Senate
UNB has three major governing bodies. The primary body is the Board of Governors (BOG). Under the BoG there are two Senates. One is located in Fredericton, and one is in St. John. The role of the Senates are to make decisions concerning academic issues at the University. You can read all about the formal details on the university secretariat's website, but we will highlight the most important information here.
During the late 1960s, students fought for and earned the right to hold 6 seats on the UNB Fredericton Senate. This came about through a powerful demonstration of student activism that was noted and respected by the university administration. This was a major step forward for students regarding internal advocacy.
Currently the student senators attend senate meetings once a month and vote on issues such as changes in course requirements, new academic programs being offered, graduation lists, changes to scholarship requirements, etc. Having representatives at senate provides students with the opportunity to raise concerns with the current system, and to ensure that future systems will not be detrimental to the student body.
Most of the work done at senate is accomplished by the senate committees. These committees are focus groups which address issues and concerns comprehensively and make recommendations to the Senate. These committees fulfill duties from acting as a tribunal for academic appeals, to offering guidance to the UNB Bookstore, to administering and refining teacher evaluations. Most of these committees require student representation, and any student at the University of New Brunswick can sit on them and be a part of the work done by the Senate.
If you have an interest in becoming a student representative on a senate committee, please e-mail Shannon at academic@unb.ca. Furthermore, if you have any concerns or suggestions about something that is being done or not done on campus that you feel should be brought to senate, please feel free fill out the comment card in the academic section of this website and someone will get back to you as soon as they can.
