DRAFT UNTIL APPROVED BY SENATE
Minutes of a Meeting of the Senate of Simon Fraser University held on
Monday, November 4, 2002 at 5:30 pm in Room 3210 WMC
Open Session
Present: Stevenson, Michael, President and Chair of Senate
.
Al Natour, Sameh
Absent:
Andrews, Ian
Aloi, Santa
Atkins, Stella
Apaak, Clement
Beynon, Peter
Chen, Danny
Bourke, Brynn
Garcia, Carlos
Blackman, Roger
Gerson, Carole
Brokenshire, David
Gill, Alison
Clayman, Bruce
Grimmett, Peter
D'Auria, John
Gupta, Kamal
Davidson, Willie
Heaney, John
Driver, Jon
Higgins, Anne
Dunsterville, Valerie
Hill, Ross
Fizzell, Maureen (representing E. Love)
Jones, Cohn
Gordon, Robert
Jones, John
Harris, Mary (representing L. Copeland)
Mauser, Gary
Haunerland, Norbert
McArthur, James
Horvath, Adam
McFetridge, Paul
Jackson, Margaret
Naef, Barbara
Jensen, Britta
Peters, Joseph
Kemper, Michelle
Poirier, Guy
Krane, Bill
Russell, Robert
Lewis, Brian
Thandi, Ranbir
Percival, Paul
Vaisey, Jacques
Phipps, Kate
Warren, Joel
Poletz, Taira
Weldon, Larry
Smith, Don
Wong, Milton
Tyab, Azam
Zaichkowsky, Judith
Van Aalst, Jan
Waterhouse, John
Wessel, Silvia
In attendance:
Yerbury, Cohn
French, Charlotte
Heath, Ron, Dean of Student Services/ Registrar
Watt, Alison, Director, University Secretariat
Grant, Bobbie, Recording Secretary
S.M. 4 November 2002
Page
1.
Approval of the Agenda
The Agenda was approved as distributed.
2.
Approval of the Minutes of the Open Session of October 7, 2002
Several grammatical /typographical errors were noted and would be corrected
by the Secretary, following which the Minutes were approved.
3.
Business Arising from the Minutes
There was no business arising from the Minutes.
4.
Report of the Chair
The Chair reported the sad news of the death of two colleagues - Iris Garland,
recently retired faculty member, School of Contemporary Arts, and Ellen Gee,
the serving Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. On behalf
of Senate, the Chair extended condolences to their families.
Senate received a brief report on the Chair's recent visit to China which included
the renewal of the existing partnership with Jilin University and the discussion of
possible exchange relationships with several other prominent universities in
China.
The Chair reported on recent meetings in Ottawa of the AUCC. He noted that
since the AUCC membership has expanded to include University Colleges and
private institutions, the institutional identity and advocacy of AUCC have
become more complicated. Support for the Federal Government's Innovation
Agenda remains solid, although there are concerns that funding mechanisms will
continue to favour the larger research institutions. There is a concern that these
institutions increasingly operate in isolation.
Reference was made to recent press announcements concerning the future of the
Open Learning Agency. The Chair reported that the Ministry has assured post
secondary institutions that the role served by OLA in advanced education would
continue to be served although details have not yet been announced. With
respect to the OLA electronic library network, strong representation will be
made to ensure the continuation of the quality and effectiveness of this library
service.
Referring to a government press release about the future funding of student
organizations, the Chair advised that the University has not been a party to any
discussions of this issue within the university system or with government. The
Chair felt that any legislative change would necessitate very careful thinking
about how student society organizations would be structured and financed and
the university's position would be to support the status quo.
6.
Reports of Committees
A)
Senate Nominating Committee
S.M. 4 November 2002
Page 3
.
i)
Paper S.02-76 (Revised) - Elections
Senate's attention was drawn to the revised copy of Senate paper S.02-76 which
included additional nominations. Reza Pourvali was elected by acclamation to
the Committee to Review University Admissions and the Senate Library
Committee /Library Penalties Appeal Committee; Wojtek Gerwel was elected by
acclamation to the Senate Committee on Disciplinary Appeals; and Nicola Kretz
was elected by acclamation to the Senate Appeals Board.
Balloting was required for the student position on the Research Ethics Board.
There were two candidates: K. Muis, R. Pourvali
Elected for term of office to May 31, 2003:
Krista Muis
All other vacancies would be carried forward to the next meeting of Senate.
B)
Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies
i)
Paper S.02-75 - Undergraduate Curriculum Revisions - Faculty of Arts
Moved by R. Blackman, Seconded by M. Kemper
"that Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of
Governors, as set forth in S.02-75, the new Certificate Program in
Labour Studies, effective Fall Semester 2003"
S
Question was called, and a vote taken.
MOTION CARRIED
Senate received information that the Senate Committee on Undergraduate
Studies, acting under delegated authority, approved curriculum revisions in the
following departments/ schools /programs: Archaeology, Asia-Canada program,
Contemporary Arts, Criminology, Economics, English, Geography, History,
Humanities, Linguistics, Political Science and Sociology and Anthropology.
C)
Senate Policy Committee on Scholarships. A
i)
Paper S.02-77 - Annual Report - For Inform
C. French, Director, Student Academic Resources, was in attendance in order to
respond to questions.
