Students Commended for Record-Breaking Food Collection Halloween Night
At the Nov. 2 meeting of Senate, president Alastair Summerlee urged members to attend the town hall meeting that former Ontario premier Bob Rae will be holding on campus Nov. 24 as part of his review of the design and funding of the province's post-secondary education system. It begins at 7:30 p.m. in Room 104 of Rozanski Hall. Information and a copy of the Rae advisory panel's discussion paper are available at www.raereview.on.ca.
Summerlee commended U of G students for collecting more than 16,000 pounds of food for local food banks by canvassing their neighbourhoods Halloween night. They broke the Canadian record for both the number of volunteers and amount of food collected in the national “Trick or Eat” campaign run by students on 40 Canadian campuses.
The president also paid tribute to the organizers of Peace Week, calling the initiative a “beacon of light” amid recent reports of hate crimes on campus. He noted that a Peace Vigil will be held Nov. 15.
Senators approved changes to the bylaw for the Senate Committee on Student Petitions. Many of the revisions are designed to make bylaws and regulations clearer and more precise and to reflect the realities of committee operations.
The most substantive changes involve adding U of G's judicial officer to the committee as a non-voting member and reducing the committee quorum from six members to three, while maintaining the balance of membership between faculty and students.
Speaking on behalf of the Senate Committee on Student Petitions in response to a question, judicial officer Mary Childs said the removal of the “required to withdraw” provision from the end of the fall semester has caused a dramatic increase in the demand for petition hearings during the summer, when many members of the petitions committee are absent.
She said it's important to avoid lengthy delays in scheduling hearings to ensure that students' cases are heard before the start of fall semester classes.
Senate also approved revisions intended to streamline the University's internal review process, including expanding the membership of the standing committee on internal reviews.
Prof. Alan Shepard, director of the School of English and Theatre Studies and U of G's academic colleague to the Council of Ontario Universities (COU), reported that COU is launching a public awareness campaign about university education and research.
