Thread by @UbysseyNews

Hello! We're at tonight's #UBCSenate meeting, the first (partially) in-person meeting since the start of the pandemic.

The live stream on Facebook does not appear to be working, but here is the agenda anyways: scs-senate-2021.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/20220921…

Santa Ono calls the first regular meeting of the academic year to order with a land acknowledgement.

Registrar Kate Ross welcomes Alex Mitchell, the new student representative from the Faculty of Dentistry.

The minutes of the May 18, 2022 meeting have been approved, with a small correction.

Now to President Ono's remarks. Ono said UBC will mark Orange Shirt Day on September 30. Ono welcomes Rella Ng to UBC as the new associate VP, enrolment services and registrar. Ng begins at UBC in November.

Ono said that UBC has committed $4 million this academic year to projects that support the implementation of the Indigenous Strategic Plan through the Indigenous Strategic Initiatives Fund.

Ono said this will be his final Senate meeting at UBC Vancouver. He thanks all of the senators for their dedication to UBC.

Ono asks the Senate to recognize faculty members Shirley Chau and Handel Wright to talk about their work on the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force.

Check this article for more on the task force report recommendations, but Dr. Wright is not currently present, so the Senate is going to come back to this once Dr. Wright is in the room.
ubyssey.ca/news/ubc-task-…

Now to a motion on granting some degrees. Motion carries.

Now a motion from the Admissions Committee. Senator Carol Jaeger is seeking approval of an affiliation agreement between the UBC Faculty of Education and the Beijing Language and Culture University.

Jaeger said the goal is to expand the relationship with this university. She said it's an opportunity for the Bachelor of Education program to have a cohort of international students.

Senator HsingChi von Bergmann said she would like some background information around bringing this forward during this "tricky, international political situation right now" and a desire to stand with Hong Kong.

Professor Anna Kindler is here to speak more on this — she said they currently don't have restrictions on students from any jurisdiction attending UBC, and this would follow that. This is a strictly academic collaboration, she said.

Senator Anubhav Pratap-Singh asks about the rationale behind selecting this university.

Kindler said it was not so much a selection, but rather a welcoming of the interests of this university for this specific program.

Pratap-Singh said the ranking of a university should be considered when putting together agreements like this, ask.

Kindler said this university has previously had a relationship with UBC — students in the department of Asian studies have been taking classes here through Go Global in the past.

Senator Julien Dierkes said he's puzzled by the proposal, as it seems like it just says this BLCU will send applications and UBC will consider them.

He said he is uncomfortable with entering into formal agreements with Chinese universities right now.

Kindler said this Bachelor of Education program has a specific set of requirements, and can make it difficult for students from other jurisdictions to be successful applicants from this program without having to take additional courses.

Kindler said this agreement would mean BLCU students would be able to take all required courses needed for this degree,

Dierkes said this university could do this without an agreement — so is this agreement necessary?

Kindler said this agreement facilitates that, and it guarantees a pool of international applicants.

Senator Charles Menzies said he is concerned about the abstract principle of entering into an agreement with a university in a country that is violating "human rights in Hong Kong."

Menzies said he thought the Senate was planning to look more deeply into UBC's academic agreements with countries "engaged in atrocious acts against their populations."

Provost and VP Academic Gage Averill encouraged this broader conversation Menzies advocated for. He also responded to Senator Pratap-Singh:

He said UBC has hundreds of agreements with universities around the world — many of which are not within UBC's rankings due to UBC being highly ranked.

Averill said many universities are distinguished by their subject matter, and spoke on the importance of these relationships despite rankings.

Senator Steven Pelech said he has some of the same concerns as Senator Menzies, but said he was convinced by Kindler's points on the need for international students in this program. He said the Faculty of Education would benefit from this program, so he supports it.

Senator Veta Chitnev supports the agreement. She said we know China is not a democratic country, but the students should not be punished for that. She said this agreement will help facilitate student exchange and will help this other university.

Senator Santokh Singh asks how this program has been working with students coming from China, and if this program continues, how would this agreement benefit UBC and Canada?

Kindler said this program doesn't exist currently with BLCU, but exists within the BEd program. Some benefits include the internationalization of the student body in the Faculty of Education, she said.

Kindler added that this is a great opportunity for sharing of experience among teacher candidates. She said that's the pedological benefit.

Singh asks why an agreement is needed to get these students here.

Kindler specifies that UBC's education program is a second entry program, and its pre-reqs are restricted and specific. This would ensure that more qualified applicants will be available to enter this program.

Senator Shaktiraj Kandola said the BEd program is very focused toward BC and whether this would result in more international perspectives in the program, if they're attempting to train people to also teach internationally?

Kindler said that's a fair question for all faculties across UBC. She said the education program is considered to be top ~20 in the world, which will be attractive to international students.

Kindler said she takes the point that they should incorporate more international perspectives into the program.

Austin Uzama asks about the impact on domestic seats, and whether the BCLU would have a role in credentialing.

