Procedures & Senate Standing Rules

Standing Rules for the Senate Dec 8, 2004:

1. (Senate meeting #1, Jan. 25, 2000) The members of the Executive Committee shall include the President, Vice President, and Secretary of the Senate and four additional senators elected by the senate with the provision that all four Units are represented. To ensure fairness of representation the top three officers (President, Vice President and Secretary) be from different schools and CAS be represented by at least two members, one of which is from the IEP.
2. (SEC meeting __, February 17, 2000) Any completed items of business to be brought to the attention of the Senate between Senate meetings shall be communicated by the President through the Secretary. Those items of business which are still in the discussion stage, work-in-progress, shall not, unless otherwise agreed upon by the SEC, be reported to or discussed with anyone outside the SEC.
3. (Senate meeting #__, March 12, 2000) When a substantial change to the minutes is proposed, it should be put forth as a motion.
4. SEC meeting ~ , March 12, 2000) Minutes of the Senate and SEC meetings will be sent to all faculty members as an e-mail attachment.
5. (SEC meeting #..., May 29, 2000) Chairs appointed by the Senate Executive Committee to faculty Standing Committees will be non-voting members of that Faculty Standing Committee except when the necessity arises to break a tie.
6. (SEC meeting __, May 29, 2000) With regard to the grievance committees, their deliberations should be kept private: the names of those present and of those elected or appointed should be recorded.
7. (SEC meeting # __ , May 29, 2000) A quorum for SEC shall be two-thirds.
8. (Senate meeting # 8, May 30, 2000) All senate committees shall select a recording secretary. Approved versions of these minutes shall be circulated to all members of the Senate through the SEC. All Senate standing committees, special or ad/hoc committees shall have a quorum of two thirds of the voting members. A resolution (motion) put before a Senate standing committee shall require a single mover; no second is required. Once standing committees are established, each committee will determine the scope of its responsibilities and duties. These determinations will be presented to the Faculty Senate for its approval.
9. (SEC meeting #5, Nov. 19, 2000) Senators unable to attend a meeting should send their apologies through the AUS Faculty Senate Secretary.
10. (Senate meeting #3, Nov. 21, 2000) A draft of minutes of meetings will be sent to all senators for revision.
11. (SEC meeting #6, Dec. 17, 2000) All committees appointed by the President and subcommittees of the SEC must keep proper records as outlined in Robert's Rules of Order.
12. (Senate meeting #8, Feb 10, 2001) Faculty has access to their files.
13. (Senate meeting #10, March 27, 2001) Committee reports are distributed to Senators 24 house in advance.
14. (SEC meeting #7, Jan. 2, 2002 and Senate meeting #3, Feb. 5, 2002) Committees commissioned by the SEC must report back to the SEC. The SEC report would be made available to the whole Senate for debate if needed.
15. Senate meeting #5, Feb. 5, 2002) When a Senator departs a position on the SEC before the term of office has expired, the vacancy should be filled through the usual election process by senators, and subject to the usual qualifications set forth by the Elections committee, namely: i) No more than two senators shall represent the same unit on the SEC, ii) The three officers (President, Vice President and Secretary) shall each be from different units. When a senator departs from a Senate office position, it should be open to SEC officers whose rank is lower than that of the vacant position, other SEC members (and all other senators), subject to the same qualifications stated in (b-i) and (b-ii) above.
    An SEC officer of a certain rank does not lose his position by mere fact of running for a higher SEC position. If he wins, his position becomes open for election to all senators subject to the same qualifications stated in (b-i) and (b-ii) above(SEC meeting #1, May 4, 2003) As long as an issue does not involve faculty termination of any other issue that cannot be dealt with in the fall, it will be dealt with at the beginning for the next academic years. Faculty members whose concerns are put in abeyance to be addressed in the fall will be expected to file their grievances within the 14 days deadline specified in the Grievance Code…. But they would preserve their full rights for he same timely consideration of their case as soon as the academic year begins in the full, with full compliance by the SEC with the timeline specified in the Grievance Code. In case of a grievable matter that involves termination and therefore cannot be postponed till the fall, the highest-ranking officer of the SEC who is not involved in the grievance procedure and who is not a member of the Unit involved in the grievance, will inform the SEC members by email communication of such a case. The SEC will then determine (by virtual session as per the FOP if need be) the best course of action to handle the grievance.
16. (SEC meeting #5, Sept. 23, 2003) The SEC is an ombudsman for faculty-related issues given its composition as an elected body of the Senate.
17. Senate meeting #3, Sept. 30, 2003) In case of a temporary vacancy in any of the university administrative positions and in the absence of a formal replacement, the authority and responsibility of the vacant position (as it relates to provisions of the handbook) are automatically transferred upward to the next level of organizational hierarchy (i.e. VCAA's transferred to the Chancellor, Dean; transferred to the VCAA, etc.). Decisions or recommendations for decisions remain grievable up to the highest level below the Chancellor and appealable to the Chancellor.
18. (Senate meeting #7 December 21, 2003 This procedure will be used in electing senators from December of 2004.
1. The Senate Election Committee creates the list of senators whose terms are expiring.
2. the most senior senator who is not running for reelection in his/her unit becomes the Election Officer for that unit.
3. The Election Officer in each unit reports to the Senate Election Committee.
4. The Senate Election Committee advises the Election Officer when and how the candidates should be obtained.
5. The Election Officer publishes the announcement in his/her unit, and is in charge of collecting nominations.
6. The Election Officer sends the nominations to the Senate Election Committee.
7. The Senate Election Committee sets the election date, arranges for an election box to be placed in each Dean's office, advises the Election Officer how the vote will be conducted, opens and closes the time of elections. (Note: friendly amendment accepted to use The "double envelope" method of casting ballots)
8. The Election Officer ensures that all members are notified in the unit.
9. The Senate Election Committee collects the boxes and counts the ballots, and announces the winners to the Election Officer, who notifies the winners
19. (Senate meeting #2, Sep. 20, 2005) as an amendment to rule # 1, if it becomes unfeasible, the Senate Secretary can be from the same school as the Vice President or the President.