DRAFT UNTIL APPROVED BY SENATE

Minutes of a Meeting of the Senate of Simon

Fraser University held on

Monday, April 2, 2001 at 5:30 pm in Room 3210 WMC

Open Session

Present: ?

Stevenson, Michael, Chair and President

Absent: ?

Budra, Paul

Atkins, Stella

Chan, Albert

Bawa, Parveen

D'Auria, John

Chang, Jack

Deigrande, James

Clayman, Bruce

Dunsterville, Valerie

Cooper, Kait

Finley, David

Copeland, Lynn

Giffen, Ken

Davidson, Willie

Grimmett, Peter

Dill, Larry

Hold, Angela

Driver, Jon

Klymson, Sarah

Gerson, Carole

Livadiotakis, Georgia

Gill, Alison

Love, Ernie

Gupte, Jaideep

Miralles-Sanchez, Veronika

Hill, Ross

Naef, Barbara

Jackson, Margaret

Ogloff, James

Jones, John

Paterson, David

LaRocque, Linda

Peters, Joseph

S ?

Marteniuk, Ron

Mauser, Gary

Sanghera, Baiwant

Warsh, Michael

McArthur, James

Wessel, Silvia

McFetridge, Paul

Wong, Milton

McInnes, Dina

Yau, David

Osborne, Judith

Yerbury, Cohn

Percival, Paul

Zaichkowsky, Judith

Pierce, John

Runyowa, Mac

Russell, Robert

Sirri, Odai

Smith, Michael

In attendance:

Steinbach, Christopher

Heath, Nick

Stewart, Ryan

McBride, Stephen

Thompson, Janny (representing R. Barrow)

Waterhouse, John

Weldon, Larry

Wortis, Michael

Zazkis, Rina

Heath, Ron, Dean of Student Services and Registrar

Watt, Alison, Director, University Secretariat

Grant, Bobbie, Recording Secretary

S.M. 2 April 2001

Page 2

1. ?

Approval of the Agenda

The Agenda was approved as distributed.

2. ?

Approval of the Minutes of the Open Session of March 5, 2001

The Minutes were approved as distributed.

3. ?

Business Arising from the Minutes

There was no business arising from the Minutes.

4. ?

Report of the Chair

On behalf of Senate, the Chair welcomed newly elected student senators J.

Chang and 0. Sirri to the meeting.

ii)

The death of former Chancellor, Board member, and benefactor of SFU,

Jack Diamond, was noted with sadness and, on behalf of Senate, the Chair

expressed condolences to members of his family.

iii)

The Chair reported that very little had changed with respect to the budget

situation since his report at the previous meeting. Confirmation

describing the broad parameters of the budget and the one-time only

infrastructure funding as previously reported had been received but the

official budget letter defining exact transfers to the university had not yet

been received.

5. ?

Ouestion Period

A question as to whether Senate could be assured that everything possible was

being done to include qualified female candidates in searches for senior

administrative appointments was submitted by P. Percival. The Chair assured

Senate that he and other members of the senior administration share the concern

about the under representation of women in senior positions within the

university and that he would not be satisfied that everything was being done

until qualified female candidates were regularly included on short lists and

appointed to senior administrative positions.

Reports of Committees

Senate Nominating Committee

i) ?

Paper S.01-27 - Elections to Senate Committees

Senate was advised that no nominations had been received for student positions

for any of the committees listed in S.01-27. These vacancies would be carried

forward.

Senate Committee on University Priorities

i) ?

Paper S.01-28 - External Review - Department of Political Science

Moved by J

Waterhouse, seconded by J

Pierce ?

S.M. 2 April 2001

Page 3

• "that Senate concur with the recommendation from the Senate

Committee on University Priorities concerning advice to the

Department of Political Science on priority items resulting from the

external review, as outlined in S.01-28"

S. McBride, Chair of the Department of Political Science was in attendance in

order to respond to questions.

Reference was made to the Department's success in increasing the proportion of

female faculty and brief discussion took place with respect to the departmental

hiring process.

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

ii)

Paper S.01-29 - SCUP Budget Guidelines

(For Information)

Senate received information that the Senate Committee on University Priorities

had developed and approved a Budget Considerations document to provide a

framework for how it would fulfill item 7 of its mandate which directed SCUP to

provide advice to the President on the annual operating budget, annual capital

budget, and Five Year Capital Plan before submission to the Board of Governors

for approval.

Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies

i) ?

Paper S.01-30 - Grade requirement for Transfer Credit - Exchange

Students

Moved by P. Bawa, seconded by J

Osborne

"that Senate approve that SFU students who are participating in

formal exchange programs receive exchange credit for courses

completed at the host university with a passing grade (equivalent

of 50%) effective immediately"

N. Heath, Director of Admissions, was in attendance in order to respond to

questions.

It was noted that a level of C or 60% was required for transfer credit and that the

base level GPA required to graduate was 2.0 or C-level. An objection to the

motion was voiced, with concern expressed that allowing students to receive

credit for courses passed with a grade equivalent of 50% would be lowering

current standards. It was also pointed out that even though exchange credits

were included in the total number of credits counted towards a degree they were

not included in the GPA calculation so exchange students, unlike other students,

were not required to offset poor grades by higher grades in order to meet the

minimum GPA requirement for graduation.

Senate was advised that students were required to have at least a 2.76 GPA to

participate in an exchange program and on occasion, because of cultural and

S.M. 2 April 2001

Page 4

language difficulties experienced in a foreign country, these students may not

perform at their normal level of achievement. Opinion was expressed that the

current policy was a disincentive for students to participate in an exchange

program, particularly in a foreign language, and that the proposed motion

would provide students with a little more security to explore and broaden their

academic experience.

It was suggested that since this pertained to a very small number of cases, it

might be better to deal with each case on an individual basis. An alternative

view was expressed that a clear policy would avoid inconsistent treatment on a

case by case basis.

It was pointed out that 60% was considered an extremely good mark in some

universities in other countries and opinion was expressed that the 50% figure

may not be relevant.

Senate was advised that the reference to 50% was intended for clarification but

seemed to be causing confusion. A suggestion by R. Heath to strike the phrase

was accepted as a friendly amendment with the motion revised as follows:

"that Senate approve that SFU students who are participating in

formal exchange programs receive exchange credit for courses

completed at the host university with a passing grade, effective

immediately"

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

Other Business

There was no other business.

Information

Date of the next regularly scheduled meeting of Senate is Monday, May 14, 2001.

Open Session ended at 5:59 pm and Senate moved directly into Closed Session.

Alison Watt

Director, University Secretariat