5/2004
THE
CHARTER OF THE REGULAR FACULTY AND
THE FACULTY SENATE, Norman Campus
THE REGULAR FACULTY
COMPOSITION
The Regular Faculty of the
University is composed of all faculty members with tenure track, tenured, and
renewable term appointments at the rank of assistant professor, associate
professor, and professor. The Regular
Faculty does not include faculty members with temporary appointments.
POWERS
All legislative powers of the
faculty of the University relative to the University as a whole are vested in
the Regular Faculty. These legislative
powers shall be exercised either directly by the Regular Faculty or by the
Faculty Senate. The Faculty Senate shall
remain responsible to the Regular Faculty for all action taken in its behalf.
OFFICERS
The officers of the Regular
Faculty shall be the officers of the Faculty Senate: Chair, Chair-Elect, and Secretary. The three officers shall constitute the
Executive Committee of the Regular Faculty and shall develop the agenda for meetings
and otherwise fulfill the duties which may be described in the by-laws.
MEETINGS
The Regular Faculty shall
meet at least once each semester (ordinarily on the third Thursday of October
and the third Thursday of April) and at other times upon call by the Executive
Committee. Such a call may originate
from the President of the University or from a petition submitted to the Chair
of the Regular Faculty by 30 faculty members representing two or more
degree-recommending divisions. A minimum
of 20 percent of the Regular Faculty on the Norman campus shall constitute a
quorum.
THE FACULTY SENATE
COMPOSITION
The Faculty Senate shall
consist of 50 members of the Regular Faculty.
The senators shall be elected to three-year terms by written ballot in
the degree-recommending divisions of the University. Members of the Regular Faculty who are not
members of a degree-recommending division of the University shall be treated as
a separate division. The electors shall
consist of members of the Regular Faculty. Full-time administrative personnel above the
department level shall be excluded from elections of the Faculty Senate.
In the Faculty Senate, seats
shall be allocated as follows: one seat
to each degree-recommending division and the balance of the seats according to
a triennial apportionment proposed by the Faculty Senate and approved by the
Regular Faculty.
Five students, including both
graduate and undergraduate, chosen by the
ELECTION PROCEDURE
Before the end of March each
year, the Secretary of the Faculty Senate shall notify the dean of each
constituent faculty of the number of senators which that faculty shall elect
for the ensuing year. Those senators
shall then be elected in April or May.
They shall assume their duties in September and ordinarily will serve
three-year terms.
The Secretary of the Faculty
Senate shall maintain the roster of Faculty Senate membership. At any time that a vacancy occurs, the
Secretary shall notify the appropriate dean so that immediate steps may be
taken to elect a replacement to serve the unexpired portion of the three-year
term.
The Secretary of the Faculty
Senate will continuously monitor absences.
When in a given academic year a senator has accumulated four absences,
that senator is to be dropped automatically from the membership of the
Senate. The Secretary will notify the
appropriate dean to take immediate steps to provide a replacement for the
remainder of that senator's term.
POWERS
The Faculty Senate shall
exercise the legislative powers of the faculty of the University as delegated
by the Regular Faculty. The Faculty
Senate shall have the power to initiate any legislation requiring the Board of
Regents' approval in accordance with provisions of the University Constitution.
The Faculty Senate shall
determine its own time of meeting, its own rules of procedures, promulgate
rules and regulations governing its internal affairs, and establish standing
and special committees. The Faculty Senate
shall establish and publish its own set of operational procedures or by-laws.
The Faculty Senate shall
elect a Chair, a Chair-Elect, a Secretary, and such other officers as it shall
by its operational procedures provide.
Each standing committee of the Faculty Senate is authorized to select
non-Senate members of the Regular Faculty.
Students may be asked to serve and, in such cases, will be appointed by
the
The Faculty Senate may
establish procedures to review the various functions of the University and any
matter affecting the welfare of the University.
Subjects for either review or legislation may be brought to the
attention of the Senate by written communication either from any member of the
University community or from any officially constituted agency.
LIAISON WITH THE PRESIDENT
The President of the
University shall present to the first meeting of the Faculty Senate in each new
academic year a general message on the state of the University in which he or
she shall give recommendations for the furtherance of the progress of the
University.
The President shall, within
30 calendar days after receipt of a Senate action, inform the Faculty Senate by
written message of his or her disposition of a Senate measure. If disapproving the measure, the President
shall, in writing, give the Senate reasons for the action.
