Article X. Faculty Rights

Section 1. Faculty Meetings

  1. Regular and Special Meetings
    The President shall call an All College meeting of the Faculty once each The President may call other meetings at their discretion, or when petitioned in writing by at least 15% of the Faculty.
  2. Agenda
    The agenda for each regular or special Faculty meeting must be announced and proposals for action must be distributed to the Faculty at least 48 hours prior to the meeting.
  3. Quorum
    A quorum for each regular or special meeting of the faculty shall consist of two-fifths of the voting faculty.
  4. Faculty Secretary
    The Secretary of the Faculty Senate shall serve as secretary at all general faculty
  5. Procedure
    Procedure of the faculty meetings shall conform to Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised and may be amended by the voting Faculty.

Section 2. Individual Right of Address

Any individual faculty member may address the Faculty Senate, providing that the subject matter is submitted in writing to the President of the Faculty Senate five working days prior to the next meeting of the Faculty Senate.

Section 3. Departmental Right of Address

New academic departments, or administrative units or departments, or units whose representation is affected by personnel changes, may petition to have such changes recognized by the Faculty Senate through the Faculty Senate Committee on Nominations, Elections & Governance.

Section 4. Faculty Prerogatives

Any action of the Faculty Senate may be rescinded, repealed, or amended by the voting faculty, provided that:

  1. A motion to consider an action of the Faculty Senate carries by a majority vote of the voting faculty present at any faculty meeting.
  2. Thereafter, a substantive proposal concerning the action being considered shall be discussed, after which mail ballots and copies of the proposal will be distributed to the entire voting
  3. A simple majority of those voting shall approve the proposal, provided that at least two-thirds of the voting Faculty vote.
  4. Nothing in this section abrogates the power of the Faculty Senate to rescind, repeal, or amend its own actions.

Section 5. Amending the Bylaws

  1. Proposals to amend the Faculty Senate bylaws may originate from any individual member of the Faculty, any department or office represented in the Faculty Senate, or any committee or subcommittee organized by the Faculty Senate. Proposed amendments shall be directed to the Nominations, Elections, and Governance (NEG) Committee, which will review these proposals.
    1. As part of its review process, NEG reserves the right to consult directly with the proposer(s) to discuss and/or propose revisions to the original proposal.
    2. NEG may also include in its review of proposals its own research on the impact of proposed amendments on affected stakeholders.
    3. NEG will report its findings and recommendations to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee no later than two calendar months after first considering the proposed bylaws
    4. The Faculty Senate Executive Committee may take up to two regularly scheduled meetings of the EC to consider the NEG’s findings and
    5. The Faculty Senate Executive Committee (EC) will forward to the Faculty Senate for its consideration the original NEG report on any proposed bylaws amendment, along with any additional report of the EC’s recommendations.
  2. The Faculty Senate is responsible for determining, by a majority vote, if a proposed bylaw amendment should be sent to the full Faculty membership for a vote. This vote must be taken within six weeks following the initial presentation of the proposal to the Senate (see Section 5.A.5). The Faculty Senate shall not have the authority to amend or otherwise alter the wording of any proposed bylaws amendment, except for those cases where the Senate itself is the initial proposing body for the amendment under consideration.
  3. It shall be the responsibility of the Nominations, Elections, and Governance Committee to organize and execute the process for the Faculty vote on any proposed amendments to the bylaws. All proposed amendments qualifying for a Faculty vote must be presented in an open hearing, scheduled and organized by the NEG Committee, during any fall or spring semester. Advance written notice to all voting faculty of the open hearing is required five working days prior to its being held. Voting faculty will have at least ten working days to complete mail or electronic balloting.
  4. Of the Faculty casting ballots, a two-thirds vote in favor of any proposed amendment is required for adoption to the bylaws. Following the Faculty vote, the NEG Committee shall report the results at the next scheduled regular or special meeting of the Faculty Senate.
  5. Amendments earning the required supporting vote of the Faculty shall be formally submitted to the College President for approval, and then, unless written notification has been submitted to the Faculty Senate President stating a designee to act on their behalf, to the Board of Trustees for their vote and approval. Bylaw proposals approved by the Board, or their designee, shall take effect immediately at the conclusion of the Board meeting, or approval by their designee, and shall be officially added to the Faculty Senate bylaws by no later than the next scheduled regular or special Faculty Senate meeting. Once written notification of a designee has been received from the Board of Trustees, it shall remain in place until rescinded in a future written notification to the Faculty Senate President.
  6. All timelines indicated in this section of the bylaws should be understood to include periods that the Faculty Senate is engaged in ongoing business during fall and spring semesters only.

Section 6. Removal from Office

An elected Senator may be recalled or removed from office for conduct detrimental to the Faculty Senate upon the presentation of a petition of twenty-five percent of their representative area and a subsequent vote of two-thirds of that representative area. An elected Senator may be removed from office for cause by a two-thirds vote of the Faculty Senate. An officer may be removed from office for cause by two-thirds vote of the Faculty Senate.

Section 7. Vacancies

Vacancies in any office or committee shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term accordingly:

  1. In the absence of the President, the Teaching Faculty Vice President assumes the President’s responsibilities.
  2. A Vice This office shall be filled by the candidate receiving the greatest number of votes of the Senators present and voting at the next regular Faculty Senate meeting.
  3. This office shall be filled by the candidate receiving the greatest number of votes of the Senators present and voting at the next regular Faculty Senate meeting.
  4. A slate of candidates should be submitted to the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate by the area the Senator will represent within two weeks of the notification of the vacancy. When only one candidate is recommended, the Executive Committee will act on the recommendation. When more than one candidate is recommended the NEG Committee will conduct an election in the area.

Section 8. Leaves

An elected Senator who is on leave from the college must choose to fulfill senatorial duties and responsibilities, resign, or take leave of Senate duties. When the choice is a leave from senatorial duties, the temporary vacancy shall be filled for the remainder of the leave or unexpired term, whichever comes first, in accordance with Article X, Section 7 Vacancies.