Standing Committees

In addition to the Executive, a number of standing and ad hoc committees of Senate exist. See also Article 9 of the Academic Governance of the University.

The Executive reviews the composition of the standing Senate committees annually in the spring, with a view to nominating in May a revised list of members for the following academic year. The revised list of members, in so far as it is made up of faculty members, is initially prepared for the Executive by the academic Deans. The nomination of students to Senate Committees is the responsibility of the Executive.

All members of Senate will be canvassed each year about their interest in serving on Committees.

Senate Committees, in order to be closely associated with Senate, will always be given a chair who is a member of Senate.

The composition of Senate Committees should represent the capacity, interests and energy of members appointed, but should not be based on a rigid representation from different areas of the University.

Observers (visitors and official observers) are allowed to attend meetings of Senate and Advisory Committees.

Senate committees may include members of faculty, students and members of the non-academic staff. In special cases, non-university members may be included.

Members of the University who are not members of either the teaching staff or the student body may be eligible for membership on Senate Committees. When nominated, however, the nomination must clearly indicate the affiliation and must indicate from which sectors of the University they come.

As a general rule, new members of faculty are not named to Senate committees during their first year of appointment.

Committee chairs do not usually remain in office as chairs for more than three years.

Any member of a Senate Committee, other than ex-officio members, who is absent without prior stated cause from more than two successive committee meetings or more than half of the meetings in an academic year may be deemed to have relinquished the appointment. On receipt of a minute to that effect by the Clerk of Senate, the Senate Executive shall be informed that a vacancy exists.

As far as possible, Senate committees are expected to delegate administrative matters to administrative officers and concern themselves primarily with matters of policy.

All members of Senate committees, including secretaries, have the right to vote.

Chairs of Committees will be asked by the Clerk to report by a certain date every year anything that had not already been reported to Senate, and to bring forward, at that time, any proposals their Committees may have for changes to their composition and/or terms of reference.

The attendance of deputies for members of Senate committees, and their voting power, are left to the individual chair’s discretion.

Senate has requested that, when a report comes to Senate, the Committee Chair be requested to be present in order to introduce and defend the Committee’s report.

Questions of openness and publicity of committee meetings are left to each committee to decide.

The various standing Senate committees are listed in the column on the left, with each one’s composition and terms of reference.