The SEC recommends that the Faculty Senate Articles & Bylaws be revised to include “faculty status” for
all instructional academic staff at the time of appointment, as well as those academic staff with split
appointments who have chosen the Faculty Senate as their governing body.
Current Article & Bylaws Language:
ARTICLES OF FACULTY ORGANIZATION
All Ranked Faculty, Instructional Academic Staff and Academic Librarians shall constitute the faculty. Hereafter in these Articles of Faculty
Organization, Faculty Senate Bylaws, and Faculty Senate Policies reference to “faculty” or “faculty member” is understood to include
Ranked Faculty, Instructional Academic Staff and Academic Librarians unless otherwise stated.
A. Ranked Faculty
All persons with the rank of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, or instructor shall constitute the Ranked Faculty.
B. Instructional Academic Staff and Academic Librarians
1. All Instructional Academic Staff and Academic Librarians shall be represented by the Faculty Senate for university governance
purposes.
2. Academic staff whose assignment prior to March 10, 2005 included classification as both Instructional Academic Staff and
Academic Staff shall make a one-time choice between the Faculty Senate or the Academic Staff Council to represent them for
governance purposes.
3. Academic staff with a new contract that includes classification as both Instructional Academic Staff and Academic Staff shall, at
the time of their appointment, make a one-time choice between the Faculty Senate or the Academic Staff Council to represent them
for governance purposes.
Suggested language:
(to be revised by the Articles & Bylaws committee as needed)
1. B. 4. All Instructional Academic Staff, as well as those with split appointments who have chosen Faculty
Senate as their governing body, are granted faculty status (UWS 1.05) at the time of hire.
UWS 1.05 Faculty Status. By action of the appropriate faculty body and chancellor of an institution, members of the
academic staff may be designated as having “faculty status.” “Faculty status” means a right to participate in faculty
governance of an institution in accordance with the rules of the institution. Faculty status does no confer rank or tenure, or
convert an academic staff appointment into a faculty appointment. History: Cr. Register, January, 1975, No. 229, eff. 2-1-75.
History:
Prior to March 10, 2005, Instructional Academic Staff (IAS) who were employed by UWL for three (3)
consecutive semesters at 0.50 FTE or higher would be conferred “faculty status.” This designation gave
them rights of being governed by the Faculty Senate (FS) and serving on FS committees. Those IAS
without faculty status were governed by Academic Staff Council (ASC). This situation led to confusion
across campus, with IAS and governing bodies alike not knowing who was governing whom. In addition,
IAS were, on occasion, placed on committees for both ASC and FS at the same time.
To eliminate confusion regarding governing body, and to eliminate the chance of IAS serving as voting
members for both ASC and FS, the Faculty Senate revised its articles & bylaws in 2005 to include all IAS
under its authority, and gave those academic staff with split appointments the option of choosing a
governing body. In doing so, “faculty status” was removed from the FS Articles and Bylaws.
After that time, the IAS Committee began working with the Academic Staff Council on revisions to UWL 9
– 13 (UPRs which cover Academic Staff). UWL was notified by System Legal that since faculty and
academic staff fall under separate chapters of the Unclassified Personnel Rules, we could not change
UWL 9 with respect to IAS governance.
The 2005 changes to the Faculty Senate articles and bylaws were meant to reduce confusion and to
move all IAS under the governance of the FS. (See
http://www.uwlax.edu/facultysenate/40th/Handouts/4-13-06/Proposed%20Revisions%20to%20A&BL.htm )
Unfortunately, removing “faculty status” from the Articles & Bylaws language only added confusion at the
UWS system. The easiest solution is to simply add “faculty status” back in to the Articles and Bylaws.