DOUGLAS COLLEGE LIBRARY

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A Douglas College Newsletter.
SEPTEMBER 25, 1981

 

PROGRESS ON COLLEGE GOVERNANCE

Last May, a position paper on College Governance was distributed to all employees,
and the Student Society. It was intended that this paper would elicit discussion,
and that a representative steering committee would make recommendations for change.
Tt was hoped that a governance System would be in operation by mid-September, thus
enabling us to view the first year of the "new" Douglas College to be a test year
for our committee structure, as well as for the new administration.

The Governance Steering Committee was composed of representatives of the college
administration, the Faculty Association, B.C.G.E.U., and faculty members repre-
senting the different divisions. On June 30, the Steering Committee tabled its
recommendations. These were made on the basis of sixteen written submissions.

The Governance Steering Committee raised a number of questions not dealt with in
the original paper, in addition to making its specific recommendations for change.

A number of requests were made during the summer for delay in implementation of
the system, in order to provide for more discussion and advice.

The issues involved in delay were debated fully at the Management Committee
meeting of September 8.

As a result of this discussion, it was generally agreed that the long term
welfare of the college was better served by a slower schedule of implementation,
involving a further round of internal discussion. The Education and Services
Sub-Committee of the College Board has concurred with this approach.

Both the College Board and the administration are most concerned that the admin-
istration of the college use great care in the interim in areas involving policy
and long range planning.

The current plan of action is as follows:

1. By Tuesday, September 22, 1981, Bill Day will have had printed a
revision of the original position paper. This revision will
incorporate not only the bulk of changes recommended by the
Steering Committee, but will address certain omissions in the
original paper, such as a formal mechanism for changing the
system itself. It will attempt to explain more adequately
the concept of governance as opposed to management and
administration.

2. This document will be circulated via the Deans, to the Divisions.
Within each division, a review process will occur that will result
in a written divisional critique.

3. The critiques of the “draft 2" Paper, together with their recommend-
ations for action, will be tabled with Bill Day on Wednesday,
October 21, 1981.

4. There will be an open workshop held on October 27, 1981, to which
members of the college administration, and representatives of the
three associations will be specifically invited. At that time,

Bill Day will present his third draft of the system for commentary.

5. This plan, including the processes for future change, will be
presented to the Education and Services Committee of the College
Board and subsequently, to the College Board as a whole for adoption.

6. Elections to all committees will be held before Christmas, so that
the system will be operational in January.

7. In the meantime, planning and policy processes will occur under the
aegis of the Management Committee under authority of the College
Board.

8. All decisions made during this interim period within the college will
be viewed as interim decisions, subject to review by the competent
authority in the future college structure. :

Inquiries and comments are welcomed. Feel free to talk with any member of the
Management Committee. The membership of the Management Committee is as follows:

Bill Day, College President

Gerry DellaMattia, Dean of Educational and Student Services
Jim Doerr, Dean of Community Programs and Services

Gordon Gilgan, Dean of Academic Studies

Ed Redmond, Dean of Applied Programs
Bill Morfey, Bursar

Jim Davies - DKFA (Ex-Officio)
Marion Exmann - BCGEU (Ex-Officio)
Kevin Hallgate - DCSS (Ex-Officio)

 

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