@prefix edm: . @prefix dcterms: . @prefix dc: . @prefix skos: . edm:dataProvider "CONTENTdm"@en ; dcterms:isReferencedBy "http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=1210082"@en ; dcterms:isPartOf "University Publications"@en ; dcterms:issued "2015-07-20"@en, "1978-05-25"@en ; edm:aggregatedCHO "https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/ubcreports/items/1.0118597/source.json"@en ; dc:format "application/pdf"@en ; skos:note """ V€Ci*L CailtCTiOMS Volume 24, No. 10, May 25, 1978. Published by Information Services, University of B.C., 2075 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1W5. 228-3131. Jim Banham and Mardie Gait, editors. ISSN 0497-2929. ubc reports Report calls for radical changes President Douglas Kenny has asked members of the University community for comment on the recommendations of a report that calls for a radical reorganization of services provided to students on the campus. The full text of the report and a minority report by one member of the committee on proposals affecting the Office of the Dean of Women begins below. Comments on the recommendations should reach Prof. Erich Vogt, vice-president for faculty and student affairs, by Friday, June 2. Prof. Vogt said the administration wished to take ac tion as soon as possible on the future of the Office of the Dean of Women and the appointment of a successor to Dean Margaret Fulton, who leaves UBC on June 30 to become president of Mount Allison University. The members of the committee that prepared the report on student services are: Dr. Ruth L. White, Department of French, chairman; Dr. Katherine Brearley, French; Prof. C.V. Finnegan, Zoology; Prof. Myrne Nevison, Education; Dr. A. Joan Rynertson, Theatre; Dr. Richard Tees, Psychology; and two students representing the Alma Mater Society, Joy Dodson and David, Jil£s|;fj REPORT OF PRESIDENT'S ADVISORY COMMITTEE — REVIEW OF STUDENT SERVICES INTRODUCTION. This committee was established in November, 1977 by Vice-President E.W. Vogt, and was given the following terms of reference: UBC, union agree on 15-month contract The strike by the 25-member Local 882 of the International Union of Operating Engineers ended last Thursday when the members voted to accept a settlement proposal worked out by provincial mediation officer Clark Gilmour. The operating engineers, who operate the UBC power house and do maintenance work on mechanical equipment in University buildings, returned to work on Friday. They had been on strike since Feb. 21. President Doug Kenny said he would recommend to the University's Board of Governors that the Board also approve the settlement. The new contract runs for 15 months, from Jan. 1, 1978, to March 31, 1979, giving the operating engineers a common contract expiry date with three other main unions on campus — the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the Association of University and College Employees (AUCE) and the Office and Technical Employees Union (OTEU). The settlement gives the operating engineers a wage increase of 3.48 per cent retroactive to Jan. 1, 1978, an additional 4 per cent April 1, 1978 (or whatever the CUPE plumbers settle for), plus $20 per man monthly effective Jan. 1, 1979, and another $15 monthly effective March 1, 1979. Bob Grant, director of Employee Relations, said the percentage cost to the University for calendar 1978 would be 6.6 per cent — 3.48 per cent for 12 months, plus the additional 4 per cent for 9 months, although this could rise somewhat should the CUPE plumbers obtain more than 4 per cent. To advise the President's Office on the range, effectiveness and organization of those parts of student services concerned with career and personal counselling, with financial assistance and with job placement, and about measures which might lead to possible improvement of these services. The areas devoted to these services include the present Office of Student Services, the Office of the Dean of Women, the Awards Office and the relevant services provided in International House, Student Health Services and the Housing Office. The committee shall examine the range of desirable student services and the possible redirection of present services to address problems presently not covered. It shall discuss the flexibility of the above services to mount new programs as needed. It shall review effectiveness of the above services, including their management. It shall consider the possible reorganization of the above services, including the possible integration of some services. It shall consider the desirability of the future relocation of some of the above services, possibly combining them into a single site. It shall discuss the relation of the Office of Day Care Co-ordinator — presently being established — to other student services. In view of the impending transfer of student placement to Canada Manpower, it shall consider measures to provide the optimum cooperation between that office and the various parts of student services. The committee is asked to report back to the President's Office on these matters as soon as possible for consideration by the Vice- President, Faculty and Student Affairs. The committee was convened on Dec. 15, and has held seventeen subsequent meetings. Ten of the meetings were devoted in