DRAFT UNTIL APPROVED BY SENATE

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

Monday, October 6, 2008 at 5:30 pm in Room 3210 WMC

Open Session

Present: Stevenson, Michael, President and Chair of Senate

Arsenault-Antolick, Haida

Bart, Brad

Bocking, Natalie

Brennand, Tracy

Collinge, Joan

Copeland, Lynn

Cormack, Lesley

de Castell, Suzanne

Dow, Greg

Driver, Jon

Easton, Stephen

Fairey, Elaine (representing L. Copeland)

Francis, June

Gibson, Eli

Golnaraghi, Farid

Gordon, Irene (representing D. Shapiro)

Gordon, Robert

Hannah, David

Harding, Kevin

Hayes, Michael

Janes, Craig

Joes, Michel

Jones, John (representing C. Jones)

Krane, Bill

Laba, Martin

Lee, Benjamin

Letourneau, Michael

Leznoff, Daniel

MacDonald, Camille

O'Neil, John

Paling, Joseph

Parkhouse, Wade

Patel, Ravi

Percival, Cohn

Percival, Paul

Peters, Joseph

Pinto, Mario

Pliscbke, Michael

Popadiuk, Natalee

Seal, Brent

Tapia, Earl Von

Thompson, Steve

Wakkary, Ron

Warner, D'Arcy

Williams, Tony

Ross, Kate, Registrar & Senior Director Student Enrolment

. ?

Watt, Alison, Director, University Secretariat

Grant, Bobbie, Recording Secretary

Absent:

Bains, Aman

Chapman, Glenn

Fergusson, Andrew

Fizzell, Maureen

Gencay, Ramo

Liljedahl, Peter

Louie, Brandt

McArthur, James

Pavsek, Christopher

Russell, Robert

Shermer, Thomas

Tiffany, Evan

Vaid, Bhuvinder

van der Wey, Dolores

In attendance:

Harriss, John

Verdun-Jones, Simon

Weinberg, Hal

S.M 6 October 2008

Page 2

Approval of the Agenda

The Agenda was approved as distributed.

Approval of the Minutes of the Open Session of September 15, 2008

The Minutes were approved as distributed.

Business Arising from the Minutes

There was no business arising from the Minutes.

Report of the Chair

On behalf of Senate, the Chair welcomed and thanked the newly elected Student Senators

Eli Gibson and Brent Seal and thanked them for undertaking service to the University.

The Chair noted that a former Senator and very distinguished member of the University

community, John F. Ellis died on September 15, 2008. Dr. Ellis was a Charter Faculty

Member and Founding member of the Faculty of Education. He served in many positions

during his tenure at SFU including Acting President, Dean of Education, and member of

the Board of Governors. He also instigated many changes in the teacher education system

and established essential connections with school districts,

all

of which remain in use in the

teacher education program in the Faculty of Education. He produced, in consultation

with an Advisory Committee, a comprehensive admissions and standing policy for the

University at a critical point in SFU's development. Dr. Ellis was also on the founding

board of Capilano College, the first principal of the Open Learning Institute, the lead

author in the planning that led to the creation of the University of Northern British

Columbia, and was involved in important international educational developments in

Indonesia, Bangladesh, Norway, Cambodia and Thailand. SFU mourns his passing and,

on behalf of the University, the Chair has conveyed sincere condolences to his wife

Gladys and their family.

Question Period

There were no questions.

Reports of Committees

A) ?

Research Ethics Board

i) ?

Paper S.08-104 - Annual Report (For Information)

S. Verdun-Jones, Chair, Research Ethics Board and H. Weinberg, Director of Research

Ethics were in attendance in order to respond to questions.

A question arose with respect to the secondary use of data and the principle of

proportionate review. Concern was expressed about how long it took for applications to

be approved and the reluctance of agencies to release data. Senate was provided with an

explanation and rationale for the process of proportionate review and was provided with

S.M 6 October 2008

Page 3

S ?

information on the internal policy for the secondary use of data. Brief discussion also

occurred with respect to the definition of anonymous data.

It was noted that

all

applications noted in the report had received approval, and an inquiry

was made as to whether any applications were rejected. Senate was advised that extensive

consultation and meetings with researchers occur leading up to the point of approval so

that by the time an application was submitted any concerns were already dealt with.

The Chair of the REB was asked to convey Senate's thanks and appreciation to the

members of the Research Ethics Board for all of the very complicated work they do on

behalf of the academic community.

