DRAFT UNTIL APPROVED BY SENATE

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

Monday, May 12, 2008 at 5:30 pm in Room 3210 WMC

Open Session

Present: Stevenson, Michael, President and Chair of Senate

Abduiwahab, Kamal

Absent:

Brennand, Tracy

Corbett, Kitty

Atkins, Stella

Cormack, Lesley

Brebner, Sarah

Dagenais, Diane

Dickinson, Peter

Driver, Jon

Fizzell, Maureen

Easton, Stephen

Gençay, Ramo

Fox, Amy

Gordon, Robert

Francis, June

Javed, Waseem

Hannah, David

Louie, Brandt

Harder, Derrick

Malcoe, Lorraine Halinka

Harding, Kevin

McArthur, James

Haunerland, N. (replacing M. Pinto)

O'Neil, John

Hayes, Michael

Peters, Joseph

Hemingway, Alex

Russell, Robert

Jones, John (replacing B. Lewis)

Thompson, Steve

Krane, William

van Baarsen, Amanda

Laba, Martin

Warner, D'Arcy

LaBrie, John

Weeks, Daniel

Lee, Benjamin

Lein, Adam

Letourneau, Michael

•

Li, Paul

In attendance:

Liljedahl, Peter

Hinchliffe, Jo

Mathewes, Rolf (replacing M. Plischke)

Mundle, T. (replacing L. Copeland)

Paling, Joe

Percival, Colin

Percival, Paul

Popadiuk, Natalee

Shaker, Paul

Shapiro, Daniel

Shermer, Thomas

Smith, Don

Tiffany, Evan

Tse, Karen

Vaid, Bhuvinder

Wakkary, Ron

Waterhouse, John

Williams, Peter

Williams, Tony

Ross, Kate, Registrar & Senior Director Student Enrolment

Watt, Alison, Director, University Secretariat

Grant, Bobbie, Recording Secretary

S.M. 12 May 2008

Page 2

Approval of the Agenda

The Agenda was approved as distributed.

Approval of the Minutes of the Open Session of April 7. 2008

A correction changing the word 'Liberal' to 'Legal' was made to the title of Senate paper

S.08-48 on page 5, sub-section iv). Following this amendment, the Minutes were

approved.

Business Arising from the Minutes

Reference was made to the section of the Chair's Report on page 3 dealing with proposed

cuts to the unspent portion of the scholarship budget. An inquiry was made as to whether

a cut had taken place or whether existing funds were on hold to see if acceptance rates for

scholarships improved. The Chair reminded Senators that budgets were estimates of

revenue and expenses and if the acceptance of scholarships was higher than estimated,

corrections would have to be made. C. Percival, a member of SPCSAB, advised Senate

that, the Committee discussed the budget and expects it will be overspent. He thought it

would be overspent by approximately $800,000.

Report of the Chair

There was no report from the Chair.

Question Period

i) ?

Paper S.08-77 - Question re use of vectors and temporary course changes

The response to the above-noted question was distributed by email to all Senators and

required no further follow-up. There were no new questions.

Reports of Committees

A) ?

Senate Committee on Universit

Priorities

Paper S.08-54 - 2008/2009 Facult

Renewal Plan (For Information)

Reference was made to Table 9 on page 10. It was noted that when compared to past

reports there appeared to be a sharp increase in the number of faculty leaving SFU for

'Other' reasons. Senators were referred to the last paragraph on page 9 which provided a

detailed explanation. The report was subsequently received by Senate for information.

ii)

Paper S.08-68 - Annual Report

The 2007/2008 Annual Report of the Senate Committee on University Priorities was

received by Senate for information.

B) ?

Senate Appeals Board

i) ?

Paper S.08-69 - Annual Report (For Information)

P. Liljedahl, Senator and Chair, Senate Appeals Board was available to respond to

questions. It was noted that a number of the Board's decisions rested on the validity of

S.M. 12 May 2008

Page 3

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medical documentation. A question was raised as to whether there was a place of reference

to find out what standard was required for proper medical documentation. The Chair of

the Board indicated that he was not aware of any such reference point and provided a

brief explanation of how the Board makes decisions. The report was subsequently received

by Senate for information.

Calendar Committee

i) ?

Paper S.08-70 - Schedule of Dates 2009-2012

Moved by K. Harding, seconded by M. Letourneau

"that Senate approve the academic calendar schedule of dates from 2009

Fall term to 2012 Summer term"

Hincbliffe, Assistant Registrar and Secretary, Calendar Committee, was in attendance in

order to respond to questions.

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

Senate Committee on International Activities

i) ?

