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Minutes of a meeting of the Senate of Simon Fraser University held on Monday,

September 15, 1997 at 5:30 pm in Room 3210 WMC

Open Session

Present: ?

Blaney, Jack, President

pro tern

and Chair

Barrow, Robin

Bawa, Parveen

Berggren, Len

Boland, Larry

Bowman, Marilyn

Chan, Albert

D'Auria; john -

Dunsterville, Valerie

Emmott, Alan

Etherington, Lois

Gagan, David

Hassan, Nany

Jones, John

Kanevsky, Lannie

Kirczenow, George

Lewis, Brian

Little, Jack (representing B. Clayman)

Marteniuk, Ron

McInnes, Dina

Morris, Joy

Naef, Barbara

Overington, Jennifer

Parmar, Neelam

Percival, Paul

Peterson, Louis

Pierce, John

Absent:

Baert, Jessica

Beattie, Suzan

Blazenko, George

Cleveland, William

Coleman, Peter

Dobb, Ted

Giffen;Kri- -

Gillies, Mary Ann

Howlett, Michael

Jones, Cohn

Mathewes, Rolf

Mauser, Gary

Nip, Harry

Ogloff, James

Osborne, Judith

Reed, Clyde

Segal, Joseph

Whitbread, Katherine

Wickstrom, Norman

Wong, Tim

Yagi, Ian

In attendance:

Ward, Roger

Pinfield, Larry (representing J. Waterhouse)

Sanghera, Balwant

Tam, Lawrence

Warsh, Michael

Winne, Phil.

Wortis, Michael

Yerbury, Cohn

Watt, Alison, Director, Secretariat Services

Heath, Ron, Dean of Student Services and Registrar

Grant, Bobbie, Recording Secretary

S.M. 15/09/97

Page 2

On behalf of Senate, the Chair extended a welcome to newly appointed Faculty

Deans John Pierce :(Faculty of Arts) and John Waterhouse (Faculty of Business

Administration) and to the following newly elected Senators: Marilyn

'Bow ' man,

Faculty of Arts and James Ogloff, Faculty of Arts. The Chair was saddend to

report the passing of Professor Douglas Cole whO was a long time member of the

University in the Department of History.

Approval of the Agenda

The Agenda was approved as distributed.

Approval of the Minutes of the Open Session of July 7, 1997

G. Kirczenow felt that the Minutes were incomplete and did not contain some of

the substantive Assues that had been discussed and he presented a written

summary of what he felt should be incorporated in the Minutes for

consideration. Approval of the Minutes was tabled to the next meeting in order

to review the submission.

Business Arising from .the Minutes

Paper S.97-59 - Board noted Senate's request for discussion on

Harassment Policy (For Information)

Senate was advised that expectations are that a revised policy will likely be

presented to Senate for discussion at the December meeting. The Chair of the

Board is then prepared to call a special meeting of the Board in December in

the hopes of having a new policy approved by the end of the year. Senate was

assured that any comments, including a vote of approval or non-approval,

will be forwarded to the Board for consideration in their deliberations.

It was noted that comments being submitted with regard to the revised

harassment policy were being posted on the Web. However, cases where the

comments refer to specific cases as illustrations of what may be wrong with

the proposed policy were not being posted, and clarification was requested

with regard to this issue. Senate was advised by the Vice-President, Academic

that he had ruled, on his own authority, that it was inappropriate for

submissions to the Web to contain references to specific cases. He explained

that certain information was protected by FOI/POP regulations and he did not

have sufficient resources in his office (or in the FOl Office) to review and

screen all submissions that contained specific references. It was pointed out

that in one particular case the -specific information had already been made

public by one of the parties involved in the case and inquiry was made as to

whether that would change matters. D. Gagan indicated he was aware of the

submission in question but it was not clear that the individual who

originated the information had the right to do so but he would check the

regulations in this regard.

S.M. 15/09/97

Page 3

4. ?

Report of the Chair

i) ?

