BILL 149
3rd Session, 27th LEGISLATURE, ONTARIO
13-14 ELIZABETH II, 1965
The York University Act, 1965
HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:
1. In this Act,
(a) “Board” means the Board of Governors of York University;
(b) “Chancellor” means the Chancellor of the University;
(c) “President” means the President of the University;
(d) “property” includes real and personal property;
(e) “real property” includes messuages, lands, tenements and hereditaments, whether corporeal or incorporeal, and any undivided share thereof and any estate or interest therein;
(f) “Senate” means the Senate of the -University;
(g) “teaching staff” includes professors, associate professors, assistant professors, lecturers, associates, instructors, demonstrators and all others engaged in the work of teaching or giving instruction or in research;
(h) “University” means York University.
2. York University, its Board, Chancellor, President and Senate, and all other attributes thereof, are hereby continued and, subject to the provisions of this Act, have, hold, possess and enjoy respectively all the rights, powers and privileges that they had at the time of the passing of this Act or that are conferredupon them by this Act.
3. All appointments, statutes, constitutions and regulations in and affecting the University are hereby continued, subject to the provisions of this Act, and subject also, as to the teaching staff and all officers and employees, to their removal by the University.
4. The objects and purposes of the University are,
(a) the advancement of learning and the dissemination of knowledge; and
(b) the intellectual, spiritual, social, moral and physical development of its members and the betterment of society.
5. The University may establish and. maintain faculties, schools, institutes, departments, chairs and courses.
6. The University may grant in all branches of learning any and all university degrees, diplomas and certificates.
7. The Board of Governors of York University shall consist of,
(a) the Chancellor;
(b) the President; and
(c) such number of members, not exceeding thirty, as may be prescribed by the by-laws of the Board, elected for a term of four years in the manner prescribed by the by-laws of the Board.
8. The Board shall elect from its members a chairman who shall hold office for a term of seven years and who shall be eligible for re-election for one further term.
9. After thirty days notice to any member of the Board, the Board may, by resolution passed by at least two-thirds of the members of the Board, declare vacant the seat of such member.
10. Except, as to such matters by this Act specifically assigned to the Senate the government, conduct, management and control of the University and of its property, revenues, expenditures, business and affairs are vested in the Board, and the Board has all powers necessary or convenient to perform its duties and achieve the objects and purposes of the University, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, power,
(a) to appoint and remove the Chancellor;
(b) to appoint and remove the President and the vice-presidents, if any;
(c) to appoint, promote and remove all members of the teaching and administrative staffs of the University and all such other officers and employees as the Board may deem necessary or advisable for the purposes of the University, but no member of the teaching or administrative staffs, except the President, shall be appointed, promoted or removed except on the recommendation of the President, who shall be governed by the terms of the University’s commitments and practices;
(d) to fix the number, duties, salaries and other emoluments of officers, agents and employees of the University;
(e) to appoint an executive committee and such other committees as it may deem advisable, to fix the quorum for meetings of such committees and to give or withhold from the chairmen thereof a casting vote, and to delegate to any such committee any of the powers of the Board;
(f) to borrow money on the credit of the University in such amount, on such terms and from such persons, firms or corporations, including chartered banks, as may be determined by the Board;
(g) to make, draw and endorse promissory notes or bills of exchange;
(h) to hypothecate, pledge, charge or mortgage any part or all of the property of the University to secure any money so borrowed or for the fulfilment of the obligations incurred by it under any promissory note or bill of exchange signed, made, drawn or endorsed by it;
(i) to issue bonds, debentures and obligations on such terms and conditions as the Board may decide, and pledge or sell such bonds, debentures and obligations for such sums and at such prices as the Board may decide, and mortgage, charge, hypothecate or pledge all or any part of the property of the University to secure any such bonds, debentures and obligations;
(j) to make by-laws and regulations for the conduct of the affairs of the Board, including the fixing of a quorum, the election of its members, and the filling of vacancies;
(k) to establish faculties, schools and institutes with the concurrence of the Senate.
11. There shall be a Senate of the University composed of,
(a) the Chancellor;
(b) the chairman of the Board;
(c) the President;
(d) the Principal of Glendon College;
(e) the dean of each faculty;
(f) the Dean of Atkinson College;
(g) the Director of Libraries;
(h) the vice-presidents of the University;
(i) the chairmen of faculty departments and divisions;
(j) not fewer than two and not more than four members of the Board; and
(k) such numbers of other persons as the Senate may determine,
provided that full-time members of the teaching staff shall always constitute a majority of the members of the Senate.
