Board of Governors, September 28, 2000 - APPENDIX V
FOR APPROVAL
Recommended: That the terms of reference of the Property & Finance Committee (Special Resolution No. 1-B) be amended as shown in Annex 1.
Background:
With the reduction of the number of regular Board meetings (from 8 to 5 annually), it is desirable that the Property & Finance Committee be able to approve the establishment of designated chairs, professorships, and faculty fellowships on behalf of the Board in those months when a regular meeting of the Board is not scheduled in order that the selection of faculty for these positions not be unduly delayed. The establishment of these faculty positions is regulated by two Senate/Board policies: Policy 2.22 - Funding of Academic Chairs and Professorships, and Policy 2.26 - Funding of Designated Faculty Fellowships.
The proposed authority to approve these on behalf of the Board is not as broad as has been delegated in the case of scholarships, fellowships, prizes, bursaries and other awards (see sec. 3.(c)).
All items approved by the Committee on behalf of the Board will be reported to the Board for information at the next regular meeting.
Property & Finance Committee have approved this recommendation of the By-Laws Committee.
Recommended: That the terms of reference of the Campus & Community Affairs Committee (Special Resolution No. 1-D) be amended as shown in Annex 2.
Background:
With the reduction of the number of regular Board meetings (from 8 to 5 annually), it is desirable that the Campus & Community Affairs Committee be able to approve the naming of roads, rooms, areas, or parts of buildings on behalf of the Board in those months when a regular meeting of the Board is not scheduled in order that the public announcement of the naming not be unduly delayed. Naming of campus roads, buildings, and parts of buildings is regulated by Policy 1.9 - Naming of Campus Roads, Buildings, Etc.. Note however, that the CCAC will not have the authority to give final approval for the naming of a building: the Board of Governors' approval will still be required in such cases.
All items approved by the Committee on behalf of the Board will be reported to the Board for information at the next regular meeting. If the naming has been announced and the amount of the gift has been published, such report will be in public session of the Board. However, in cases where the public announcement has not been made by the time of the Board meeting and/or when the amount of the associated gift is considered confidential, the report will be presented in the confidential session of the Board.
Recommended: That Election Procedures (Special Resolution No. 9) relevant to election of administrative staff to the Board of Governors be revised to read as shown in Annex 3 to allow administrative staff to vote in Board Elections via the Internet.
Background:
The system of Internet voting for graduate and undergraduate students was used successfully in the Fall of 1999. The Secretariat wishes to expand Internet voting to include administrative staff in the Fall of 2000. The system, devised by Information Technology Services in consultation with the University Secretariat and the Division of Human Resources, will allow voting on the Internet, i.e., the World Wide Web, for Board of Governors and Senate administrative staff constituencies. Internet voting will save significant amounts of time and cost which to date have been spent preparing, printing, stuffing, mailing and opening return and secrecy envelopes and counting ballots. At the present time 2,028 full-time staff are eligible to vote. In the last 7 elections, usually held in even years, one person was acclaimed and two to four candidates ran in the remaining elections. In each election, voter turnout for the administrative staff constituency for the Board has varied between 38% and 47% of eligible staff.
The election schedules conform closely to the rules governing elections. However, some of the regulations need to be changed, as outlined below:
1. The University Secretariat has been developing the ballot to supply more information to voters about candidates. Plans are to post photographs and statements of candidates in all constituencies on the election Web site. For administrative staff and students, the photographs and statements will be linked to the ballot website.
2. The ballot will be linked to the UWO Homepage [http://www.uwo.ca] during the two day period in which polls are open. In this way the ballot will be accessible to anyone from any computer with a connection to the Internet.
3. Reference to Honorary Scrutineers, recounts and retention of ballots has been moved to the Faculty-at-Large constituency only, since ballot counting for administrative staff and student constituencies will be managed electronically.
The election process will be advertised in Western News. The voter enters his or her Personal Computing Account name and password (normally used for julian e-mail or dialin accounts) and these are checked by the system to confirm that the employee is a valid voter. ITS has assigned ID's and passwords to the administrative staff who did not yet have them, approximately 10% of full-time administrative staff members. ITS, the Libraries and the Secretariat mailed a follow up letter to all staff informing them of the need for the ID numbers. Through advertisements in the Western News and a mass e-mail to all staff, everyone will be directed to the Election Website [http:\\www.uwo.ca\univsec\election\] which further explains the system and provides a sample ballot. Once the nominees are know on September 28th, the Secretariat will be sending a memo to all full-time staff about the election, the candidates, the system and the sample ballot. The letter will identify computer terminals in libraries and student computing labs which can be used for voting on October 11 and 12 when the polls are open. The memo will also explain that the actual ballot will be linked to the Home Page when the polls are open [http:\\www.uwo.ca\]
The new voting system will allow an individual to vote only once. Two files will be created and backed-up: one records the ID number, time and machine used to access the web, the other records the vote cast by the individual once the ID number is validated. However, the stored record will NOT reveal how the individual voted. The system is one-way encrypted, i.e., it would be impossible to retrieve information on how the voter voted.
FOR INFORMATION
The By-Laws Committee approved the amendments to Special Resolution No. 1, detailed in Annex 4 and issues a Notice of Motion that the proposed amendments will be presented for debate and approval at the November 30, 2000, Board meeting.
The By-Laws Committee approved, on behalf of the Board, the following amendments to the section of Special Resolution No. 3 - Banking - that relate to the Trois-Pistoles French Immersion School:
SPECIAL RESOLUTION NO. 3 - BANKING
Trois-Pistoles French Immersion School
An account may be maintained at the Caisse populaire des Jardins, Trois-Pistoles, Quebec, to facilitate payment of expenses at Trois-Pistoles French Immersion School, such account to be subject to the following provisos:
(a) The title of the account shall be "Trois-Pistoles French Immersion School - The University of Western Ontario".
(b) The terms and conditions of the banking resolution shall apply and shall read as though the words "the bank" as defined therein had reference to the Caisse populaire des Jardins, Trois-Pistoles, Quebec, and
(c) Any one of Group "A" hereunder may sign cheques issued against this bank account or other withdrawals therefrom, in any amount, together with any one of Group "B" hereunder.
GROUP "A"
Director, Western Centre for Continuing Studies
Director of Trois-Pistoles French Immersion School
Manager, Corporate Accounting, The University of Western Ontario
Comptroller, The University of Western Ontario
GROUP "B"
Administrative Assistant for Trois-Pistoles French Immersion School
General Accounting Supervisor, The University of Western Ontario
Secretary to the Administrative Assistant for Trois-Pistoles French Immersion School
Policy:
On behalf of the Board, the Committee may approve and authorize amendments to the By-Laws, Special Resolutions, rules of order and operating procedures of the Board provided such amendments are non-substantive in nature.
Background:
The title "Manager, Corporate Accounting" has been changed to "Comptroller". The Comptroller, Mr. Carter Scott, advises that the addition of the Secretary to the Administrative Assistant to Group "B" is not a substantive change to the Banking resolution.