NOTE: This ia an HTML rendition of the Le Moyne CollegeConstitutions and By-laws of the Faculty Senate. It does not constitute the"official" document which is maintained by the office of the Academic VicePresident.
Appendix A
LE MOYNE COLLEGE
CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS
of the
FACULTY SENATE
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE LE MOYNE COLLEGE FACULTY SENATE
PREAMBLE
We, the faculty of Le Moyne College, regard ourselves as a Faculty Senateto function as the instrument whereby we may properly discharge ourprofessional responsibilities in the governance of the College. Among thecomponents of the College community the governing Board of Trustees isunderstood to exercise the final institutional authority in the interpretationand preservation of the traditional goals outlined in the charter of theCollege. The President, as Chief Executive Officer, is responsible forleadership, operation and administration, policy, procedure, communicationbetween faculty and Board, and creation and preservation of institutionalresources. The faculty has responsibility to propose, deliberate andrecommend the implementation of academic policy, procedures and programs insuch fundamental areas as curriculum, subject matter and methods ofinstruction, research, faculty status, and those aspects of student life whichrelate to the educational process.
ARTICLE ONE: PURPOSE
Realizing that the variety and complexity of the tasks performed byinstitutions of higher education produce an inescapable interdependence amonggoverning board, administration, faculty, students and others, we wish by thisSenate to achieve a more effective means of faculty contribution to thecooperative formulation of policies and procedures applicable to the totaleducational effort of the College. We bear in mind not only the welfareof the faculty itself, but also the best interests of students and alumni, andthe corresponding prerogatives and obligations, in these matters, of theadministration. Working through the Faculty Senate, then, in the spiritof mutual assistance and cooperation with all other bodies and agencies of LeMoyne College, we address ourselves and our labors to the general welfare ofthe College and the goal of excellence toward which it strives.
ARTICLE TWO: POWERS, RIGHTS AND DUTIES
1. Subject to limitations contained in the By-Lawsor Statutes of the College and/or any limitation imposed by law, the FacultySenate is responsible for academic policies and for rules and regulationspertaining to the curriculum of the College. This includes settingacademic standards for admission, continuance in the College, and theattainment of degrees; approving the institution, amendment or abolition of allacademic programs and curriculum requirements in the field of general studiesand in the Honors Program; approving the establishment of new departments orprograms and the realignment or discontinuance of existing ones; and reviewingthe departmental requirements in each major.
2. The Faculty Senate has responsibility in establishing the procedures fordetermining the norms for appointment and the procedures and academic norms forthe granting of tenure, the promotion and the reappointment of all faculty.
3. There shall be six standing committees of the Faculty Senate: ElectionsCommittee, Committee on Rank and Tenure, Finance Committee, CurriculumCommittee, Committee on Faculty Research and Development, Committee onProfessional Rights and Welfare.
4. Faculty Senate members who serve on College committees which are notcommittees of the Faculty Senate, but which function to implement, interpret,or establish policies pertaining to the general welfare of the faculty, or tothe powers, rights, and duties of the Faculty Senate, shall represent thefaculty in sharing collective responsibility for the welfare of theCollege.
ARTICLE THREE: MEMBERSHIP
1. All full-timemembers of the teaching faculty and full-timeacademic librarians are voting members of the Faculty Senate.
2. Adjunct faculty who teach a minimum of eight (8) contact hours peracademic year, and have a minimum of three (3) years service at Le MoyneCollege, will obtain full voting membership in the Faculty Senate uponsubmitting a written application to the President of the Senate.
3. Other adjunct faculty may attend meetings and participate indeliberations.
4. The Chief Academic Officer of the College is a non-votingmember of the Faculty Senate.
ARTICLE FOUR: OFFICERS
1. The Officers of the Faculty Senate shall be a President, President-Elect,and a Secretary-Treasurer.
2. The President and President-Electmust be full-timemembers of the faculty with a minimum of three years of full-timeservice to the College.
3. The Secretary-Treasurermust be a voting member of the Faculty Senate.
4. The officers of the Faculty Senate shall be elected by the Senate fromamong those voting members who meet the qualifications set forth in ArticleIII, numbers two and three above. All elections shall be by secret ballotand shall be decided by a simple plurality.
