UNIVERSITY Concordia US-2004-8 UNIVERSITY SENATE MINUTES OF THE OPEN SESSION MEETING OF NOVEMBER 19 2004 PRESENT Voting members: Prof. A. Al-Khalili; Ms. A. Beck; Prof. W. Bukowski; Prof. T. Byrnes; Dean J. Chaikelson; Ms. K. Childs; Prof. A-~M. Croteau; Prof. M. Doyle; Prof. A. Dutkewych; Dean N. Esmail; Ms. M. Etezadbrojerdi; Prof. J. Etezadi; Prof. J. Grant; Ms. M. Gruber; Mr. B. Hamideh, Prof. A.M. Hanna; Dean C. Jackson; Prof. E. Jacobs; Prof. R. Kilgour; Dr. F. Lowy; Mr. G. Papadakis; Dean E. Sacca; Mr. C. Schwartz; Prof. H. Shulman; Dr. M. Singer; Mr. A. Slater; Ms. J. St-Germain; Prof. R. Tremblay; Prof. C. Trueman; Prof. C. Vallejo; Dr. T. Vo-Van Non-voting members: — Mr. M. Di Grappa; Mr. L. English; Me P. Frégeau; Ms. L. Healey; Mr. A. McAusland; Dr. J. W. O’Brien (Speaker) ABSENT Voting members: Mr. M. Al-Ken; Mr. B. Farrington; Mr. R. Luppicini; Prof. C. MacKenzie; Prof. C. Ross; Dean J. Tomberlin; Prof. D. Vivian Non-voting members: Mr. W. Curran; Prof. M. Danis; Dr. R. J. Oppenheimer; Dr. R.O. Wills (Deputy Speaker) 1. Call to order The meeting was called to order by Dr. O’Brien at 2:27 p.m. 2. Approval of the Agenda Dr. O’Brien apprised Senate of the following revisions which should be brought to the Agenda: - Items 10.1 and 10.2 will be moved up after Item 5; and - Two short presentations, the first on the Student Emergency Food Fund and the second on the Concordia Centraide Campaign, will be added after Item 5. R-2004-8-5 Upon motion duly moved and seconded (Singer, Childs), it was unanimously resolved that the Agenda be approved, as revised. 3. Approval of the Minutes of the Open Session meeting of October 22, 2004 R-2004-8-6 Upon motion duly moved and seconded (Singer, Tremblay), it was unanimously resolved that the Minutes of the Open Session meeting of October 22, 2004 be approved, subject to a correction brought to the second paragraph on page 6. 4, Business arising from the Minutes Referring to Ms. Childs’ query at the last meeting regarding the new exam regulations, Ms. Healey indicated that students with special physical needs should advise the invigilator of the examination or inform the Examinations Office in advance when possible. Further to a question from Ms. Beck, Me Frégeau responded that the legal opinion concerning the Engineering and Computer Science expectation of originality form had not yet been finalized. Dr. Singer added that this matter would be discussed at an upcoming meeting of the Deans. 5. Report from the Academic Programs Committee (Document US-2004-8-D3) od Major graduate curriculum changes - Faculty of Arts and Science (Documents US-2004-8- D4 and D5) R-2004-8-7 Upon motion duly moved and seconded (Sacca, Chaikelson), it was unanimously resolved that the major graduate curriculum changes in the Faculty of Arts and Science, set out in Documents US-2004-8-D4 and D5, be approved as recommended by the Academic Programs Committee in Document US-2004-8-D3. 5.2 Major graduate curriculum changes ~- Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science (Document US-2004-8-D6) R-2004-8-8 | Upon motion duly moved and seconded (Sacca, Esmail), it was unanimously resolved that . the major graduate curriculum changes in the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science, set out in Document US-2004-8-D6, be approved as recommended by the Academic Programs Committee in Document US-2004-8-D3. 5.3. Major graduate curriculum changes - Faculty of Fine Arts (Document US-2004-8-D7) R-2004-8-9 | Upon motion duly moved and seconded (Sacca, Jackson), it was unanimously resolved that the major graduate curriculum changes in the Faculty of Fine Arts, set out in Document US-2004-8-D7, be approved as recommended by the Academic Programs Committee in Document US-2004-8-D3. 