The Following Is a Summary of the Senate Meeting Which Took Place on Wednesday, March 5, 2008

From: Marc Richard
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 12:33 PM
Cc: Marc Richard
Subject: Senate Meeting Report, 2008-03-05

Colleagues,

The following is a summary of the Senate meeting which took place on Wednesday, March 5, 2008.

As part of the adoption of the Report of the Steering Committee, Provost Masi provided an update on research time stipends. He indicated that individuals do have the right to apply for these, and that they are encouraged to do so when appropriate. Senator Paré asked if guidelines and expectations regarding these applications will be published. The Provost answered that no specific thought has been given to this, but that the deans will be asked to make them known to their faculty members.

In her remarks from the Chair, Principal Munroe-Blum thanked all those who participated in the recent Town Hall meeting. On the subject of government relations, she commented on the recent federal budget, indicating that McGill is generally pleased with the direction of the government's spending initiatives in supporting research, though not by the amounts of money involved. The Canada Global Excellence Research Chairs program will support twenty research teams over seven years. The government has designated science, technology and innovation as priority areas. A Millennium Foundation Scholarship Program has been established; provinces can opt out of it, but the Principal is hopeful that Quebec will not do so. The national granting councils received a funding top-up of $80M overall, which is an inadequate and disappointing figure. Another frustration is that only $15M went into supporting the indirect costs of research which are not covered by research grants.

Turning to Quebec government matters, the Principal said that the next provincial budget will be tabled during the week of March 10th. It is expected that only $187M of the post-secondary education federal transfers received by Quebec from Ottawa will be used for that purpose. The Principal also noted the recent move by the Quebec government to impose controls on ancillary fees; she indicated that, while there is much debate and no unanimity with the Quebec university community on the pros and cons of the ancillary fee issue, this latest intrusion by the Quebec government into how universities run themselves is not a positive development.

In the period for formal questions, Senator Angus posed a question about administration, governance and the role of Senate ( Principal Munroe-Blum answered that, since the start of her term of service at McGill, she has endeavoured to optimize and reinvigorate its governing bodies. On her arrival, she had noted both fusion and confusion of responsibilities between the University's governing bodies and its administration, between strategic policy-setting and day-to-day operational management. The Principal initiated in the spring of 2003 a review of the structure of the Board of Governors, a process which was completed in 2005 and which featured a reduction of the number of Board members. She specified that no such measure is being contemplated for Senate. The various committees of Senate have been under review for some time, and this review is ongoing.

Senator Borkotoky next posed a question regarding career services at McGill ( Deputy-Provost Mendelson summarized the progress made on this issue, listing eight ways in which the University and specific faculties provide assistance in finding employment; these include internships, faculty career centres and career panel discussions.

The next question, from Senator Martin, concerned the Policy on Harassment, Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Prohibited by Law ( The Provost answered that the policy, which was the product of wide consultation, aims to strike a balance and that its four steps encourage informal resolution before the process reaches Stage 4, the stage at which an assessor submits a written report. Complainants retain their full rights to pursue their complaint via other internal and external channels, including after the point where the Provost has rendered a decision and the matter is closed as far as the policy is concerned. On the subject of intent, the Provost said that the dispositions on this issue were carried over from the previous policy and that no concerns were raised about it. The University is mindful that its policy must respect the relevant laws of Quebec, such as the Labour Standards Act and the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.

The final question, regarding dissemination/availability of scholarly articles by faculty members, was posed by Senator Burgoyne ( Director of Libraries Schmidt responded to the question; the full text of the answer has been distributed to all librarians by the Director via the ALLIBRARIANS list.

Senate next moved to the 398th Report of the Academic Policy Committee ( and approved the proposed revisions to McGill’s graduation honourifics. Senate also considered the proposed approval paths for new and revised courses and teaching programs. Senator Angus raised concerns about SCTP being given more authority without being redefined and about the decision-making powers being granted to the SCTP Chair. Senator Angus moved that the proposal be referred back to the Committee. In the discussion which followed, Senator Jim Henderson asked if the approval of new programs takes into account costs (such as library costs) required to support these programs. Deputy-Provost Mendelson answered that there is a Library member on SCTP (John Hobins), as well as other Library representatives at the lower levels of the process; Provost Masi added that there is always a review of resource requirements undertaken when new programs are proposed. The proposal to refer was defeated. Senator Itzkowitz then moved a friendly amendment, which was accepted, to have the new approval paths reviewed by Senate in three years. The revised motion to adopt the new approval paths was carried.

