CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY MINUTES OF THE OPEN SESSION OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS Held on Wednesday, 20 January 1999, immediately following the Closed Session, in Room GM 407-1, SGW Campus Attendance Present: Mr. Reginald K. Groome, Chairman, Dr. Steven Appelbaum, Dr. Tannis Arbuckle-Maag, Dr. William Byers, Mr. Alex Carpini, Mrs. Marianne Donaldson, Dr. Terrill Fancott, Mr. Leo Goldfarb, Mr. Peter Howlett, Mr. Ronald Lawless, Ms. Christine Lengvari, Dr. Frederick Lowy, Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Sister Eileen McIlwaine Ph.D., Mr. Donald W. McNaughton, Mr. Eric Molson, Chancellor, Mr. Brian Neysmith, Ms. Susan O'Connell, Mr. Richard Renaud, Mrs. Miriam Roland, Dr. Elizabeth Saccá, Mr. David Smaller, Mr. Jonathan Wener, Mrs. Susan Woods Officers of the University: Prof. Marcel Danis, Mr. Charles Emond, Mr. Larry English, Dr. Jack Lightstone Observer: Me Pierre Frégeau Absent: Dr. Francesco Bellini, Mr. Alain Benedetti, Dr. June Chaikelson, Mr. Ronald Corey, Mr. Colin Dennis, Dr. Leonard Ellen, Mr. Mauro Franco, Mr. George Hanna, Mr. Paul Ivanier, Mrs. Hazel Mah, Mr. Jacques Ménard, Vice-Chairman, Mr. Chris Palin, Mr. John Parisella, Mr. Benoit Pelland, Mr. Jonathan Plante, Mr. Brian Steck, Mrs. Lillian Vineberg, Vice-Chairwoman Guest: Mr. John Woodrow, Director of Instructional and Information Technology Services DOCUMENTS CONSIDERED AND ATTACHED TO THESE MINUTES BG-99-1-D3 Letter from Legal Counsel regarding use of the name “Concordia” BG-99-1-D4 Capital Campaign Report 1. Call to Order The Open Session was called to order at 8:45 a.m. 1.1 Chairman’s remarks The Chairman announced the re-appointment of Dr. Jack Lightstone for a five-year term as Provost and Vice-Rector, Research, and extended congratulations on behalf of the Board. 1.2 Approval of the Agenda The Agenda was approved as submitted. 2 1.3 Approval of the Minutes of the Open Session of the previous meeting (16 December 1998) Upon motion duly moved and seconded (Donaldson, McNaughton), it was unanimously RESOLVED: R99-4 THAT the Minutes of the Open Session of the previous regular meeting of the Board, held on 16 December 1998, be approved. 2. Business arising from the Minutes There was no business arising from the Minutes. 3. Presentation: Director of Instructional and Information Technology Services, Mr. John Woodrow The Rector introduced Mr. John Woodrow, formerly Director of Computing Services. Dr. Lowy explained that, following the merger of Computing Services with the Audio-Visual department, Mr. Woodrow was assigned responsibility for the merged operation, named “Instructional and Information Technology Services” (IITS). Mr. Woodrow said a committee comprising representatives of the Faculties and all large administrative units was working hard to make the arrival of the Year 2000 (Y2K), as much as possible, a “non-event” at Concordia. He explained that the Y2K dilemma originated in the programming practice of using two digits to represent a calendar year, for example, “99” for the year nineteen hundred and ninety-nine. It had become necessary to anticipate how every individual computer system would react to the change from “99” to “00”; that is, would it recognize the year “2000” or identify the new year as “1900”? At the University, all areas were affected, ranging from financial networks and desktop computers, to physical equipment and service suppliers. Mr. Woodrow offered, to the best of his knowledge, the following summary of the state of Concordia’s Y2K readiness: (i) replacement of the Financial Information System with the SCT Banner System (already underway) would make financial services compliant; (ii) Human Resources and payroll functions were corrected by the supplier, and compliant; (iii) the Student Information System was created in-house, and was compliant; (iv) the Library Information System had been corrected by the supplier, and was compliant; (v) the Advancement Information System had been corrected by the supplier, and was compliant; (vi) adjustment of academic departmental computer systems was underway; (vii) testing and correction of the CARL system used by the Office of the Registrar was underway; (viii) the physical resources system (EPIX) is non-compliant and needs to be replaced; (ix) of personal desktop computers: Apple computers were compliant; UNIX computers were compliant with some problems; in IBM-type computers, most “Windows” variants could be corrected with patches from Microsoft, and older models would require replacement of chips; (x) research systems were being tested and corrected; (xi) most network services were considered to be compliant; (xii) the level of compliance of physical equipment, including, among others, security 3 and fire alarms, elevators, escalators, and timers regulating light, heat and ventilation systems, was unknown and a cause