FAC Appendix 03. Bylaws for FEC

Bylaws for Faculty Executive Committee

  • Name
    Faculty Executive Committee
  • Purpose
    To serve as a coordinating group for Faculty Meeting and faculty committees and functions; to monitor the flow of work among various levels of faculty organization, and to evaluate the effectiveness of faculty governance.
  • Composition of Committee Membership, Criteria for Selection
    Division chairs, chair of the faculty, Provost and Dean of the Faculty.
  • Terms and Process for Selection of Membership
    All members serve by virtue of office, as determined by Faculty Constitution. Committee reconstituted annually for terms May 1 to April 30. Lame duck members may be expected to serve in May for the sake of continuity and orientation of new members.
  • Committee Officers or Leadership
    Chaired by chair of faculty. In absence of the faculty chair, the senior division chair chairs meetings. Minutes and records provided for by the Provost and Dean of the Faculty.
  • Meeting Procedure
    Meetings will be held at the call of the chair as required for the timely handling of agendas. A quorum shall consist of no fewer than four of the five members. Decisions shall be by majority vote of those present. Minutes will be kept on all meetings and archived by the Provost and Dean of Faculty. Minutes of non-personnel matters shall be available to all faculty not later than 48 hours (excluding weekdays and holidays) prior to the next meeting of the committee. Minutes are to be made available either in hard copy in the office of the Provost and Dean of Faculty and / or on the Faculty Records Server.
  • Committee Charge – Responsibilities & Accountabilities
    1. Committee begins not later than May of prior academic year to plan fall faculty retreat.
    2. Plan and organize regular faculty meetings throughout the year and arrange for distribution of agendas and minutes.
    3. Serve as nominating committee for faculty committee positions for academic year following the year of its term of office; insure that committee loads are equitably distributed.
    4. By the beginning of the academic year for which the Committee will serve, determine which Division chair will serve as liaison to Educational Policies Committee, Faculty Policies Committee, and Instructional Resources Committee. Liaison will read minutes of committee and report major action items and upcoming issues relevant to faculty to FEC.
    5. Monitor workflow within the faculty committee structure, suggesting alternatives for revision of structure or process.
    6. Serve as clearinghouse for establishment of ad hoc faculty committees and task forces.
    7. As needed and appropriate, review and refer items from committees to full Faculty Meeting, from committee to committee (faculty or joint), or to administrative offices from faculty governance entities.
    8. Serve as recipient and processor of appeals from any committee to full Faculty Meeting; evaluate merits of request, allowing and planning the process for referral of any reasonable request to the Faculty Meeting.
    9. The Committee will determine which Division Chair will serve as liaison to each non-policy, college committee (including ad hoc committees) that has faculty members. Liaison will read minutes of committee and report major action items and issues relevant to faculty to FEC.
  • Reporting Relationships:
    This committee functions on behalf of Faculty Meeting and reports directly to it. As this committee serves primarily as a coordinating committee for the faculty governance process, no subcommittees report directly to it. Under special circumstances this committee may appoint ad hoc committees or task forces to carry out specific projects.
  • Appeal Process
    Any faculty member wishing to question policy or procedural recommendations or urge a broader hearing on such issues should make that wish known to the committee before its final action to the extent that the faculty member was aware in advance of the pending action. The FEC should weigh any such requests in its decision whether to initially craft the action as a recommendation to Faculty Meeting or not. Appeal to Faculty Meeting may be initialized by any academic department or, alternatively, by any group of not fewer than six faculty members that takes exception to any action of the committee which was not referred to Faculty Meeting. The department or group may lodge a request in writing to this Faculty Executive Committee that such issue or action be submitted to Faculty Meeting. Any such request shall not be reasonably refused.
  • Bylaw Amendment Process
    These bylaws may be changed through the following process:

    1. Job titles included in these bylaws may be updated by the Vice President for Academic Affairs on his or her own authority.
    2. Changes to these bylaws may be brought to the Faculty Executive Committee for a first reading and then acted upon at any subsequent meeting, provided the action item is announced in advance as an agenda item for that meeting.  Once approved by the Faculty Executive Committee, changes shall be forwarded to Faculty Meeting for final approval.
    3. Changes to these bylaws may also be initiated by Faculty Meeting. Bylaw changes may be brought to the Faculty Meeting for a first reading and then acted upon at any subsequent meeting, provided the action item is announced in advance as an agenda item for that meeting.

 

Approved by Faculty 18 April 1997
Updated by Faculty Meeting 7 December 2001
Amended by EPC 04 October 2004
Amendments approved by Faculty Meeting 21 October 2010