University Senate Bylaws and Governing Concepts Committee

(Items from parking lots forwarded after 10-06-05 ECUS meeting)

·         Consider (as part of a future statute and bylaw change package) substituting the VP for Institutional Research and Enrollment Management as an automatic US senator for the VP for Advancement.  The former position (new under my administration) is much more closely associated with the academic program and student recruitment and retention issues.  (Dr. Leland. 09-10-04)  

o        Have 4 Presidential appointments from senior administrators and SGA Pres and Staff Council Chair.  One advantage of this would be that reorganizations would not automatically require a bylaws change, i.e. there would be some flexibility.

o        Rather than 6 by title and 6 presidential appointees, maybe five by title (VPSA, VPAA, VPBF, SGA Pres, Staff Council Chair) and seven presidential appointees. (Statutes and Bylaws Team, 04-06-05)

·         Change the number of Senators required for a proposal from a non-Senator from five to two in Article IV, Section 1 (University Services Group, 5-11-04 Retreat)

·         Do not require chair of the ad hoc committee to be a Senator? (Bob Wilson says "NAY!", 04-26-04)

o        Consider allowing the committee to which an ad hoc reports to appoint the chair of the ad hoc committee and then have the ad hoc committee elect a vice chair and secretary. (Craig Turner, 09-02-05)

·         Has the Committee on Nominations reported ratios of committee composition to EC as required in Article V, Section 1.B.2.a? (Craig Turner, Summer 2004) The report on ratios produced by the Committee on Nominations  (04-06-05, Statutes and Bylaws Team)

·         Standing committee chairs’ reports and President’s Report be submitted in writing electronically to the Secretary of the Executive Committee after each US meeting and archived at the US Webpage and linked in the meeting minutes. (08-18-04) EC chair report also?  <Consider as part of Rules of Order, Craig Turner 10-06-05>

·         Is there a need for oversight of administrative committees such as committee composition, terms of service of committee members, whether the administrative committee is active (meeting with any regularity) or dead wood?  (Lee Gillis, Betty Block; 08-16-04)

·         Is there need for the term “elected Senator” (any one of the thirty six members of the Senate that are elected to serve on the Senate, neither the six Senators that serve by title nor the six Presidential appointees are considered elected Senators) to be more carefully defined?. There was confusion to some faculty regarding the eligibility criteria for standing committee chairs.  To see this term used in context in these bylaws, see Article V, Section 1.A.1.a (eligible for ECUS), and Article V Section 2.B.1 (members elected to the University Senate – standing committee chair eligibility)  (Craig Turner, 08-30-04)

·         Clarification of Article V Section 1.B.1 for Committee on Nominations term of service, issue: who implements replacement elections (ECUS, 09-08-04)

·         No clear guidance on resignation protocol and procedure in the bylaws (reference to Trish Klein in SOE from Fall 2004) – Is this needed? (09-22-04, Craig Turner)  <Rules of Order issue? 10-06-05, Craig Turner>

·         Does the faculty need oversight over the university senate?  This might take the form of posting attendance, tracking number of absences in the minutes, roll call votes, forms of peer pressure, other suggestions (Bylaws and Statutes Team, 11-03-04)

·         Consider increasing the staff representation on the standing committees by possibly increasing the number of members on a standing committee from fifteen to a higher number or consider having a staff member on each committee much like we do for students.  (ECUS,  01-19-05)

·         Advisory/Standing Committees of Senate for student and staff with scope specified for each.  (ECUS, 01-19-05)

·         Change incoming to outgoing to make the date of May 1realistic. -- Article II Section 3.C.1. "The University Senate shall meet in September, November, February, and April or as determined by the Executive Committee in accordance with Article VI Section 4.A of the Statutes. By May 1, after consulting the University Calendar, the incoming Executive Committee shall announce and publicize the meeting dates, places and times for these four meetings that will occur during the following academic year. Changes to this schedule shall be announced and publicized by the Executive Committee at least 10 calendar days in advance of any meeting whose time has been changed". (Combined ECUS,05-04-05)

·         Terms of service for Senators and committee memberships on Senate committees are not well-defined; also continuity/transition over the summer respecting the fact that many Senators are on academic year contract.  (Combined ECUS, 05-04-05)   Terms of service for committees and Senators (Statutes and Bylaws Team, 04-06-05)

·         Initiation of Senate business from non-Senator (5 senators vs 2, supported and signed?) (Statutes and Bylaws Team, 04-06-05)

