Faculty Handbook 2012 - 2013
1. The Faculty shall exercise designated responsibility and power to decide on all matters placed before the governance system. On curricular matters, only Teaching Faculty shall be empowered to vote.
2. A proposal for governance consideration and action may be initiated by any standing committee or council (see Art. III), or by submission to the Steering Committee of a petition on standard petition and proposal forms provided by the Secretary of the Steering Committee. New courses may be proposed by Teaching Faculty only and must be submitted to the Steering Committee.
3. The Steering Committee shall assign all proposals for consideration to the appropriate body or bodies of the governance system. The Steering Committee may request of the Faculty that a Task Force (see Art. IV) be created to consider any particular proposal.
4. All actions by councils on proposals submitted for their specific consideration are subject to final approval by the Faculty. The councils will be served by standing committees which shall undertake the detailed work of gathering information, defining and discussing options, and reaching recommendations then forwarded to the council. With the assistance and advice of the standing committee, the council may decide what action, if any, to take. A council may ask the standing committee to reconsider the issue. Standing committees shall not have the power to make recommendations directly to the Faculty, without approval from their council.
5. Any council or committee may invite additional persons to serve as non-voting resource people.
6. All proposals approved by councils shall be sent to the Chair of the Faculty for inclusion on the agenda of the next faculty meeting. The councils, with the assistance and recommendation of the Steering Committee, shall determine whether a proposal is to be placed on:
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Debatable Calendar: Items of significant importance to the University, or items which warrant public debate by the Faculty, shall be placed on the Debatable Calendar. Items on the Debatable Calendar shall be voted on separately;
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Non-debatable Academic Calendar: Routine items determined by the Academic Affairs Council, with the assistance of the Steering Committee, to be of an academic nature not warranting public debate shall be placed on the Non-debatable Academic Calendar. Only Teaching Faculty shall vote on the Non-debatable Academic Calendar. Items on the Non-debatable Academic Calendar shall be voted on as a single unit. An item can be moved to the Debatable Calendar by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the Teaching Faculty present. The motion to move an item to the Debatable Calendar is not debatable; however, the person who submitted the motion is allowed up to two (2) minutes time to state the reason(s) for the motion;
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Non-debatable Non-academic Calendar: Routine items forwarded by a council, and determined by that council to be of a non-academic nature not warranting public debate, shall be placed on the Non-debatable Non-academic Calendar. Items on the Non-debatable Non-academic Calendar shall be voted on as a single unit. An item can be moved to the Debatable Calendar by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the General Faculty present. The motion to move an item to the Debatable Calendar is not debatable; however, the person who submitted the motion is allowed up to two (2) minutes time to state the reason(s) for the motion.
7. No action shall be considered final or binding until the Faculty has passed it.
1. A request for the Faculty to reconsider any action passed by the Faculty may be initiated as follows:
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by a request to the Chair of the Faculty from the University, Academic Affairs, or Campus Affairs councils within seven (7) class days of the Faculty vote;
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by a petition submitted to the Chair of the Faculty signed by thirty-five (35) members of the General Faculty within seven (7) class days of the Faculty vote;
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by a petition submitted to the Chair of the Faculty signed by one-third (1/3) of the members of the Denison Campus Government Association (DCGA) Senate within seven (7) class days of the Faculty vote.
2. Once a petition for reconsideration, conforming to the above procedures, is submitted, the Chair of the Faculty is obliged to include the motion for reconsideration on the agenda of the next faculty meeting, or on the agenda of a subsequent faculty meeting to be held within twenty (20) class days of the date when the petition was submitted. If no meeting is scheduled within twenty (20) class days of the submission of the petition, then the Chair of the Faculty is obliged to call a special faculty meeting.
3. In order for the issue to be reconsidered, two-thirds (2/3) of the Faculty present at the meeting must vote in favor of reconsideration when the request is presented.
