Senate Election Procedures for At-Large and Department Senators

1. At Large Senators

  1. Two (2) adjunct senators will be elected by the adjunct faculty at large. Each adjunct senator will serve a two-year term.

2. Department Senators

  1. Each spring, prior to the end of the semester, the departments of the College will elect new Department Senators after the campus-wide officer election. The new Senators will take office at the end of the spring semester. The Elections Committee will define and oversee the elections of Departmental Senators.
  2. If a new department is added after the regular Senate elections are held, that department will appoint a Department Senator from their faculty to serve until the next regular election.
  3. If two or more departments are combined, the elected Senators will serve out the remainder of the year. During regular elections, that newly defined department will elect one Senator Representative.
  4. Departmental Senators will serve a two-year term. The Senate will develop its own process for staggering terms so that approximately half of the Senators will be elected annually.

3. Untimely Vacancies

  1. Any untimely vacancy within the President, Vice-President, or Secretary offices, or at-large seats shall be filled by a vote of the Senate.
  2. A vacant Senate seat may be filled by the affected department.
  3. Persons filling vacancies shall serve out the remainder of the term of the original occupant of the vacant position.

4. Responsibilities of Offices

  1. The Faculty Senate President shall:
    1. Conduct scheduled Faculty Senate meetings.
    2. Schedule Faculty Senate meetings and communicate this schedule to the faculty at large.
    3. Determine the agenda for Faculty Senate meetings.
    4. Attend regularly scheduled Board of Trustees meetings.
    5. Act as liaison between the faculty and administration.
    6. Ensure that the faculty handbook is up to date and available to faculty.
    7. Meet with the President of the College on a regular basis to discuss faculty concerns and serve as the general representative of the faculty body.
    8. Meet with the Provost on a monthly basis.
    9. Report to the senate the topics and discussions held with the administration.
  2. The Faculty Senate Vice-President shall:
    1. Perform the duties of the President in the President's absence.
    2. Attend regularly scheduled Board of Trustees meetings.
  3. Faculty Senate Secretary shall:
    1. Take minutes.
    2. Write up minutes and send draft to Faculty Senate President for review.
    3. Set up e-mail distribution list for everyone in the Faculty Senate.
    4. After approval, send out minutes to the entire faculty (via e-mail).
    5. Save e-mail.
    6. Send hard copies to President, Vice-Presidents, Instructional Deans, and the Library.
    7. Retain hard copy for record.
    8. Retain any handouts distributed during the meeting.
  4. The Faculty Senate Parliamentarian shall:
    1. Attend regularly scheduled Senate Meetings. 
    2. Advise the Senate on the application of Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised (https://robertsrules.com/) during Senate meetings. 
    3. Advise the Senate leadership, committees, and members on procedural questions. 
    4. Perform additional advisory duties, such as the creation of parliamentary procedure reference aids, or other duties as requested by Senate leadership. 
    5. Maintain their right to vote as a Senator if serving as Senator and Parliamentarian roles concurrently. The Parliamentarian is not required to be a Senator.

5. Meeting Procedure

  1. For a Meeting of the Faculty Senate to take place, over 50% of the Senators and officers must be in attendance. If a Senator is unable to attend a Meeting, they may send a Proxy of their choosing, from their department, to attend the Meeting in their place. The Senator shall notify the Senate Secretary of the chosen Proxy prior to the Meeting. The Proxy shall have the voting authority of the Senator during that Meeting.
  2. Faculty Senate decisions shall be made by simple majority (more than fifty percent) of those members present and voting at any regularly scheduled or properly announced Senate meeting.
  3. All new issues brought before the Senate shall be tabled for debate and vote until the next scheduled meeting unless two-thirds of the Senate deem it significant for immediate action.
  4. Parliamentary procedures as in Roberts Rules of Order shall be used for all Senate meetings.