The Following Is a Summary of the Senate Meeting Which Took Place on Wednesday, March 4, 2009

From: Marc Richard
Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 2:00 PM
Cc: Marc Richard
Subject: Senate Meeting Report, 2009-03-04

Colleagues,

The following is a summary of the Senate meeting which took place on Wednesday, March 4, 2009.

The meeting began with Dean Richard Levin presenting resolutions on the death of Dr. Peter Cernacek and of Dr. G. Michael Davis, and with Director of Libraries Janine Schmidt presenting a resolution on the death of Ms. Alison Cole.

Senate adopted the report of the Steering Committee ( and the agenda ( Further to point 4 of the Steering Committee report, V.-P. Roy informed Senate that the processes relating to staff retirements had been changed so that staff who retire will no longer see an interruption of their library privileges. Senator Hobbins thanked V.-P. Roy and his staff for the expeditious resolution of this matter.

In her comments from the chair, Principal Munroe-Blum thanked the members of the University community who have been sending her and Provost Masi suggestions on how McGill can support its priorities while living within its means in a time of deep worldwide financial uncertainty. Regarding the recent federal budget, she noted that its infrastructure allocations require 50% matching funding from the provinces; the Quebec government, CREPUQ and McGill are all working to bring forward proposals in this regard. Also on the provincial scene, the Quebec government appears determined to press ahead with its proposed legislation on university governance. The Principal announced that the Board had recently approved the purchase of a facility for new student residence space. The Principal also expressed surprise at the questions which have been raised from various quarters over the recent appointment of Dr. Philippe Couillard as Senior Fellow in Health Law. She indicated that his appointment fits McGill's tradition of being a place where public policy matters, such as the provision of health care services, are studied and debated. The Principal added that Dr. Couillard is not under investigation for possible conflicts of interest; the investigation which has been mentioned in the media involves partners in a private firm, not Dr. Couillard.

As a follow-up to the Principal's remarks, Senator Robaire expressed concern that Ottawa's inadequate funding of the three federal granting councils would decrease McGill's ability to compete for the recruitment of academic staff from the United States. The Principal agreed that this is an issue; she feels that arguments in this regard must be presented to Ottawa, and she suggested that professors, chairs and deans might want to make use of their interactions with the media to keep this issue prominent in the public eye.

There being no items on the agenda in the section reserved for questions and motions by members, Senate next adopted the 408th report of the Academic Policy Committee ( and This included approving the creation of an Institute for the Public Life of Arts and Ideas (IPLAI) and an Institute for Health and Social Policy (IHSP).

Senate then approved the report of the Nominating Committee ( and the calendar of dates for 2010/2011 ( Regarding the calendar of dates, student Senators asked if the stipulated number of contact hours per three-credit course could be dropped from 39 to 36 (the number which they indicated is typical at other universities). This would enable the fall semester to start later than it presently does, so that students would no longer need to start classes before Labour Day, and would make possible a longer winter break. Dean Everett answered that the Administration is open to discussing the matter. Deputy Provost Mendelson added that the Registrar is presently collecting data on contact hours elsewhere, so that benchmarks can be established. He clarified that while the University calendar may start before Labour Day, depending on when the holiday falls in a given year, it never starts before September. Some of the timing constraints under which the calendar operates are that international students need time to get home for the Christmas holidays, that the University holds its final exams over a twelve-day span in order to reduce exam-scheduling conflicts, and that the winter exams need to end prior to April 30th so that students can avoid having to continue their rental arrangements into the month of May.

As the final item of business, Governor Chadha presented for information the report from the Board of Governors to Senate (

Senate Documentation for the 2008-2009 Session:

Documentation for Senate meetings for the current 2008-2009 session can be viewed at: For each Senate meeting listed, documentation is posted on or around the Thursday of the week prior to the date of the meeting, except for the draft minutes of the previous meeting. Once Senate approves the minutes of the previous meeting, they are added to the documentation page of the Senate meeting they describe. In some cases (e.g. budget documents and certain PowerPoint presentations), documents are not posted prior to a meeting but may be subsequently added to that meeting's documentation page. Documents related to confidential matters (e.g. the report of the Honorary Degrees and Convocations Committee) are not posted.

Senate Documentation for Previous Years:

Agendas of Senate meetings from September 1998 to May 2008 are archived at: Minutes of Senate meetings from September 1998 to May 2008 are archived at: Supporting documents for Senate meetings from September 2007 to May 2008 are archived at:

If you have any questions, please get in touch with us. The next Senate meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 25, 2009.

Regards,

Your librarian Senate reps,

Jodie Hebert

John Hobbins

Marc Richard