different

admission categories rather than on academic criteria. It was noted that

academic qualifications were not necessarily equivalent across the three

categories as it was felt that a graduate from high school was not equal to

someone who has been at SFU for at least 30 credit hours. Concern was

expressed that the proposal provides an opportunity for guaranteed access to

courses which benefit some students to the detriment of others. Senate was

advised that the projected targets are historically based and will only be used as

guidelines by the School. Academic standards will be the primary indicator of

acceptance. In reply to concerns that direct entry from Grade 12 will in fact

disadvantage other students, it was pointed out that many of the internal

transfers are students who wanted to be in Kinesiology in the first place and that

this proposal allows them access at the beginning. It was also pointed out that

IF

S.M. 14/02/94

Page 5

• the statement regarding selection from qualified applicants was inserted because

it was thought that there should be some language included if for some reason

applicants exceeded the number that could be accommodated. At this point,

Kinesiology does not have an enrolment problem.

Reference was made to the current funding situation. Opinion was expressed

that direct admission is a positive planning tool as it allows Kinesiology to better

use the resources they have to benefit more students than they currently can

serve, and it also sends a message to students to do their high school courses at

high school rather than at university.

Question was called on the amendment,

and a vote was taken.

AMENDMENT FAILED

16 in favour, 24 opposed

Discussion returned to the question of enrolment limitation and the issue of what

criteria will be used in this process. Senate was advised that should enrolment

need to be limited, the same mechanism that is used in other departments which

is the Cumulative GPA, or equivalent, would be applied.

Reference was made to the status of internal transfers having the same

qualifications as direct entry Grade 12 students but who only apply to Kinesiology,

after one or two semesters at SFU. Senate was advised that most likely they

would be given conditional approval until they have finished the required 30

credits and then they would be formally approved as a major. Opinion was

expressed that this regulation appeared to be somewhat inconsistent in this

regard, and suggestion was made that a statement be inserted under the

sections dealing with internal or college transfers stating that these regulations

are for students who do not meet the conditions of direct entry.

Question was called on the main motion,

and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

ii) Paper S.94-1 1 - Final Exam Scheduler - For Information

Referring to the last sentence of point 9 on page 3 concerning modifications to

the telephone registration system, Senate was advised that when resources

become available modifications will be made to build exam schedule reporting

into the system but in the meantime students will be required to manually check

the exam schedule to make sure they have not signed up for courses with

examination conflicts.

On behalf of Senate, the Chair extended appreciation to all of the people involved

in the development of this project, with special recognition to Dr. Rob Cameron of

the School of Computing Science for his contribution.

1^1

9

S.M. 14/02/94

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Paper S.94-12 - Institute for Applied Algorithms and

' Opitmization Research

Moved by J. Munro, seconded by A. Marteniuk

"that Senate approve and recommend to the Board of Governors the

establishment of the lnstj4jte for Applied Algorithms and Optimization

Research and the granting of a Charter to the Institute under the terms

of Policy R.40.01"

Brief discussion ensued with regard to some of the markets and the applications

relevant to the proposed Institute, and Senate was informed that liaison with

business persons usual ly ôccurs through contacts with the Industrial Liaison

Office and ITO Officers in Discovery Park. In response to an inquiry about the

appointment of directors, Senate was advised that there are no costs involved

since directorships are in addition to a faculty member's regular teaching and

research responsibilities.

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

ii)

Paper S.94-13 - Centre for Human Independence Engineering

Moved by J. Munro, seconded by S. Wade

"that Senate approve and recommend to the Board of Governors the

establishment of the Centre for Human Independence Engineering and

the granting of a Charter to the Centre under the terms of Policy

R.40.01"

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

iii)

Paper S.94-14 - Institute for Studies in Teacher Education

Moved by J. Munro, seconded R. Barrow

"that Senate approve and recommend to -the Board of Governors the

establishment of the Institute for Studies in Teacher Education and the

granting of a Charter to the Institute under the terms of Policy R.40.01"

In reply to an inquiry about budget implications of this Institute, Senate was

advised that there are no resource implications since it was intended for the

Institute to be self-funding and part of its mandate is to seek funding.

In reply to an inquiry as to the necessity to create such an institute, Senate was

advised that there is a great amount of interest to do research in this area and

the formation of the institute is simply a way of capitalizing upon that research

interest.

Cl,

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED ?

S.M. 14/02/94

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i) Paper S.94-15 - Change to terms of office - SPCSAB

Moved by S. Wade, seconded by J. Osborne

"that Senate approve the following changes to the terms of office on

the Senate Policy Committee on Scholarships, Awards and Bursaries:

that the term of office for the Chair of the Committee shall expire on

May 31 rather than September 30; and

ii)

that the two year terms of office for the faculty members should be

staggered so that all three do not expire in the same calendar year'

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

Moved by J. Munro, seconded by A. Wotherspoon

"that a joint ad hoc committee, consisting of two Senators elected by

• and from Senate and two persons selected by the Board, be charged

with reviewing the composition and terms of reference of the

Presidential Search Committee. Any proposed changes would be

recommended to both bodies."

An amendment proposed by T. Morrison that a student, appointed from the

Simon Fraser Student Society, be added to this committee, failed for lack of a

seconder.

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

6. ?

OTHER BUSINESS

Referring to recent rumours concerning the future status of the Library's lecture

tape service, T. Morrison wondered if the elimination of this service was under

consideration. The Chair indicated there was no formal proposal to eliminate this

service at this time. However, he pointed out that there will be considerable

pressure on the budget once funding is announced and all activities within the

University, including services such as this, will be looked at to see what might be

cut or consolidated. The Chair had no objection to a suggestion to refer this

matter to the Senate Committee on University Budget should it come forward as

a recommendation.

[1

S.M. 14/02/94

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INFORMATION

The date of the next regularly scheduled meeting of Senate is Monday, March 7,

1994.

The Assembly recessed briefly at 9:05 p.m. prior to moving into Closed Session.

W.R. Heath

Secretary of Senate