12. The Senate is responsible for the academic policy of the University and may recommend to the Board the establishment of faculties, schools, institutes and departments, and the establishment of chairs, and may establish councils in the faculties, schools or institutes established, and may enact by-laws, rules and regulations for the conduct of its affairs, and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, has power,
(a) to consult with the Board and to make recommendations as to the appointment of the Chancellor and the President;
(b) to determine and regulate the standards for the admission of students to the University, the contents and curricula of all courses of study, and the requirements for graduation;
(c) to conduct examinations and appoint examiners;
(d) to deal with matters arising in connection with the award of fellowships, scholarships, medals, prizes and other awards for academic achievement;
(e) to confer the degrees of Bachelor, Master and Doctor and all other degrees, diplomas and certificates in all branches of learning that may appropriately be conferred by a University;
(f) after consultation with the Board, to confer honorary degrees.
13. (1) There shall be a President of the University who shall be appointed by the Board after consultation with the Senate and who shall hold office during the pleasure of the Board.
(2) The President is Vice-Chancellor and chief executive officer of the University and,
(a) in the absence of the Chancellor or if there is a vacancy in the office of Chancellor, shall perform the functions of the Chancellor;
(b) shall supervise and direct the implementation of the educational policy and general administration of the University, the teaching staff, officers, servants and the students thereof;
(c) has power to formulate and implement regulations governing the conduct of students and student activities;
(d) has power to recommend to the Board the appointment, promotion and removal of the teaching staff, officers and employees of the University;
(e) has power to recommend to the Board or the Senate the establishment of new faculties, schools, institutes, programmes and projects;
(f) has power to examine all the activities of the University and developments in higher education;
(g) has power to recommend to the Board or the Senate regulations to govern the activities of the faculties, schools, institutes, teaching staff and students;
(h) has power to establish presidential committees to study and to recommend action on matters affecting the University;
(i) has such other powers and duties as from time to time may be conferred upon or assigned to him by the Board.
(3) The Board may appoint one or more vice-presidents who shall have such powers and duties as may be conferred on him or them by the President, and one vice-president shall act as President when the President is absent or if there is a vacancy in the office of President and, while so acting, he has all the powers and duties of the President.
14. There shall be a Chancellor of the University appointed by the Board, after consultation with the Senate, who shall be the titular head of the University, who shall confer all degrees and who, subject to the will of the Board, shall hold office for three years or until his successor is appointed.
15. No religious test shall be required of any professor, lecturer, teacher, officer, employee or student of the University, nor shall any religious observances according to the regulations of any particular denomination or sect be imposed upon them..
16. The University has, in addition to the powers, rights and privileges mentioned in section 26 of The Interpretation Act, power to purchase or otherwise acquire, take or receive by gift, bequest or devise and to hold and enjoy any estate or property whatsoever, whether real or personal, and to sell, grant, convey, mortgage, lease or otherwise dispose of the same or any part thereof from time to time and as occasion may require, and to acquire other estate or property in addition thereto or in place thereof without licence in mortmain and without limitation as to the period of holding.
17. All property heretofore or hereafter granted, conveyed, devised or bequeathed to any person in trust for or for the benefit of the University, or of any faculty school or department thereof or otherwise in connection therewith, subject to any trust or trusts affecting the same, is vested in the University.
18. The property vested in the University and any lands and premises leased to and occupied by the University shall not be liable to taxation for provincial, municipal or school purposes, and shall be exempt from every description of taxation so long as the same are actually used and occupied for the purposes of the University.
19. Real property vested in the University is not liable to be entered upon, used or taken by any corporation, except a municipal corporation, or by any person possessing the right of taking real property compulsorily for any purpose, and no power to expropriate real property hereafter conferred shall extend to such property unless in the Act conferring the power it is made in express terms to apply thereto.
20. All property vested in the University shall, as far as the application thereto of any statute of limitations is concerned, be deemed to have been and to be real property vested in the Crown for the public uses of Ontario.
21. The property and the income, revenues, issues and profits of all property of the University shall be applied solely to achieving the objects and purposes of the University.
22. The funds of the University not immediately required for its purposes and the proceeds of all property that come to the hands of the Board, subject to any trust or trusts affecting the same, may be invested and re-invested in such investments as the Board deems meet.
23. The University has power and capacity to affiliate with, or take into affiliation or federate with, other universities, colleges and institutions of learning on such terms and for such periods of time as the Board, after consultation with the Senate, may determine.
24. The accounts of the University shall be audited at least once a year.
25. Upon the request of the Lieutenant Governor in Council, the University shall submit to him its annual report and shall submit such other reports as he may request from time to time.
26. The York University Act, 1959 is repealed.
27. This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
28. This Act may be cited as The York University Act, 1965.