By-Laws of the Faculty Senate

By-Laws of the RU Faculty Senate

  1. The Senate shall maintain standing committees during the academic year. Based on Senator indicated preferences, the Executive Council will establish the membership of the standing committees. The committees and their areas of responsibility are listed below, with the subcommittee structure, should one be established by a committee, not necessarily as implied by the indentation:
    • Governance Committee
      • Faculty Senate Constitution
        • Membership
        • Amendments, By-Laws
      • University Internal Governance
        • Structure
        • Functioning
    • Faculty Issues Committee
      • Tenure
      • Post-tenure Review
      • Faculty Evaluation Procedures
      • Grievance Policies, Due Process
      • Faculty Morale
      • Part-Time and Adjunct Faculty
      • Professional Standards
      • Diversity Issues
      • Salaries and Fringe Benefits
      • Research, Professional Development
      • Academic Calendar
      • Release-Time Demands of Special Campus Programs
      • Fiscal Exigencies
    • Campus Environment Committee
      • Faculty and Student Needs
        • Facilities, Class Size
        • Physical Plant (New buildings, new uses for existing buildings)
        • Planning
        • Communication
        • Administrative Support
      • Enrollment
        • Enrollment Management and Planning
        • Recruitment and Admissions
        • Public Relations and Image Improvement
        • Catalogs and Other Publications
      • Summer School (also a concern under Faculty Issues and Curriculum)
      • Faculty/Student Quality Improvement Programs
    • Resource Allocation Committee
      • University Budget and Priorities
      • Long-Range Planning
      • Academic Resources
        • Library
        • Technology Support
        • Departmental Equipment and Supplies
        • Grants and Contracts
    • Curriculum Committee
      • Academic Policies and Procedures
        • Registration
        • Advising
        • Probation and Suspension
        • Class Load
        • Commencement
      • Undergraduate Curriculum
        • General Education
        • Requirements for Graduation
        • Degree Programs
          • Adding Programs
          • Dropping Programs
          • Merging Departments or Colleges
          • Creating Departments or Colleges
        • New Minors
        • Broad Curricular Changes
        • Program Evaluation
      • Graduate and Extended Education
        • Broad Policy and Curricular Changes in the Graduate College
        • Continuing Education
          • Adult Degree Program
          • Non-traditional Programs
        • Off-campus Courses and Programs
        • Coop Programs
        • Program Evaluation
  2. One member of the Faculty Senate shall be included among the faculty representatives on the following proposed University-wide committees:
    • Commencement
    • Calendar
    • Library
    • Budget Allocation and Review
    • Diversity and Equity Action
    • Academic Policies and Procedures
    If the committee as constituted already has a Faculty Senator in its membership, then this representation is adequate; if there is no Faculty Senator among the regular membership, the Executive Council will appoint a Senator to serve as an ex-officio member of the committee.
  3. One member of the Faculty Senate shall be included among the faculty representatives on the following proposed academic affairs committees:
    • Institutional Review Board for the Review of Research on Human Subjects
    • Undergraduate Curriculum and Catalog Review
    • Graduate Curriculum and Catalog Review
    • Continuing Education
    • Professional Education
    • Graduate Studies
    If the committee as constituted already has a Faculty Senator in its membership, then this representation is adequate; if there is no Faculty Senator among the regular membership, the Executive Council will appoint a Senator to serve as an ex-officio member of the committee.
  4. The Military Science Department shall have an ex-officio member of the Senate.
  5. The immediate past president of the Faculty Senate shall serve as an ex officio, non-voting member of the Executive Council, for one year following the end of his or her term as president.
  6. New business that is referred to the Senate after the deadline of the first meeting in March shall be referred to and considered by the Executive Council of the Senate. The Executive Council may then ask the Senate to suspend the rules and consider the new business.
  7. A senator may appoint a substitute representative from the same constituency. The senator shall inform the President and the Secretary of the Faculty Senate in advance of the meeting at which the substitute will appear. The substitute senator shall have full voting privileges.
  8. The President of the Faculty Senate shall meet quarterly with Chairs of the Senate Committees to determine items of Senate business to be included in quarterly Board of Visitors reports.
  9. A member of the Faculty Senate who spends more than one semester performing functions which do not include teaching at least one class or performing functions which are not normally associated with teaching must resign from the Senate, with a replacement to serve the remainder of the term. (Functions normally associated with teaching include, for example, faculty development academic leave or other leave to do research.)
  10. Senators representing Adjunct and Full-Time Temporary Faculty shall be elected for one-year terms, with the election to be held at the beginning of the fall semester. Representation will be on a rotating basis by college. Rotation of the colleges will be made in alphabetic order by college name (as listed on the Academic Affairs web site) beginning with the Fall 2008 semester. The two colleges for that year will solicit nominations and each elect one representatives from their Adjunct and Full-Time Temporary Faculty at the first college meeting held prior to the start of the fall semester. If the college does not have Adjunct or Full-Time Temporary Faculty or if the college is unable to identify one person willing to serve, representation will be sought from the next college in the rotation until the two positions have been filled.
  11. The Secretary of the Faculty Senate shall publish the agenda for each regularly scheduled meeting of the Faculty Senate on the official Faculty Senate website not less than 24 hours and not more than 72 hours before the scheduled start of the meeting.  Once posted, changes and amendments other than minor corrections shall not be made to the agenda, except as provided for in Section VI of the Constitution.
  12. Every meeting of the Faculty Senate must adjourn no later than one hour and twenty minutes after its appointed starting time, unless a motion to extend the meeting time is passed by a two-thirds majority. Debate on a motion to extend the meeting time will be limited to 5 minutes, with no individual speech lasting longer than one minute.
  13. At the conclusion of each term of the Faculty Senate, the chairs of the Standing Committees of the Faculty Senate and the President of the Faculty Senate shall submit to the Faculty Senate Executive Council a continuity report. This report should summarize his or her committee’s continuing business, including details to assist the next person to serve as committee chair in the coming academic year.