of concern. Mr. Woodrow said vendors were not very forthcoming with information and were generally unwilling to commit themselves to statements about the Y2K compliance of their products and services. It was therefore, impossible to predict how certain systems would respond to Y2K - especially as a lot of basic equipment was quite old; (xiii) among utilities, systems for provision of electricity and water were compliant but there was less confidence about whether telephone and governmental services would be consistent throughout. Mr. Woodrow strongly recommended that consumers, both institutional and private, scrutinize bills to ensure their accuracy after 1 January 2000. He warned that Y2K problems would persist long after the turn of the century. Having spent less than $50,000. to date on Y2K preparations, Concordia had achieved compliance in most of its major systems. Mr. Woodrow identified physical functions as the major area of concern. A Governor asked if the University could be held liable for damages caused by non-compliance of suppliers. Mr. Woodrow suggested asking Legal Counsel to evaluate Concordia’s exposure with respect to Y2K issues. The Vice-Rector, Services, Mr. Emond added that an emergency planning group had ensured there would be stand-by help on 31 December 1999 and 1 January 2000, fortunately a quiet time at the University. Mr. Groome thanked Mr. Woodrow for his thorough and informative report. 4. Approval to use the name “Concordia" Upon motion duly moved and seconded (Lowy, Neysmith), it was unanimously RESOLVED: R99-5 WHEREAS two student radio stations on Concordia’s campuses have merged to create a new legal entity, and the new entity wishes to use the corporate name “Concordia Student Broadcasting Corporation/Société de Radiodiffusion Étudiante de Concordia”; BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Board of Governors authorize the use of the word, “Concordia”, in the title “Concordia Student Broadcasting Corporation/Société de Radiodiffusion Étudiante de Concordia” with the understanding that the Corporation will seek a broadcasting license; and THAT, in his capacity as Secretary-General of Concordia University, Me Marcel Danis be authorized to sign the consent form provided by Industry Canada pursuant to Section 26 of the Canada Business Corporations Regulations. 5. Progress report on the Capital Campaign The Capital Campaign report is appended to the Minutes. 6. Report of the Rector Dr. Lowy’s report addressed three subjects, as follows: 4 (a) Recent achievements of the Faculty of Commerce and Administration, included: (i) the official opening of the sophisticated new International Aviation MBA facilities. Dr. Lowy said the Board would likely hear details about the AMBA at a future meeting; (ii) Concordia’s team earning the highest academic results in the 1999 University Commerce Games, winning medals in eight of the ten academic categories. Concordia finished second overall. Success was attributed to the creation, in 1998, of a course dedicated to preparation for the games; (iii) Concordia’s team won first place in the national undergraduate Business Games, which were held at the University of Western Ontario simultaneously with the Commerce Games; (iv) in the eighteenth annual Concordia International MBA Case Competition, the University hosted thirty-four teams from business schools around the world. A team from Peru won first place and Concordia placed eighth in case studies judged by members of the Montreal business community. (b) Realization of the space plan, adopted by the Board in October 1998, was proceeding at an accelerated pace. An internal steering committee, chaired by Vice- Rector Emond, had been constituted to guide the process of long-range development. The committee would report to the Board’s Real Estate Planning Committee. The Rector reported that the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema would be consolidated on the third and fourth floors of the Faubourg Tower, at a cost of $1.8 million to $2 million. The move would enable the severely space-constrained department to expand by about 1000 square metres. Dr. Lowy said that, although the government had not made any financial commitment toward our construction plans as yet, Cinema’s needs were deemed to be urgent. A Governor asked how the plan affected the potential sale of the Faubourg Tower. The Rector replied it should have no effect, primarily because Concordia was not inclined to sell the Tower before construction on the York Theatre site was well-advanced, ensuring a lag of several years. In any case, Dr. Lowy said, Cinema could occupy the floors as a Faubourg tenant. In response to another question, he told the Board that the government was expected to provide about $1.4 million toward the capital costs of relocation. A broadly-based committee had been established to evaluate the idea of creating