. DRAFT UNTIL APPROVED BY SENATE

Minutes of a Meeting of the Senate of Simon Fraser University held on

Monday, November 1, 2004 in Room 3210 WMC at 5:30 pm

Open Session

Present: Stevenson, Michael, President and Chair of Senate

Absent:

Beynon, Peter

Blackman, Roger

Breden, Felix

Brennand, Tracy

Budd, James

Copeland, Lynn

da Silva, Gisele

Dean, Charmaine

Deigrande, James

Dickinson, John

Apaak, Clement

Fung, Edward

Haunerland, Norbert

Higgins, Anne

Horvath, Adam

Mauser, Gary

McArthur, James

McFetridge, Paul

McInnes, Marcia

Scott, Jamie

Shaker, Paul

Smith, Don

Tombe, Trevor

Wessel, Sylvia

Wong, Milton

Yerbury, Cohn

Driver, Jon

Dunsterville, Valerie

Easton, Stephen

Fizzell, Maureen

Giacomantonio, Chris

Gordon, Irene

Gordon, Robert

Grimmett, Peter

• ?

Gupta, Kamal

Harder, Derrick

Hayes, Michael

Honda, Barry

Hunsdale, Shawn

Johansen, Elinor

Jones, John (representing Brian Lewis)

Krane, Bill

Li, Ze-Nian

Love, Ernie

MacLean, David

MacKenzie, Christine

McKinnon, Stephanie

Percival, Paul

Pierce, John

Pinto, Mario

Plischke, Michael

Rozell, Sara

Sears, Camilla

Schellenberg, Betty

Waterhouse, John

Weeks, Daniel

Wong, Josephine

Woodbury, Robert

Zandvliet, David

Heath, Ron, Dean of Student Services/Registrar

Watt, Alison, Director, University Secretariat

Grant, Bobbie, Recording Secretary

In attendance:

Allen, Diana

Berube, Denis

Hibbitts, Pat

Weinberg, Hal

Whittlesea, Bruce

S.M. 1 November 2004

Page 2

Approval of the Agenda

The Agenda was approved as distributed.

Approval of the Minutes of the O

en Session of October 4, 2004

Reference was made to the motion on page 4. It was pointed out that the word 'set' was

missing from the phrase 'as set forth'. Following this correction, the Minutes were

approved.

Business Arisin

from the Minutes

There was no business arising from the Minutes.

Report of the Chair

i) ?

Paper S.04-77 - Annual financial Statements (For Information)

P. Hibbitts, Vice-President, Finance and Administration, and D. Berube, Director,

Finance and Ancillary Services, were in attendance in order to respond to questions.

Brief discussion ensued with respect to the timing of the report and its presentation to

Senate. Senate was advised that the report was normally forwarded to Senate in

September but this year there were a number of circumstances, including systems

changes, that resulted in a delay this year.

Reference was made to page 2 and concern was expressed about what appeared to be a

budget surplus in the section entitled "Summary of Appropriations". It was noted that the

carry over budget appeared to have significantly increased since last year and an inquiry

was made about this growth. Senate was advised that the carry forward was not

completely surplus money and one of the problems was the way it was reported in the

statements and this is being looked into. Senate was advised that all of the amounts apart

from the Departmental carryovers ($18,228,000) were committed. Department carryovers

identified as commitments by departments for spending were brought into budget, and

the remainder would be available for the future. One significant reason for the increase

in the Appropriations was the one-time-only funding received from the Provincial

Government at the very end of the last fiscal year which was committed primarily to

capital purchases in the current fiscal year.

In response to an inquiry about why there was a discrepancy between the amounts for

revenue/expenses on page 2 and those on page 8, Senate was advised that the figures on

page 2 reflected the operating fund of the University that was the budget approved by the

Board of Governors. The numbers on page 8 incorporate all of the activities of the

university and therefore reflect a larger number than just the operating budget.

Suggestion was made that perhaps the title on page 8 should be changed since the current

title implied an operations budget. Although the overlap between the terms operating

fund and operations was acknowledged, it was pointed out that these terms have been

used consistently as standard terminology in the report for many years and it was better to

retain

Reference

them

was

in order

made

avoid

the debentures

potential confusion.listed

page 14 and the repayment of principle

and interest on the next page. Clarification was requested whether the figures cover the

S.M. 1 November 2004

•

principle

Page

and interest payments due on the total consolidated debt

or just the 16 million.

Brief discussion followed and Senate was advised that a detailed breakdown of the

repayments could be provided on request to D. Berube.

Following further brief discussion about the increase in capital expenditure and revenue

from student fees, the report was received by Senate.

ii) The Chair reported that the University Presidents' Council was actively lobbying

the Government with respect to funding. The public advocacy statement prepared by

TUPC "Our Universities Our Future" which was recently distributed to Senate was felt to

reflect the general needs of the university system in British Columbia. In addition to the

public document, Senate was advised that TUPC produced a confidential budget

submission to the Ministry that attaches firm numbers to the expectations outlined in the

public document, namely funding with respect to grants and research, enrolment growth,

infrastructure needs, student financial assistance, and graduate student funding. The

Chair hoped to be able to report favorable progress by the end of the year or early in the

new year.

Question Period

There were no questions submitted.

. ?

6. ?

Reports of Committees

A) ?

Senate Nominatin g

Committee

Paper S.04-78 (Revised) - Elections

Senate's attention was directed to the revised Senate paper S.04-78 that showed that

additional nominations had been received. Senate was advised that Shawn Hunsdale had

also been nominated to SCIA and his name should be added to the revised paper. The

following are the results of elections to Senate committees.

