DRAFT UNTIL APPROVED BY SENATE

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

December 1, 1997 at 7:00 pm in Room 3210 WMC

Open Session

Present: ?

Blaney, Jack, President

pro tern

and Chair

Barrow, Robin

Absent: ?

Baert, Jessica

Bawa, Parveen

Beattie, Suzan

Berggren, J. Len

Blazenko, George

Boland, Larry

Cleveland, William

Bowman, Marilyn

Dunsterville, Valerie

Chan, Albert

Etherington, Lois

Clayman, Bruce

Giffen, Ken

Coleman, Peter

Hassan, Nany

D'Auria, John

Howlett, Michael

Dobb, Ted

Lewis, Brian

Emmott, Alan

McInnis, Dina

Gagan, David

Nip, Harry

Gillies, Mary Ann

Overington, Jennifer

Jones, Cohn

Segal, Joseph

Jones, John

Tam, Lawrence

Kanevsky, Lannie

Whitbread, Katherine

Kirczenow, George

Wickstrom, Norman

. ? Marteniuk, Ron

Mathewes, Rolf

Mauser, Gary

In attendance:

Morris, Joy

Fizzell, Maureen

Naef, Barbara

Law, Francis

Ogloff, James

Pinfield, Larry

Osborne, Judith

Parmar, Neelam

Percival, Paul

Peterson, Louis

Pierce, John

Reed, Clyde

Russell, Robert

Sanghera, Balwant

Warsh, Michael

Waterhouse, John

Winne, Phil

Wong, Tim

Wortis, Michael

Yagi, Ian

Yerbury, Cohn

Watt, Alison, Director, Secretariat Services

Grant, Bobbie, Recording Secretary

S.M. 1/12/97

Page

Approval of the Agenda

The Agenda was approved as distributed.

Minutes were approved as distributed.

4. ?

Report of the Chair

There were no objections to a request from the Chair to move to Agenda Item 4

prior to 'Business Arising from the Minutes'.

i) On behalf of Senate, the Chair extended congratulations to Senator

Robert Russell on his election to the Board of Governors by and from faculty

members jointly.

last meeting with respect to the

wished to present a

second

the Centre which is being built

campus. He reported that the

from the Federal Government,

expected completion time is

ii) As a result of interest expressed at the

Centre for Dialogue, the Chair advised that h

informational video for Senate's viewing on

downtown across from the Harbour Centre

University has received four million dollars

construction is now underway and the

approximately 14 months.

Business Arising from the Minutes

S.97-81 -

SCAR - ad hoc Committee on the Role of Senate/University

Governance (For Information)

The Chair reported that the proposal from SCAR had resulted from concerns

expressed about Senate's role in reviewing University policies.

In response to an inquiry about the difference in the way faculty and student

senators versus administrative senators were selected to the committee, Senate

was advised that SCAR felt this was the most expedient way to establish

membership.

In response to a request for clarification as to voting members, it was noted that all

members are voting and that the Director of Secretariat Services and the

Secretary of Senate are ex-officio members.

Concern was expressed about Terms of Reference, point 1. It was suggested that

the wording contradicts the University Act which states that academic

governance rests with Senate, whereas the wording implies that there are polices

affecting academic governance that do not fall directly within the jurisdiction of

Senate. Senate was informed that the intent of SCAR was to make mention that

some policies currently come before Senate, some do not. Of those which now

do not come before Senate, the Committee will review those to determine if any

have academic implications and therefore ought to be presented to Senate. The

Chair indicated that Point 1 would be reworded to reflect discussion.

S.M. 1/12/97

Page 3

Concern was expressed about the deadline of May 30th, and opinion was

expressed that some issues, particularly the policy on research ethics, should be

addressed before that. The Chair indicated that they would try for the end of

March.

5. ?

Reports of Committees

Senate Nominating Committee

i) ?

Paper S.97-82 - Elections

Senate was advised that no nominations were received for the one position

noted on Senate paper S.97-82 and the vacancy will be carried forward.