Paper S.97-60 - Annual Financial Statement (For Information)

R. Ward, Vice-President, Finance and Administration, was in attendance in

order to respond to questions.

In response to an observation that the 1997 Annual Financial Statement did

not contain the same amount of information as the 1996 Statement, Senate

was advised that there were substantial changes between this year's report

and reports from previous years due to changes in reporting regulations.

Although the reports basically cover the same activities, the information is

presented in a simplified format rather than separate columns and the

-- - - - _unaudited, additioa1 schedules included in previous reports are no longer

provided. Opinion was expressed that the more detaIled Iñfôrthátión was

very useful and a strong recommendation was made to include this

information with the budget information on the Web.

In response to an inquiry about the current financial status of the SFU

Bookstore since moving to its new location in Maggie Benston Centre, Senate

was advised that the Bookstore has not yet experienced a full year of

operation at its new location but a review of its monthly statement indicates

that it is not in an overall deficit position at this time. It was pointed out

however that the Bookstore's income varies month by month.

Clarification was requested with regard to the reference on page 14 to an

endowment fund of 15 million dollars from the sale of land, and inquiry was

made as to what will happen to this money. Senate was advised that the

reference refers to the land agreement between SFU and the City of Burnaby

and the Province, and Senate was provided with a brief summary of the

agreement. It was noted that at the moment there is only a general statement

with respect to the use of the endowment money but it was possible that

funds could be available for scholarships.

Clarification was requested with regard to the reference on page 20 to several

unresolved statements of claims. Senate was advised that the specific

number of unresolved claims was not available at this time.

Request was made for an explanation with respect to long term debt and

Senate was provided with a brief summary of the two categories in which the

University can incur long term debt: Financing through the Capital

• Financing Authority for approved new government controlled capital debt,

and financing through Section 55 of the University Act for operations such as

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the parkade.

In response to an inquiry about the freeze on capital funding, Senate was

advised that the freeze has been in effect for several years and although the

University was receiving funds to deal with ongoing capital renovations,

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serious consideration for new buildings was not expected for several years. - • -

S.M. 15/09/97

Page 4

University's

ii). ?

Referring

objectives

to the Burnaby

are to create

land agreement

an interesting,

the Chair

integrated,

reported that

viable

the

community within the ring road, and to create a sizable endowment to help

the University become more sustainable financially. Recommendations will

go forward to the Board of Governors at its next meeting with respect to the

Board of Directors for this new corporation. Expectations are that the

consultations will

take place about 'the corporation's mandate and how the

consultative process to the Board will be structured.

iii) The Chair .reported his intention as President

pro tern

to focus on three

areas: ' a move 'toward's :better communication and making the University

community more ccihesEve; a 'focus on the future -to create some sense of

priority and direction, and .a 'focus on the fundamentals - teaching, learning,

research, discovery and the infrastructure to support those fundamentals.

Reports of 'Committees

a) ?

Senate 'Nominating Committee

:Paper S.97'61 -'Elections

Senate was advised that no further nominations were received with respect

to Senate paper S;9761. The following, candidates 'have therefore been elected

by 'acclamation: Len 'Berggren and Peter Coleman to the Senate Committee

on Continuing

:Studies;

'Andy 'Heard to the International Undergraduate

Student Exchange Committee; 'John D'Auria as Chair of the Senate Policy

Committee on Scholarships, Awards 'and Bursaries; and Irene 'Gordon as

Chair of the Senate Committee on University Teaching and Learning. I.

Gordon had held a faculty at-large position on SCUTL but by taking on the

role of 'Chair 'her position 'became vacant, and therefore both Lannie

Kanevsky and Larry Weldon were elected by acclamation to' the two vacant at-

large positions.

Other Business

There was no other'business.

Information

The next regularly scheduled meeting of Senate will take place on Monday,

October 6,'1997.

The Open Session adjourned at'6:00, pm and the 'Assembly -moved directly.jnto

Closed Session.

Alison Watt

Director, Sec.retariat.'Services