Paper 31

To:

Members of Senate

From: K. E. Rieckhoff,

Acting Dean of Science

Date: March 23, 1967

Re.

QUESTION OF STANDARDS OF SCHOLARSHIP

In a newspaper article on page 6 of the Vancouver Sun on

Tuesday, March 21, 1967, there appeared the following statement:

"There are people at Simon Fraser who

hold that the poor image of the school is

responsible for its failure to receive its

proper share of foundation money and

government grants. I don't think this is

the case. I think that Simon Fraser

faculties, especially the science depart-

ments, are getting less than what they

deem to be their share of money because

of the absence of large numbers of honored

scholars.

Simon Fraser is a new school. It has not

had time to create from within the kind of

top-flight scholarship that we associate

with leading institutions in North America.

These remarks were unfortunately made by a member of

the faculty of Simon Fraser University, namely Dr. J. C. Leggett,

Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, Sociology

and Anthropology. ( who on the same page of this newspaper is in-

correctly identified as "Associate Professor"), thereby lending

additional weight and credibility to the statement which clearly

re-

flects in a very derogatory way on the standards of scholarship

within the Faculty of Science at Simon Fraser University. While

it is obvious that these remarks are intemperate and unscholarly, they

also happen to be completely untrue.

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In fact, it can be easily documented that the Faculty of

Science of Simon Fraser University has amongst its members

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many scholars of international repute. Moreover, the bulk of

•

research grants received by the Science Departments of all

major Canadian Universities, including Simon Fraser, does

not derive from "foundation money, but rather from the

National Research Council of Canada. As it turns out, and can

be documented, faculty members at Simon Fraser University

have received more than the average share of such NRC grants

on account of their scholarly reputation. Likewise, the Defense

Research Board of Canada has given a substantial number of

grants to Simon Fraser scholars, and again these grants are

given only to outstanding scholars. 1 am prepared to document

this to Senate if requested to do so.

I consider it my duty as Acting Dean of the Faculty of

Science to bring these public utterances to the attention of Senate

with a request to undertake whatever steps Senate feels necessary

to correct the misstatements and to prevent similar intemperate

statements from being made in the future. I do not wish to engage

in a public argument on this question and it is for this reason that

I refer the matter to the Senate which is charged with being the

guardian of the academic standards of this University. I therefore

propose that the following motion be passed:

The Senate of Simon Fraser University expresses its

regret that the statements referred to were publicly

made by a member of the faculty of Simon Fraser

University. It is the opinion of Senate that they are

not only intemperate and unscholarly but untrue, and

that there can be no question as to the quality and repute

of the scholastic standing of the members of the faculty

of Simon Fraser University.

Senate instructs the. President to communicate the content

of this motion to Professor Leggett asking him to exercise

better care and judgment in making public announcements

regarding the scholarly quality of his colleagues in the

University. '

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•,

jr /

KER;mc

•

K. E.

Rieckhoff

VW67

M F M 0 R A N D U M

TO; Members of Senate

FROM: K. F. Rieckhoff,

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Members of the Faculty of Science

Acting Dean.of Science

Dr. J. C. Leggett

DATE:

A pril 3, 1967

SUBJECT:

Mv memo to Members of Senate, dated March 23, 1967

Re.Question of Standards of Scholarship

Since the above-mentioned memo has been put on the agenda of Senate

and has been distributed to the members of

the

Faculty of Science, Dr.

Leggett has made a most gratifying response in a memo dated March 30t1h

Which he kindly distributed to all those who have had access to my memo-

randum. In fact, Dr. Leggett's memorandum showsthat all I could possibly

hope to achieve by the motion I proposed to Senate has been accomplished.

•

To be more specific, Dr. Le

-etz'13 memorandum clearly indicates

that he

uite concerned about the impact cf his statements in general and,

mbers of the Faculty of Science and of Senate. The

in particular, on the me

motion I proposed for Senate was intended to bring about such concern. Also,

Dr.Leggett does, in fact, admit that his remarks were unscholarly, and in

explaining vihat he means by '"honored scholars' he implicitly grants the

members of the Faculty of Science eçuai merit to those of distinguished schools

such as the University of Toronto and U. B. C., who likewise have no large

number of Nobel Prize laureates in their faculties. He also apparently

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acknowledges that Simon Fraser Science Faculty is attracting its Lair share

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of research grants.

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Nobody could reasonably e:pect anything else from Dr. Leggett than

he has, in fact, put down in his memo. I am ersonal1y quite satisfied that

• in the future

Dr.

Leggett will exercise more care and better judgment when

referring-to his colleagues in the Faculty of Science, and I hope and expect

that the

members of Senate and my colleagues in the Faculty of Science will

give the same interpretation to his response.

In the light of the foregoing, I see no need for any debate of or motion

on this matter in Senate as nothing constructive could be achieved thereby;

and I shall refrain from making the motion I originally proposed.

I would like to use this opportunity to thank members of the Faculty of

Science who gave me the benefit of their advice and who lent support to my

action on their behalf at the ratio of three to one. I should also like to. thank

Dr. Leggett for his prom

t response and the concern

expresses on this

matter.

KER:mc

K. E. Rieckhoff,

Acting Dean of Science