part to hearing oral and written briefs presented by individuals or groups connected in some way with services to students. From these sessions has emerged a clear picture of the fundamental shortcoming of the present system, namely lack of co-operation and coordination among the offices. This situation is related to some extent to the physical distance which separates the agencies but it is probably more closely related to a tendency among them to draw arbitrary lines of demarcation between what an office does and does not undertake. The resulting problems are three-fold: unnecessary overlapping of some services, fragmented rather than unified effort, and failure to evaluate critically the programs offered and to respond to changing needs. To all of the foregoing inadequacies must be added the serious complication of a lack of trained personnel. This is not to say we have found nothing commendable in the present operation. All the groups which appeared before the Committee had high praise for the services provided by Health Services and by the Dean of Women's Office. Most of the other agencies have some special pro- Continued on Page Two Continued from Page One grams which are effective and should be encouraged, but on the whole the services are not working together for the good of the entire student population in the way that we would like to see. The committee's only concern over the past months, then, has been to find a method of making the overall services to students more effective. The solution we are now recommending will require considerable reorganization and some relocation of offices. It will certainly, when implemented, disrupt long-established patterns. We would therefore request that redeployment of personnel be carried out in such a way that the University makes maximum use of a person's demonstrated talents, and that injustices do not occur. RECOMMENDATIONS Recommendations I, II, and III, which have already been submitted at the request of Dr. Vogt, are restated here. RECOMMENDATION I (February 9, 1978). Consolidation of services. The committee agree that, in principle, the consolidation of some areas of our present student services would be desirable. They would not, however, be prepared to recommend any specific location, without having some idea of space requirements. Explanation: It is our feeling that physical consolidation, while theoretically a "good thing", might work in a negative way if the offices were crowded. RECOMMENDATION II (February 27, 1978). Dean of Women's Office (Title and function). The committee recommends that an interim appointment of an Acting Dean of Women be made for the academic year 1978-79. After holding discussions with representatives from several of the administrative branches concerned with student services, and after studying the information gathered thus far, the committee has arrived at two conclusions: 1. It is important that the work of the Dean of Women's Office be continued. There is total agreement on this point. 2. The title "Dean of Women" poses a problem. It is misleading, since it implies academic jurisdiction. It also has the disadvantage of dividing the student body. Since we still have much work to do, and since we would like to be precise both in selection of a title and in definition of responsibilities, we recommend only the above-stated action. Explanation: Even at the end of its deliberations, and after much discussion, the committee is still not unanimous in its recommendation concerning the future status of an office for women students. The disagreement concerns the position of such an office within the new structure. The majority of the committee members see the office as part of the Counselling Centre, but have opted for the retention of the present title until the proposed reorganization is implemented. RECOMMENDATION III (April 26, 1978). International House. We unanimously recommend that, unless major changes in both organization and priorities are made by International House, the University consider withdrawing its financial support and using those funds to establish services for foreign students elsewhere. Explanation: Only 150 of the 1,500 foreign students enrolled at UBC are members of International House. This means that many students coming here from other lands are not receiving from International House the information and help to which they are entitled. In addition, as it is presently operated, International House is not providing a cultural program for the University at large. The committee was left with the distinct impression that the most important contribution made by International House was the operation of the coffee shop. We would comment further that there is deep concern among the students on this point, because of the fact that some foreign students' groups are moving to quarters in the Student Union Building instead of using the quarters which are rightfully theirs. The position of International House in our new scheme will depend on how it is reorganized. We have tentatively placed it on a par with other campus agencies. RECOMMENDATION IV. New Appointment. The committee recommends that the Office of the President appoint, by July 1, 1979, at the latest, a senior person with administrative experience and appropriate