Senate Committee on Academic Planning/Senate Graduate Studies

Committee

PaDer S.97-83 - ProDosed Master of Environmental Toxicolo

Program

Moved by D. Gagan, seconded by B. Clayman

'that Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of

Governors, as set forth in S.97-83, the proposed Master of

. ?

Environmental Toxicology Program, including

New courses: BISC 651, 655, 656, 657, 658, 854, 855, 856"

Francis Law, Department of Biological Sciences, was in attendance in order to

respond to questions.

Senate was advised that the proposal represents a professional degree rather than

a research degree program and, following completion of the program, graduates

will be eligible to apply for certification from the American Board of Toxicology.

There is significant demand for graduates with this credential in British Columbia

and elsewhere in Canada.

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

Senate received information that SGSC, acting under delegated authority,

approved a change of title for BISC 650, 652 and a change of number - BISC 651

to BISC 654.

ii)

Paper S.97-84 - Faculty of Education - Graduate Curriculum Revision

Senate received information that SGSC, acting under delegated authority,

approved a change of credit requirement for the Intermediate and Elementary

Mathematics Program in the Faculty of Education.

S.M. 1/12/97

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iii)

Paper

Graduate

S.97-85

Programs

- Revised Membership - Assessment Committee for New

Moved by D. Gagan, seconded by B. Clayman

"that Senate approve, as set forth in S.97-85, the following change

to the membership of the Assessment Committee for New

Graduate Programs (ACNGP):

From: One member from each Faculty elected by the respective

Faculty Graduate Studies Committee from the SGSC

To: One member from each Faculty elected by and from the

respective Faculty Graduate Studies Committee"

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

c) ?

Senate Committee on Academic Planning/Senate Committee on

Undergraduate Studies

I) ?

Paper S.97-86 - Undergraduate Curriculum Revisions - Faculty of Applied

Sciences

Moved by D. Gagan, seconded by P. Bawa

"that Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of

Governors, as set forth in S.97-86, the proposed Certificate in

Applied Human Nutrition including: New courses: KIN 111, 212,

312"

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

Senate received information that SGSC, acting under delegated authority,

approved curriculum revisions to a number of existing undergraduate courses and

programs in the School of Communication, School of Computing Science,

School of Engineering Science, and the School of Kinesiology.

ii)

Paper S.97-87 - Undergraduate Curriculum Revisions - Faculty of Arts

Moved by D. Gagan, seconded by J. Osborne

"that Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of

Governors, as set forth in S.97-87, the following curriculum revisions

for the Faculty of Arts:

Department of Psychology

- Addition to regulations governing admission to the Psychology

Honours Program;

P-j

S.M. 1/12/97

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Department of Sociology/Anthropology

- Proposed Joint Major between Sociology/Anthropology and

Criminology

- Proposed Joint Major between Sociology/Anthropology and

Communication"

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

Senate received information that SGSC, acting under delegated authority,

approved curriculum revisions to a number of existing undergraduate courses and

programs in the Department of Archaeology, Cognitive Science Program, School

for the Contemporary Arts, School of Criminology, Department of Economics,

Department of English, First Nations Studies, Department of French, Department

of Geography, Gerontology Program, Department of History, Interdisciplinary

Studies, Latin American Studies Program, Department of Linguistics, Department

of Sociology/Anthropology, Spanish Program, Department of Women's Studies.

iii)

Paper

S.97-88 -

Undergraduate Curriculum Revisions - Faculty of Business

Administration

Moved by D. Gagan, seconded by

Waterhouse

"that Senate approve the revised admission criteria for the Faculty of

Business Administration as set forth in

S.97-88"

Larry Pinfield, Associate Dean, Faculty of Business Administration and Maureen

Fizzell, Undergraduate Curriculum Chair, Faculty of Business Administration were

in attendance in order to respond to questions.

