S-96-21 FACULTY OF SCIENCE Meeting of Faculty Tuesday, January 7, 1997 Leacock Council Room - L232 ATTENDANCE: As recorded in the Faculty Appendix Book. DOCUMENTS: S-96-17 to S-96-20 Associate Dean de Takacsy announced that Dean Shaverís father had passed away on January 6, 1997. The Faculty of Science extends its condolences and profound sympathy to Dean Shaver and his family. Associate Dean de Takacsy chaired the meeting on behalf of Dean Shaver. He called the meeting to order at 3:03 p.m. (1) MINUTES OF DECEMBER 3, 1996 S-96-17 Prof. Mucci moved, seconded by Prof. GowriSankaran, that the minutes be approved. The motion carried. (2) BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES There was no business arising from the minutes. (3) ANNOUNCEMENTS - Department of Computer Science 403.1 Associate Dean de Takacsy announced that Senate had approved the transfer of the School of Computer Science from the Faculty of Engineering to the Faculty of Science. He added that it was unclear whether Senate had approved the transfer as a íschoolí or as a ídepartmentí in the Faculty of Science, and that members would be kept informed. (4) REPORTS OF COMMITTEES a) Committee on Student Standing S-96-18 As the Committee on Student Standing had not met since the last Faculty meeting, there was no report. b) Academic Committee S-96-19 REPORT ON MINOR COURSE CHANGES (AC-96-36) (for information) MATHEMATICS & STATISTICS - B.Sc./B.A. Mathematics and Computer Science Faculty Programs (AC-96-37) Prof. Rigelhof moved, seconded by Prof. GowriSankaran, that the above changes be approved. The motion carried. MINOR IN NORTHERN STUDIES (AC-96-40) Prof. Franklin moved, seconded by Prof. GowriSankaran, that the above program be removed temporarily from the Calendar. The motion carried. PHYSIOLOGY - Faculty, Major and Honours Programs (AC-96-41) Prof. GowriSankaran moved, seconded by Prof. Kramer, that the above changes be approved. The motion carried. c) Other - Annual Report to the SCC on Computing Activities in the Faculty of Science S-96-20 404.1 As requested by Dean Shaver, Prof. Shultz presented the above report (S-96-20). 404.2 Associate Dean de Takacsy thanked Prof. Shultz for the report. He said that Dean Shaver would welcome any comments or suggestions from departments. Associate Dean de Takacsy added that Dean Shaver would be willing to allocate funds to particularly interesting applications of information technology to teaching. (5) DEANíS BUSINESS - Joint Science-Medicine Life Sciences Curriculum Coordination Committee 405.1 Associate Dean de Takacsy read a memorandum from the Deans of Science and Medicine regarding the above committee. The mandate of the committee is to coordinate curricular development in the life sciences in the Faculties of Medicine and Science with the input of a representative from the Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences as an observer. The membership of the committee will be Professors Al Shrier (chair), Phil Branton, Don Kramer, Tony Marley, and Eric Norris (observer). (6) REPORT: McGILL SCHOOL OF ENVIRONMENT (MSE) - Prof. Ingram 406.1 Prof. Ingram reported that the MSE workshop had been held on December 12 and 13, 1996, with the aid of Mr. Glen Milne, a professional facilitator. The three organizing faculties, Science, Arts, and Agricultural and Environmental Sciences participated, as well as representatives from the Faculties of Engineering and Medicine. Prof. Ingram said that there had been over 100 names on the original list of attendees, but the actual attendance varied between 50 and 80, which he said was good for the time of year. The issues discussed were the schoolís philosophy, the core curriculum, and the development of the administrative structure of the MSE. Prof. Ingram said that the discussion was generally quite positive for development of the MSE. Mr. Glen Milne would be preparing workshop notes and summaries, which were to be forwarded to Dean Shaver by December 31, 1996. 406.2 Prof. Kramer added that the overall consensus regarding the MSE had been very strongly positive, with no real negative feeling. (7) MEMBERSí QUESTION PERIOD There were no questions. (8) REPORT ON ACTIONS OF SENATE* Prof. Meighen - Senate Meeting of December 4, 1996. 1. Academic Hires/Departures -- June 1-August 31, 1996 6 Hires - 44 Departures Total (Excluding Medicine) 2 Hires - 13 Departures Medicine (excluding GFT-H) 2 Hires - 6 Departures (Science) 2. School of Computer Science was transferred from the Faculty of Engineering to the Faculty of Science in a close vote. A motion to refer the issue back to APPC to determine (or possibly rediscuss) where it could best accomplish its future academic mission was previously defeated by a very close vote. As the reasons for the move appeared to be partly politically based and the academic reasons were not well documented, the transfer was divisive and does not forebode well for future interactions. A number of Senators, including myself, were unhappy with the process/presentation (?) and hope that future movements of units, which may even be stimulated by this transfer, be handled in a better fashion. 3. Membership on Graduate Council. The size of Graduate Faculty Council was reduced from 435 (290 academics, 145 students) to 208 (130 academics, 78 students) with the maximum number of academic representatives per Department being reduced from 12 to 4. The only opposition came from one Senator, who indicated that this would cause a major loss in representation from Chemistry due to the high (yet undetermined) attendance by members of this Department at the Graduate Faculty Council. Defeat was accepted in a most gracious manner. 4. Conflict of Interest Policy. A conflict of interest policy approved by the Board of Governors was brought to Senate for suggested changes. A motion was passed to set up a Senate committee of 5 members including one student to recommend changes and to bring back these recommendations to Senate by next spring for discussion, which in turn would be forwarded to the Board of Governors. In the meantime, the Conflict of Interest Policy approved by the Board will remain in effect. Suggested changes by staff should be forwarded to the Committee. It was indicated that this policy may be put on Info McGill. 5. Differential Student Tuition Fees. Principal Shapiro gave a relatively candid discussion of the opposition by McGill to the differential student fees for out-of-province students and international students and the political difficulties in dealing with the Quebec government. Particular aspects discussed included the necessity for grandfathering of some of the fee increases, the complications that have arisen from this policy which the Minister of Education did not realize, the need to change the policy to minimize the damage, the necessity to fight the issue both alone (as it has the greatest effect on McGill) and, if possible, with other Universities. The Principal is also suggesting to the Minister of Education that perhaps Quebec and McGill can work out a different type of financial arrangement. For example, the type of arrangement that private schools have in Quebec. In this regard, the Principal does not want to detail a written fixed policy but hopes that such suggestions could originate from the Minister of Education so as to afford a better chance of approval. 6. Mandatory Retirement of Academics. It was noted by Principal Shapiro that this issue was still under discussion by the Quebec government and consideration was being given to such issues as whether sufficient funds would be available for retirement for all staff, etc. A report may not be due for at least six months and it is totally unknown what the recommendations will be in this regard. *Senate documents are available in the Deanís Secretariat for consultation. (9) OTHER BUSINESS There was no other business. The meeting adjourned at 3:33 p.m.