Faculty/student councils
shall be utilized by the President of the University in the development of
policies on matters of vital interest to the University. These areas include teaching, research and
creative/scholar activity, and professional and University service and public
outreach, libraries, budgetary planning, faculty personnel, University
relations, University community, athletics, University operations, and
University projects. In order to give
the faculty a voice in determining the faculty membership of major councils,
which shall be named by the Faculty Senate resolution, the Faculty Senate shall
each year provide a list of nominees from which the President will make his or
her appointments for the ensuing year.
LIAISON WITH FACULTY SENATE,
The Faculty Senate (Norman)
shall maintain a liaison with the Faculty Senate (
The purpose of the
Inter-Senate Liaison Committee is to exchange information between the Senates
on either campus and
AMENDMENT OF THIS CHARTER
This charter may be amended
by a two-thirds vote of those present in any regular or special session of the
Regular Faculty, provided that no amendment shall be effective until it shall
have been approved by the Board of Regents.
A proposal to amend the
Charter may originate by action of the Faculty Senate or by motion in a meeting
of the Regular Faculty. In those cases
in which the proposal originates through Senate action, the proposal must be
submitted to the Regular Faculty, and consideration for the adoption of the
proposal by the Regular Faculty shall not occur until the expiration of 30 days
after the notification of the Regular Faculty through the Journal of the Faculty Senate.
If the proposal originates in
the Regular Faculty, it shall not be considered for adoption until the
expiration of 30 and not more than 40 days after the members of the Regular
Faculty have received copies of the proposal from the Secretary of the Regular
Faculty (Secretary of the Faculty Senate).
8/2000
THE
BY-LAWS OF THE FACULTY SENATE (Norman Campus)
A. OFFICERS:
1. The officers of the Senate shall consist of a
Chair, a Chair-Elect, and a Secretary.
2. The Chair-Elect and the Secretary shall be
elected by ballot at a meeting of the Senate in May. If either office is vacated, a replacement
shall be elected at the next meeting of the Senate.
3. The Chair-Elect will succeed to the office of
Chair whenever it is vacated or when his or her own successor is elected. Normally, the Chair's tenure of office will
be from May to the following May.
4. For officers elected between May 1 and
January 31, the term of office will be until the following May. For officers elected between February 1 and
April 30, the term of office will be until the second May following.
5. A Chair-Elect will remain a member ex officio of the Senate even though the
term as a Senator may expire, until terms as Chair-Elect and Chair expire.
B. MEETINGS:
1. The Senate shall meet regularly on the second
Monday of each month of the regular school year and on call of the Chair, the
Chair-Elect, or in petition, presented to the Secretary, signed by five
members.
2. Meetings of the Senate are regularly open to
attendance by all members of the University Community and representatives of
the Press. However, the Senate may go
into executive session by a majority vote of the members present.
3. A person not a member of the Senate may speak
only by invitation or permission of the Senate.
Requests from non-members to speak shall be addressed in writing to the
Chair. The Chair will present such
requests to the Senate for action.
4. At the beginning of each academic year, the
Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate shall elect a member of the Senate to
serve as the Parliamentarian at all meetings of the Senate, as well as the
General Faculty, during that year.
C. QUORUM:
A majority of the Senate's
members shall constitute a quorum.
D. PROCEDURES:
1. Voting shall be viva voce or by show of hands, but five members may require a roll
call vote upon any proposition.
2. The presiding officer shall have a vote only
in case of a tie.
3. The agenda of each meeting shall be prepared
and distributed in advance by the Agenda Committee, which shall consist of the
Chair, the Chair-Elect, and the Secretary.
Any matter submitted by a member to the Secretary shall be placed upon
the agenda of the next regular meeting.
E. COMMITTEES:
1. The standing committees of
the Senate shall consist of:
(a)
Executive Committee. The Executive Committee shall consist of the
following eight members: the Chair, the Chair-Elect, the Secretary, the Chair
of the Faculty Welfare Committee, the Chair of the Committee on Faculty
Compensation, and three members elected by the Faculty Senate in the spring to
be widely representative of the University and to serve one-year terms. The three elected members may not succeed
themselves. In addition, the Chairs of
the University Councils sit as ex officio
members, without vote, on the Executive Committee. The three immediate past chairs of the
Faculty Senate shall also be given ex-officio
membership on the Executive Committee, without voting privileges, provided they
remain qualified to serve in the Senate and are teaching on the Norman campus.