·         Reporting school election procedures at the last university Senate meeting  (Statutes and Bylaws Team, 04-06-05)

·         Dealing with absence of Senators from meetings right now ECUS chair tells ECUS secretary, but should there be some "penalty" connected with lack of attendance? (Statutes and Bylaws Team, 04-06-05)

·         Committee Annual Reports language in the bylaws, archive them? (Statutes and Bylaws Team, 04-06-05)

·         The duties of the Committee on Nominations are scattered throughout the bylaws (Statutes and Bylaws Team, 04-06-05)

·         Ad hoc committee charter/registration form (J.W. Good, Craig Turner, Statutes and Bylaws Team, 04-06-05)

·         Process to change Bylaws  (Statutes and Bylaws Team, 04-06-05)

·         Faculty Bylaws are dated (approved 04-17-97), for example they refer to Faculty Senate not University Senate, and are in need of revision (Craig Turner, 08-20-04)  Ask USB&GCC to make a recommendation on what to do with these (update, rescind, other)  informed by the context of policy changes (10-06-05, ECUS)

·         Relative to standing committee organizational meetings, consider holding this meeting in the Spring shortly after the organizational Senate Meeting, and consider requiring the Vice Chair to be an elected Senator, and the pros and cons of having the Vice Chair as a Chair-Elect.  (ECUS 08-25-05) Consider the logistics of holding standing committee organizational meetings in the spring rather than the fall. (ECUS 09-01-05) Elect Standing Committee Chair at an organizational meeting in the Spring? (ECUS 09-01-05)

·         Revisit administrative committee elections arranged by the Director of Legal Affairs (ECUS, 09-01-05)

·         Consider having ECUS appoint an elected member as the chair of the Committee on Nominations (maybe this is a fourth office of ECUS) and consider the possibility that the Secretary of ECUS serve as the Committee on Nominations secretary. (Craig Turner, as he prepared ECUS minutes for the 09-01-05 ECUS meeting

The next four items were added at the request of ECUS (date added 11-03-05)

• Review and clarification of the requirements for Committee on Nominations to consider when nominating committees (ECUS, 10-06-05)

• AAUP philosophy and BOR policy identify issues (curriculum, academic in nature, etc.) where faculty should have responsibility and authority.  Consider amending current structure to incorporate this.  Possibly focus the scope of Academic Governance Committee and make it exclusively faculty or possibly the creation of a faculty senate as a separate body of the University Senate or in concert with the University Senate. (ECUS 10-06-05)

• Consider moving IRB (the use of human subjects in research) from the scope of USC to AGC within the US Bylaws. (ECUS for USB & GCC, 10-27-05)

• We request that the University Senate Bylaws and Governing Concepts Committee consider revising the name and scope of Administrative Committees.  The name change brainstormed during our meeting was "Committees with University Wide Policy Formulation Responsibilities."  Only committees with University Wide Policy Formulation Responsibilities should be required to register through the University Senate. (For additional context if necessary, see Action 5 of the 10-27-05 ECUS meeting)

The next item was added at the request of ECUS and standing committee chairs (11-11-05)

• Agreed to forward the following items to the University Senate Bylaws and Governing Concepts Committee for consideration: staggered three year terms for Senators, vice chairs elected in the spring from first year senators, coordination between outgoing and incoming standing committee chairs.  (11-10-05, Standing Committee Chairs and ECUS)

The next items were added as a result of discussions at ECUS meetings during January/February 2006.

• Is there a need for voting procedures to be specified for the University Senate rather than leaving the process to Robert's Rules.  Such procedures are particularly important as "controversial" issues arise.  The most important issue here is clarity so that there is no question what threshold must be met to be "approved" by the University Senate.  (The "controversial" issue where a split vote is anticipated is the general education curriculum revision.)  <ECUS, January 2006>

• Should there be bylaws that define/identify quorum for standing committees or should this issue be part of the operating procedure of the individual committees?  (a follow-up to the previous issue to make it clear at the committee level what the threshold for approval is prior to votes being taken)  <Craig Turner, noticing there is no identification of quorum for committee meetings, January 2006>

• As the library/general division category is now exclusively populated by library faculty, consider providing the library faculty the same autonomy relative to election of Senators as the schools now have where the role of the School Dean would be assumed by the University Librarian (Director of the Library).  (ECUS, 02-02-06)