Paper S.08-66 - SCIA/ISEC Annual Report (For Information)

Driver, Senator and Chair, Senate Committee on International Activities was available

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to respond to questions. The Annual Report covering the period January - December

2007 was received by Senate for information.

Senate Policy Committee on Scholarships. Awards and Bursaries

i) ?

Paper S.08-67 - Annual Report (For Information)

S. Easton, Senator and Chair, SPCSAB was available to respond to questions. Questions

arose with respect to the criteria for work study, bursary applications and the amounts

provided to individual students. It was noted that subsequent to the report the criteria for

work study had changed and that students now had to apply for a student loan in order to

be eligible for work study. It was also noted that bursary applications have fallen

consistently for the past several years but funding for individual student bursaries had

increased from 80% of need to 100% of need. The Chair of the Committee commented

on the lateness of the 2006/2007 report coming to Senate and indicated that next year's

report would hopefully be presented before the end of the current calendar year. The

report was subsequently received by Senate for information.

Senate Committee on Agenda and Rules

i) ?

Paper S.08-71 - SCAISLE - Extension to January 2009 Senate Meeting

Moved by J. Waterhouse, seconded by K. Tse

S.M. 12 May 2008

Page 4

"that Senate approve the extension of the term of the Senate Committee

on Academic Integrity in Student Learning and Evaluation until the

January 2009 meeting of Senate"

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

ii)

Paper S.08-72 - Suspension of Rules of Senate: On-line voting for Senate

Committee Elections

Motion 1:

Moved by J. Waterhouse, seconded by S. Easton

"that the Rules of Senate requiring a notice of motion for changes to the

Rules of Senate be suspended"

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

Motion 2:

Moved by J. Waterhouse, seconded by K. Harding

"that Senate approve a change to the Rules of Senate that would permit

on-line voting for Senate Committee elections effective June 2008 for a

one-year trial period" ?

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

Opinion was expressed that the process of suspending the Rules in order to make a

change to the Rules was a bad precedent. Request was made for the Minutes to note that

the nature of these motions were specifically to allow for the urgency of motion 2 and this

process should not be considered as a precedent for future actions.

iii)

Paper S.08-73 - Student Alternates on Senate Committees

Moved by K. Harding, seconded by M. Letourneau

"that Senate approve the addition of student alternates to the Research

Ethics Board, the Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies, the Senate

Policy Committee on Scholarships, Awards and Bursaries, the two Awards

Adjudication Committees (SUAAC, SGAAC), the Senate Committee on

International Activities, and the International Student Exchange

Committee, effective June 2008"

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

Other Business

S.M. 12 May 2008

Page

i) ?

Paper S.08-74 - Senate Time and Catering - Notice of Motion

Senate was advised that SCAR was considering changes to the timing of Senate meetings

and to the expenses entailed for dining and catering. A motion will be brought forward to

the next meeting for discussion. Meanwhile SCAR welcomes comments from Senators

and from the University community. In response to an inquiry, Senate was advised that in

the last fiscal year the cost of Senate dinners and catering was approximately $16,000.

Since this was his last meeting and he would not be able to comment on this at the next

meeting, D. Harder expressed opinion that given that everyone in the University was

being asked to cut back, eliminating the extravagance of Senate dinner was a small but

important step that Senate should take.

ii)

Paper S.08-75 - Election Report - Spring 2008 Elections to Senate and the Board

of Governors (For Information)

A report with respect to the results of elections (faculty, staff, and students) to Senate and

the Board of Governors was received by Senate for information.

iii)

Paper S.08-76 - Revisions to the Rules of Senate - Notice of Motion

The Chair indicated that the proposed revisions would be brought before Senate for

discussion at the next meeting. Senators were asked to contact the Registrar prior to the

next meeting if they required further clarification or believed fi.irther clarification was

desirable.

Other Business

There was no other business.

Information

The date of the next regularly scheduled meeting of Senate is Monday, June 2, 2008.

On behalf of Senate, the Chair expressed thanks to the following retiring Senators and presented

them with a Certificate of Appreciation: K. Abdulwahab, K. Corbett, D. Dagenais, A. Fox, D.

Harder, A. Hemingway, A. Lein, M. Letourneau, P. Li, D. Smith, K. Tse, and P. Williams.

Thanks to retiring Senators not present at the meeting were noted [S. Atkins, S. Brebner, P.

Dickinson, W. Javed, L.H. Malcoe, D. Weeks].

The Open Session adjourned at 5:50 pm, and Senate moved directly into Closed Session.

Alison Watt

Director, University Secretariat