54 Major undergraduate curriculum changes ~ Faculty of Arts and Science (Documents US- 2004-8-D8 to D10) Dean Chaikelson pointed out BIOL 490 should be added to the list of courses on page 7 of Document US-2004-8-D9. R-2004-8-10 Upon motion duly moved and seconded (Chaikelson, Vallejo), it was unanimously resolved that the major undergraduate curriculum changes in the Faculty of Arts and Science, set out in Documents US-2004-8-D8, D9 (revised) and D10, be approved as recommended by the Academic Programs Committee in Document US-2004-8-D3. Dr. Singer informed Senators of Steering Committee’s discussion with respect to holding Senate meetings two weeks in a row (as presently scheduled) or cancelling the following week’s meeting on curriculum changes which must be included in the 2005-2006 calendar. Steering Committee identified the following three options: 1) hold the additional meeting of Senate scheduled for a week from the present meeting to review the three pressing curriculum matters identified on the draft APC report circulated by Dr. Morin; or 2) cancel the additional meeting of Senate scheduled for a week from the present meeting and defer the curriculum approval to the January meeting; or 3) cancel the additional meeting of Senate scheduled for a week from the present meeting but mandate Steering Committee to approve the curriculum changes, subject to Senate ratification at the January meeting. A discussion ensued, further to which the following motion was adopted: R-2004-8-11 | Upon motion duly made and seconded (Singer, Lowy), it was resolved with one opposed that . Senate delegate to Senate Steering Committee the authority to review and approve the curriculum changes which would normally have been reviewed and approved by Senate at its meeting of November 26, 2004, with the understanding that all curriculum changes approved by Senate Steering Committee will be included on the January 14, 2005 Senate agenda for ratification by Senate. 6. Progress report from the Advisory Search Committee for a Dean of Fine Arts Dr. Singer indicated that the third meeting was being held today and that the Committee has retained the services of a search firm. Dr. Singer said that the process will unfold quickly over the next two months and that the Committee is aiming to make a recommendation to the Board at its April meeting. Ds Progress report from the Advisory Search Committee for a Dean of Arts and Science Dr. Singer indicated that the second meeting was being held today and that the Committee has retained the services of the same search firm as the Fine Arts Search Committee. Dr. Singer stated that committee is also aiming to make its recommendation to April meeting of the Board. 8. Student Emergency Food Fund and Centraide Campaign Ms. Daryl Lynn Ross, Chaplain and Coordinator of the Multi-Faith Chaplaincy, addressed Senate regarding the importance of the Student Emergency Food Fund which operates year 2. round but makes special effort around the holiday period. Contributing to the fund is both humane and practical, since it enables students to study more effectively if they are well fed. Ms. Ross distributed a letter which gave more details about the fund and indicated where to send donations. Prof. Catherine Mulligan, co-chair of the Concordia Centraide Campaign, then spoke about Centraide’s annual fundraising campaign for over 300 Montreal-based charities which respond to a wide variety of needs. This year’s goal is set at $140,000, with $100,000 having been raised so far. She encouraged all Senators to give generously to this very important endeavor, a sentiment which was echoed by Dr. Lowy, who is this year’s chair of the Centraide universities and hospital division. Committee appointments (Document US-2004-8-D11) R-2004-8-12 | Upon motion duly moved and seconded (Lowy, Kilgour), it was unanimously resolved that 10. the appointments to committees, as outlined in Document US-2004-8-D11, be approved. 2004-2005 Capital Budget (Document US-2004-8-D12) Vice-President Di Grappa reviewed the ie enient of the 2004-2005 capital budget. R-2004-8-13 | Upon motion duly moved and seconded (Lowy, Vo-Van), it was unanimously resolved that ih. Senate recommend to the Board of Governors the approval of the 2004-2005 Capital Budget, as set out in Document US-2004-8-D12. Operating budget: 2003-2004 final results and_2004-2005 preliminary figures (Documents US-2004-8-D13 and D14) Using a power point presentation, Vice-President English reviewed the final results for 2003-2004, which indicate a small surplus of $1,812 instead of the $6,078,364 deficit which had been projected last spring. He outlined the major variances of the projected actual compared to the actual, which included an additional amount of $3,853,724 received from the government four months after the academic year ended as