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The Role of Senate at Queen's

Dear QUFA Members,

In light of the decision last March by the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science to suspend entry into certain degree programmes based on enrolment and the manner in which this was accomplished, QUFA Executive wished to have a better understanding of Queen’s University governance and so commissioned research on this topic.

Attached please find a discussion paper on governance at Queen’s University written by Professor Emeritus David Mullan. Professor Mullan is one of the nation’s foremost administrative lawyers and the QUFA Executive is grateful that he had the time and interest in pursuing this issue. For a brief profile of Professor Mullan, please see:
http://law.queensu.ca/alumni/alumniEvents/recentEvents/mullanProfile.html

The paper discusses the roles of the various governing bodies and offices at Queen’s and summarizes its conclusions as follows:

  1. The March 2009 decision of the Faculty of Arts and Science to suspend for one year enrolment in certain academic programs, types and concentrations (with a view to phasing out some of them) should not have been taken without reference to Senate. The Senate’s authority in relation to such matters is guaranteed by the 1982 Board of Trustees’ Policy, Functions of the Senate.
  2. The Principal should, in consultation with and with the approval of Senate (and, if necessary, the Board of Trustees), develop a protocol on how the Senate’s rights in matters such as this are to be respected in the future.
  3. Given the extent to which this incident has revealed a problem as among the Senate, the Board of Trustees, and the Executive Officers of the University regarding their respective responsibilities over fiscal and academic matters, consideration should also be given to whether this issue and similar issues of potentially overlapping authority need to be dealt with in the Functions of the Senate Policy.

Professor Mullan has asked that his paper be distributed widely and discussed. It seems clear to the QUFA Executive that Senators have a fair amount of power and a much larger role to play in the academic governance of the University then they might believe, and that faculty and students must work together through the Senate if they wish to exercise this power to shape academic decision-making at Queen’s.

Cathy Christie
QUFA President




MullanGovernance ReportNov2009.pdf