ARTICLE FIVE: THE EXECUTIVE BOARD
1. The Executive Board of the Faculty Senate shall consist of eighteen (18)persons as follows: the officers of the Senate (3), chairpersons of allstanding committees of the Senate (6), one elected representative from each ofthe six academic divisions* of the College (6), two at-largemembers (2) and the Chief Academic Officer of the College, who shall be a non-votingmember.
* The six academic divisions of the College are:
1) Philosophy, Religious Studies, Fine Arts
2) English, Foreign Languages
3) Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics
4) History, Psychology, Sociology, Political Science
5) Economics, Computer Science,
Education, Academic Librarians
6) Business Administration, Accounting,
Industrial Relations
2. The President, the President-Electand the Secretary-Treasurerof the Faculty senate shall hold the same respective offices on the ExecutiveBoard and shall not be elected to chair any standing committee of theSenate.
3. The Executive Board is the ordinary body through which Senateresolutions are adopted. As such, it shall act for the full Senate inmatters prescribed in Article II, 1 and 2, and in all other matters determinedby the full Senate. It shall determine the agenda for its meetings andfor meetings of the Senate. It is the prerogative of the Executive Boardto call for a referendum of the full Senate in matters it judges to be ofextreme urgency to the Senate. It is the responsibility of the ExecutiveBoard to conduct a referendum on any resolution it has passed at the writtenrequest of at least one-fourthof the voting membership of the Senate. The sequence of time for saidrequest and referendum shall be specified in the By-Laws.
4. The Executive Board of the Faculty Senate shall be the body whichinterprets all provisions of the Constitution and By-Lawsof the Faculty Senate.
ARTICLE SIX: TERMS OF OFFICE
1. The terms of office of the President, President-Elect,and Secretary-Treasurershall be one year, and shall begin on the final day of class of the academicterm in which they have been elected.
2. The terms of office of the divisional and at-largerepresentatives on the Executive Board shall be two years and shall begin onthe final class day of the academic term in which they have beenelected.
3. The terms of office of all elected committee members, with the exceptionof the Committee on Rank and Tenure, shall begin on the final class day of theacademic term in which they have been elected. The terms of officeof all appointed committee members shall begin upon formal approval of theirappointments by the Executive Board.
ARTICLE SEVEN: DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS OF OFFICERS
1. The President of the Senate shall call meetings of the Senate andpreside at those meetings. The President of the Senate shall beresponsible for communicating actions of the Senate and its standing committeesto other bodies within the College and for maintaining liaison with thosebodies. Without prejudice to the roles of the College's President andChief Academic Officer, as recognized in this Constitution (Preamble; ArticleTen), the President of the Senate shall be the official representative of theFaculty Senate in all dealings with the Board of Trustees and itscommittees. The President of the Senate shall be entitled to a reductionof three teaching hours in each semester of his/her term.
2. The President-Electof the Senate shall exercise all of the powers and duties of the President inhis/her absence.
3. The Secretary-Treasurerof the Senate shall send out notices of all meetings, keep a record of theminutes, and send copies of the minutes to all members of the Senate. TheSecretary-Treasurershall also maintain a record of the finances of the Senate.
ARTICLE EIGHT: DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS OF STANDING COMMITTEES
1. The Elections Committee shall solicit nominations for all Senatepositions to be filled by election, shall insure that there is at least onenominee for each position, and shall conduct all Senate elections andreferenda.
2. The Committee on Rank and Tenure shall implement the norms andprocedures relative to promotion and tenure of full-timefaculty members, and shall periodically review these norms and procedures,proposing changes where appropriate.
3. The members of the Finance Committee shall serve as the faculty'srepresentatives on the College Budget Committee. Each year, the membersof the Finance Committee shall study matters concerning the financial welfareof the faculty and make appropriate recommendations to the ExecutiveBoard. Without prejudice to their collective responsibility for thewelfare of the College, they shall work to secure the inclusion in the Collegebudget of those financial proposals which are approved by the ExecutiveBoard.
4. The Curriculum Committee shall review and evaluate all academic policiesand programs. Any addition, deletion or change in the College curriculumis subject to the Committee's approval.
5. The Committee on Faculty Research and Development shall review andadminister all programs of institutional support for faculty research,development and sabbatical leaves, and shall encourage and assist faculty insecuring outside funding for research and development activities.
6. The Committee on Professional Rights and Welfare shall review andadminister all faculty grievance procedures, shall represent the Faculty Senatein matters concerning faculty rights and welfare, and shall periodically reviewthe relevant sections of the Faculty Handbook, proposing changes whereappropriate.
