Senate met on June 21st, for its last time until September (Senate has a ‘summer break’, in which they do not meet for two months). There was lots covered in the meeting, so I will do my best go give a concise summary:
Item #1, Waterloo Warriors: I’m sure there has been and continues to be a lot of press around the Waterloo Warriors Football team and their alleged use of steroids. I’d like to convey the situation as it was told at senate: Started with a police investigation of two students that led to a discovery of a large quantity of performance enhancing and related drugs. As a result, the University requested that all 62 players be tested. One refused. As a result of the tests and the refusal, 9 students are being reprimanded. The coaches have been suspended with pay. The team is banned from competing, but all services and training to team members who wish to continue will be made available. A formal review of the entire program will be performed in due time. It is worthy to note that during the meeting both student senators and faculty raised concerns that team members who did not test positive were essentially punished to the same extent as those that are be reprimanded. Provost Feridun Hamdullahpur remained steadfast in his response that the University treats such incidents very seriously and that all actions are being taken with the student’s safety in mind. He drew on correspondences he’s had with various parents of athlete students which he indicated expressed strong support of the stance that the University is taking. The Dean of Arts, Ken Coates also expressed praise of our Provost and administration’s response in being decisive and holding the decision firm.
Item #2, Enrolment/Admissions: There was some anxiety earlier in the year because application numbers were down year over year to UWaterloo. However, despite fewer applications, and higher acceptances averages of 2% in 4 of 6 faculties, Admissions has managed to bring in a whopping 6411 confirmations. This number is expected to decrease by the time September roles around due to students changing their decisions over the summer. However, the target of confirmations for this time of year was 5900….so we are quite clearly well over target. I must raise a note of caution and warning here: more students do mean that the University is in better fiscal position; however it also means more strain on student services, faculty, housing etc. We must be vigilant in upholding our standard and committing the necessary resources to ensure our standards do not drop as our size expands. I have seen promising commitments from Provost Feridun Hamdullahpur’s desk, and I am comforted that his commitment to student services and student success seems genuine and quite material. I encourage everyone to watch carefully and should we need to act to ensure that UWaterloo is constantly increasing its ability to serve students.
Item #3, Student Success and Services: The University Executive went on their annual retreat to reflect and realign the direction of UWaterloo. As President David Johnston put it, “We must always be asking ourselves, are we doing the right things and are we doing those things right”. The exec council came back with four priorities, Internationalization, Total Enrolment Management, Sixth Decade Plan, and Students/Student Services. I want to focus on the latter displaying a copy of the exec council’s report.
I am privileged to serve the students of the Faculty of Engineering, and from the perspective that I sit, Waterloo could not be a more exciting place to be, this year, this term, this month. I can’t wait to be back from co-op in the whirlwind of constant positive change.
Email me if you think otherwise, I’d love to help rectify the things that may not be great about our University so that we can make it great(er).
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