Motion

At the special meeting of APEGN held on May 6, 1999, the following motion was moved by Dennis Peters, P. Eng., and seconded by Cathy Dutton, P. Eng.

APEGN notes:

  1. The decision by APEGN Council effected on February 13, 1999, which withdrew APEGN's consent to the continuation of the evaluation by CCPE of Memorial University's Engineering Degree programmes in the Faculty of Engineering.
  2. That this decision was taken without consultation with
    1. The Faculty Council of the Faculty of Engineering
    2. APEGN members within the Faculty of Engineering
    3. APEGN student members
    4. APEGN's Software Engineering subcommittee
  3. That the decision was clearly tied to the ongoing dispute with Memorial over the Software Engineering programme offered within the Faculty of Science, by the press release issued by APEGN on February 25, 1999, and had nothing to do with quality of Memorial's Engineering programmes, its Engineering faculty or its Engineering students.
  4. The Decision of April 15, 1999 in the Supreme Court of Newfoundland which required APEGN to reinstate consent.
  5. The statement in APEGN's April 21 News Release by Gerry Suek, P.Eng., that ``an appeal is under consideration''.

APEGN believes:

  1. The action of the Council endangered the future professional standing of students in Memorial's programmes, the reputation of those programmes, including the ability to attract students in future, and the reputation of Professional Engineers teaching in those programmes.
  2. The action of the Council caused distress to students in Memorial University's Engineering programmes.
  3. The action of the Council undermined the integrity of the accreditation process, which is supposed to be an objective evaluation of the quality of an academic programme, turning it into a political tool.
  4. The action of the Council damaged the public image of the engineering profession in Newfoundland and Labrador, by implying that APEGN wishes to win the Software Engineering dispute through intimidation rather than by the strength of its arguments.

APEGN resolves and directs:

  1. That the Council will not appeal the April 15, 1999 decision of the Supreme Court. CARRIED
  2. That the Council will write to students in Memorial's programmes acknowledging the mental stress to which students have been subjected, and apologizing for using them in a third-party dispute. CARRIED
  3. That future decisions of the Council that can reasonably be expected
    1. negatively to affect the reputations of one or more professional members, without cause,
    2. negatively to affect the public perception of engineering or geoscience,
    3. to endanger the future prospects of student members,
    may only be made with the consent of the members concerned. FAILED
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Last modified: Wed 1999.06.02 at 09:21 NDT by Dennis Peters