Arts & Sciences Senate By-Laws
Revised April 28, 2008
A. Scope and Definitions
B. Elections
C. Procedures
D. Review and Amendment
1. These By-Laws establish the rules governing operating procedures for the Arts and Sciences Senate.
2. Terms used in the By-Laws and Constitution are defined as follows:
Arts and Sciences SENATE CONSTITUENCIES:
HUMANITIES AND FINE ARTS:
The combination of the College of Arts and Sciences departments or programs of Art, Comparative Studies, English, European Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Hispanic Languages and Literature, Music, Philosophy, Theater Arts, Writing and Rhetoric, Women's Studies the Division of Libraries, and The School of Journalism.
NATURAL SCIENCES:
The combination of the College of Arts and Sciences departments or programs of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chemistry, Geosciences, Ecology and Evolution, Mathematics, Neurobiology and Behavior, Physics and Astronomy and the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.
SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES:
The combination of the College of Arts and Sciences departments or programs of Africana Studies, Anthropology, Economics, History, Linguistics, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology.
FACULTY: All employees holding full-time academic appointments in one of the Arts and Sciences Senate Constituencies.
GRADUATE STUDENT: All students matriculated in Masters or Doctoral programs in one of the Arts and Sciences Senate Constituencies.
PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES: All professional employees in one of the Arts and Sciences Senate Constituencies.
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS: All students matriculated for a baccalaureate degree in one of the Arts and Sciences Senate Constituencies.
1. Election of at-large Senate academic members shall be held in April for the coming academic year, together with election of faculty representatives to the Arts and Sciences Senate Standing Committees. At-large Senators shall be elected proportionate to constituency representation. The election will be organized by the Arts and Sciences Senate Executive Committee, which shall secure candidates from the appropriate Senate constituencies, as described in the Constitution of the Arts and Sciences Senate.
All procedures and deadlines for nominations and elections must be circulated to all constituent faculty members no later than two weeks before, and no earlier than four weeks before the close of the nominating period.
2. Nominations for At-Large Academic Senator or faculty representative to the Arts and Sciences Senate may also be made by petition of 10 academic faculty from at least three departments. Petitions should be presented to the Executive Committee of the Senate, through the Secretary. All nominees by petition must appear on the ballot if eligible to serve.
3. Election and replacement of all professional employee representatives to the Arts and Sciences Senate, its Standing Committees, and those of the University Senate, will be conducted by the Committee on Appointments and Elections of the Professional Employees Governing Board, using procedures fixed there for that purpose.
4. Arts and Sciences Senate officers will be elected by vote of Arts and Sciences Senate members only. The at-large faculty representative to the Executive Committee will be elected by vote of the faculty members of the Arts and Sciences Senate from among the current faculty membership.
Voting will be by confidential ballot in April of each year for officers whose terms expire prior to the start of the following academic year.
5. The Arts and Sciences Senate Executive Committee shall present a slate of officers to the Arts and Sciences Senate at the penultimate regularly scheduled Senate meeting of the Spring semester. Thereafter there shall be a ten-day period during which additional nominations of officers, submitted with the signatures of ten Arts and Sciences Senate members in support of each nomination, may be directed to the Executive Committee, through the Senate Secretary, for addition to the ballot. All nominees by petition must appear on the ballot if eligible to serve. Within ten days of the end of the nominations period, a ballot will be sent by to all Arts and Sciences Senate members for election of officers.
6. The President elect will serve a one-year term as Vice –President followed by a one-year term as President. The President will serve a one-year term followed by a one-year term as Past President. The Secretary will serve a two-year term.
7. Those elected to at-large membership in the Arts and Sciences Senate, and to its Standing Committees, will serve three-year terms, except for the untenured member of the Promotion and Tenure Committee, who shall serve a one-year term. Terms will be staggered so that no more than one third of at-large senators from each Constituency defined in A.2 shall be subject to election at one time, and not all representatives from an area on a Standing Committee shall be elected at one time. In the event that circumstances result in a standing committee having two vacancies from the same Constituency, a single election will be held to fill both. The candidate receiving the largest number of votes will be elected to a three-year term, the candidate with the next largest number of votes to a two-year term.
8. The election of a President –elect to fill the position of Vice-President will begin with the Spring election 2003.
9. The terms of all officers and elected committee members shall begin at the start of the academic year following their election.
10. Elected officers serve at the Arts and Sciences Senate's pleasure. The Arts and Sciences Senate may remove an officer by two-thirds vote of Arts and Sciences Senators present and voting, at a meeting of the Arts and Science Senate, provided that notice of such consideration is put on the agenda and distributed one week in advance of the meeting.
11. Should an elected officer be unable to serve for any reason, a replacement to serve shall be elected at the next Arts and Sciences Senate meeting by a majority of those present and voting, provided that notice of such election is put on the agenda and distributed one week in advance of the meeting. The person elected will serve until the next regularly scheduled general election, at which time an election will be held to fill any remaining unexpired term of the originally elected officer, according to the procedures described in B.5 above.
12. Between elections, any vacancy of a representative to an Arts and Science Senate Standing Committee shall be filled by appointment of the Arts and Science Senate President in consultation with the Arts and Sciences Executive Committee. Any such appointment shall run until the next regularly scheduled election, at which time an election will be held to fill any remaining unexpired term of the originally elected Committee member, according to the procedures described in B.1 above.
1. The Senate shall operate according to Robert's Rules of Order with the immediate past president acting as parliamentarian.
2. Regular Arts and Sciences Senate meeting dates shall be announced prior to the beginning of each academic semester.
3. The Agenda of each Arts and Sciences Senate meeting shall be distributed to members four to ten class days before the meeting.
4. Quorum for Arts and Sciences Senate meetings shall be one quarter of its members.
D. Review and Amendment
1. Interpretation of the provisions of the by-laws shall be made by the Executive Committee, subject to approval of the Arts and Sciences Senate.
2. Every three years, the Arts and Sciences Senate Executive Committee shall review these by-laws and recommend any amendments it deems necessary.
3. These by-laws may be amended by vote of two-thirds of Arts and Sciences Senators present and voting at an Arts and Science Senate meeting, provided that the proposed amendment is printed in full on the meeting agenda and distributed ten to fifteen days prior to the meeting.
Revisions to 1999 By-Laws, approved by the Arts and Sciences Senate at its regular meeting of April 21, 2003.
Revisions to 2003 By-Laws approved by the Arts and Sciences Senate at its regular meeting of April 18, 2005.
Revisions to 2005 By-Laws approved by the Arts and Sciences Senate at its regular meeting of April 28, 2008.