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DRAFT UNTIL APPROVED BY SENATE

Meeting of the Senate of Simon Fraser University held on Monday, March 1, 2004

at 7:00 pm, Asia Pacific Hall, Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue

Open Session

Present: Stevenson, Michael

President and Chair of Senate

Absent:

Apaak, Clement

Atkins, Stella

Beynon, Peter

Budd, James

Clayman, Bruce

Gordon, Robert

Gupta, Kamal

Higgins, Anne

Hira, Andy

Kaila, Pam

Kalanj, Tiffany

Mauser, Gary

McArthur, James

McFetridge, Paul

Naef, Barbara

Thandi, Ranbir

Wessel, Sylvia

Wong, Milton

Yoo, Rick

Brennand, Tracy

Copeland, Lynn

da Silva, Gisele

D'Auria, John

Dickinson, John

Driver, Jon

Dunsterville, Valerie

Fizzell, Maureen

Fung, Edward

Giacomantonio, Chris

Gill, Alison

Gregory, Titus

Grimmett, Peter

Haunerland, Norbert

Heaney, John

Honda, Barry

S ?

Horvath, Adam

Krane, Bill

Lewis, Brian

Love, Ernie

Percival, Paul

Peters, Joseph

Pierce, John

Plischke, Michael

Rozell, Sara

Sears, Camilla

Scott, Jamie

Shaker, Paul

Smith, Don

Tombe, Trevor

Van Aalst, Jan

Waterhouse, John

Weeks, Daniel

Wong, Josephine

Woodbury, Rob

Yerbury, Cohn

Heath, Ron, Dean of Student Services/Registrar

Watt, Alison, Director, University Secretariat

Grant, Bobbie, Recording Secretary

In attendance:

Blackman, Roger

Gillies, Mary Ann

Gobas, Frank

Peterman, Randall

Schmidt, Margaret

Wister, Andrew

S.M. 1 March 2004

Page 2

The Chair welcomed Senate to its first meeting downtown, in the Morris J. Wosk Centre for

Dialogue, saying that it was important for the culture of the University to view all campuses as

integral parts of the University as a whole and that it was appropriate for Senate and other

academic activities to make use of these facilities.

Approval of the Agenda

The Agenda was approved as distributed.

Approval of the Minutes of the Open Session of February 2, 2004

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 reported on the impact of the recent throne speech and budget announcement

by the Provincial Government, but informed Senate that he could not be absolutely

precise with respect to the information since the formal budget letters from the Ministry

have not yet been transmitted to the University. The Chair felt this particular budget

represented a significant change in the recognition of higher education as a priority in

public policy, as the problem of accessibility to universities and the underfunding of

university spaces has been recognized, and a commitment has been made to increase the

post secondary system in BC by 25,000 FTEs. Funding is expected to flow for this

enrolment growth over the next five years. However, it is not yet known what proportion

of the 25,000 will be allocated to SFU and the other universities. The restoration of

operating funding was achieved by the Ministry abolishing the grants to students in the

BC financial assistance program, and this is problematic in what otherwise would be

considered a very positive budget. He noted that the grant program funds were being

increasingly used up by grants to students of private post-secondary institutions.

However, although details are not yet known, the Government intends to expand loan

programs for students and introduce a loan remission/completion grant program. The

Chair advised Senate that with the advice of the Senate Committee on University

Priorities, the University is working very hard to model the impact of the restored

operating grant to mitigate tuition fee increases and to adjust the student financial

assistance programs within the university, particularly the bursary program, in ways

which will help the least well off students and mitigate further hardships due to the

elimination of the Government grant program.

A Student Senator pointed out that it was hard to view the budget announcement in a

positive light when less money was coming to students, which makes it more difficult for

students to finish their education and harder for students to participate in university

activities such as being on Senate.

Question Period

Referring to the recent distribution of T2202A tax forms to students, P. Percival advised

that many of the forms, particularly the ones for students with tuition waivers contained

S.M. 1 March 2004

Page 3

• errors. A question was raised as to whether these errors were the result of deficiencies in

the new Peoplesoft system. R. Heath advised that there were a number of problems

associated with the T2202A forms, not the least of which was that the forms were not

received from the Government and special forms had to be printed internally by

Reprographics. With regard to the new system, the Canadian tax elements had to be

specifically input and mistakes could have occurred. R. Heath advised that he was not

aware of errors but if the specific error could be identified he would investigate.

