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Senate
Wallin attends first Senate as Chancellor
The first Senate meeting of the academic year was also a first for the University's new chancellor, Pamela Wallin. In an address to senators, she expressed her appreciation for the opportunity to serve as chancellor and commended Guelph on its ability to combine education and research with real-world issues.
President Alastair Summerlee welcomed new and returning senators and noted some of the highlights of the semester so far. These included a highly successful Orientation Week and a long-awaited win against Western at the Homecoming football game. He also talked about the provincial election and the lack of attention directed towards funding for post-secondary education. He said he will continue to work with the Council of Ontario Universities to help raise the issue of post-secondary funding and keep it on the political agenda.
Prof. Maureen Mancuso, provost and vice-president (academic), told Senate that U of G's total enrolment will likely be on target for this semester with some 4,400 undergraduate students accepting offers this fall. With the bulge from the double cohort having graduated in June, there will be slightly fewer undergraduates in total at Guelph this year. She said entry targets were exceeded at Guelph-Humber, which is also good news. Graduate numbers will likely be close to target as well, although the finalized numbers for both undergraduate and graduate students won't be reported until Nov. 1, she said. The provost thanked departments and schools for their efforts to meet the graduate targets.
In Senate business, a motion to begin regular fall classes on the Thursday of Orientation Week instead of the following Monday was passed after much debate.
Prof. Jim Atkinson, chair of the Board of Undergraduate Studies (BUGS), said the issue was first raised last year by faculty concerned about the amount of class time being lost on Thanksgiving Monday, especially for those students who were missing a three-hour class. It was also raised by Student Affairs, which pointed out that research shows it's important to involve students earlier in academic work to ensure their success.
The majority of Ontario universities have 60 days of classes, whereas Guelph has 59. Beginning regular classes on the Thursday after Labour Day will give U of G students 60 days of classes and an extra study day at the end of the semester.
Atkinson noted that the BUGS recommendation was a balanced one to ensure the number of class days while preserving the days for revision between the end of class and exams and the number of days required to mark exams before submitting final grades for posting. In this way, students can receive their marks before winter commencement.
Student senators mounted a number of arguments against the motion, including the need for a full week for first-year students to orient themselves and for younger students to acclimatize to university. They also noted the strength and commitment of the orientation team programming, and said starting classes on Thursday means all students would have to end summer jobs earlier.
In the end, the motion passed with a narrow majority, with students, faculty and staff voting on both sides of the debate.