S-99-41 FACULTY OF SCIENCE Meeting of Faculty Tuesday, March 7, 2000 Leacock Council Room - L232 ATTENDANCE: As recorded in the Faculty Appendix Book. DOCUMENTS: S-99-34(REV) S-99-36 to S-99-40 (NOTE: S-99-37 was wrongly numbered as S-99-30) Dean Shaver called the meeting to order at 3:07 p.m. (1) ADOPTION OF AGENDA Prof. Harpp moved, seconded by Prof. Barrette, that the agenda be adopted. 601.1 Motion to Amend: S-99-39 Mr. Kovacs moved, seconded by Prof. GowriSankaran, that Faculty discuss the Cold Beverage Agreement under Item #5c(ii) by moving into the Committee of the Whole with Associate Dean Mendelson as Chair for 30 minutes. 601.2 Mr. Kovacs briefly described the reasons for the amendment. The amendment was approved. The motion to adopt the agenda carried. (2) MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 8, 2000 S-99-36 Prof. GowriSankaran moved, seconded by Prof. Barrette, that the minutes be approved. The motion carried. (3) BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES - Minute 508.1, Confidentiality at Faculty Meetings 603.1 Associate Dean Mendelson said there were two items that could be considered confidential. The first concerned the names of students requesting ad hoc degree programs. The names should definitely be considered confidential, and would not in future be revealed to the Academic Committee or to Faculty. 603.2 The second item was the names of students on the degree lists that are presented to Faculty for approval. Associate Dean Mendelson said the degree lists were a university-wide issue, and he was awaiting a legal ruling on this. (4) ANNOUNCEMENTS 604.1 Dean Shaver reminded members to keep sending announcements to the Faculty Offices. There were no announcements for the current meeting. (5) REPORTS OF COMMITTEES a) Sub-Committee on Scholarships S-99-37(Renumbered from S- 99-30) Andersen Consulting Prize in Engineering and Science Value: $1000 605.1 Prof. Brown, Chair, Sub-Committee on Scholarships, introduced the new prize. b) Academic Committee S-99-38 SECTION A: NEW PROGRAMS School of Computer Science - Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering [AC-99-114(Rev3)] Prof. ThÇrien moved, seconded by Prof. GowriSankaran, that the program be adopted. 605.2 Prof. ThÇrien proposed the following friendly amendments to the program: (1) that it be explicitly stated that CEGEP Algebra and Calculus are required for the program (2) that 189-340 be included in the list of Technical Complementary Courses The motion carried. SECTION B: MAJOR PROGRAM REVISIONS There were no major program revisions. SECTION C: MINOR PROGRAM REVISIONS School of Computer Science - B.Sc. Major Program in Computer Science (AC-99-119) Prof. ThÇrien moved, seconded by Prof. GowriSankaran, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. SECTION D: NEW COURSES School of Computer Science - 308-525A Formal Verification (AC-99-120) 3 credits Prof. ThÇrien moved, seconded by Prof. GowriSankaran, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. SECTION E: MAJOR COURSE REVISIONS There were no major course revisions. SECTION F: Minor Course Revisions & Other (For Information Only) Minor Course Changes (AC-99-118) (5) REPORTS OF COMMITTEES (Continued) c) Other i. Ad hoc Constitution Review Committee S-99-34(REV) - Associate Dean Mendelson - Notice of Motion to Amend the Constitution of the Faculty of Science (for the Faculty of Science meeting of April 4,2000) 605.3 Associate Dean Mendelson said that according to the Constitution of the Faculty of Science, a notice of motion to amend the Constitution must be given at the preceding Faculty meeting, and that a two-thirds majority is required for amendment. ii. Report on the Activities of the Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) Letter of Agreement S-99-40 605.4 Mr. Kovacs read the above report and elaborated on it, claiming that the combined effect of the Letter of Agreement (S-99-40), the McGill Student Fund, and the Cold Beverage Agreement (S-99-39) was to shift the burden of making up for governmental underfunding of education on to students and private corporations, rather than raising tuition fees or increasing governmental funding. Cold Beverage Agreement S-99-39 605.5 Members moved into the Committee of the Whole with Associate Dean Mendelson as Chair at 3:30 p.m. 605.6 Members moved out of the Committee of the Whole at 4:00 p.m. A summary of the discussion of the Committee of the Whole is in the Faculty Offices, attached to the permanent copy of the Minutes. 605.7 Mr. Kovacs moved, seconded by Ms. Scheim, that the Faculty of Science support the SUS's attempts to include the Cold Beverage Agreement Legal Clause Demands (S-99-39) in any campus wide Cold Beverage Agreement signed by McGill, with deletion of the words "autonomy in daily activities" from clause # 11. The motion carried. 