academic background, who would provide creative and vigorous leadership to the various campus agencies concerned with student services. The appointee would be responsible for general supervision and co-ordination of all such offices. Since this responsibility at UBC has traditionally been in the Office of the President, the committee further recommends that the appointment be as Vice-President, Student Affairs. Explanation: The committee feels that the task of overseeing the daily operation of all segments of services to 23,000 students warrants an appointment at this level. The duties as outlined in this report would, if added to the present responsibilities of the Vice-President, Faculty and Student Affairs, be too onerous for one person. It is the committee's opinion that the only other satisfactory arrangement would be the appointment of an Assistant to the Vice-President, Faculty and Student Affairs. The fact that increasing numbers of women students of all ages are enrolling at the University leads the committee to suggest that well- qualified women candidates be given serious consideration when the new appointee is being selected. RECOMMENDATION V. Standing Advisory Committee. The committee recommends that a Standing Advisory Committee, chaired by the new appointee (Recommendation IV) and including the Directors responsible for each major area of student services as well as representation from the Alma Mater Society, be established by the Office of the President. This Advisory Committee shall meet regularly, shall give advice on policy matters dealing with services to students, shall see that the services to students are carefully planned and assessed, and shall consider such other matters as may be called to its attention by the chairman. The manager of the Canada Employment Office on campus should be an ex-officio member of this committee. Explanation: The committee hopes that implementation of this recommendation will alleviate the three-pronged problem of which we speak in the introduction to this report. If the proposed Advisory Committee functions well, the offices which deal directly with students will exert a more effective and integrated influence on campus life. RECOMMENDATION VI. Research Officer. It is the further recommendation of the committee that a Research Officer be appointed by the Office of the President. This person shall be immediately responsible to the new appointee and shall serve as secretary to the Standing Advisory Committee. (See Recommendation IV.) Explanation: The committee has been somewhat hampered in its work by the lack of precise data available on services to students: records of interviews, and studies on effectiveness of programs, for example. A Research Officer would see that such records were kept, could, from this information, evaluate the quality of services offered, initiate investigations on student needs, and enlist the help of research specialists in various departments in carrying out the analyses. Another important role we see him as playing is that of catalyst, encouraging co-operation and co-ordination of effort among the agencies. RECOMMENDATION VII. The committee recommends that there be established a Counselling Centre which will include facilities for general counselling, with special provision for foreign students (unless this function is given to International House), and offering such additional special services as Chaplains, Community Referral Service, Day Care, Residence Co-ordinators. The Centre would also include, with the approval of the majority of the committee, an office for women students to replace the Office of the Dean of Women. The staff should be comprised of suitable personnel from existing offices, and additional qualified personnel. Explanation: This arrangement would group the agencies at present concerned with counselling. It may be that the new appointee will wish to set up a co-ordinating committee within the centre. The Chaplains are already serving the University as counsellors. It seems to us only fair that an office in the centre be designated for the use of the Chaplains' Association, in order that one of their number may be available on some regular basis. Every member of the committee wishes to retain the valuable services performed by the Dean of Women's Office but, as stated under Recommendation II, there is disagreement as to the status of the oPV». See Recommendation XIII for details concerning the incision of Residence Coordinators. RECOMMENDATION VIII. Liaison and Orientation. The committee recommends that the entire responsibility for liaison with the secondary schools and with the community colleges of this province, and for the orientation of students, be placed in the Office of the Registrar, preferably in the admissions section. This would undoubtedly require a reallocation of both personnel and budget from the present Student Services Office. Explanation: This recommendation is the outcome of careful study of the practices at other universities, and of the three memos attached from Mr. Jack Wallis, Assistant to the Dean, Faculty of Education; Mr. 2/UBC Reports/May 25, 1978 A.F. Shirran, Director, Office of Student Services; and Mr. J.E.A. Parnall, Registrar. We would like to be sure, however, that in the