ARTICLE NINE: MEETINGS
1. Regular meetings of the Faculty Senate shall be held at least once eachsemester. Regular meetings of the Executive Board shall be held a leastthree times each semester.
2. Special meetings may be called by the President of the Senate as thebusiness of the Senate might require. A special meeting must be called bythe President of the Senate when it is petitioned in writing by ten votingmembers of the Senate or at the written request of the Chief Academic Officerof the College.
3. All members of the Senate must be notified in writing by the Secretary-Treasurerof any meeting not less than five days in advance. This notice shouldinclude the agenda of that meeting.
4. The rules contained in Robert's Rules of Order Revised shallgovern this organization in all cases to which they are applicable, and inwhich they are not inconsistent with these and other rules adopted by thisorganization.
5. The President of the Faculty Senate, at his/her discretion, shallappoint a parliamentarian.
ARTICLE TEN: PROCEDURES FOR RESOLUTIONS OF THE SENATE
1. Any member of the Senate may initiate a proposal. Any member ofthe Le Moyne College community may ask a Senate member to initiate a proposal,so long as the matter pertains to the responsibility of the FacultySenate.
2. All proposals submitted to the Executive Board will be placed on itsagenda, returned to the initiator for further clarification, referred to astudy committee or disposed of in some other way. The Executive Board hasthe responsibility to inform the initiator of its action within one classday.
3. Meetings of the Executive Board shall be conducted according to thelatest revised edition of Robert's Rules of Order unless thisrequirement is suspended in a particular case by a three-fourthsmajority of those present and voting. All meetings of the Executive Boardshall be open to all Senate members, who shall have a voice in thedeliberations but not a vote.
4. In order for the Executive Board to conduct business a quorum must bepresent. A quorum is defined as three-fourthsof the voting members of the Executive Board. The voting members are allmembers except the Chief Academic Officer of the College.
5. Passage of resolutions shall require a majority vote of those presentand voting.
6. All resolutions passed by any standing committee of the Faculty Senateshall be submitted to the President of the Faculty Senate for appropriatefurther action. The President of the Faculty Senate shall determinewhether the resolution is to be presented to the Executive Board of the FacultySenate for further deliberation, or to be forwarded directly to the ChiefAcademic Officer for implementation.
7. The Chief Academic Officer of the College shall have veto power over theresolutions of the Faculty Senate, as communicated in writing by the Presidentof the Faculty Senate. The Chief Academic Officer must notify thePresident of the Faculty Senate of his/her veto and the reasons for it, inwriting, within a period of two weeks. Any resolution of the Board, or ofits standing committees, duly communicated by the President of the FacultySenate, not vetoed by the Chief Academic Officer in the time allotted, asstated above, will be considered as accepted for implementation by the ChiefAcademic Officer.
8. After the Chief Academic Officer's veto and the reasons for it have beencommunicated to the President of the Faculty Senate, the President of theSenate must call a meeting of the Faculty Senate for open discussion with theChief Academic Officer in an effort to seek a resolution of the issue. The meeting must be held within 20 class days of the notification of theveto. The President must give written notice of the date two weeks inadvance. If the process cannot be implemented before the last day ofclass in each semester, the meeting must be held in the first two weeks of thenext semester.
9. After the Senate has listened to the arguments on the issue, it can moveto uphold the Chief Academic Officer's veto, or it can uphold the proposal andmove that it be submitted to a referendum of all the voting members of theSenate. In this case a two-thirdsvote is required to override the veto. In the case of an override, awritten communication of the results will be forwarded within one class day bythe President of the Senate to the President of the College, with a copy to theChairperson of the Board of Trustees for further review and action by theBoard.
ARTICLE ELEVEN: AMENDMENTS
1. Submission Proposals to amend this Constitutionmay be submitted by any member of the Senate. The submission must be inwriting to the Secretary-Treasurerof the Senate.
2. Certification At the next regular meeting of theExecutive Board, the proposal shall be offered for discussion andcertification. A favorable majority vote of those present shall berequired to certify the proposal.
3. Deliberation The certified proposal must beoffered to the full membership of the Senate for discussion. The Secretary-Treasurerof the Senate must provide copies of the proposal to all members one week priorto the discussion meeting.