A general concern was expressed about the establishment of direct entry to

programs, especially in Category 1, and opinion was expressed that this process

contradicted the original philosophy of the University. Senate was advised that

the intent of the policy was to offer direct admission to a limited number of

students in order to attract some top level students which the Faculty felt they

were losing to other institutions who admit directly to their programs. The

intended distribution of admissions is Category 1 - 15%, Category

2 - 10%,

Category 3 - 40%

and Category 4 - 35% of students admitted. Although the

Faculty would like to leave a little flexibility in the distribution, there was no

objection to limiting Category 1 to 15%. It was also pointed out that the

percentages relevant to the other categories represented historical averages and

little change would occur from current practice. Concern was expressed that the

document did not reflect the Faculty's intention and request was made that the

document be amended with respect to 15% limit for Category 1. The Chair

noted that the document would be so amended.

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

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Senate received information that SCUS, acting under delegated authority,

approved a number of curriculum revisions to existing undergraduate courses and

programs within the Faculty of Business Administration.

iv)

Paper S. 97-89 - Undergraduate Curriculum Revisions - Faculty of

Education

Moved by D. Gagan, seconded by R. Barrow

"that Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of

Governors, the curriculum revisions for the Faculty of Education as

set forth in S.97-89 - Proposed Minor in Curriculum and Instruction"

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

Senate received information that SCUS, acting under delegated authority,

approved curriculum revisions to a number of existing undergraduate courses and

programs within the Faculty of Education.

Paper S.97-90 - Undergraduate Curriculum Revisions - Faculty of Science

Moved by D. Gagan, seconded by C. Jones

"that Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of

Governors, as set forth in S.97-90, the following curriculum revision

for the Faculty of Science: Proposed Applied Physics Honors

Program"

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

Senate received information that SCUS, acting under delegated authority,

approved curriculum revisions to a number of existing undergraduate courses and

programs in the Department of Chemistry, Applied Physics Program, Biochemistry

Program, Department of Biological Sciences, Actuarial Certificate Program,

Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Environmental Science Program,

Department of Biological Sciences, Earth Sciences Program, Department of

Physics, and the Physical Geography Program.

6. ?

Other Business

Concern was expressed with respect to Monday, December 6th being referred to

as a "Free Day for make up classes and labs" rather than the last day of classes for

the Fall semester 1997. Senate was reminded of a motion passed several years

ago specifying that when the semester commenced in the middle of the first

week, then the semester would officially continue on to include a day such as

Monday, December 6th as a formal class day. The intent of the motion was to

compensate students losing lectures on statutory holiday Mondays. Opinion was

expressed that calling it a "make-up day" results in confusion as to whether or not

it should be treated as a formal class day or not. R. Heath explained that the

wording had been changed in an attempt to clear up confusion with the original

S.M. 1/12/97

Page 7

appearedbut there was no problem changing it back if Senate wished. There

appeared to be a consensus to change back to the original wording "last day of

classes."

Reference was made to the Maclean's issue relating to university ratings.

Although it was nice to see that Simon Fraser University was ranked at the top of

the overall ranking in the comprehensive category for the second year in a row,

concern was expressed about the low ranking SFU received in the 'First Year

Classes Taught by Tenured Faculty' category. Senate was advised that the

Maclean's information is provided by Analytical Studies and SFU has consistently

been below 40% in this category in recent years. D. Gagan informed Senate that

he has previously raised this issue with the Deans and that these statistics were of

concern to his office.

It was suggested that there may be a problem with the methodology used by

Maclean's to collect and analyze the data. D. Gagan advised Senate that the

problem was wide spread across the University and was not merely a function of

methodology. Brief discussion ensued with regard to methodology and some

teaching practices specific to SFU. The Chair indicated that the Vice-President,

Academic will attempt to check out the methodology used by Maclean's and will

review the information and make further investigations into this issue.

7. ?

Information

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

January 5, 1998.

The Open Session adjourned at 7:30 pm. Following a brief recess, the Assembly moved

into Closed Session.

Alison Watt

Director, Secretariat Services