implementation, the experienced membersof Mr. Shirran's staff who have done a most commendable job will be retained for certain aspects of this work, and would further urge continuation of the statistical follow-up reports on student achievement which are now sent to schools and colleges, of the reports on recent graduates, and of the monthly newsletter, all of which are currently prepared by the Office of Student Services. We would also ask that consideration be given to the possibility of bringing grade 12s and college students intending to register at UBC to the campus for a three-day orientation session during the summer. Students living beyond commuting distance should be housed in the residences. RECOMMENDATION IX. The committee recommends that there be established, close to the Counselling Centre (Recommendation VII), a Career Education and Placement Centre which would include the appropriate staff who have been working in career education. The new office would include a testing function, for example, aptitude and achievement tests, and would be responsible for cooperation with the new Canada Employment Office on the campus. Explanation: There is important work to be done at UBC to complement the role played by Canada Employment. For example, we feel that UBC should build upon ventures initiated by the present Placement Office. In addition, with the assistance of the Research Officer, there should be evaluation of all aspects of the new Co-op and Internship programs recently begun by the Dean of Women's Office. Other proposed programs should be carefully developed and similarly monitored. The committee recognizes that universities across the continent are endeavoring to provide a sufficiently early introduction to various careers so that students may select courses intelligently and prepare themselves well for a given field of work. RECOMMENDATION X. Office of Information and Special Events. The committee recommends the establishment of an Office of Information and Special Events which would inform the University community of services offered to students, and in addition arrange and co-ordinate special campus events. Explanation: This recommendation is based on a suggestion from the Dean of Women's Office, which has until now. accepted the responsibility for some special events, and is supported by the Director ot Ceremonies and by the Alumni Association. We suggest that the Information and Special Events Office should also be in the vicinity of the Counselling Centre and the Career Education and Placement Centre. We leave to the new appointee the decision as to a co-ordinating committee for special events. (See Recommendation IV.) RECOMMENDATION XI. Financial Aid Office. The committee recommends that the present Awards Office be renamed the Financial Aid Office. Explanation: This title is a clearer indication of the function of the office. We would like to encourage the staff to continue their workshops on budgets and their debt counselling sessions. RECOMMENDATION XII. Nurse Practitioner. The committee recommends that, since Health Services will be moving farther away from the centre of campus when the new Acute Care Hospital opens, a full-time Nurse practitioner be placed in the central core of the student services. It is further recommended that this person visit the student residences on a regular schedule. Explanation: Dr. (Archie) Johnson, director of the Student Health Service, felt that this appointment would be very helpful, particularly for prompt referral of students needing medical or psychiatric help. We are in complete accord. RECOMMENDATION XIII. The committee recommends that the new appointee (Recommendation IV) examine immediately both the methods and the results of the selection process used to name Residence Co-ordinators, House Advisors and Residence Fellows. This group of people appears to the committee to play a somewhat unsupervised counselling role in the residences of this University, without, for the most part, any apparent prior training or experience. The committee feels compelled to express serious concern in this regard and to request that some control of these appointments be exercised by the Office of the President. Explanation: The committee feels that many of the complaints we heard concerning the residences stem from the inexperience of the personnel. There must be more supervision of Residence Co-ordinators, House Advisors and Residence Fellows. For this reason, we have included them under the jurisdiction of the director of the Counselling Centre. At present, they are not co-operating with other student services. Within the Residences there are serious problems which require immediate attention. Standards of conduct and conditions for study should be improved. From the information on hand, we judge that both would be much better were less alcohol consumed on the premises. Policies in this regard should be clearly stated by the new appointee in consultation with the Standing Advisory Committee. RECOMMENDATION XIV. Staffing. The committee recommends that new staff, when appointed, reflect the increasing age spread of the student population, that new persons be selected with great care, and that they have acceptable qualifications for the work. Explanation: The scope of counselling