605.8 Prof. Pasztor moved, seconded by Prof. Barrette, that the Science Senators be requested to raise the issue of the CBA for general discussion by Senate. 605.9 Prof. Kramer proposed an amendment that "with special attention to full protection for academic freedom and freedom of expression in campus media" be added to the above motion. The amendment was accepted as friendly. The motion carried. (6) DEAN'S BUSINESS There was no Dean's business. (7) MEMBERS' QUESTION PERIOD There were no questions. (8) REPORT ON ACTIONS OF SENATE Senate Meeting of February 16, 2000 - Report by Prof. M.J. Mendelson 1. Resolution on the Death of Dr. Howard Solomon Katz A resolution on the untimely death of Dr. Howard Solomon Katz was presented by Professor James Lund, Dean of Dentistry, and adopted unanimously by Senate. 2. Report of the Steering Committee The following nonroutine matters are worth noting: It was resolved that the fact that Senate has requested that a committee conduct an investigation into the recent breach of Senate confidentiality shall no longer be kept confidential. 3. Motion Re Protest Against Government Underfunding Mr. Andrew Tischler introduced a motion to protest government underfunding of universities. There was considerable discussion about the form the protest should take and what the official stance of the University should be. In the end, the following motion was carried: Be it resolved that the Senate of McGill University declare March 3, 2000, as a day of awareness and voicing protest against underfunding of universities in general and McGill in particular at McGill University. Be it further resolved that it be recommended to the Principal that McGill be allowed a four-hour program of activities (from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.) which students may attend without academic penalty during which the following would occur: - a teach-in - an information picket - circulation of a petition to be signed by all members of the community. 4. 318TH Report of the Academic Policy and Planning Committee Of interest to Faculty, the B.Sc. Major in Environment (Food Production and the Environment) and the B.Sc. Minor in Biology were approved. 5. Semi-Annual Report on Full-Time Academic Staffing Changes The Semi-Annual Report on Full-Time Academic Staffing Changes (D99- 48) was discussed. The decline in academic teaching staff continued from 1998 to 1999; 79 academic staff left McGill, while only 35 new members arrived. In 1993, there were 1,498 academic teach staff, whereas last year there were only 1,242, which was a 17% decline over 7 years. The Principal remarked, however, that the number of slots for academic staff will increase in 2000, but that it is as yet unknown if they will be filled and the number of people will increase. 6. Report to Senate Concerning Administrative and Support Staff The Vice-Principal (Administration and Finance) presented the Report to Senate Concerning Administrative and Support Staff (D99-54). The number of administrative and support staff has been relatively flat over the past two years, and there was a slight increase from May to November 1999, which was largely due to the increase in the number of middle-management staff (Ms). In 1998, it was decided to institute term appointments for management staff, which allowed faculties to hire management staff for limited periods and which accounts for some of the increase in numbers. The term "management" is perhaps misleading, as almost anyone in a professional category, including computer programmers, is hired into this category. Professor Baines noted that the number of technical staff is declining. He asked whether the University is hiring more technicians on term appointments. Vice- Principal Yalovsky stated that he would investigate and report to Senate. 7. Amendment to the Statutes Senate recommended to the Board of Governors that the degree "Doctor of Dental Medicine D.M.D." be added to the degrees listed in Article 13.1 of the Statutes. 8. Report to Senate from the Board of Governors The following items were relevant to Faculty: The Board recommended that Senate take all reasonable steps to prevent recurrence of a breach of confidentiality. The Principal noted that Senate's request that the Committee on the Rights of Senate investigate the breach was one step towards this goal. Profs. A. S. Hay (Chemistry), B. B. Mukherjee (Biology), W. C. Purdy (Chemistry), M. A. Whitehead (Chemistry), and M. J. Zuckermann (Physics) were promoted to the rank of professor emeritus. The mandate of Prof. Rosalie Jukier as Dean of Students was extended by one year, to end on May 31, 2001. (9) OTHER BUSINESS There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:20 p.m.