Faculty Governance

CLAS Manual of Procedure

Article IV. Faculty Assembly

[list of current members]

Section 18. Powers and Duties.

The purpose of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Faculty Assembly shall be to serve as the representative body of the faculty of the College, to speak for the faculty on matters of importance to the College, and to consider and act, or recommend action, as appropriate, on all matters affecting the academic and professional concerns of the faculty. The Faculty Assembly provides a means of participation by the faculty in the CLAS decision-making process affecting academic matters and provides a forum for the expression of concerns regarding faculty welfare.

It is the responsibility of elected members of the Faculty Assembly to solicit input from their constituents with regard to matters under consideration by the Faculty Assembly. All the powers and duties of the faculty shall be exercised by the Faculty Assembly, except when a petition to hold a referendum on a decision of the Assembly is presented under the provision of section 4 or when the procedure for calling a special meeting of the entire Faculty is invoked under the provisions of section 5.

Specifically, the Faculty Assembly has the following duties and powers:

  1. The Faculty Assembly will discuss and deliberate on issues of importance to CLAS faculty, including but not limited to
    • faculty welfare including tenure, promotion, and review policies, undergraduate educational policies, curriculum, and related issues;
    • graduate educational issues;
    • issues of diversity, campus climate, and other related concerns; and
    • CLAS facilities, including classrooms, research and teaching space, and technology.
  2. The Faculty Assembly will discuss and make recommendations on matters referred to Faculty Assembly by the Dean, the Executive Committee, or the Educational Policy Committee.

The Faculty Assembly will identify topics for the Dean, the Executive Committee, or the Educational Policy Committee to consider, with the expectation that these groups will report back to the Faculty Assembly with information or recommendations. Proposals approved by CLAS elected committees come to the Assembly as motions made and seconded.

 

Section 19. Composition.

The Faculty Assembly shall be composed of (a) 6 faculty members elected by and from each of the three electoral groups defined in section 13 for a total of 18 persons from the electoral groups, with no more than two elected from any one voting unit, plus (b) 1 faculty member selected by and from each voting unit as defined in section 12.

Units outside the College that offer an undergraduate major for which the degree is granted by Liberal Arts and Sciences (i.e., Biochemistry, Economics, Education, and Microbiology) are eligible to select a unit representative to Faculty Assembly.

 

Section 20. Officers.

The officers of the Faculty Assembly are the past chair, the chair, the vice chair, and the secretary. They become members ex officio of the Assembly. Their terms are for one year and begin with the adjournment of the Assembly’s organizational meeting, held toward the end of each spring semester. At this organizational meeting, the Assembly elects a vice chair and a secretary and the previous vice chair becomes chair at the end of the meeting. No one may hold any two of these offices simultaneously.

Candidates who expressly agree to serve may be nominated from the floor at the organizational meeting. Toward the start of each spring semester, the chair, the vice chair, and the Dean each choose a tenured Liberal Arts and Sciences faculty member to form a three-person nominating committee. It acts to insure that there will be at least one candidate nominated for each open office, and the nominating committee’s recommendations come to the floor as nominations already made and seconded.

The vice chair presides over the Faculty Assembly when the chair is unavailable, the secretary when the vice chair is unavailable, and the Dean when these officers are unavailable. The Provost may call meetings and preside at them.

If the office of chair becomes vacant, the vice chair presides for the remainder of that term and continues as chair in the next term. If the office of vice chair becomes vacant, it remains so until the end of the term, when the Assembly fills both offices anew by election. If the office of chair becomes vacant when the office of vice chair already is vacant, the Dean convenes a special meeting of the Assembly within fourteen days to elect a chair to serve the rest of the vacated term. The person elected chair then is eligible for election as chair for the next term. Otherwise no person may be elected as an officer the year after serving as chair.

The chair may appoint ad hoc committees to help with aspects of the Assembly’s work outside the purviews of the Executive Committee, the Educational Policy Committee, or other standing committees of the College.

 

Section 21. Meeting Procedure.

The chair prepares and sends an agenda to each Assembly member and the Dean at least one week before each meeting, except in emergencies. Any voting member of the Liberal Arts and Sciences Faculty may propose items for the agenda. The agenda also provides for the Dean to have officials of the College address matters of interest. The agenda includes as a motion already made and seconded any item proposed through a previous vote of the Assembly, the Executive Committee, the Educational Policy Committee, or a meeting of the Faculty, or through a petition signed by at least ten percent of the voting faculty.

A majority of the Assembly members constitute a quorum. Meetings are open, and Liberal Arts and Sciences faculty who are not members may address the Assembly with the permission of its presiding officer. At least two regular meetings are held each semester. Additional meetings may be called by the chair, the Assembly, the Dean, the Executive Committee after consultation with the Dean, the  Provost, or by petition from at least ten members of the Assembly. If a question of procedure arises, the chair and the Assembly resolve it according to this Manual and standard parliamentary rules.