Student discipline report
The Academic Integrity and Good Conduct Office presented their annual incident report, covering the period from September of 2014 to August of 2015. This report revealed that overall student conduct incidents decreased by roughly 33 percent, and “Damage, Destruction, and Theft” down by 78 percent from the year prior. “Disruptive or Dangerous Behavior” constitutes the majority of the reports this year with 43 percent of the incidents.
Student Conduct Coordinator Dean Diamond also stated that approximately two thirds of all reports that came to the office that year were deemed to not have been a breach of student conduct. Senator Paul Percival expressed concern over students being unnecessarily dragged into a system that could potentially be traumatic, when their behavior results in the determination of “No Misconduct” regardless. Diamond commented on this, explaining that more often than not, the ruling occurs before students are ever notified of any such report.
Potential FASS enrollment decline
The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) has a target headcount of 2,675 new students this fall; however, predicted intake is only at 2,160, which is approximately 20 percent short of their goal. As the 2016 enrollment plan currently stands, incoming freshmen are required to average 80 percent in high school, and transfer students must have a 2.5 GPA.
The Faculty’s Dean, Dr. Jane Pulkingham, explained that they would not decrease the standards for students. This is because, as the Strategic Enrollment Management Committee explained, admission GPA is strongly correlated with first semester performance in university when you break it down by faculty. Senator Gordon Myers then stated that they “do not want to admit students who are going to struggle and suffer.”
SFU wants more international students
Simon Fraser University international students currently represent 17.6 percent of the overall undergrad student population. The university’s goal is to increase this percentage to 20 percent in coming years, while simultaneously decreasing the number of domestic students so as to keep the overall student body number constant.
Currently, the university has more domestic students than they receive funding for, which puts a strain on SFU’s financial status. With this increase in international students will come an increase in tuition for them as well, in order to compensate for the stress on resources (such as English as Second Language programs, etc.) that international students create.