Senate Committee on Universit

Priorities

i) ?

Paper S.08-105 - New Program: Master of Arts in International Studies

Moved by J. Driver, seconded by S. Easton

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

program proposal for a Master of Arts in International Studies in the

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences"

J .

Harriss, School of International Studies, was in attendance to respond to questions.

In response to an inquiry as to whether the program was contingent on the appointment

of two faculty members as noted on page 13, Senate was advised that the program has

been offered for a number of years as a Special Arrangements Program so the addition of

two faculty members was not necessary but would certainly strengthen the program if they

were appointed.

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies

i) ?

Paper S.08-106 - Change in Allowable Transfer Credits for the BGS Degree,

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Moved by B. Krane, seconded by C. MacDonald

"that Senate approve the change in program requirements for the Bachelor

of General Studies degree in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences"

An opinion was expressed that there were insafficient grounds to change the structure of

the degree. Many students who take a BGS degree do not want to specialize, want to

. ?

move through their studies quickly, and the current structure allows them to do so.

Reference was made to preliminary discussions about the creation of a BA in

SA 6 October 2008

Page 4

Interdisciplinary Studies and it was suggested that this revision appeared to be a transitional

move towards that new degree.

Senate was advised that requiring 60 internal units of work was a standard practice at most

universities, and giving an SFU degree for 30 credits of work at SFU was an anomaly that

needed to be changed regardless of whether there was a move to a BA in Interdisciplinary

Studies. It was also noted that it was almost impossible for students to meet the W

requirements for the BGS if they only have 30 units at SFU.

The following suggestion by K. Harding was accepted as an amendment to the underlined

sentence on page 4 under the 'To' section: Students admitted into the BGS degree in the

Fall of 2009 or later may receive

use up

to 60 units of transfer credit

towards their SFU

degree.

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

ii)

Paper S.08-107 - New Calendar language for Second BA Degree. Faculty of

Arts

and Social Sciences

Moved by B. Krane, seconded by R. Patel

"that Senate approve the new calendar language for Second BA Degrees in

the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences"

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

iii)

Paper S.08-108 - New Calendar language for Concurrent Degrees. Faculty

of Arts

and Social Sciences

Moved by B. Krane, seconded by C. MacDonald

"that Senate approve the new calendar language for Concurrent Degrees in

the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences"

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

iv)

Paper S.08

-109 —Revision to Transfer Credit for International Baccalaureate

Diploma

Moved by B. Krane, seconded by K. Harding

"that Senate approve the transfer credit awarded to students who have

completed the International Baccalaureate Diploma be changed to a

maximum of 30 units for all standard level and higher level subjects that are

passed with a grade of 4 or higher. If assigned credits are less than 30 units,

general elective credit will be assigned to bring the total to 30."

S.M 6 October 2008

Page

sBrief discussion ensued regarding the use of grade level 4 for entry. Although the historical

reasons for using this level were unknown, it was pointed out that the data on page 3

suggested that students entering from the lB program appear to be better than average so it

appeared that this was not at issue.

Question was called, and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

Paper S.08-11O - Curriculum Revisions - Facult

of Arts and Social Sciences

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

under delegated authority, approved new courses, deletion of courses, changes to program

requirements, and minor revisions to existing courses in the following areas: Archaeology,

Canadian Studies, Contemporary Arts, Criminology, Economics, English, French Cohort

Program, Geography, International Studies, Latin American Studies, Linguistics,

Philosophy, Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology, Women's Studies, History,

Psychology, First Nations Studies, Italian Studies, and Integrated Studies Program. Senate

also received information concerning WQB course designations.

vi) ?

Paper S.08-111 - Curriculum Revisions - Faculty of Business Administration

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

under delegated authority, approved a change to the Management Information Systems

concentration, and minor revisions to existing courses in the Faculty of Business

Administration.

D) ?

Senate Nominating Committee

i) ?

Paper S.08-112 Revised — Elections

Senate's attention was drawn to Senate Paper S.08-112 Revised which was distributed at

the meeting and showed those positions which had been elected by acclamation. Names

of candidates elected by acclamation can be found on Senate Paper S.08-112 Revised.

Two outstanding vacancies will be carried forward.

Other Business

There was no other business.

Information

The date of the next regularly scheduled meeting of Senate is Monday, November 3,

2008.

The Open Session adjourned at 5:55 pm, and Senate moved directly into Closed Session.

Alison Watt

Director, University Secretariat