services which should be offered within the University is certainly open to debate. The committee is of the opinion that in dealing with serious student problems counsellors should make maximum use of specialized community agencies. It is, however, likely that much of the day-to-day work in our Counselling Centre will continue to be initial and follow-up visits for a specific problem. In the Guidelines for Canadian University Counselling Services, it is recommended that: Counsellors should be employed in a ratio of not less than one full-time equivalent for every 5 — 700 students. If this scheme were to be adopted, UBC would need between S3 and 46 full- time equivalents. RECOMMENDATION XV. "Odds and Ends." The committee recommends that the new appointee pay particular attention to the following items which have come to our attention. Some are mentioned as well under the appropriate recommendation: 1. Reorganization of International House with a view to its playing a role in the counselling of foreign students. (Recommendation III). 2. Scrutinize closely the qualifications of new staff, and assess their personal suitability for the positions. 3. Preparation of a Directory of Services to Students in conjunction with the Information Office (Recommendation X). 4. Consideration of the need for a Co-ordinating Committee for Special Events (Recommendation X). 5. Suggestions re. Financial Aid Office (Recommendation XI): a. A complete reorganization of the Awards and Financial Assistance section of the Calendar. Numerous complaints have been registered. Cross references should give page numbers. b. Equitable distribution of awards: an upper monetary limit for any one student; study of the method of awarding funds for the top 5 per cent of all students. 6. Devise some system for making the residences more liveable and implement it (Recommendation XIII). Dr. Myrne B. Nevison, of the Faculty of Education, submitted a minority report on recommendations affecting the Office of the Dean of Women. The full text of her report appears below. President's Advisory Committee: Review of Student Services MINORITY REPORT Recommendation II: That the functions of the present Dean of Women's Office be continued and be headed by a director who will report directly to the Vice-president and who will be a member of his Advisory Committee on Student Services. Rationale: As indicated in the report of our committee, all the groups which appeared before us had "high praise for the services ... provided by the Dean of Women's Office": "Our only satisfactory referrals are to the Dean of Women's Office or to the Health Services." "The programs and new vision of the Dean of Women's Office need desperately to be preserved." "The role it plays in helping mature women by cutting red tape for special and emergency help is vital." "It is important for women students to be represented publicly with a special office/person speaking on their behalf and it is important that this person be seen as part of the decision-making process." As a result of these comments our committee reported (Feb. 27, 1978): "It is important that the work of the Dean of Women's Office be continued." The committee then recommended that there be a Continued on Page Four See MINORITY REPORT UBC Reports/May 25, 1978/3 Two named to granting councils UBC's president, Dr. Douglas Kenny, and Prof. Michael Shaw, vice-president for academic development, have been named to new national councils to assist research and scholarship in the social sciences and humanities and the natural sciences and engineering. President Kenny has been named to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, which assumes granting functions formerly vested in the Canada Council, which is now solely concerned with grants for the performing arts. The new Social Sciences and Humanities Research Economist awarded top research prize Prof. John Helliwell, winner of the 1959 Rhodes Scholarship and a member of the economics department at UBC since 1967, has been named the recipient of the $1,000 Prof. Jacob Biely Faculty Research Prize for 1978. Prof. Helliwell is the tenth winner of the award, given annually to a UBC faculty member for distinguished research carried out in the previous three years. The prize was established in 1969 by Mr. and Mrs. George Biely in honor of Prof. Biely, a former UBC faculty member. Mr. Biely is the president of Biely Construction Co. and the brother of Prof. Biely. Prof. Helliwell is regarded as one of Canada's most innovative economists and a pioneer in the development of econometric models of open economies, drawing on theoretical developments in international economics. He played a key role in the development of the RDX2 model of the Canadian economy, described as "perhaps the most sophisticated of the early econometric models of an open economy." His work in linking the RDX2 Canadian model with the MPS model for the United States has provided considerable insight into the channels through which the two economies are linked to one another. He has also been active in research in the economics of natural resources and has made a substantial contribution to the national debate on northern pipelines and to the issue of resource taxation. Almost all his research in recent years has