Present as Members of Senate
W. MacKay (Chair), R. Summerby-Murray, N. Grant, W. McMullen, C. Riggs, P. Baker, P. Ennals, K. Hamer, C.P. Hunter, C. Hunter, S. Lochhead, M. McCullough, V. Reinsborough, J. vanderLeest, R. Adlam, W. Godfrey, J. Rogers, D. Tokaryk, F. Baerlocher,, T. Craig, W. Cross, P. Edwards, B. Fleming, B. McNally, B. A. Miller, D. Mossman, N. Ralph, J. Read, C. Storm, M. Tucker, W. Wilson, J. Bourque, H. Matthews, D. Thompson, A. Wasylishen, R. Heffernan, M. Mohammed, L. McGinnis, C. Pollock

Regrets
D. Cameron, R. Winters, R. Lapp, I. Cohen, E. Dawe, E. Edson, A. Fancy, J. Stewart

Observer
J. Burns

01.09.01 Approval of the Agenda
K. Hamer moved, seconded R. Adlam, that the agenda as circulated be approved. P. Ennals requested that the order of items 7 and 8 be reversed. With this change, the motion
CARRIED.

01.09.02 Introduction of Senators
Senators introduced themselves and the constituencies they represented.

01.09.03 Approval of Minutes
P. Ennals moved, seconded K. Hamer, that the minutes of the regular meeting of 10 May 2001 be approved. B.A. Miller asked that his name be added to the list of members in attendance. With this addition noted, the motion
CARRIED.

01.09.04 Business arising
None

01.09.05 Questions
None

01.09.06 Report of the Late Granting of Degrees Committee
R. Summerby-Murray presented the circulated report, noting the composition of the committee, the number of cases considered and the specific recommendations made by the committee prior to and subsequent to the May 2001 Convocation. Moved by K. Hamer, seconded P. Baker, that Senate confirm the actions of the Late Granting of Degrees Committee in recommending the conferral of degrees to the candidates listed in the report.
CARRIED

01.09.08 Report of the Research Committee
P. Ennals presented the report of this committee (attached to the file copy of these minutes). The report announced the appointment of Dr. Andrew Paskauskas as Director of Research Development as of mid-November 2001. The Research Committee intends to have Dr. Paskauskas function as a member of the Research Committee; accordingly, the committee has approached the Committee on Committees to recommend a change in the composition of the Research Committee. Further, the Research Committee has also recommended that the Dean of Arts be added to the membership of the Research Committee.

The Research Committee had reviewed the process of nominating membership of the Research Ethics Board and recommended that future nominations be handled through the Committee on Committees. For this year, the Research Committee nominated the following for membership to the Research Ethics Board:
 W. Burnett (2001-2004), O. Gould (2001-2004), J.C. Martinez (2001-2002), A. Walsh (2001-2003), S. Law (2001-2003).

Moved by P. Ennals, seconded J. Read, that the nominations be approved by Senate.
CARRIED

The Research Committee’s report concluded by reporting on the nine applications being made by Mount Allison researchers to meet the September 28th deadline for the Atlantic Innovations Fund.

J. vanderLeest referred to the recommendation that the Committee on Committees nominate membership of the Research Ethics Board, asking that any change in the nomination process be checked to ensure that it conformed with Tri-Council guidelines. P. Ennals responded that the guidelines required that the highest academic body in the university be responsible for making the appointments and suggested that an appropriate mechanism would appear to be to allocate this task to the Committee on Committees which would then bring recommendations to Senate. P. Edwards urged that there be continuing consultation with the Research Committee to ensure that the Tri-Council guidelines be followed. W. Godfrey asked whether a more comprehensive report from the Research Committee would be forthcoming and asked whether there was further information on whether NSERC and SSHRC would cover research overhead. Should Mount Allison’s policy be reviewed? P. Ennals responded that the presidents of both SSHRC and NSERC had been on campus in recent months and these sorts of issues were discussed. At present the university has overhead policies that deal with research institutes; these policies are not applied to individual faculty research at this point.

01.09.07 Report of the Commitee on Committees
J Read noted the recommendations of the committee as follows (and as circulated):

Committee on Teaching
The Committee on Committees nominated J. Code to fill the vacancy with a 2 year term 2001-2003. J. Read noted that the committee presently had no Social Science representative but this would be remedied with a further appointment occasioned by the resignation of a member of the committee in January 2001. Moved by J. Read, seconded W. Godfrey, that nominations cease. The motion carried and J. Code was declared elected.

University Judicial Committee
The Committee on Committees nominated R. Thompson to fill the vacancy with a 2 year term 2001-2003. Moved by J. Read, seconded W. Godfrey, that nominations cease. The motion carried and R. Thompson was declared elected.

Review Board
J. Read noted some inconsistencies in numbers of members of this committee over time and, as this was a committee of Faculty Council, brought forward for information only the name of the recommended new member D. Mossman.

Agenda
No nominations were made by the Committee on Committees. The vacancy needed to be filled by a member of Senate. With the consent of the nominee, J. vanderLeest, seconded B.A. Miller, nominated C. Storm to the Agenda Committee. There being no further nominations. C. Storm was declared elected.