Kindler said they need to be thoughtful and careful about these agreements, and they do not limit the number of domestic students who could be accepted. Kindler said no to the second question — this would be a UBC program only.

Senator Dana Turdy asks about the progress of a review of agreements with countries that commit human rights violations.

Chris Eaton said due to turnover, he will be speaking with the new VP International ASAP.

Pro Tem Education Dean Jan Hare said the agreement would create more resources and allow them to address the "linguistic racism" that so many teacher candidates face by building capacity to address those issues.

Senator Bachviet Nguyen asks what the projected revenue is from this program, and how much would go to domestic seats?

Kindler said students in this program would pay the standard international student rate.

Motion carries.

Senators are voting on the motion:

It passes.

Dr. Wright is now on Zoom, so we're going back to the ARIE presentation.

Wright says the ARIE task force began its work in March 2021 and had 34 members.

He says the work was divided into six, autonomous committees related to IBPOC and student, staff, and faculty.

He says the task force developed 54 recommendations based on an anti-oppression + intersectional approach.

He says that, like other Canadian universities, UBC has a problem of institutionalized racism.

He says the 54 recommendations can be looked at in two ways:
1 - holistically
2 - six distinct, yet interrelated task force reports

Wright and Dr. Chau are going through some of the recommendations from each committee:

Wright says there were additional intersectional recommendations developed by everyone on the task force. He notes that this list is not comprehensive.

Chau says that many recommendations have been identified as part of the first phase of implementation.

She also lays out the people on the implementation team:

Wright wraps up by saying that task force members did hard work, along with "heart work."

Pelech asks how many members of each committee were not part of the identity group that the committee was making recommendations for.

Wright says all but two members who self-identified as a particular identity were part of the same identity committee. He says one staff member was on a different committee and one non-Black member served on the Blackness Committee.

Pelech says he thinks some of the recommendations were confusing.

Eshana Bhangu asks if members from one of the committees will be involved in the implementation of the recommendations related to that committee.

Chau defers to Averill.

Averill says UBC execs, particularly AVP Equity + Inclusion Arig al Shaibah, will be leading implementation given the scope of the process.

VP Students Ainsley Carry reaffirms that UBC execs are moving forward on recommendations. He says UBC will solicit advice from students if needed.

Ono notes that the Provosts on both of UBC's campuses are also helping with implementation.

Georgia Yee asks how the Senate can help implement the ARIE recommendations.

Ono says that a lot of feedback from faculties working on these recommendations will flow through the Senate. He adds that the Senate can be proactive w/ these recommendations in committees related to academic + scholarly activities.

Averill says the Senate will continue to receive reports on the implementation of the recommendations.

Carry says senators should consider which voices are included and excluded in the Senate.

With no more questions, Ono thanks Wright and Chau for their work.

Now onto a motion from the Awards Committee. Dr. Larry Burr is presenting it:

It passes.

Next up are motions from the Curriculum Committee. Dr. Claudia Krebs is presenting the first motion on Sept. curriculum proposals:

Krebs say these proposals were part of a routine meeting and that none of them include anything controversial.

This motion also passes.

Krebs presents this second motion:

Krebs says these new courses are "purely administrative" related to the implementation of WorkDay students.

This motion passes as well.

Lastly, Krebs says senators were sent a document of UBC's modes of learning delivery that define each type of delivery: in-person, online, hybrid, and multi-access learning.

She says this is for senators' information and will allow people to understand what they mean when they say 'hybrid' learning.

Now for a motion from the Nominating Committee. Dr. Paul Harrison presents the motion:

Harrison notes that both he and Laia Shpeller stepped out of the committee meeting when this topic came up.

This motion passes.

It's time for a presentation of a report from the UBC Emeritus College.

Averill says he wants to congratulate the college for becoming a central part of intellectual + collegial life in its few years of its existence. He introduces Principal Joost Blom to present.

Blom says he won't go into detail, but will if anyone has specific questions.

He says the Emeritus College is enhanced by in-person contact with the emeritus faculty. He says despite the pandemic, the school has had around 70 events over the past year.

He says the activities of the college have been divided into 10 sections within the report.

He opens the floor for questions.

There are none. Ono thanks Blom for his leadership.

Now for a motion from Registrar Kate Ross to retroactively amend the academic calendar in relation to the death of the Queen.

She asks the Senate to retroactively approve her decision to extend the drop deadline.

It passes.

Yee says it would be good to establish a process for amending the add/drop deadline in the event of a surprise day-off.

Ross notes that Monday's day off was due to some unusual circumstances.

Ross also presents the final results of the 2022 Student Senate and Board of Governors Elections.

The only remaining position to be filled was for a Faculty of Dentistry student — which was filled by Alex Mitchell.

Ono asks if there are any other business items.

Dr. John Gilbert starts to thank Ono for his work over the past 6 years at UBC and with the Senate.

Averill also expresses his admiration for Ono and leading the Senate.

Ono says he is going to miss everyone and that he was serious when he said earlier that he would be happy to meet w/ any one who comes to Ann Arbor.

And with that, the meeting is adjourned.