The Feb. 15 meeting of McGill’s Senate included discussions on Principal Heather Munroe-Blum’s responses to Dean Jutras’ recommendations regarding the events of Nov. 10 and the administration’s refusal of the CKUT and QPIRG fall referenda results.

Closed to the public, the senate meeting appeared to be a response to events on campus surrounding the James Administration Building occupation, which had ended a few days earlier. Only senators and one representative from each campus media source were permitted entry to the meeting’s chambers.  While the proceedings were live-streamed to a viewing area in the Redpath Museum, the content was not recorded or saved for later viewing.

The governing body voted first to approve the closing of the chambers and the live-streaming of the meeting to Redpath.

Senator Barney questioned whether there was a reason to believe that a threat of disruption existed to justify the closing of the chamber, but the vote passed.

In her opening remarks, senate chair Munroe-Blum reiterated her intention to serve as Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill until the end of her term in June 2013.

“Rumours of my resignation have been greatly exaggerated,” she said. 

Munroe-Blum went on to address the recommendations of Dean Jutras’ investigation into the events of Nov. 10. She told senate that the senior administration has accepted all six of the report’s key recommendations, notably those which call for a change to how security services deals with protests and occupations, and those which call for a discussion of how dissent may be expressed on campus.

She put the recent James Administration Building occupation into the context of the administration’s plan to move forward from Nov. 10.

“[The] occupation is not the way differences in opinions are expressed,” Munroe-Blum said. “At the time of eviction, there had beenfive days of disruption to university activities, with 300 employees in [departments like] finance and graduate research displaced. After numerous discussions, [both parties] were no closer to a resolution.”

“The decision to evict was not an easy one … [but] we are glad it went peacefully,” she said. “Even as we value [the right to freedom of expression and speech], everyone has the right to study or work in a place where they feel safe and secure, and we have a responsibility to ensure that they have this.”

“The staff in James Admin remain on edge,” she added.

Munroe-Blum also updated senate on developments to the Strategic Reframing Initiative (SRI)— a process led by the principal which aims to take steps to maintain McGill’s place as a world-leading academic institution.  The project, which began in October 2010, calls upon the voluntary help of former alumni—now consultants with McKinsey & Company­—to review and streamline the university’s operations and management of resources.

Munroe-Blum cited initiatives like energy audits, pilot projects on alternative budgeting approaches for faculties, and increased fundraising efforts as examples of changes that have been made.

Arts Senator Jason Leung brought forward a motion regarding the recent QPIRG and CKUT referenda which questioned how to best guarantee that democratic decisions made by students can be assured in the future.

In an extended statement before Senate, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Morton Mendelson reviewed in detail the history of online opt-outs at McGill, past precedents of student referenda which requested continued existence of organizations, and reasons for the administration’s refusal of last term’s referenda.

Mendelson noted that, in most years, student groups consult his office on the viability of their questions.

“CKUT and QPIRG did not do so before proceeding,” he said. “When the questions were published, [the groups] were informed by my office that they were problematic.”

He went on to explain how, in the view of his office, the questions are problematic because they ask more than one thing, requesting a change in how opt-out fees are collected while simultaneously asking whether the groups should continue to exist.

Mendelson noted that students could agree with one of these statements, but not the other, and since they had no way to indicate that, the process was undemocratic.

More generally, he explained that the administration is not bound by these referenda, since questions that “may be viewed as linguistically problematic, confusing, not implementable, or addressing issues over which students do not have authority” cannot be accepted.

Senator Barney, who also sits on the board of CKUT, compared the referendum questions to the first motion passed at the senate meeting, which also contained two questions in one vote, as the motion simultaneously closed the senate chamber and broadcasted its proceedings.

“[We are] sending mixed messages about what we demand in terms of clarity,” he said.

At the time of senate, an agreement with CKUT had already been reached, and the referendum vote from last term will be accepted to affirm the group’s existence. To change their funding, CKUT is running a question in the upcoming winter referendum. QPIRG is still in negotiations with the administration and will not be running a question in the winter referendum.