Committee on Students with Disabilities
J. Read moved, seconded W. Godfrey, that the terms of the two faculty members be as follows: S. Claxton-Oldfield (2000-2003) and R. Hempel (2000-2002). C. Hunter sought clarification of the title of the committee as referred to in the Policy on Students with Disabilities and asked whether the chair had been elected from the committee membership or had been appointed. It was noted that while the committee had been chaired initially by the Dean of Social Science, it was now chaired by L. Wilson. J. Bourque asked whether there was a student representative on the committee; J. Read responded that there were two student positions. P. Edwards asked that the term of the chair also be specified.  The motion to approve the terms of faculty representatives above CARRIED.

Committee on Academic Matters
J. Read noted that presently there was no Social Sciences representative due to an oversight and sought Senate’s direction on whether to leave the membership as it is (given that the Vice-President Academic, the Dean of Social Sciences and the Secretary of Senate were from the Faculty of Social Sciences) or to make a new appointment. J. vanderLeest moved, seconded C. Storm, that a member be asked to step aside so that an appointment can be made top fulfill the terms of reference of the committee. P. Ennals agreed, noting that it would be inappropriate for the Vice-President Academic to also have to speak for the Faculty of Social Sciences. As the most recent Social Science member of the committee, W. Cross urged that a new member be appointed. K. Hamer noted that the existing membership included representation based on the former divisions of faculties and this may provide an option for this change. On question put, the motion
 CARRIED.

J. Read noted drew Senate’s attention to a review of the terms of reference and composition of all Senate committees, noting that the Secretary of Senate would be writing to all committees asking them to review their terms of reference and report by the end of October. The Committee on Committees was developing appropriate guidelines for types of committee and any input would be welcomed.

01.09.09 Report of the Academic Judicial Committee
R. Summerby-Murray presented the report as circulated at the meeting. C. P. Hunter responded to general questions from B.A. Miller and T. Craig about the nature of offences dealt with by the committee.

01.09.10 Report of the Planning Committee
P. Ennals presented recommendations for appointments to be made in Religious Studies, Fine Arts, History, and Physics (2). Further appointments would be forthcoming.  W. Godfrey referred to the new Board policy on the creation of net new positions and asked whether these appointments were net new. P. Ennals responded that the appointments were occasioned by retirements and resignations. W. Cross asked whether there would be consideration of new appointments in the coming months. P. Ennals confirmed that net new appointments would be considered in the future and they would require Board Finance Committee approval. D Tokaryk asked for a breakdown of the retirements and resignations for the year and was informed that there had been resignations in Computer Science, Physics and Religious Studies and retirements in Physics and History. P. Edwards questioned the ‘new board policy’, claiming that no policy of this sort had been presented or approved by the Board as a whole. Members of the academic community should be making their views known on this issue. W. MacKay responded that a joint meeting of the Finance and Academic Affairs committees had resulted in recommendations to the Executive Committee on this matter. In September the policy had been revised to clarify that the Finance committee would be addressing finances only, not the academic directions intended by any net new appointments. C Storm inquired about the status of three positions requested by departments and Senate last year. P. Ennals noted that these would be subject to the new policy. J. vanderLeest sought clarification as to how this process would work. For example, at what point in the year would the Finance Committee be able to determine sufficient availability of funds? Would this follow the approval of the budget? W. MacKay noted that the Executive Committee resolution did not address that level of detail. W. Godfrey expressed concern that this approach to staffing was problematic in terms of the academic directions of the university.

01.09.11 Faculty Council
J. vanderLeest reported on a successful Faculty Council meeting held on Monday 24th, noting a report on enrolments, a report from the Committee on Committees, and an update from Computing Services on the recent move to the Bennett Building. Any suggestions for items of discussion may be forwarded to the Faculty Council Executive.

01.09.12 Other Business
R. Summerby-Murray read a letter from J. Bragg regarding Senate motions forwarded by the Secretary of Senate to the Executive Committee recommending the appointment of M. Thorpe as professor emeritus and the consequent re-offering of the honour to C. Scobie (a copy of the letter is appended to the file copy of these minutes). P. Edwards urged that Senate respond to this most recent letter as Senate retains the right and privilege to make recommendations re the granting of academic honours. He noted that this also appeared to be a case where the Executive Committee had acted without consultation with the Board and this would appear to constitute unwarranted interference in the academic affairs of university, an area in which the Senate has jurisdiction defined under the Mount Allison University Act.

Moved by P. Edwards, seconded M. Tucker, that the Secretary of Senate write to the Executive Committee of the Board of Regents to remind the Committee that, within the scope of the Mount Allison University Act and Bylaws, the Senate has certain rights and privileges over the granting of academic honours that cannot be abrogated by the Executive Committee of the Board.

J. Read reminded Senate that an ad hoc committee had dealt with this issue some years ago and T. Craig asked whether it was the intent of this motion that the original recommendations to the Executive Committee be resubmitted. P. Edwards suggested that this might be a further action. On question put, the motion CARRIED.

01.09.13 Announcements
As the announcement of the appointment of the Director of Research Development was made earlier in the meeting, there were no further announcements.

01.09.14 Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 4:10pm.
 

Respectfully submitted,

Robert Summerby-Murray
Secretary of the Senate

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