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UBC-V Student SenateCaucus Meeting
Date: February 18, 2015Time: 4:40-5:24pmVenue: SUB 206 (Council Chambers)
Present:
Voting Members:Graham Beales (Applied Science), Daniel Munro (Arts), Mona Maleki (Member At-Large, Christopher Roach (Member At-Large), Collyn Chan (Land & Food Systems), Aaron Bailey (Science), Anne Kessler (Member At-Large),Sonam Vohra (Forestry), Cole Leonoff (Sauder),
Guests:NiloufarKeshmiri (CUS President)
Regrets:Melanie Chartrand (Education), Justin Wiebe (Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies), Eric Zhao (Member At-Large), Nina Karimi (Member At-Large, Brenda Gershkovitch (Law), SukhpaulGurm (Dentistry), Julienne Jagdeo (Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies), Casey Chan (Medicine), Aliya Daulat (Pharmacy)
Meeting start: 4:36pm
1.Adopt Agenda
Mona Maleki, SSC Co-Chair / 4:40 pm – 4:42 pmBIRT the UBC-V Student Senate Caucus meeting agenda for February 18th, 2014be adopted as presented.
There was a friendly amendment to modify the date of the minutes in item 2 to December 17th, 2014.
Moved: Daniel Munro; Seconded: Cole Leonoff / Carried.
2.Minute Approval
Mona Maleki, SSC Co-Chair / 4:42 pm – 4:42 pmBe it resolved that the minutes entitled “UBC-V student Senate Caucus Meeting_Minutes_20141217” be approved as presented.
Moved: Aaron Bailey; Seconded: Sonam Vohra / Carried.
3.Senate Meeting Material Review
Mona Maleki, SSC Co-Chair / 4:42 pm – 5:04 pmSonam asked the SSC how admission averages are calculated, and if they are scaled depending upon the curriculum the student comes from. She received the response that yes, in general they are scaled depending on curriculum.
Admissions Committee:
Graham wondered why the rationale for Education’s change from evaluating the best 30 of an applicant’s previous 60 credits to evaluating the previous 60 credits did not address the change, and it was decided that he would ask at Senate proper.
It was decided that Anne would ask about the retention rate for Vantage College students, and how it compares to other programs. As well, the caucus thought it important to find out what the steady-state goal was for international student admission, as well as how faculty were being hired to match—particularly with Gupta’s stated goal of decreasing the student-to-faculty ratio at UBC.
Curriculum Committee:
Christopher stated that he would ask about the dual-faculty administrative structure for the Masters in Engineering Leadership programs, and whether it would be ready by the by the stated start date for them (Fall 2015). Daniel also questioned the fact that the proposal for these programs mentioned space set aside for the students, but that no one knew where said space was.
Graham was worried about the Minor in Science for Applied Science students, and how the proposal for it modified the current requirements for a Minor in Honours Mathematics. It was decided that he would ask about it at Senate Proper.
4.Committee Positions Update
Mona Maleki (SSC Co-Chair) / 5:04 pm – 5:16 pmThere were empty positions for students on three committees: 1 on the Curriculum Committee, 1 on the Academic Building Needs Committee, and 2 on the Library Committee.
It was decided that Sonam would be placed on the Curriculum Committee.
A question was asked about what the Academic Building Needs Committee does. Collyn mentioned that it is currently talking about Art on campus, and Mona expanded upon that to state that the committee looks at the building plans on campus, and more recently it had been looking at art installations in and around buildings.
It was decided that Sonam would be placed on the Academic Building Needs Committee.
- Working Group Updates
Flexible Learning Working Group
The working group had not met since the previous SSC meeting, but was planning on holding a meeting the following Monday, February 23—two days before the Flexible Learning Ad-Hoc Committee meeting. Aaron mentioned that the ad-hoc committee was going to be choosing between three large pilot project, and how they’re going to be building up a policy framework the way the Ad-Hoc Committee on Mental Health has done, and that the plan was to gather feedback from the working group.
Mental Health Working Group—Eric was not present, so Mona updated the caucus in his place
The working group had talked about how to strategically advance on creating a fall reading break, and will be updating the SSC in the future.
Mon also asked whether the Senate Committees had started discussing the Mental Health Framework, and whether there were any interesting discussions. Aaron mentioned that in the Curriculum Committee Senator Baimbridge wasn’t sure where aspects of the Mental Health Framework should be discussed, particularly with regards to student workloads (whether in the committee, or whether in the Flexible Learning Ad-Hoc Committee). It was also mentioned that The Curriculum Committee will be creating an ad-hoc committee of its own members to discuss what to do with the framework in more detail.
Intercultural Understanding Working Group
The working group decided to no longer pursue the intercultural pathways idea, as the university is not currently in a position to put it into place.
Be it resolved that the Student Senate Caucus meeting is adjourned.
Moved:Mona Maleki; Seconded:Aaron Bailey / 5:24 pm – 5:24 pm
Meeting Adjourned: 5:24pm
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