Senate Committee on Continuing Studies (SCCS)

One Student Senator for term of office to May 31, 2006.

Elected by acclamation:

Shawn Hunsdale

Senate Committee on International Activities (SCIA)

One Undergraduate Student Senator to May 31, 2006.

Elected by acclamation: ?

Shawn Hunsdale

Senate Committee on Disciplinar

y App

eals (SCODA)

One Student (at-large) to May 31, 2005.

Elected by acclamation: ?

Patrick Smith

Senate Committee on Universit

Priorities (SCUP)

One Student Senator to May 31, 2005.

Elected by acclamation:

Shawn Hunsdale

S.M. 1 November 2004

Page 4

Committee to Review the President Prior to Re-Appointment

Two Faculty Senators and one Graduate Student (at-large).

Elected by acclamation - Faculty Senators:

Paul Percival

Betty Schellenberg

Ballot required - Graduate Student (at-large)

Candidates: K. Beck, D. Grant

Elected: ?

Douglas Grant

Research Ethics Board

i) ?

Paper S.04-79 - Annual Report (For Information)

B. Whittlesea, Chair, Research Ethics Board, and H. Weinberg, Secretary, Research

Ethics Board were in attendance in order to respond to questions.

The Annual Report of the Research Ethics Board was received by Senate for information

without questions.

Senate Committee on Universit y

Priorities

i) ?

Paper S.04-80 - External Review - Department of Earth Sciences

Moved by J. Waterhouse, seconded by C. Sears

"that Senate concur with the recommendations from the Senate Committee

on University Priorities concerning advice to the Department of Earth

Sciences on priority items resulting from the external review as outlined in

S.04-80"

D. Allen, Chair of the Department of Earth Sciences, was in attendance in order to

respond to questions.

The following is a summary of the points raised in a discussion concerned mainly with

space and program recommendations:

Space appeared to be the biggest issue facing Earth Sciences and an inquiry was made

as to whether serious consideration was being given to the recommendations relevant

to the space issue. Senate was assured that serious considerations were being given to

this issue by the Administration and it was suggested that the motion before Senate

commits the Dean of Science to seek every means possible to address this issue.

Concern was expressed about two points in the report, namely reports of declining

enrolments in Computing Science and new space opportunities available to

Computing Science at the Surrey campus. Several Senators stressed that enrolment

was not declining in Computing Science and the space issue at the Surrey campus

was not relevant to the space issue at Burnaby.

Reference was made to the departmental statement with respect to space being taken

away from Earth Sciences in the new TASC 1 building. Opinion was expressed that

S.M. 1 November 2004

Page

the space allocations for the new building involved a considerable amount of complex

negotiation resulting in the accommodation of most of Earth Sciences space needs.

However, it was pointed out that the department's statement referred to the original

building plans when the entire bottom floor was allocated to Earth Sciences.

With regard to the recommendation that suggests that Earth Sciences was not

included in the major requirements of other departments, opinion was expressed that

there was more integration amongst programs than was implied in the document. It

was pointed out that at least two Science programs - Physical Geography and the

Pollutant Transport Stream in Environmental Science - required majors to take at

least one introductory course in Earth Sciences and many of these students then go on

to take additional courses in order to fulfill the requirements for the Association of

Professional Geoscientists and Engineers of BC. However, it was noted that these

courses represented very small numbers, approximately five to ten students per year,

and was not the number of enrolments that the Department was hoping to attract.

Senate was advised that the Environmental Science program was expected to expand

as a result of the creation of different streams which it was felt would help to broaden

the representation of Earth Sciences courses.

Reference was made to the response from the Dean (recommendation 9 on page 3)

with regard to the suggestion that Earth Sciences courses be substituted for some of

the Geography courses in various streams. Opinion was expressed that the

recommendation seemed to be against a spirit of collaboration. It was suggested that

EASC courses may be underrepresented in the program, and the Steering Committee

for the Environmental Science program was being asked to look at this issue.

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

D) ?

Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies

Paper S.04-81 - Curriculum Revisions - Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (For

Information)

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

under delegated authority, approved seven new courses and minor revisions to existing

courses, program and degree requirements in the following departments/programs:

Archaeology, Canadian Studies, and School for the Contemporary Arts.

ii)

Paper S.04-82 - Curriculum Revisions - Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (For

Information)

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

under delegated authority, approved twenty new courses, fifteen course deletions, and

minor revisions to existing courses, programs, and degree requirements in the following

departments/programs: Economics, English, First Nations, French, Geography, History,

Humanities, Linguistics, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology and Anthropology.

S.M. 1 November 2004

Page 6

iii) ?

Paper S.04-83 - Curriculum Revisions - Facult

of Science (For Information)

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

under delegated authority, approved one new course, two course deletions, and minor

revisions to existing courses, programs, and degree requirements in the following

departments: Biological Sciences, Earth Sciences, Mathematics, and Molecular Biology

and Biochemistry.

Other Business

A) ?

SFU Library

i) ?

Paper S.04-84 - Annual Report (For Information)

Senate received the Annual Report of the Library for information. Senators were

reminded of the highly positive and excellent external review that was presented to

Senate recently.

Information

The next regularly scheduled meeting of Senate is scheduled for Monday, December 6,

2004, with agenda items for the December meeting due November 18, 2004.

Open Session adjourned at 6:15 pm. Following a five minute recess, Senate moved into Closed

Session.

Alison Watt

Director, University Secretariat