Proposed Revisions in Charter (Spring 2004)

 

THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA

 

CHARTER OF THE GENERAL REGULAR FACULTY AND

THE FACULTY SENATE, Norman Campus

 

 

THE GENERAL REGULAR FACULTY

 

COMPOSITION

The General Regular Faculty of the University is composed of all faculty members with regular appointments tenure track, tenured, and renewable term appointments at the rank of assistant professor, associate professor, and professor.  The General 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 General Regular Faculty.  These legislative powers shall be exercised either directly by the General Regular Faculty or by the Faculty Senate.  The Faculty Senate shall remain responsible to the General Regular Faculty for all action taken in its behalf.

 

OFFICERS

The officers of the General 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 General Regular Faculty and shall develop the agenda for meetings and otherwise fulfill the duties which may be described in the by-laws.

 

MEETINGS

The General 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 General Regular Faculty by 30 faculty members representing two or more degree-recommending divisions.  A minimum of 20 percent of the General Regular Faculty on the Norman campus shall constitute a quorum.

 

THE FACULTY SENATE

 

COMPOSITION

The Faculty Senate shall consist of 50 members of the General 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 General 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 General 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 General Regular Faculty.

 

Five students, including both graduate and undergraduate, chosen by the University of Oklahoma Student Association, shall serve as official student representatives to the Faculty Senate.  Without voting privileges, these representatives will observe, participate in discussion, and maintain communication with the Student Association in regard to Senate actions.  Six representatives of the Professional Informational Staff Association of the University of Oklahoma and one representative of the Senior Vice President and Provost's Office also attend meetings and participate, without voting privileges, in Senate discussion.

 

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 Ssenator 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 Ssenator's term.

 

POWERS

The Faculty Senate shall exercise the legislative powers of the faculty of the University as delegated by the General 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.  The Secretary shall not be a member of the Senate.  Each standing committee of the Faculty Senate is authorized to select non-Senate members of the General Regular Faculty.  Students may be asked to serve and, in such cases, will be appointed by the University of Oklahoma Student Association.

 

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 and curriculum, research and creative/scholar activity, and public service 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, HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER, OKLAHOMA CITY

The Faculty Senate (Norman) shall maintain a liaison with the Faculty Senate (Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City) through an Inter-Senate Liaison Committee composed of the Chairs, Chairs-Elect, and the Secretaries of the two Senates.

 

The purpose of the Inter-Senate Liaison Committee is to exchange information between the Senates on either campus and concerns and actions of mutual interest and to recommend actions to the respective bodies on each campus.  The respective Chairs of the two Faculty Senates should arrange for the meetings of the Inter-Senate Liaison Committee.

 

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 General 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 General Regular Faculty.  In those cases in which the proposal originates through Senate action, the proposal must be submitted to the General Regular Faculty, and consideration for the adoption of the proposal by the General Regular Faculty shall not occur until the expiration of 30 days after the notification of the General Regular Faculty through the Journal of the Faculty Senate. 

 

If the proposal originates in the General 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 General Regular Faculty have received copies of the proposal from the Secretary of the General Regular Faculty (Secretary of the Faculty Senate).