4. Adoption The Elections Committee must conduct areferendum of the Senate on the proposal. A favorable two-thirdsmajority of the members shall be required for adoption of the proposal as anamendment to this Constitution.
5. Ratification The Executive Board must submit theamendment to the Board of Trustees for ratification within ten classdays. The amendment will be considered ratified if, by the completion ofa full semester following the semester in which it was adopted, no action hasbeen taken by the Board of Trustees.
ARTICLE TWELVE: BY LAWS
The Executive Board has the authority to propose, modify and amend the By-Lawsof this Constitution, as ratified by a majority vote of the full membership ofthe Faculty Senate.
In recognition of the responsibilities vested in the Trustees by theCharter of the College, this Constitution can also be changed, altered,modified, or revoked by resolution of the Board of Trustees.
BY-LAWSOF THE LE MOYNE COLLEGE FACULTY SENATE
ARTICLE ONE. ELECTIONS OF OFFICERS, EXECUTIVE BOARD ANDCOMMITTEES
SECTION I: GENERAL PRINCIPLES
1. All Elections shall be under the general supervision of the ElectionsCommittee of the Faculty Senate. (However, the first elections to theExecutive Board of the Faculty Senate shall be supervised by the Committee fora Faculty Senate. Further, in the first election of divisional and at-largerepresentatives, those three divisional representatives and the one at-largereceiving the highest number of votes shall serve for two years and theremaining representatives for one year.)
2. All elections shall be by a secret ballot and shall be decided by simpleplurality
3. Chairpersons of all standing committees, except the Executive Board,shall be elected by and from the membership of each committee.
4. Terms of office of appointed committee members shall be one year unlessotherwise specified.
SECTION II: ELECTION OF SENATE OFFICERS
1. The term of office for the President of the Faculty Senate shall belimited to one year. The person who is elected to the office of President-Electshall automatically become the President in the following year.
2. The Elections Committee shall prepare a slate of nominees for theoffices of President-Electand Secretary-Treasurerfrom the eligible membership. (For the first election under these rules,the Elections Committee shall prepare a slate of nominees for each of the threeoffices from the eligible membership.) In addition, nominations ofeligible members may be made by filing with the Elections Committee a petitioncontaining the signatures of at least 10 percent of the votingmembership. Signatures appearing on more than one petition for the sameoffice will be invalid. Two weeks prior to the election, the ElectionsCommittee shall publish the list of all candidates. This notice shallalso contain the voting procedures and date of the election, which shall beheld no later than April 1.
3. A duly elected officer of the Faculty Senate may request a leave ofabsence for a semester by submitting a written request, including reasons forthe requested leave, to the Executive Board. If a majority of theremaining members of the Executive Board denies the request, then within twoweeks of the denial the officer shall either agree to perform the duties ofthat office, or relinquish that office. If the officer relinquishes theoffice, the Elections Committee will hold a special election to fill thatposition. If a majority of the remaining members of the Executive Boardapproves the request for a leave of absence, the leave is therebygranted. Then:
A. If the officer on leave is the President of the Senate, then thePresident-Electshall assume the duties of the President (in accord with Article Seven, 2., ofthe Constitution). That person shall then appoint a President-ElectPro Tem to fulfill the duties of the President-Elect. Said appointment shall require a favorable two-thirdsmajority of the voting members of the Executive Board.
B. If the officer on leave is the President-Elect,the President of the Senate shall appoint a President-ElectPro Tem, subject to the approval of two-thirdsof the voting members of the Executive Board.
C. If the officer on leave is the Secretary-Treasurer,the President of the Senate shall appoint a Secretary-TreasurerPro Tem, subject to the approval of two-thirdsof the voting members of the Executive Board.
SECTION III: ELECTION OF ADDITIONAL MEMBERS OF EXECUTIVEBOARD
A. DIVISIONAL REPRESENTATIVES
Annual elections of representatives of each division shall precedenomination and election of at-largerepresentatives. At least two weeks prior to the elections deadline, theElections Committee shall send written reminders to each voting member of adivision in which a vacancy is to be filled. Eligible voters from eachdivision may nominate one candidate from their division and submit that name tothe Elections Committee by a designated deadline, first making certain that thenominee approves his/her nomination. One week prior to the election, theElections Committee shall prepare ballots and send them to each voting memberof a division in which a vacancy is to be filled. Elections shall becompleted by April 15.
