DRAFT UNTIL APPROVED BY SENATE

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

Monday, December

2005 at 7:00 pm in Room 3210 WMC

Open Session

Absent:

Apaak, Clement

Breden, Felix

Dickinson, John

Dickinson, Peter

Ester, Martin

Grimmett, Peter

Honda, Barry

Javed, Waseem

Johansen, Elinor

LaBrie, John

Louie, Brandt

Love, Ernie

McArthur, James

Scott, Jamie

Tilley, Kevin

Weeks, Daniel

Woodbury, Robert

Zandvhiet, David

Present:

Stevenson, Michael, President and Chair of Senate

Brennand, Tracy

Budd, James

Caufield, Sarah

Copeland, Lynn

Corbett, Kitty

Delgrande, James

Driver, Jon

Easton, Stephen

Fizzell, Maureen

Fleming-Saraceno, David

Francis, June

Gordon, Irene

Gordon, Robert

Halpern, Erica

Harder, Derrick

Haunerland, Norbert

Hayes, Michael

Horvath, Adam

Hunsdale, Shawn

Joffres, Michel

Jones, John (representing B. Lewis)

Krane, Bill

MacKenzie, Christine

MacLean, David

Magee, Sean

Percival, Cohn

Percival, Paul

Pierce, John

Pinto, Mario

Plischke, Michael

Schellenberg, Betty

Shaker, Paul

Smith, Don

Uhlmann, Sasha

Van Baarsen, Amanda

Warner, D'Arcy

Waterhouse, John

Williams, Peter

Wong, Josephine

Heath, Ron, Registrar

Watt, Alison, Director, University Secretariat

Grant, Bobbie, Recording Secretary

In attendance:

Amundsen, Cheryl

Davidson, Allan

Hinchhiffe, Jo

MacLeod, Richard

McAllister, David

O'Neill, Kevin

Rahilly, Tim

Trottier, Howard

S.M.

December 2005

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Approval of the Agenda

The Agenda was approved as distributed.

Approval of the Minutes of the Open Session of November 7. 2005

The Minutes were approved as distributed.

Business Arising from the Minutes

There was no business arising from the minutes.

Report of the Chair

There was no report from the Chair.

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Question Period

A question was raised by D. Harder with respect to an international student recruitment

proposal that was being considered by the Senate Committee on University Priorities at

its next meeting. It was noted that the intent was to forward a recommendation on the

proposal to the February meeting of the Board of Governors, and a concern was

expressed that this short timeline did not allow adequate time for a broad discussion of

this matter by the university community.

As part of background information that was provided to Senate, it was pointed out that

Senate had previously approved an internationalization strategy for the University. One

of the components of the strategy related to attracting international undergraduate

students to SFU, and a target of 10% of the undergraduate student population was

approved for the admission of undergraduate international students. Recruiting

undergraduate international students involves partnerships with international recruiting

companies or agents, and the proposal before SCUP involves engaging a private

company for the purpose of the recruitment of international undergraduate students. The

company in question has offered SFU the possibility of partnering with them but has

given a fairly firm deadline of February

15th

for the University's response. The intent is to

have a full consultation and to put as much information as possible before the

community. It is hoped that in spite of the fairly tight timeline a decision can be reached.

If it turns out that there are important issues or significant concerns that cannot be

resolved, then either the offer must be rejected or an extension sought.

6. ?

Reports of Committees

A) ?

Paper S.05-121 - Annual Report on Student Discipline Matters 2004/2005

The following persons were in attendance in order to respond to questions: H. Trottier,

Past Co-ordinator and D. MacAlister, current Co-ordinator of the University Board on

Student Discipline; R. MacLeod, Secretary, Senate Committee on Disciplinary Appeals;

and R. Heath, Registrar.

Discussion took place with respect to UBSD cases 04-9 and

05-4

and Senate was

provided with a brief explanation as to why the sanctions were different in these similar

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December 2005

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cases, and why there was no reference to action taken against other parties involved in

these offences.

Reference was made to the increase in numbers of non-academic discipline as outlined on

page 6 and an inquiry was made as to the reason. Senate was advised that part of the

reason was due to having a greater population of students on campus all of the time and

the increase seems to be coincident with the opening of the new residences last year. It

was also suggested that the increase represents more diligence on the part of the

Bookstore with regard to loss prevention.

R. Gordon, Chair of the Senate Committee on Academic Integrity in Student Learning

and Evaluation, advised Senate that the Committee will be looking at policies and

processes with respect to final examinations, as well as issues and concerns such as those

indicated on page 4 of the report from SCODA.

The Chair, on behalf of Senate, thanked everyone involved for the report and for their

involvement in this very important part of university life.

Senate Committee on University Priorities

i) ?

Paper S.05-122 - MEd. MA an PhD in Educational Technology and Learning

Design

Moved by J. Waterhouse, seconded by P. Shaker

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

proposal for the MEd, MA, and PhD in Educational Technology and

Learning Design in the Faculty of Education, including the following new

courses: EDUC 890,891,892,893,894,930,931,932"

C. Amundsen and K. O'Neill both from the Faculty of Education were available in order

to respond to questions.

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

ii) ?

Paper S.05-123 - Bachelor of Arts in Health Sciences

Moved by J. Waterhouse, seconded by D. MacLean

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

proposal for a Bachelor of Arts in Health Sciences (Major, Honors, and

Minor in Health Sciences) offered by the Faculty of Health Sciences"

D. MacLean, Senator and Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, N. Haunerland,

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Senator and Undergraduate Curriculum Chair in the Faculty of Health Sciences, and A.

Davidson, Faculty of Health Sciences were available in order to respond to questions.

