| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 69.86 |
| Liaison | Nicole Arsenault |
| Submission Date | April 3, 2024 |
York University
PA-3: Inclusive and Participatory Governance
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
3.00 / 3.00 |
Nicole
Arsenault Program Director, Sustainability Office of Sustainability |
Does the institution have formal participatory or shared governance bodies through which the following stakeholders can regularly participate in the governance of the institution?:
| Yes or No | |
| Students | Yes |
| Academic staff | Yes |
| Non-academic staff | Yes |
A brief description of the institution’s formal participatory or shared governance bodies:
York University is governed by both a Board of Directors and Senate.
Board of Governors: Driven by a deep commitment to support, advance and celebrate the University, the Board of Governors is a partner in collegial governance with the Senate, President, and York community in fulfilling the University’s promise of academic excellence in research and teaching, promoting innovation and creating positive change. The Board of Governors conducts its business through seven committees, each of which bring recommendations and reports to the full Board at regularly-scheduled meetings: Academic Resources, Executive, External Relations, Finance and Audit, Governance and Human Resources, Investment, Land and Property. Students can also be appointed to the Board of Governors (http://www.yorku.ca/secretariat/board/index-board.html) as well as the senate (http://www.yorku.ca/secretariat/senate/composition.html) YFS and YUGSA York’s undergraduate and graduate students have opportunities to participate in university governance. A list of current members can be found on the University Secretariat's website https://www.yorku.ca/secretariat/board-of-governors/members/
The Board of Governors By- Laws Article VII states:
The Board shall consist of the following categories and numbers of members:
- Ex-officio: The Chancellor and the President shall be ex-officio members of the Board.
- Internal Members - There shall be a total of six internal members of the Board who shall be appointed or elected as follows:
- Two members of the Senate who are full-time tenure-stream faculty members or full-time tenure-stream librarians and archivists shall be appointed or elected by the Senate to be members of the Board. One such member shall hold office initially for one year and the other for two years and thereafter one member shall be appointed or elected by the Senate each year to serve as an internal member for a term of two years from the date of such election or appointment.
- Two students of York University shall be appointed or elected by the Student Senator Caucus to be members of the Board, and members of the Student Senator Caucus shall not be disqualified from being so appointed or elected. One such member shall hold office initially for one year and the other for two years and thereafter one member shall be appointed or elected each year by the Student Senator Caucus to serve as an internal member for a term of two years from the date of such election or appointment.
- Two members of the full-time non-academic staff of York University shall be appointed or elected to be members of the Board under nomination and election/appointment procedures to be determined and administered by the Board Executive Committee.
- External Members: There shall be up to twenty-four external members of the Board as follows:
- Two York University alumni shall be appointed or elected by the York University Alumni Board to be members of the York University Board of Governors. The alumni members shall be appointed or elected every two years by the Alumni Board to serve for a term of four years from the date of such election or appointment.
- Twenty-two persons proposed by the Governance and Human Resources Committee of the Board and elected by a majority of the members of the Board at a meeting for which notice of intention to elect members has been given to the Board shall be members of the Board.
- The Governance and Human Resources Committee will have the responsibility of proposing candidates for election to the Board as external members who will best serve the needs and interests of the University and who broadly represent the public community. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing such candidates shall be reflective of the Arts, Business, Industry, Labour, Professions, Sciences and the community at large.
- Honorary Members: The Board of Governors may appoint individuals as Honorary Members of the Board for such period of time as the Board may specify. Honorary Members shall be given notice and shall be entitled to attend meetings of the Board, but shall not entitled to vote at such meetings. Except as provided in this subparagraph (d), no part of this By-Law shall apply to Honorary Members unless it is expressly stated to so apply, and a reference herein to Members shall not be or be construed to be a reference to Honorary Members.
https://www.yorku.ca/secretariat/board-of-governors/board-by-laws/
York University has a shared governance body through which non-academic staff can regularly participate in the institutional governance. Nominations to the Board of Governors take place once a year through a nomination process for non-academic employees, students as well as Senate candidates for nomination (full time faculty members).
More information on the process can be found here: https://www.yorku.ca/secretariat/board-of-governors/nominations-to-the-board-of-governors/
Senate: The Senate is responsible for the University’s academic policy. Its broad powers include regulating standards for admission, determining the contents and curricula of all courses of study, establishing requirements for graduation, conducting examinations and appointing examiners, and conferring degrees. There are up to 169 elected and ex-officio members of Senate who are representative of the University community. Much of its business is carried out through committees which report to the Senate at regular meetings.
The York Federation of Students (YFS): http://www.yfs.ca/ is the institution’s undergraduate students’ union, in which all undergraduate students have the opportunity to be elected by their peers. The Graduate Students Association (GSA): https://www.yugsa.ca/ offers the same election opportunities for graduate students."
The Office of Labour Relations
https://www.yorku.ca/labour/
Labour Relations provides University leadership, academic administrators, managers and supervisors with advice and counsel to help build positive labour and employee relations and to make informed decisions regarding collective agreements, labour policies and employment legislation.
The Office is also the primary liaison between the University and the 14 bargaining units representing university employees and works closely with union representatives to collaborate and resolve disputes.
York Unviersity has Collective Agreements with both non-academic and academic unions
https://www.yorku.ca/labour/collective-agreements/
https://www.yorku.ca/labour/negotiations/
York University has has a Joint Health and Safety Committee - the website is under the York's YULink portal which is only accesible by York University credentials.
Total number of individuals on the institution’s highest governing body:
Number of students representing their peers as official members of the institution’s highest governing body:
Number of academic staff representing their peers as official members of the institution’s highest governing body:
Number of non-academic staff representing their peers as official members of the institution’s highest governing body:
Number of women serving as official members of the institution’s highest governing body:
Percentage of official members of the highest governing body that are women:
Website URL where information about the institution’s highest governing body may be found:
Does the institution host or support one or more formal bodies through which external stakeholders have a regular voice in institutional decisions that affect them?:
A brief description of the campus-community council or equivalent body that gives external stakeholders a regular voice in institutional decisions that affect them:
The Markham Campus External Advisory Committee (MCEAC) provides an essential link between the University’s newest campus and the York Region community, fostering opportunities for communication, collaboration, and development of the York University Markham Campus (MC). Membership is comprised of corporate, not for profit and civic leaders who are selected by the President upon recommendation and serve for a two-year term. The Committee advises the President on matters related to academic programming; community engagement and partnership; opportunities for experiential learning and the integration of higher education into regional economic development planning.
Number of people from underrepresented groups serving as official members of the institution’s highest governing body.:
Website URL where information about the institution’s governance structure is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.