6. ?

Reports of Committees

A) ?

Senate Committee on University Priorities

1) ?

Paper S.04-16 - External Review - School of Resource and Environmental

Management

Moved by J. Waterhouse, seconded by J. Pierce

"that Senate concur with the recommendations from the Senate Committee

on University Priorities concerning advice to the School of Resource and

Environmental Management on priority items resulting from the external

review as outlined in S.04-16"

F. Gobas, Director, School of Resource and Environmental Management, was in

attendance in order to respond to questions.

Question was called, and a vote taken. ?

MOTION CARRIED

ii) ?

Paper S.04-17 - Proposal for a Graduate Diploma in

q uantitative Methods in

Fisheries Management

Moved by J. Waterhouse, seconded by P. Percival

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

the proposal for a Graduate Diploma in Quantitative Methods in Fisheries

Management, as set forth in S.04-17"

R. Peterman, School of Resource and Environmental Management was in attendance in

order to respond to questions.

It was noted that the documentation indicated that the students interested in taking this

program would be persons who are working full-time and concern was expressed about

the requirement to attend normal day sessions. A question was raised if the development

of courses over the Internet had been considered. Senate was advised that the nature of

the material made it very difficult to teach over the Internet and it was much more

• ?

effective to have direct classroom interaction between faculty and students. It was noted

that full-time employees from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans who are current

S.M. 1 March 2004

Page

students had managed to arrange changes in their work hours to attend daytime courses

and in discussions with them this did not seem to be a particular problem.

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

iii)

Paper S.04-18 - Departmental Status for Gerontology

Moved by J. Waterhouse, seconded by D. Weeks

"that Senate approve the proposal for Departmental status for

Gerontology"

A. Wister, Director, Gerontology Program was in attendance in order to respond to

questions.

Concerns were raised about the small number of faculty members and the effectiveness

of an administrative unit of this size with respect to administrative functions such as

search committees for new faculty, and tenure, promotion and salary committees. Senate

was advised that this would not change with departmental status because current

members of the unit already carry out these responsibilities. It was also expected that

once Gerontology becomes a department, one or two individuals from the Steering

Committee would likely become Associate Members.

Opinion was expressed that it lrcal for Gerontology to become involved with the

new Faculty of Health Sciences, and concern was expressed that this would spread

faculty resources even thinner. Question was raised if there were any plans for possible

expansion if departmental status were granted. Senate was advised that there were no

immediate plans for expansion beyond one possible cross appointment with Health

Sciences, and expectations were that any involvement of Gerontology with Health

Sciences would balance out between the two Faculties.

A question was raised as to why Gerontology was seeking departmental status. It was

noted that Gerontology had become a discipline in its own right, the current program had

a very strong national and international reputation, and it was logical to move the

discipline forward in this way. Becoming a department would provide more appropriate

status within the University, on committees, and within the larger academic community,

and it would also help to attract research grants.

It was noted that the main focus of Gerontology was at the graduate level and question

was raised about possible plans to meet undergraduate needs. Senate was advised that

there was a very successful PBD program and that a minor program had recently been

introduced, so there was currently a strong undergraduate curriculum.

Question was called, and a vote taken. ?

MOTION CARRIED

S.M. 1 March 2004

Page

iv)

Paper S.04-19

Dissolution of the Centre for Environmental Biology

Senate was advised of an error on the front page of the documentation. The first sentence

should be a recommendation from the Senate Graduate Studies Committee, not the Dean.

The paper was amended accordingly with no objection.

Moved by J. Waterhouse, seconded by N. Haunerland

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

dissolution of the Centre for Environmental Biology effective

immediately"

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

V) ?

Paper S.04-20 -

2002/2003

Centres and Institutes Report (For Information)

Reference was made to Section 3.6 on page 21 of the documentation. It was noted that

the policy requires the President to take this report to the Board of Governors and, even

though the report routinely comes to Senate for information, there is no formal

requirement for presentation to Senate in the Policy. Suggestion was made that the

Policy be amended to include transmission of the report to Senate. The Vice-President

Academic indicated that although this seemed like a logical revision he would like to

review this suggestion with the Vice-President, Research and report back.

Following the above discussion, Senate received the above-noted report for information.

B) ?

Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies

R. Blackman, Chair of SCUS, M.A. Gillies, Associate Dean, Faculty of Arts, and M.

Schmidt, Chair, Department of Geography were in attendance in order to speak to the

following SCUS items.

i) ?

Paper S.04-21 - Curriculum Revisions - Facult

of Arts

Motion 1

Moved by J. Pierce, seconded by J. Waterhouse

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

as set forth in S.04-21, a new Joint Program between the Departments of

Political Science and French - French Language Cohort Program in Public

Administration and Community Services, effective Fall Semester 2004"

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

Motion 2

Moved by J. Pierce, seconded by J. Waterhouse

S.M. 1 March 2004

Page

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

as set forth in S.04-21, the new B.Sc. in Geographic Information Science

Program in the Faculty of Applied Sciences, effective Fall Semester 2004"

Reference was made to the "contingent" note with respect to approval by SCUP. Senate

was informed that the issue was not considered at the February 25' meeting of SCUP

because SCUP was deeply engrossed in discussions and deliberations over advice to the

President on budget matters. However, since all members of SCUP were also Senators

and could express their views at Senate, suggestion was made that Senate and SCUP

could simultaneously consider the motion. There were no objections to this suggestion.

In response to an inquiry about funding for this new program, Senate was advised that

funds were available from the Double the Opportunity Fund created by the Government

to increase the number of students in Computing Science and Engineering. The grant

funding under the DTO program, plus tuition paid by students in the program will be

allocated in support of the program. Senate was assured that this was a very large growth

area with considerable student demand.

Discussion turned to the curriculum design of the program. Opinion was expressed that

the program appeared to be largely technical and a question arose as to why the social

application area was relatively light. Senate was advised that Geography already has full

programs in social application areas and this program was meant to be quite a technical

program for students who want to make advances in geographic information science and

have some amount of background in various application areas.

Question was called, and a vote taken. ?

MOTION CARRIED

Senate received information that the Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies, acting

under delegated authority approved a change to the application procedure for students

admitted to the School of Criminology, Major, Minor and Honors programs; and a new

course and calendar revisions to reflect the new course in the Department of French. In

response to an inquiry, a brief explanation was provided with respect to the change in

application procedure in Criminology.

ii)

Paper S.04-22 - Curriculum Revision - Faculty of Business Administration

Senate received information that the Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies, acting

under delegated authority, approved a change of credit hour for BUS 417.

iii)

Paper S.04-23 - Curriculum Revisions - Faculty of Applied Sciences

Senate received information that the Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies, acting

under delegated authority, approved six new courses, deleted three courses, and approved

minor revisions to existing courses and programs in the School of Computing Science.

S.M. 1 March 2004

Page

C) ?

Senate Nominating Committee

i) ?

Paper S.04-24 -Elections

The following are the results of elections to the following Senate Committees:

Senate Committee on International Activities (SCIA)

One Faculty Senator to replace C. Jones for term of office to May 31, 2004.

Elected by acclamation: ?

Dan Weeks

Diverse

ualifications Adjudication Committee (DOAC)

One Undergraduate Student (at-large) to replace J. Lemay for term of office to May 31,

2004.

Elected by acclamation: ?

Shawn Hunsdale

Committee to Review Universit y

Admissions (CRUA)

One Undergraduate Student Alternate (at-large) to replace J. Lemay for term of office to

May 31, 2005.

Elected by acclamation: ?

Shawn Hunsdale

Research Ethics Board (REB)

One Student (at-large) to replace J. Lemay for term of office to May 31, 2005.

Candidates: S. Hunsdale, S. McGrath

Elected: ?

Spencer McGrath

The remaining vacancies on the Senate Committee on International Activities (one

Undergraduate Student Senator), the Senate Committee on Continuing Studies (one

Student Senator), and the Electoral Standing Committee (One Student Senator) were

carried forward.

Other Business

The Chair reported that this was the last meeting for two Order-In-Council Senators,

Barbara Naef and Ranbir Thandi. Although neither were present, the Chair wished to

acknowledge their service, particularly B. Naef who has long served Senate and done

extensive committee work. On behalf of Senate, the Chair expressed thanks to both

Senators. Senate was reminded that under recent amendments to the University Act, OIC

appointments were being retired as their terms expire.

Information

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

2004 at

the Burnaby campus.

The Open Session adjourned at 8:20 pm and Senate moved directly into Closed Session.

Alison Watt

Director, University Secretariat