The Following Is a Brief Summary of the Senate Meeting Which Took Place on Wednesday, April
From: Allibrarians [mailto: On Behalf Of Marc Richard
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 5:05 PM
To:
Subject: Senate Meeting Report, 2007-04-18
Colleagues,
The following is a brief summary of the Senate meeting which took place on Wednesday, April 18, 2007
The meeting began with the members of Senate observing a moment of silence for the victims of the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech. The McGill flag has been lowered for the duration of this week. Principal Heather Munroe-Blum has sent letters of condolence to the Presidents of Virginia Tech and of the University of Virginia, to which Virginia Tech is affiliated, and to the Governor of Virginia.
Following the approval of the minutes, Senator Upham requested that the Secretariat provide a legend of its editorial conventions, for instance indicating whether the use of italics in the minutes indicates that the italicized text is a direct quote of what was said by a speaker. The Secretary General will do so.
Provost Masi presented an update on the status of non-tenure track academic staff. He indicated that a task force, which will include MAUT representation, is being assembled to look at the employment situation of non-tenure track academics by McGill, to determine their statistical relationship to tenure-track academics and to make sure that the University's employment practices for non-tenure track academics are fair and equitable. The preliminary report is expected in the fall and the final report a year from now.
In her comments from the Chair, the Principal recognized the contributions of outgoing SSMU President Aaron Donny-Clark and outgoing SSMU V-P University Affairs Finn Upham, and welcomed their incoming successors Jake Itzkowitz and Adrian Angus. The Principal also recognized the outgoing Interim Director of Athletics, Emeritus Professor Derek Drummond, who will be succeeded by Director Drew Love in the near future.
With regard to the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech, the Principal commented that safety, security and emergency management are top priorities at McGill. She has confidence in our practices, but acknowledges that these practices always need to be reviewed in the light of events such as the Virginia Tech shootings to determine how well they would have dealt with such an occurrence. McGill's security services have a "hostile intruder protocol" in place that would be invoked in this kind of scenario. An analysis is being made of the hierarchy for communicating information that would be used in a hostile situation of this nature; it will be described to Senate in the fall.
Senator Harris asked whether McGill's emergency response plans should include preventative elements such as mental health intervention for individuals at risk. The Principal answered that, although McGill does not wish to be caught in a situation where it did not do something that should have been done, there are practical, ethical and other issues involved in the concept of proactive psychological intervention. She indicated that although, in retrospect, events such as those at Virginia Tech and Dawson College are usually preceded by clues that an individual might pose a danger to society, such clues are also present among thousands of other individuals who never end up committing criminal actions.
The Principal next mentioned that today's announcement of the new Quebec Cabinet was expected at any moment. The list, which was brought to her near the end of the comments from the Chair agenda item, confirmed that the new Cabinet is smaller and includes a number of integrated portfolios. The most noteworthy positions include:
- Michelle Courchesne, Minister of Education, Leisure and Sports
- Philippe Couillard, Minister of Health and Social Services
- Monique Jérôme-Forget, Minister of Finance and Government Services, Minister responsible for government administration, and President of the Treasury Board
- Raymond Bachand, Minister of Economic Developement and Innovation
- Benoît Pelletier, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
V-P Goldbloom will be analyzing the new Cabinet composition and its implications. The Principal and V-P Goldbloom hope to get in touch early with the new ministers to develop McGill's relationships with them.
V-Ps Thérien and Rozen, Dean Levin and other individuals have worked on a letter of intent for the Canadian Foundation for Innovation regarding research infrastructure for the MUHC teaching hospital being constructed at the Glen Yards site. McGill hopes to harmonize its proposal with the similar one being assembled by Université de Montréal for the CHUM.
The Principal noted that the recent federal budget contained a $15M award to the Montreal Neurological Institute, but that in other respects it contained troubling elements such as low levels of support for higher education, awards given out with no transparency or due process, and a hiatus in the government's reinvestment program in research support (Canada Research Chairs, CFI, granting councils, and indirect research costs). McGill's goal remains to advance itself systematically, both with regard to government and to other means of support (such as the forthcoming capital campaign), so that the University will not be held hostage by minority governments such as those now in place in both Ottawa and Quebec.
Senate approved the various items in the 389th Report of the Academic Policy and Planning Committee (D06-53). This included approving and recommending to the Board of Governors a name change for the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, which will henceforth be called the School of Information Studies (Item I (C) and Appendix P of
Provost Masi gave a PowerPoint presentation on the McGill 2007-2008 budget. Printouts of the presentation were distributed at Senate and will be added subsequently to the documentation section of the Senate website ( The budget will be going to the Board on May 22; the budget book is not yet available. In his presentation, the Provost noted that the Administration has been told that there will be a closure this year to the "Ajustement McGill," through which the Quebec government over the years has deferred giving McGill some $40M to which McGill was entitled in one of its envelopes under the funding formula for universities.
The Provost mentioned that, in the FY 2007-08 Budget, the Library will continue to receive a yearly $1M increase to its base budget; new spending priorities also include such items as salary increases for academic and support staff ($13.0M) and academic renewal ($8.3M). The Provost indicated that although there have not been as many retirements as anticipated, the emphasis is not on pushing people out; rather, the question is to determine how the budgetary objectives can be met in a context where people are living and remaining productive longer and where there is no mandatory retirement. The Provost feels that this is a collegial issue, not a management issue. He noted that carry-forward balances, such as unspent individual McGill/Dawson research funds, are unfunded liabilities and have to be spent judiciously. Questions asked included two on the predicted 8% increase in international undergraduate students, space for graduate students, interdisciplinary support, and the shift from enrolment (last used in 2004) to compact-based budgeting.
The Provost next presented for information the Annual Report of the Committee on Sabbatic Leaves, and presented for adoption the proposed Revision of Regulations on Sabbatic Leave for Full-Time Academic and Full-Time Librarian Staff (D06-55). In response to a question from Senator Henderson regarding the Annual Report, the Provost said that one potential source of ineligibility for sabbatical leave involves the calculation of time served. Only two years of tenure-track time served at another institution can be counted in this calculation. The proposed Revision of Regulations on Sabbatic Leave for Full-Time Academic and Full-Time Librarian Staff ( was adopted, as were the two accompanying incidental amendments (
Senate approved / adopted the following:
***Calendar of Dates for 2008-2009 (D06-59)
***Appointment of Assessors under the Policy on Harassment, Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Prohibited by Law (D06-58)
Senate received the following for information:
***Annual Report of the Joint Senate-Board Committee on Equity (D06-52)
***Student Service Fee Schedule 2007-2008 (D06-56)
***Athletics Fee 2007-2008 (D06-57)
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 Wednesday:
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 Wednesday:
If you have any questions, please get in touch with us. The next Senate meeting is on May 9, 2007.
Regards,
Your Library Senate Reps,
Jim Henderson
John Hobbins
Marc Richard