By: Corbett Gildersleve, News Writer
On July 7, the SFU Senate reviewed new drafts of the intellectual property (IP) policy and the 2025–30 academic plan. They also discussed new definitions for full-time and part-time students and a bachelor of science in economics program. The Peak attended the open meeting for more information.
The Senate discussed a new draft version of the IP policy based on feedback received last March. This new policy focuses on the commercialization of IP through invention and software. The previous draft policy also concerned educational materials, which will now be part of another policy, based on community feedback. Senators raised concerns about student IP ownership, overly broad language for “non-commercial use,” and how the policy would impact class projects that involve external companies. Their next steps are consulting with the Teaching Support Staff Union and presenting it to the Board of Governors in September for approval.
SFU associate vice president Peter Hall presented the draft 2025–30 academic plan. This was the third draft of the plan, updated on May 15. Some goals of the plan include opening the SFU School of Medicine and graduating the first class by 2030, supporting “interdisciplinary research clusters and cross-centre collaborations,” and expanding “program pathways and outreach activities that support Indigenous student recruitment, community building, and success.”
Hall stated that “changes in the immigration policy environment and changes in the provinces’ financial situation in the last months of 2024, really forced us to [ . . . ] think through what we can do in the next five years.”
Senators raised a number of concerns while reviewing the plan. Senator Alexandra Lysova spoke for faculty members who had submitted feedback about language in the plan, stating that “there isn’t much focus on academic freedom, in terms of academic excellence in research and teaching as [explicit] terms.” She raised concerns about “administrative overreach in the teaching and research, particularly related to mandates for Indigenization and decolonization.” According to Lysova, at issue were words like “safe spaces” as they weren’t defined, and “honouring Indigenous Ways of Knowing. She believed words like “questioning, challenging, revisiting” should be used instead of “honouring” in the academic plan. She ended by asking if he had seen their feedback, to which Hall replied that he had.
“Changes in the immigration policy environment and changes in the provinces’ financial situation in the last months of 2024 really forced us to [ . . . ] think through what we can do in the next five years.” — Peter Hall, associate vice president, SFU
Senator Colin Percival said that SFU’s commitment to preventing all forms of discrimination was failing, as he believes Indigenous-focused financial aid and the hiring of Black scholars and Canada Research Chairs with lived experience were discriminatory acts. He claimed that Indigenous-only programs and admission on the basis of Indigeneity, as well as a higher grade cutoff for admission to male-majority programs, were also discriminatory.
This was later countered by Senator Suzanna Crage, who said “programs and policies that are meant to address groups that have historical disadvantages are not discriminations,” later echoed by Hall. Diversity, equity, and inclusion policies both combat historical disadvantages rooted in racism, sexism, and other types of systemic oppression, while also benefiting “people from all walks of life — including white people.”
The Senate also approved a new program for a bachelor of science in economics. According to the proposal, this program “integrates foundational grounding in mathematics, computer programming, quantitative modelling, and data analysis with a thorough grounding in economics.” This program is suited for economics students who want to pursue work in data science.
Lastly, the Senate approved officially defining the credit limits for full and part-time students. In the past, SFU’s policy did not define this. According to the briefing note, having a formal definition helps students obtain funding through the Canadian Student Financial Assistance Program and report to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
The new definition classifies a part-time student as a person taking eight credits or less, and a full-time student taking nine credits or more. Additionally, it declares any student who is taking a Co-op and/or registered with the Center for Accessible Learning with a reduced course load as a full-time student.
