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Senate;..i:....;;.Part 1

Tfié“Senate"of the univer- sity isva Véry powerful or— ganiZation in the structure of the university. It con- trols and makes all decis- ions which are not fiscal in nature. "Academics" is their speciality, therefore the Senate is the supreme court of university educa— tion. Influencial senators and administration deter— mine what courses students are to take and how they are going to be taught (to some extent). But what is really ironic about this university is that it is very easy to get in but the Senate determines whe- ther or not you are going to get out with their degree.

The biggest problem of our Senate right now, is I the effectivness in deal- ing with specific.problems.'

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in consensus a lot

of time is Wasted in det— ermining whether problems are really problems or not. Their ineffectivness lies right here. The Senate has a history of not dealing with problems as they are happening. Instead, the senate spends alot of time deciding whether a sugg- estion or proposal should be tabled for later dis-4 cussion. Therefore they are not serving the purpose for which a Senate was created. Infrequent meetings, poor notification of meetings and agendas and lack of reality of facts stops the Senate from fulfilling its purpose. This is not to

say that everything should be rushed through without due consideration, but, that senators are confused or don't know in what cap— acity they should be acting as members of Senate. This is the problem - lack of jOb interpretation. U.P.E.I. is not the only university with a senate that has this characteristic. It is common all across Canada.

Last week I came upon the book Towers Beseiged by Cyril s. Belshaw of U.B.C. Here is what he says about Canadian University Senates. In this time of studying the Objectives and goals °f Our university it is

very relevant. Belshaw writes of the dilemma of the creative university.

"Reform, then, is not always easy. Academic Senates have great difficulty in know- ing whether elements in curricula are being taught mechanistically or creat- ively, and whether they

are technically necessary. They are too gentlemanly

to question too deeply the specific operations of their colleagues. When they do discover flaws, members of Senate do little to correct the situation, more from the dislike of intervention than from problems of law. There are very few Senates which have disestablished courses of instruction over the objections of those who are giving them; very few have used academic criteria

~to turn down programs app-

roved by_a Faculty. (The criteria used are usually administrative, fer example that the course overlaps

with another already given,

that there are insufficient staff or students, or that the theme is the property of a rival Faculty). ' Senates and Faculties in this respect set a very bad example to students. By acting as administrators rather than as academic judges they fail to demon-’ strate in their own affairs

'the powers of judgement the

university should stand for, thus failing to educate students and the public in

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THE CADRE, NOVEMBER 12, J 974, page 5

the nature of academic jud— gement, and losing control of their destiny.

In part, this is the result of a feeling that the only judges of academic activity must be those thor— oughly familiar with and specialist in their field. This is the theme which runs through university life. There is no doubt that in many elements of aca- demic judgement, the feel— ing is justified. Academics confuse the role of expert witness with that of judge.

‘What sort of courts would

we have if judges refused to judge when confronted with the arguments of an expert suppliant, or, when two

such suppliants were arguing, refused to take action,,but told them to go away and fight it out themselves?

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Senates, the highest aca- demic judges in universities, usually behave in just this way. ..."

Do we want to change? Do we dare change?

More next week. P.S. Senate meets Thursday night in the faculty lounge. Qrop in and see what goes on.

This week's "Poke in the Ribs" goes to Jack "Recru— iter" Blanchard of Student Services. If you sing dance or even hum, he'll be after you for Campus Cabaret. He has the highest number of recruits to his credit of any of the directors.

I'm gonna get you Jack.

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