June 9 report from the Board meeting

Busy June Board

The last Board of Governors meeting is always packed with items signaling the end of the school year as well as regular business. This year’s June meeting was no exception.

Amendments were passed to Bylaw 10 which sets the terms for procurement and purchasing by the College. This included guidelines for public tenders and calls for tender, setting dollar-value thresholds and the authority to approve contracts over the established thresholds, and the Conflict of Interest and Nepotism Policy.

Bill 96 resolution

A resolution was passed about the application of Bill 96 (which had been passed by the National Assembly on May 24) stating that Dawson opposed the Bill in its current form as detrimental to the education of students, but particularly to Indigenous students, which was supported by a similar motion passed at Senate.

Policy revisions

Revisions were made to the Institutional Student Evaluation Policy and to the Sexual Violence Policy. ISEP changes included adding more information for students in AEC programs, such as the calculation of Honours, Continuing Education final exam schedules, religious holidays, Recognition of Acquired Competencies (RAC) and the professional conduct policy. The Sexual Violence Policy added precision pertaining to privacy and divulging information to complainants.

Quality Assurance Audit

The Board was updated on the Quality Assurance audit which began the exercise in April 2021 of collecting data and feedback from the Quality Assurance Audit Task Force and Senate. A draft report was completed which will be presented to the Board for approval. Once approved, the report will be submitted to the Commission d’évaluation de l’enseignement collégial in November 2022 which will be followed by a site visit.

Operating Budget

The College received the confirmed annual allocation for the 2022-23 operating budget from the Ministry on May 18, 2022. There were increases due in part to the signing of new collective agreements and three years of salary increases, while a decrease was noted for a reduction in COVID funding.

Finally, the objectives of the Academic Dean and Director were presented and adopted.