a college for study of the social sciences and humanities at Loyola; it would be chaired by Dean Singer, of the Faculty of Arts and Science. Govenror Alex Carpini was among its members. Dr. Lowy said a report was expected by June 1999. (c) The subject of commercial advertising on Concordia campuses had been raised at a previous meeting; Dr. Lowy told the Board the issue, and the differences of opinion surrounding it, were being considered very seriously. A faculty member observed that glossy billboard-type advertisements risked diminishing the impact of the small, elegant plaques used by the University to recognize the highest rank of corporate donors. The ads, he warned, could attract attention vastly disproportionate to the income they generate. Others referred to possible adverse affects on the Capital Campaign. Vice-Rector Emond responded that he was sensitive to these concerns, and had put a moratorium on increasing advertising until the University’s general disposition toward it was clarified. 5 7. Reports of the Vice-Rectors 7.1 Provost and Vice-Rector, Research, Jack Lightstone reported that a new phase of academic planning was being undertaken, and asked Board members to refer to two documents (identified as SCAPP 99-86-D1 and SCAPP 99-86-D2(REV)) provided for their information. Dr. Lightstone said about three-quarters of the initiatives identified in the last academic plan had been completed; D1 contained questions designed to produce, through Faculty-level and Senate discussions, an underlying framework for planning which would embody the major challenges to be faced in the coming years. The questions reflected the changing context of higher education: sharp budgetary contraction, mounting societal expectations, and growing variety and quality of competition. As a striking example of the latter, Dr. Lightstone said one of Montreal’s French-language universities had begun teaching satellite courses on the West Island in the English language. The Provost anticipated the greatest challenge would be to find a good balance between responding to the exigencies of the external environment (for example, to providing short-term educational upgrades), while protecting the University’s traditional mission and ensuring the continuing contribution of scholarly research enterprises to society’s future. Another major challenge would begin with appreciating the full extent of the information revolution and the range of its influence. Institutions, he said, were obliged to be flexible enough to incorporate new technologies, not only into the way education is delivered, but also into course content. In practical terms, Dr. Lightstone stated that the desired faculty complement must be achieved without delay. It was critical, also, to provide adequate space and high- quality facilities for teaching and research. Although no additional cuts were expected in the next budget, the Provost observed, Concordia remained cash-starved and in deficit. He said we must intensify our efforts to educate the public and the government about our needs, at the same time that we, ourselves, do more to generate revenue. Dr. Lightstone closed saying he was confident of Concordia’s ability to deal successfully with the challenges of the future. He expressed his appreciation to the Board for its moral support of the academic sector. 7.2 The Vice-Rector, Services, Mr. Emond waived his report. 7.3 Prof. Danis, the Vice-Rector, Institutional Relations, and Secretary-General, reported that the Court of Appeal had granted the requests of the Concordia University Faculty Association (CUFA) and of the retirees for intervenor status in the Pension Plan lawsuit. Prof. Danis explained that possession of intervenor status permits these bodies to examine witnesses. Both CUFA and the retirees had stated they were not in support of the suit. Prof. Danis reported, further, that the attorneys had agreed upon a timetable for hearing Mr. Richard Bisaillon’s request for an injunction. The hearing date would be set on 5 February 1999. 7.4 Chief Financial Officer Larry English told the Board that the Budget Committee would be convened in the coming weeks. 8. Correspondence There was no correspondence to report. 6 9. Any other business Chancellor Eric Molson observed that Mr. Woodrow’s report on Concordia’s preparedness for the Year 2000 was illuminating and extremely relevant. He said he was delighted to hear the Capital Campaign was making such terrific progress. 10. Date of next meeting The Chairman announced that the next meeting of the Board would be held at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, 17 February 1999 in Room GM 407-1, SGW Campus. 11. Adjournment There being no other business, the meeting adjourned at 10:05 a.m. Submitted by Amely Jurgenliemk, Secretary of the Board of Governors and Senate, for approval by the Board at its meeting of 17 February 1999