4. Once an issue is under reconsideration, no amendments which affect the substance of the resolution are in order. Amendments which clarify the substance of the resolution may be made. Should substantive amendments be desired, the resolution must be returned to the appropriate council for further study and revision.
5. An issue may be reconsidered by these procedures only once.
1. Faculty:
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Eligibility:
1) A person may be nominated by any member of the General Faculty, including himself/herself. The Selections and Elections Committee, however, must obtain the assent of any candidate before listing his/her name as a nominee. Nomination petitions will be made available by the Secretary of the Faculty.
2) No faculty member may be a candidate simultaneously for more than one council or board.
3) No faculty member may be a candidate for a position previously held until two years following the expiration of his/her term.
4) To be eligible to serve on a council, standing committee, or board defined in this document, a member of the Teaching Faculty must hold a full-time appointment, be affiliated with a department or academic program, and be teaching at least two-thirds of a normal teaching load.
5) The Selections and Elections Committee shall be responsible for determining eligibility both for voting and for serving on councils, standing committees, and boards.
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Terms of Office:
1) Terms of office shall coincide with the academic calendar year.
2) Faculty members and Supportive Operating Staff shall serve terms of office as specified under the provisions set for each council, committee, and board in Articles III and V of this governance document.
3) Students shall serve terms of one year.
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Election: Elections shall be held in the spring of every year, and at other times as the Selections and Elections Committee deem necessary. The General Faculty votes for positions open on councils, standing committees, and boards. Only Teaching Faculty may vote for positions on the President's Advisory Board and the Academic Affairs Council. New members of the Faculty shall not vote in the election of members to committees until they have served on the Faculty at least one semester. Voting is by secret ballot. Each voter may cast ballots for as many candidates as there are seats available. Positions will be won by those candidates securing the highest vote totals. Ties shall be broken by a flip of a coin.
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Run-off Election: Whenever a candidate list exceeds three (3) times the number of positions to be filled, the Selections and Elections Committee shall hold a run-off election. Each voter may cast ballots for as many candidates as there are seats available. The Selections and Elections Committee shall prepare a final election slate of three times the number of places to be filled from the candidates receiving the highest number of votes in the run-off election. Ties shall be broken by a flip of a coin.
2. Students:
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Candidacy: Candidacy for the Denison Community Government Association (DCGA) Senate, or any other governance body, is open to any member of the Student Body in good academic standing. No student who is an elected officer of the Student Body and who, by virtue of that office, sits on a council may be a candidate for election to an additional council for service in the same year;
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Elections: The DCGA Senate, with the advice and assistance of the Faculty, shall devise selection and election procedures for student positions in the governance system. These procedures and amendments to these procedures must be proposed by the DCGA Senate and approved by the Faculty.
3. Supportive Operating Staff:
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Candidacy: Candidacy for Supportive Operating Staff positions on governance bodies is open to any member of the Supportive Operating Staff;
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Elections: Members of the Supportive Operating Staff shall devise selection and election procedures for Supportive Operating Staff positions in the governance system, subject to the approval of the Faculty.
1. An amendment or alteration to the University Governance Document may be initiated by:
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a request from the University, Academic Affairs, or Campus Affairs councils submitted to the Faculty;
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a petition signed by at least thirty-five (35) members of the General Faculty submitted to the Chair of the Faculty;
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a petition signed by two-thirds (2/3) of the members of the DCGA Senate submitted to the Chair of the Faculty;
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a petition signed by at least sixty (60) members of the Supportive Operating Staff submitted to the Chair of the Faculty.
2. In order for a proposed amendment to be considered by the Faculty, two-thirds (2/3) of the Faculty present when the proposal is introduced must vote in favor of consideration before debate may proceed.
3. No amendments to the proposed amendment may be made once debate has commenced.
4. Debate on the amendment will proceed until a motion is passed to vote on the proposed amendment(s) at the next faculty meeting.
5. At the second faculty meeting, at least two-thirds (2/3) of all General Faculty present must vote in favor of the amendment for it to be adopted.