Senate then approved the Report of the Nominating Committee ( Senator Hobbins posed a question as a follow-up to the response given by the Provost at the January meeting of Senate on the issue of Statutory Selection Committee membership. In January, the Provost had indicated that the Nominating Committee had recently approved the principle that, in the case of a faculty without departments, neither Senate representative on a Statutory Selection Committee should be from within the candidate's faculty. Senator Hobbins noted that, in today's Nominating Committee report, neither of the Senate representatives being proposed for a professor in the Faculty of Education was from that faculty, even though it does have departments. The Provost answered that the Nominating Committee, having recently examined the case of faculties without departments, had next reviewed the case of other faculties. It was felt that, wherever possible, nominations of Senate representatives to a Statutory Selection Committee should be in line with the objective of not having a representative from the candidate's faculty. The Provost noted that representation from the candidate's faculty is already provided on the Statutory Selection Committee by the dean, who makes the case for the candidate, and in some cases by the chair as well. For faculties having no departments and no chairs, the case is sometimes made only by the dean and sometimes made by the dean and another faculty representative. Senator Hobbins asked if this also applies to the Libraries. Provost Masi answered that there can potentially be another Library representative in addition to the Director of Libraries.

Senate next adopted a number of amendments to the Tenure Regulations ( and These amendments deal with matters of process rather than substance. They involve clarifying or extending various deadlines, clarifying the components of the “internal package” of the tenure dossier, ensuring that the Secretariat receives copies of all documents added to candidates’ dossiers so that it can maintain a complete and accurate dossier for each candidate, and ensuring uniformity of treatment of DTC and UTC reports.

Some of the measures adopted today only apply to the faculty chapter of the Regulations ("Regulations Relating to the Employment of Academic Staff") because they are already part of the revised librarian chapter which was adopted by Senate last year ("Regulations Relating to the Employment of Librarian Staff"). Other changes apply to both chapters. Modifications arising from these changes were also made to the relevant provisions of two other sets of regulations: the Regulations on Maternity Leave for Full-Time Members of the Academic Staff and the Librarian Staff (section 1.6) and the Regulations on Extended Maternity and Extended Parental Leave for Full-Time Members of the Academic Staff and the Librarian Staff (section 1.7).

The amendments were adopted as given in the documents to which links are provided above, with the exception of some articles of the faculty chapter dealing with maintaining a complete dossier. A revised text for these articles was distributed at the meeting and adopted. The revised text adopted reads:

5.39.1 Until November 15 of the year of consideration the candidate may submit additional material on research and other original scholarly activities, with written explanation, to the chair of the Departmental Tenure Committee.

5.39.2 After November 15 of the year of consideration, at the request of the Departmental Tenure Committee, the University Tenure Committee or the Principal or her or his delegate, new evidence relating to any category of academic duties may be submitted by the candidate, but only to clarify an issue that arises during the course of the deliberations.

5.39.3 The candidate shall file with the Secretariat a copy of all additional material submitted pursuant to sections 5.39.1 and 5.39.2 and this material shall become part of the candidate's tenure dossier.

In response to a question by Senator Richard about the revisions made to articles 5.39.1, 5.39.2 and 5.39.3 of the faculty chapter, Associate Provost Foster indicated that the same revisions would be made to the corresponding articles of the librarian chapter (articles 3.39.1, 3.39.2 and 3.39.3).

As the last item of business, Assistant V.-P. Weinstein gave Senate a PowerPoint presentation on Campaign McGill, which will be made Web available following the meeting. The campaign was launched on October 18, 2007, with a minimum goal of $750M; the multi-year campaign will close around 2012. To date, the campaign has secure $390M in gifts and pledges. V.-P. Weinstein indicated that, when the University is engaged in discussions with donors as to the potential targeting of their gifts, there is an understanding that academic freedom will not be compromised.

Minutes of Senate meetings from 1998 onward are available at the following URL, with minutes of current Senate meetings being posted shortly after their approval at the next Senate meeting:

Agendas for Senate meetings from 1998 onward are available at the following URL, with the agenda of upcoming meetings being posted a few days beforehand, i.e. sometime after the meeting of the Senate Steering Committee held the previous Tuesday:

Documentation for Senate meetings (excluding confidential documentation) from November 15, 2006 onward is available at the following URL, with the documentation for upcoming meetings being posted a few days beforehand, i.e. sometime after the meeting of the Senate Steering Committee held the previous Tuesday:

If you have any questions, please get in touch with us. The next Senate meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 26, 2008.

Regards,

Your librarian Senate reps,

Jim Henderson

John Hobbins

Marc Richard