For the purpose of these elections the six academic divisions of theCollege shall be:
1. Philosophy, Religious Studies, Fine Arts
2. English, Foreign Languages
3. Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics
4. History, Psychology, Sociology, Political Science
5. Economics, Computer Science, Education, AcademicLibrarians
6. Business Administration, Accounting, Industrial Relations,
B. AT-LARGEREPRESENTATIVES
Annual elections of at-largerepresentatives shall be conducted according to the following procedures. From the eligible membership, the Elections Committee shall prepare a slate ofnominees for the open positions. Two weeks prior to the election, theElections Committee shall publish this slate, together with the number ofeligible voters. Nominations from the membership may then be made byfiling with the Elections Committee a petition containing the signatures of atleast ten percent of the voting membership. A member may sign as manypetitions as there are positions to be filled. One week prior to theelections the Elections Committee shall publish the list of allcandidates. This notice shall also contain the election date and votingprocedures. Elections for at-largemembers shall be completed no later than May 1. In the event that both at-largepositions must be filled at one time, the two candidates receiving the mostvotes shall be elected.
C. CHAIRPERSONS OF STANDING COMMITTEES
As soon as the officers, divisional representatives, and at-largerepresentatives have been elected, the person who has been elected Presidentshall appoint faculty members to those positions on the Standing Committeeswhich are subject to Presidential appointment. These appointments shallrequire the approval of two-thirdsof the ELECTED members of the Executive Board (officers, divisionalrepresentatives, and at-largerepresentatives). Each Standing Committee shall then select from itsmembership a chairperson, who also will serve as a member of the ExecutiveBoard.
SECTION IV: ELECTIONS OF COMMITTEES
1.Curriculum Committee The Curriculum Committee shallconsist of seven voting members: one elected by April 15 from eachacademic division, as in ARTICLE ONE, SECTION III. A., and one at-largerepresentative appointed by May 1 by the President of the Senate, with theapproval of two-thirdsof the elected members of the Executive Board. The Chief Academic Officerof the College is a non-votingmember. The Committee shall invite the Student Senate to selectrepresentatives to serve as non-votingmembers of the Committee.
The term of office of each of the elected members of the committee shalllast for two years. Three faculty members (from Divisions One, Three, andFive) shall be elected in odd-numberedyears, and three faculty members (from Divisions Two, Four, and Six) shall beelected in even-numberedyears. The term of office for the at-largemember shall last for one year. The chairperson will serve for oneacademic year but may be reelected.
2. Committee on Rank and Tenure1
A. Composition The Committee on Rank and Tenure shallconsist of eight tenured members of the full-timeteaching faculty, one from each of the six academic divisions and two at-largefrom the rank of full Professor. All full-timefaculty members with tenure at the time of nomination shall be eligible forelection to the Committee, except that no faculty member may serve as acommittee member in the year in which he/she is applying for promotion.
B.Term of Office The term of office shall begin withthe academic year and last for two years. Four faculty members (three divisional and one at-large)shall be elected in the spring of one year and four (three divisional and one at-large)in the spring of the following year. If a committee member is unable tocomplete his/her term, the vacancy shall be filled for the remainder of thatterm by a special election supervised by the Elections Committee of the Senate.
C.Nominations and Elections Each voting facultymember within a division in which a vacancy occurs may nominate oneperson to fill each vacancy. The persons with the two highest numbers ofnominations shall comprise the slate of nominees within that division.
The Elections Committee shall provide a slate of nominees from twodifferent divisions for each at-largevacancy. Each faculty member in the third or subsequent semester of full-timeteaching at Le Moyne College may cast a single vote for a nominee within eachcategory wherein a vacancy is to be filled.
All elections for the Rank and Tenure Committee shall be completed by May1.
3. Committee on Professional Rights and Welfare**
The Committee on Professional Rights and Welfare shall consist of sevenmembers, one elected from each academic division, and the President of the LeMoyne College AAUP Chapter, ex officio. Only the elected members of theCommittee are eligible to serve as chairperson. Adjunct faculty memberswho are members of the Faculty Senate are eligible to stand for election. A person may not serve on the Committee on Rank and Tenure and the Committee onProfessional Rights and Welfare concurrently.
The term of office of each of the elected members of the Committee shalllast for two years. Three faculty members (from Divisions Three, Four,and Five) shall be elected in odd-numberelected in even-