been in collaboration with teams of students and colleagues. Prof. Helliwell is also a member of a group of natural- resource economists at UBC which has received grants totalling $806,000 from the Canada Council for integrated studies on the management of the world's natural resources. A native of Vancouver, Prof. Helliwell graduated from UBC in 1959 with the degree of Bachelor of Commerce. At Oxford University, where he was Rhodes Scholar, Prof. Helliwell earned the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy. He also taught economics at Oxford from 1964 to 1967. Before joining the UBC faculty on a full-time basis, Prof. Helliwell served on the research staffs of federal royal commissions on banking and finance and taxation and was an econometric consultant to the Bank of Canada. Council also has the role of advising the federal secretary of state on any research pertaining to its mandate which the minister may refer to it. President Kenny is one of seven persons who will serve three-year terms on the new council. Thirteen other members will serve one- or two-year terms. Prof. Shaw has been named to the new Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, which assumes the role of financing university research formerly vested in the National Research Council. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council has a president, Gordon McNabb, former deputy minister of the federal Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, and 21 members representing universities, industry and labor. Council members, in addition to Prof. Shaw, include: Dr. Larkin Kerwin, of Laval University; Joe Morris, past president of the Canadian Labor Congress; Dr. Arthur Bourns, president of McMaster University; Dr. Henry Duckworth, president of the University of Winnipeg; Jacques Giasson, president of the St. Lawrence Cement Co., Alistair H. Ross, president of Pembina Pipeline Ltd.; Norman Keevil, executive vice-president, Teck Corporation Ltd.; and Thomas A. Buell, president of Weldwood of Canada Ltd. MINORITY REPORT Continued from Page Three Women's Office as part of the counselling services reporting to the director of the Counselling Centre and through him to the Vice- president and to the Advisory Committee on Student Services. My concern is two-fold: 1. The function performed by the Dean of Women's Office was more than a counselling service. There was an awareness of the special needs of women, particularly those of the mature student and an effort was made to move the University community to provide more opportunities, particularly programs. The encouragement provided throughout the years to women was successful primarily because the head of that office could speak to the special concerns of women from a position of recognized authority — and directly to top administrators. The recommendation of the majority of the committee that limits the direct contact of the head of the Women's Office to the director of the Counselling Centre and to the heads of the participating counselling services (Day Care, Community Referral, Chaplains, and Residence Coordinators) limits too drastically the opportunities for a thoughtful voice on women's issues to be heard at a level which could affect the needed changes. 2. As an institution that should provide leadership in the community and open vocational opportunities to women, and as an institution financed in a large part by federal funds, we should be aware of and act upon the provisions of the Canadian Human Rights Act (1977). That act provides for the encouragement for the carrying out of "affirmative action programs" to reduce existing imbalances and discrimination in management systems and procedures (Background Notes on The Canadian Human Rights Act, Minister of Justice, March 1, 1978). Universities can do much to prepare women to make their contributions to our society but their inertia delays the necessary changes. Considering the importance of their role and the primary source of their funding (public monies, especially federal) it is very possible that the universities will be asked to demonstrate that the top administrators are proceeding with the action needed and that there is a prominent office charged both with responding to special needs of women and reporting directly to the Office of the President. The University would be wise at this stage to preserve the functions of the Office of the Dean of Women at a level where the head of it reports directly to the Vice-president and where its voice is heard on the Advisory Committee on Student Services. 4/UBC Reports/May 25, 1978"""@en ; edm:hasType "Periodicals"@en ; dcterms:spatial "Vancouver (B.C.)"@en ; dcterms:identifier "LE3.B8K U2"@en, "LE3_B8K_U2_1978_05_25"@en ; edm:isShownAt "10.14288/1.0118597"@en ; dcterms:language "English"@en ; edm:provider "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en ; dcterms:publisher "Vancouver: University of British Columbia Information Office"@en ; dcterms:rights "Images provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy, or otherwise use these images must be obtained from the University of British Columbia Public Affairs Office."@en ; dcterms:source "Original Format: University of British Columbia. 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