A. Departmental Bylaws
The department/school bylaws, and revisions to the bylaws, must be approved by the Department Faculty Council, the department chair or school director, the College Faculty Council, the college dean, and the Provost or designee.
Each department/school will have written bylaws that will describe the roles, procedures, and membership of all department/school standing committees. The bylaws will provide a procedure for the approval and amendment of such bylaws by a majority vote of the permanent, full-time faculty of the department/school taken by a secret ballot.
An up-to-date version of the bylaws will be posted on the department/school website and linked to the department/school homepage in a conspicuous way.
The bylaws will provide for a Department Faculty Council, or like body (See “Alternatives to the DFC” below.), and will be constituted in a way consistent with the parameters outlined below. The bylaws will provide a procedure for the approval and amendment of such bylaws by a majority vote of the permanent, full-time faculty of the department/school taken by a secret ballot. The Department Faculty Council will operate as an ad hoc body until the bylaws have been developed and approved.
B. The Department Faculty Council (DFC)
The Role and Purpose of the DFC
The DFC is advisory to the department chair or school director, who holds decision-making authority at the department/school level. The purpose of the DFC is to promote collegiality and effective shared governance of the department/school by increasing the transparency and two-way communication between the faculty and the department chair or school director with regard to the development of policy and to increase communication about the implementation of policy.
Implementation and Membership of the DFC
Each department/school that does not have a DFC will establish an Implementation Committee to coordinate and oversee the establishment of its DFC. That same committee will also initiate the establishment of written bylaws in cases where such bylaws do not already exist. Membership of the Implementation Committee will be the faculty senator for the department/school plus the chairs of the Curriculum Committee for the department/school and its Promotion and Tenure Committee.
The Implementation Committee should work with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee to address problems arising in its work that may require external assistance.
A DFC will consist of at least three members, all elected by vote of the department/school faculty.
A majority of the DFC should be tenured or tenure-track faculty if possible.
The exact method by which the department/school elects its representatives to the DFC will be determined by vote of permanent full-time faculty of the department/school (i.e., instructors, lecturers, tenure-track, and tenured faculty). A department/school may recall any DFC member by a 2/3 vote.
The department chair or school director is an ex officio, non-voting member of the DFC. The department chair or school director will respect their DFC’s desire, on occasion, to meet without the department chair or school director present.
The department chair or school director is not eligible to vote for or to serve as a representative to the DFC.
Alternatives to the DFC
The body performing the functions hereby outlined for the DFC may be constituted differently, if the faculty so desire, but any such alternative body must:
- Be composed of a majority of voting members who are elected by the permanent full-time faculty of the department/school,
- Be chaired by a tenured faculty member who is elected by vote of the elected members of the body,
- Clearly acknowledge in bylaws the prerogative of the elected members, when those members wish, to meet without the department chair or school director,
- Be clearly identified in the bylaws as performing the functions of the DFC, and
- Be initially approved and then reaffirmed annually by a majority vote of the permanent full-time faculty members of the department/school by secret ballot as their preferred alternative to a DFC, as outlined elsewhere in this document.
Similarly, a department/school may substitute a Committee of the Whole for a DFC but such a Committee of the Whole must:
- Be composed of a two-thirds majority of full-time permanent faculty members,
- Be chaired by a tenured faculty member who is elected by vote of the body,
- Clearly acknowledge in bylaws the prerogative of the Committee of the Whole and its sub-committees to meet without the department chair or school director,
- Be clearly identified in the bylaws as performing the purpose of the DFC, and
- Be initially approved and then reaffirmed annually by a majority vote of the permanent full-time faculty members of the department/school by secret ballot as their preferred alternative to a DFC, as outlined elsewhere in this document.
DFC Leadership
The DFC chair must be elected by the elected members of the DFC from among their numbers.
Operation
Consistent with DFC’s purpose of providing greater transparency and two-way communication between the faculty and the department chair or school director, the DFC will have the right to prompt access to department/school information relating to the planning and implementation of departmental or school policies.
Once the DFC is established in a particular department/school, the DFC should work with the dean and/or the Office of the Ombuds to address problems arising in its work that may require external assistance and should notify the Faculty Senate Executive Committee for information purposes.
Frequency of Meeting and Summer DFCs
The DFC should meet as often as deemed appropriate by the council membership with a minimum of two meetings per semester. Each meeting will be called by the DFC chair. The department chair/school director or any other member of the DFC can request a meeting by contacting the DFC chair.
Each DFC will take necessary measures to assure continuing functioning of the DFC during the summer months. These may include, but are not limited to, establishing a reduced quorum requirement, allowing members to name or elect proxies from among the faculty of the department/school, and electing an acting DFC chair. Determining the best mix of such necessary measures will be the decision of the DFC itself, based on immediate circumstances and without outside intervention. Such a “Summer DFC” will be recognized by the administration as the legitimate representative of faculty interests in the shared governance of the department/school during the summer months and consulted accordingly.
|
Search
Menu
