Article VI. Elections

Section 1. Senators

  1. Constituencies. Senate membership shall be drawn from defined constituencies as follows:
    1. Academic Defined as teaching faculty and supporting professional staff organized collectively and managed by a department chair.
    2. Eligible professional staff departments/offices. Defined as including professional staff, with or without academic rank, organized collectively by an identifiable common function, with five or more voting members.
    3. Divisional areas. Defined as including teaching faculty and professional staff, with or without academic rank, serving in various departments, offices and functions from a common college division and excluded by Section 1.A.2.
  2. Senate membership shall be determined in the following way:
    1. Academic departments with 5 to 13 voting members shall elect or appoint one senator; with 14 to 22 voting members shall elect or appoint two senators; with 23 or more voting members shall elect three senators.
    2. Professional staff departments/offices with 5 to 13 voting members shall elect or appoint one senator; with 14 to 22 voting members shall elect or appoint two senators; with 23 or more voting members shall elect or appoint three senators.
    3. Academic departments or professional staff departments/offices with fewer than 5 voting members shall be combined together into divisional areas that best represent the College’s current management structure.
    4. Divisional areas with 13 or fewer voting members shall elect one senator; with 14 to 22 voting members shall elect two senators; with 23 or more voting members shall elect three
  3. Terms of Office
    1. Senators shall be elected or appointed from their respective constituencies for three-year
    2. Approximately one-third shall be elected each year. It shall be the responsibility of the Nominations, Elections, and Governance (NEG) Committee to monitor changes in Senate representation and periodically make adjustments to the allocation of Faculty Senate
    3. Senators may serve no more than two consecutive three-year terms, with the following exceptions:
      1. a senator who has completed two or more terms may serve additional consecutive term(s) if there is no other candidate to fill that Senate seat; this subsequent consecutive term(s) will be for one year.
      2. a senator who first serves to complete the term of another senator or fill a vacancy may serve for a total of up to 8 consecutive years.
    4. One year after leaving office a senator may serve again under all of the other conditions outlined in Section 1.C. of this article.
    5. The terms of Student representatives to Faculty Senate committees shall run from September through June.

Section 2. Officers of the Faculty Senate

  1. The officers of the Faculty Senate shall be elected from the Faculty at Large in a process outlined in the Faculty Senate Resolutions. President and Secretary elections will be held in odd years and Vice Presidents elections will be held in even years.
  2. Terms of Office. The officers of the Faculty Senate shall be elected to terms of two years. Officers may serve no more than two consecutive two-year terms, except that a current officer may serve additional consecutive terms if there is no other candidate to fill that Senate office. One year after leaving office an officer may serve again as an officer.

Section 3. Election Regulations

  1. All elections shall be held in May of each year, the term of office to begin September 1 of the same year.
  2. Elections will be by secret ballot in accordance with a process outlined in the Faculty Senate Resolutions.
  3. Determining Election Winners. The winner of all elections shall be the candidate receiving the most votes cast, except in officer elections. In officer elections the winner is the candidate with the majority of votes If there is no majority there will be one run-off election of the top two candidates. The winner will be the one receiving the most votes cast.