(b) Committee on
Committees. The Senate shall elect a Committee on Committees consisting of five
members elected for staggered terms in such a manner that not more than two
members will be elected in any one year.
They must have been members of the faculty for at least five years and
hold tenure. Members of the Committee
will be nominated from the floor and elected by the Senate.
In its nominations, the
Committee on Committees will consider broad and balanced representation for the
entire University.
In
carrying out its function of providing nominations, the Committee will seek
information from chairs of departments, deans, directors, and others who have a
wide knowledge and acquaintance of faculty personnel. Final nominations, however, will be made by
the Committee on Committees and the Senate.
(c) Faculty Welfare
Committee.
Charge: This
Committee is responsible to the faculty for policy review and recommendations
on questions of tenure, faculty evaluations, professional conduct, promotion,
fringe benefits, and working conditions.
It shall review policies and programs, propose changes and additions,
distribute information, and supervise the implementation of Senate
recommendations.
The Committee shall report at
least yearly to the Senate and, upon approval, to the President and the
Provost.
In carrying out these
responsibilities, the Committee shall:
(1) Gather information on
other policies and programs within the University and in other universities.
(2) Distribute information to
the faculty in simplified form and see that new faculty receive comprehensive
information.
(3) Establish priorities on
recommendations for changes and additions.
(4) Participate in the
process of amending the Faculty Handbook
and make recommendations to the Senate.
Operating Procedures: The Committee shall formulate
its own operating procedures, which shall include:
(1) The election of a chair
from among the faculty members of the Committee.
(2) Provision for liaison
with all appropriate councils and committees.
(3) Provision for
sub-committees of the Committee to which non-members of the Committee may be
appointed if appropriate.
|
Membership |
How Nominated |
Term |
|
5
faculty members |
To
be elected by the Faculty Senate |
3
years (staggered terms) |
(d) Committee on Faculty
Compensation.
Charge: This
Committee is responsible to the Faculty Senate for reviewing and recommending policy
on questions related to the economic welfare of the faculty.
In carrying out this
responsibility, the Committee shall:
(1) Monitor, each year, the
entire process by which salary increases are requested and fixed by the
University administration, the University Regents, the State Board of Regents,
and the State Legislature.
(2) Gather information on
salaries from within the University and from other universities, put such
information into proper form, and make it available to the Senate for the
purpose of accurately presenting the economic position of the faculty and the
faculty's economic needs to the administration, the boards of regents, the
Legislature, and the general public.
(3) Suggest to the Senate
appropriate proposals, strategies, and forums for advancing the economic
position and needs of the faculty, both inside and outside the University
community.
(4) Recommend to the
Committee on Committees the faculty nominees for the University Employment
Benefits Committee.
(5) Report at least yearly to
the Senate and, upon approval, to the President, the Provost, and the Budget
Council.
Operating Procedures: The Committee shall formulate its own operating procedures, which
shall include:
(1) The election of a chair
from among the faculty members of the Committee.
(2) Provision for a
sub-committee of the Committee to which non-members of the Committee may be
appointed by the Faculty Senate, if the Senate deems such additions
appropriate.
(3) Provision for liaison
with all appropriate councils and committees.
|
Membership |
How Nominated |
Term |
|
5
faculty members |
To
be elected by the Faculty Senate |
3
years (staggered terms) |
2. Special Committees:
The Senate may at any time
create a special committee to study and report upon a specific problem.
F. COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP AND PROCEDURE:
1. Each standing and special
committee shall have the authority to select non-Senate members of the general
faculty to serve as members of the committee.
2. Each special and standing
committee shall elect its own chair.
However, the Chair-Elect of the Faculty Senate shall function as the
Chair of the Faculty Senate Committee on Committees during tenure as the
Chair-Elect.
3. The Secretary shall keep a
list of all Senate and non-Senate members of special and standing committees.
4. All reports of standing
committees shall be duplicated and distributed to all members of the Senate in
advance of the date of the report's consideration.
5. The Secretary shall
receive and file duplicate copies of every Senate committee's report, one of
which may be borrowed by any committee of the Senate or of the general faculty,
but which must be returned to the Secretary after the borrowing committee has
completed its investigations.
G. AMENDMENT:
These rules may be altered or
amended at any time provided the proposed amendment shall have been submitted
to the Senate one month in advance and a copy of the amendment shall have been
distributed to the members of the Senate two weeks in advance of the meeting at
which the voting is to take place.