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December 2005

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course

Reference

outlines,

was made

Senate

to the

was

list

informed

of courses

that

the

page

Senate

10. In

Committee

response

to an

Undergraduate

inquiry about

Studies reviewed detailed course outlines for each course and had considerable

discussion that resulted in revisions being made and brought back to SCUS prior to

approval and presentation of the new courses to Senate.

Discussion ensued with respect to the amount of Science required for some of the

proposed courses and concern was expressed about the development of these courses in

advance of having the faculty in place to teach them. Senate was advised that the

program will be phased in and that the program of courses to some extent will define

future faculty hiring. Specific reference was made to HSCI 210, 211 and 212 and a

concern was expressed about an apparent lack of biology requirements as prerequisites to

these courses. Senate was advised that students would have some introductory

background through required courses in the first year but it was stressed that since these

courses were intended to be interdisciplinary it was unlikely that any student would have

a strong background in all areas covered by the courses.

Brief discussion followed with respect to funding for teaching assistants, the relationship

of the IHRE to the Faculty of Health Sciences, and priorities for the hiring of new faculty

members.

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

iii) ?

Paper S.05-124

Masters of Science in Population and Public Health

Moved by J. Waterhouse, seconded by D. MacLean

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

proposal for a Masters of Science in Population and Public Health in the

Faculty of Health Sciences"

D. MacLean, Senator and Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, N. Haunerland,

Senator and Undergraduate Curriculum Chair in the Faculty of Health Sciences, and A.

Davidson, Faculty of Health Sciences, R. Lockhart, Statistics and Actuarial Science were

in attendance in order to respond to questions.

Reference was made to the first paragraph on page 44. The information about programs

in Geography was misleading as graduate students in the social sciences program receive

MA credentials not MSc credentials.

A discussion followed with respect to completion time and the frequency of course

elective offerings.

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

S.M.

December 2005

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Paper S.05-125 - Simons Foundation International Endowment Fund - Terms of

Reference

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iv)

Moved by J. Waterhouse, seconded by J. Pierce

"that Senate approve the terms of reference for the Simons Foundation

International Endowment Fund"

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

C) ?

Senate Policy Committee on Scholarships. Awards and Bursaries

i) ?

Paper S.05-126 - Annual Report (For Information)

S. Easton, Senator and Chair of the Senate Policy Committee on Scholarships, Awards

and Bursaries, and T. Rahilly, Student Services were available in order to respond to

questions.

Reference was made to pages 6 and 7 with respect to the disbursement of the Dean's

Scholarship in Science and the Tadeusz Specht Memorial Science scholarship. Both

scholarships appear to have a disappointing rate of acceptance. Senate was advised that

the low acceptance rates appear to follow the general trend in terms of acceptances to

. offers of admission that are also lower for the Faculty of Science than the rest of the

university. By way of explanation for the low acceptance rate, it was reported that there

was a widespread assumption that students interested in medicine or other science related

professional schools feel they have an advantage taking their undergraduate studies at a

school that offers those particular programs. Another factor appears to be the

attractiveness of the Science One program at UBC despite the short supply of spaces in

that program. It is important to raise the profile of the Sciences at SFU and it is hoped

that the University will be able to fashion attractive recruitment initiatives to increase the

acceptance rate of Science students to offers from SFU.

A concern relating to the lack of an academic component in athletic and recreation

awards was raised. While academic achievement was not a requirement for these awards,

it was noted that awards were only given to students in good academic standing, and the

ethos of the SFU athletic programs is to ensure that the academic and the athletic sides of

a student's career are well balanced.

Following discussion, the report was received for information.

C) ?

Calendar Committee

i) ?

Paper S.05-127 - Schedule of Dates 2006-2009

Moved by J. Waterhouse, seconded by M. Fizzell

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December 2005

Page

"that Senate approve the proposed academic calendar schedule of dates for

2006-3 to 2009-2"

J. Hinchliffe, Secretary, Calendar Committee was in attendance in order to respond to

questions.

A Student Senator expressed concern over the lack of a reading break in Spring 2007

semester and inquired if any alternatives, such as extending classes by a week, were

considered. Senate was reminded of the Senate approved policy with regard to Easter. In

Spring 2007 because of when Easter falls, it is not feasible to schedule a reading break. It

was also pointed out that because SFU operates on a trimester system, any change of

schedule in the Spring semester subsequently affects the summer and fall semesters and if

classes were extended in the Spring by one week, students would not get any break at all

at the end of the summer semester.

A Senator made reference to the notation about the possibility of scheduling exams on

Sundays and inquired about the impact of this practice on unionized employees. Senate

was reminded that the course scheduling policy recently approved by Senate included the

option of scheduling classes on Sunday and it was pointed out that the occasional exam

had already been held on a Sunday.

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

Senate Committee on Academic Integrity in Student Learning and Evaluation

i) ?

Paper S.05-128 - Annual Report (For Information)

R. Gordon, Senator and Chair of the Committee was available to respond to questions.

The Annual Report was received for information without discussion.

Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies

i) ?

Paper S.05-129 -Curriculum Revisions - Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Moved by C. MacKenzie, seconded by I. Gordon

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

deletion of the Certificate in Women's Studies"

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

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

under delegated authority, deleted four courses, approved sixteen new courses and minor

changes to existing courses and program requirements in Psychology, Women's Studies,

Sociology/Anthropology, Criminology, Linguistics, and Humanities.

S.M. 5 December 2005

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Page

G) ?

Senate Nominating Committee

Paper S.05-130 - Elections

Senate was advised that no further nominations had been received, M. Rekkas was

therefore elected by acclamation to the Senate Appeals Board (SAB) and M. Joffres was

elected by acclamation to the Senate Committee on University Priorities (SCUP).

The Open Session adjourned at

7:50

pm. Senate moved directly into Closed Session.

Alison Watt

Director, University Secretariat