Environment program changes
The University Relations Committee brought proposed program changes related to the Faculties of Environment and Earth Sciences from Senate to board for approval. Changes include the dissolution of the Forestry Geoscience Certificate in the Department of Earth Sciences, as well as full program proposals for a Bachelor of Environment, an Environmental Resource Management major, a Global Environmental Systems major, and a Bachelor of Business Admin/Bachelor of Environment joint major in Sustainable Business.
In 2011, eight per cent of 5000 SFU undergraduate students surveyed were very interested in a possible Bachelor of Environment. The program would also reflect US environmental job market data, which reveals a growing demand for professionals in this industry.
Build SFU Crossroads site officially approved
Based on the recommendation of Build SFU, board approved the Crossroads site as the location of the new student union building, the construction of which is set to begin in April 2015.
The board once again brought up the issue of financing, as the university is not able to act as guarantor for the project. The decision was made several years ago upon the advice of the auditor general to bring universities into the government reporting entity.
“What this means is that any debt we incur as a university becomes the debt of the government in the eyes of the auditor general, and governments obviously don’t like to be seen accumulating debt,” explained President Andrew Petter. Therefore, this issue has stemmed from government worries surrounding debt accumulation that would result from the university financing this project.
Vice-president of finance and administration Pat Hibbitts reported that a bank has nonetheless come forward to provide the financial support. Hibbitts also stated that the SFU team will continue to look for “creative solutions” to this problem.
Mortgage subsidy policy
Upon the recommendation of the Governance and Nominating Committee, board voted to amend the Mortgage Interest Subsidy Policy to increase the annual amount from $5000 per year to $7500 per year for new and existing participants. This change would also allow participants to apply to the program up to seven years after the start date, to be increased from the current three year limit. The subsidy would last five years.
Petter spoke to the importance of this subsidy in aiding faculty and staff to purchase a home in the competitive Vancouver market. “Very often people who want to come to SFU are discouraged by the price of housing in the Greater Vancouver market. This provides some small instrument to try to assist them in transferring into what is very often a much higher price system than the one they are in.”
Hibbitts added, “I can’t emphasize [enough] the difficulty we have in recruitment with regard to housing issues in Vancouver. [In filling] many senior positions, we’ve really been restricted to a Vancouver market.”