part of the operating grant. He commented on the revenue and expenses breakdown for 2003-2004. . Mr. English continued his presentation by showing graphs regarding the evolution of the FTE from 1994-1995 to 2003-2004 as well as the historical FTE enrolment by Faculty. He also showed a slide illustrating that Concordia is the only Quebec university with an accumulated surplus. He specified that for the 2004-2005 year thus far, the number of FTEs is down by 47, which is a negligible figure but could be a warning that growth is ceasing. Mr. English apprised Senate of the MEQ budget orientations for 2004-2005. A change to the funding formula will be proposed, and the FTE increase now financed at 100% will be financed at only 58% in 2005-2006. Incoming exchange students will no longer be funded by the MEQ, but outgoing students will be, and Concordia has only 1/10 of the outgoing exchange students that it receives. At the present time, the preliminary budget for 2004- 2005 projects a balanced position. 12. 13. 14. Remarks from the President Dr. Lowy apprised Senate that the Barak controversy seemed to be dying down. He said that the University had undertaken to examine what could be done to secure appropriate facilities for speakers who could elicit protests. He mentioned that UQAM had recently cancelled the speech of the U.S. Ambassador for security reasons as well. Dr. Lowy continued his remarks by describing the strategy taken by the AUCC (Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada) with respect to lobbying the federal government for additional research money. Items for information As a follow up to a query raised by Mr. Luppicini at the May Senate meeting, Dean Sacca distributed a chart showing the current status of students by year of admission for thesis- based programs. In her capacity as Vice-President, Academic, Ms. Beck was mandated by the CSU Council to read a motion at Senate stating that the Engineering and Computer Science students are being forced to sign an “Expectations of Originality” form which presumes that students are acting in bad faith, contrary to the presumption of good faith enshrined in article 2805 of the Civil Code, that this measure has the potential of being picked up by other Faculties, that the CSU adamantly opposes this measure and is working to find alternate ways to promote academic integrity. | Dr. Vo-Van was pleased to announce that Concordia had recently awarded five new Canada Research Chairs (CRC) as follows: A Tier-1 level chair to each of Jerzy Floryan and A.J. Shnirelman and a Tier-II level chair to each of David Forman, Vincent Martin and Xin Wei Sha. Dean Chaikelson informed Senate that Concordia’s Science Complex had won the first place new category institutional buildings technology award given by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers. Question period With respect to the Barak matter, Mr. Slater had recently visited Toronto and found that hostility dissipated once the decision was properly explained; therefore, he wondered what was being done in this respect. Dr. Lowy agreed that there was a great deal of misunderstanding and said that he had submitted a letter to the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star, which only the latter chose to publish. He added that a response is sent to each letter received on this issue. Mr. Hamideh commented that Dr. Lowy’s response to his question about the University having a policy dealing with controversial speakers had not been noted in the Minutes of 15. 16. 14. the last meeting. While he did not recall such a response being given at an earlier meeting, Mr. Di Grappa clarified that there is no policy per se but rather that a security assessment is done by the risk assessment committee for each event on a case by case basis. He also emphasized that the University’s decision to offer to co-sponsor a high profile speaker in the case referred to does not constitute a precedent. Other business There was no other business to bring before the Open Session. Next meeting Dr. O’Brien reiterated that the meeting of November 26 is cancelled. Accordingly, the next meeting of Senate will be held on Friday, January 14, 2005. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 4:15 p.m. Agent Danielle Tessier Secretary of Senate