The U of S Act provides that the General Academic Assembly (GAA) may direct University Council to reconsider a decision authorizing the Board of Governors to establish or disestablish Colleges, Departments or Institutes. To do that, 50 or more members of the GAA must request that a special meeting of the GAA be called for that purpose.
More than 50 of our colleagues have requested a meeting for the purpose of requiring Council to reconsider its May 2012 decision authorizing the Board to provide for the establishment of three new divisions in the College of Medicine.
The special meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, September 6th at noon in Convocation Hall and the USFA Executive strongly urges all members to attend (quorum is 150). We know it’s a very busy time of year, but participation by faculty in the governance of the U of S is vitally important, especially when the GAA is convened to discuss a decision by Council.
The USFA is not in the business of setting the academic agenda. That is the responsibility of faculty. All faculty members (defined in the Act as “a person who is employed on a full-time basis by the university or an affiliated or federated college and who serves as a professor, associate professor, assistant professor, lecturer, full-time special lecturer, full-time instructor, librarian or extension specialist”) are members of the GAA and are eligible to vote at the special meeting.
Here’s what you can do:
- Familiarize yourself with the issue. The Concept paper formerly found at http://www.medicine.usask.ca/concept/index.html is no longer available. The ‘Petition to GAA’ folder located in the Governance Documents section of the College of Medicine Faculty Council Intranet is no longer accessible.
- Attend this special meeting of the GAA. Registration begins at 11:30.
- Hear what your colleagues have to say about this issue.
- Have your say.
- Vote on the matter of directing Council to reconsider its decision to authorize the Board to establish three new divisions in the College of Medicine.
A list of GAA members is available at http://www.usask.ca/university_secretary/gaa/index.php. If your name is not on the list and you believe it should be, contact the University Secretary by August 31, 2012.