Senate was advised that the report ended as of April 1", 2002 which was before
the tuition fee increase was implemented.
In response to an inquiry about how the process worked with respect to self
reporting of grades for entrance scholarships, Senate was advised that all grades
were verified and offers were conditional until the grades were confirmed. In
cases where students have estimated their grades, the final grades have been
very close to those estimates. The process allows SFU to make connections with
potential students much earlier in the year and appears to be working well.
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S.M. 4 November 2002
Page 4
Clarification was requested with respect to the sentence in the third to last bullet
on page 2 of the report. It was noted that the word 'increases' was missing and
is
that the last part of the sentence should read
"
...before the implementation of
tuition fee increases."
Following this change, the report was received by Senate for information.
D)
Senate Committee on University Priorities
i)
Paper S.02-78 - Establishment of the Centre for Wildlife Ecology
Moved by B. Clayman, seconded by P. Percival
"that Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of
Governors the establishment of the Centre for Wildlife Ecology as
outlined in document S.02-78"
An error was noted on the cover sheet and the reporting authority was changed
from the Vice-President, Research to the Dean of Science.
Question was called, and a vote taken.
MOTION CARRIED
ii)
Paper S.02-79 - Establishment of the Centre for Public Policy Research
Moved by B. Clayman, seconded by R. Blackman
"that Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of
Governors the establishment of the Centre for Public Policy
Research as outlined in document S.02-79"
A similar error was noted on the cover sheet and the reporting authority was
changed from the Vice-President, Research to the Dean of Arts.
Concern was expressed about the success of the Centre when such a low budget
was proposed. Senate was advised that the Faculty of Arts felt confident that the
proposed funding would allow the Centre to get established and it was expected
to attract sufficient funding to carry on.
It was suggested that from the perspective of accountability it would be more
appropriate for the student representative on the Steering Committee to be
appointed by the Graduate Issues Committee of SFSS rather than by the Dean of
Arts. Brief discussion ensued with respect to the role of the Graduate Issues
Committee. It was pointed out that the intent was that the student
representative would be drawn from the student body of the Master of Public
Policy Program and that the GIC would not be the appropriate body to make
that appointment.
A suggestion that the Dean of Arts would consult with the MPP graduate
students when making the student appointment was accepted as a
friendly
amendment.
S.M. 4 November 2002
Page 5
40
Inquiry was made as to why Centres reported to Faculty Deans rather than the
Dean of Graduate Studies. Brief discussion followed with respect to this issue. It
was noted that while Centres in many universities report to the Dean of
Graduate Studies, SF1) was organized differently and Centres have historically
reported to Faculty Deans. If there was an interest to change the reporting
structure a process is available to make changes.
Question was called, and a vote taken.
MOTION CARRIED
E)
Senate Committee on Agenda and Rules
i)
Oral Report
The Chair reported that a motion had been received by SCAR from M. Kemper
with respect to the establishment of a process to review questions of accessibility
and the impact of tuition fees on accessibility. SCAR reviewed the motion and
decided not to forward the motion to Senate since the intent of the motion
overlapped a decision already taken by the Board of Governors. The Board felt it
was important to review the questions raised last Spring by students and had
instructed its Finance and Administration Committee to assess the impact of
tuition fee increases on accessibility. This committee felt there were a number of
other bodies, particularly Senate committees, which had jurisdiction over this
issue, so SPCSAB had been asked to review and report back on the restructuring
• and increased funding of student financial assistance programs at SFU to see
whether this meets demand and satisfies questions of accessibility for students in
need. SCEMP has been asked to review the ways that tuition fee increases might
have affected application, acceptance and retention rates and enrolment patterns
at the university. In accordance with the legislative requirement that a Senate
committee review budget priorities and advise the President on the budget, the
Board has also asked SCUP to look at the framing of the budget and its
implications with respect to accessibility. Senior administrators have been asked
by the Board to support these review initiatives and the Office of Institutional
Analysis is preparing a survey of students who applied to universities last year
to find out what impact tuition fees had on their choice to attend or not. All of
the committees have been asked to carry out their reviews and report back to the
Board. Senate will be kept apprised of this matter and this exercise will assist the
Board in framing the budget and tuition policy in the coming year. The Chair
indicated that the consultative process of last year would be repeated and in fact
expanded to include consultations with Faculties.
M. Kemper thanked the President and SCAR for their attention to the issue. She
indicated that students feel quite strongly about increased fees and their impact
on a student's access to post-secondary education. She acknowledged that there
were different committees with jurisdiction for this issue but the purpose of the
motion was to draw that mandate under one committee and she hoped that all
the committees that will be reviewing this question would take their task
seriously.
S.M. 4 November 2002
Page 6
An opinion was expressed that many high school students are simply not
applying to the University and a question was posed as to whether the survey
would include high school students in general'. The Chair indicated that to his
knowledge the survey was not directed towards high school students.
7.
Other Business
There was no other business.
8.
Information
The date of the next regularly scheduled meeting of Senate is Monday, December
2, 2002.
The Open Session adjourned at 6:15 pm and Senate moved directly into Closed Session.
Alison Watt
Director, University Secretariat
a
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