Governance Council
Monday, March 19, 2012
10:30 AM
UNH 306
Andi Lyons, Chair
Agenda
Present:
Raysa Capellan, Liang Chu, Cynthia Fox, Donald Keenan, Andi Lyons, John Schmidt
The meeting convened at 10:36 am.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes of February 27 were approved with changes.
OLD BUSINESS:
Committee on Liaison and Elections
Chair Lyons reported in Secretary Leonard absence that today is the deadline to submit
nominations for the at large seats and the UAS Board seat. The minimum number of candidates
has been met for each category. Chair Lyons said she expected that Secretary Leonard would be
following up with via email.
Administrative Assessment Committee
The committee met with Director of Institutional Research Bruce Szelest. The committee will be
making revisions to the amendment.
Senate Resolution 1112-03R Investigation
Senator White is working on the resolution and asked for a brief extension as the last Senate
meeting. The extension will allow GOV to report at the next Senate meeting in April. Chair
Lyons said if needed GOV would meet to discuss the findings before the Senate meeting.
Senate Resolution 1112-05R Investigation
Chair Lyons sent requests to the chairs of GAC, UAC and UPPC to appoint a representative
from each of their councils to be on the subcommittee as outlined in Resolution 1112-05R.
Senator Fox responded with the name of a representative from the French Department and Chair
Lyons is waiting to hear from the Provost for a representative from the Strategic Plan. A
representative will also be needed to address the foreign languages component of the resolution.
Once all the names of representatives have been submitted, Chair Lyons will arrange to have
them meet.
Chair Fessler raised the question about appointing someone from the French Department and
whether it would pose a real or perceived neutrality of the subcommittee. Chair Lyons expects
the process to move forward.
NEW BUSINESS:
Revisions to the Senate Handbook
Chair Lyons informed council members that the handbook does not have to be approved by the
Senate since it is not official policy but provides some guidelines. A small numbers of changes
have been recommended to provide clarifications and GOV reviewed those changes. Senate
Chair Fessler has made a recommendation under the section Duties of the Councils, adding the
statement, “Bills and resolutions must be brought to the Senate Executive Committee, which sets
the agenda for the subsequent Senate meeting.” This comes in light of a conflict between the
Bylaws and the Charter concerning the SEC’s role with setting the Senate agenda.
The Charter states:
VII.5. The Executive Committee shall review proposals and agenda items and may
recommend for or against them. The Executive Committee shall either refer a proposal to an
appropriate Council or place it on the Senate agenda. The Executive Committee may not
prevent such items from appearing on the Senate Agenda.
The Bylaws state:
7.7.1 any Senator shall have the right to place items on the agenda by submitting such items
to the Chair of the Executive Committee at least ten days before the scheduled meeting;
7.7.2 the agenda for each meeting shall permit the introduction of new business at the
meeting itself when approved by a two-thirds vote of the Senators present and voting.
GOV has been charged in resolving the matter to bring the Bylaws in line with the Charter. A
lengthy discussion ensued concerning this conflict and the three resolutions passed by the Senate
that were submitted by Senator Wills, and with which GOV has been charged with matters in
two of them.
Senator Keenan asked if only bills and resolutions were allowed to be introduced from the floor.
Chair Lyons responded that from the view of parliamentary procedures, normal rules are
suspended when issues are raised that do not require deliberation at which time the Senate
becomes a committee of the whole. This procedure was adopted in October 2010 during the
discussion on deactivations but it is not the normal role of the Senate.
Senator Fox said she understood that Resolution 1112-04R would have been better served by
first going through the SEC but she believed the possibility existed to introduce resolutions from
the floor and cited resolutions introduced by the UFS senators. Chair Lyons said those are
typically reviewed by the SEC. But she noted that these were good examples for understanding
what does and does not work and said she believed the conflict between the Bylaws and the
Charter contributed to some of the controversy concerning Senator Wills’ resolutions. Bringing
the Bylaws and Charter in agreement would still allow a senator to bring a proposal to the floor
but it would still require an approved two-thirds vote by those Senators who are present. Senator
Fox said the issue at the December Senate meeting appeared to be for the Senate to go to a
committee of the whole which failed to get the required two-thirds vote. Chair Lyons pointed
out that there were no resolutions or bills being proposed at that time, and since the Senate is a
deliberative body, the procedure would have required the suspension of Senate rules. Senator
Fox asked for clarification on the procedure to introduce a resolution from the floor. GOV
reviewed and discussed the process and Chair Lyons read the relevant sections of the Bylaws and
Charter. If Senator Wills had submitted a resolution or a bill to the SEC prior to the December
Senate meeting, the SEC could have taken appropriate action at that time to approve forwarding
it to the Senate or referring to the appropriate council but would not have been able to prevent it
from going to the Senate. Senator Fox read the portion of Charter Section VII.5 which states
“The Executive Committee shall review proposals and agenda items and may recommend for
against them” and said the statement itself seemed to be in disagreement. Chair Lyons provided
clarification that if a proposal before the SEC required consideration for issues such as resources
it would need to go to UPPC. The SEC could vote against something as a procedural step but it
would still be forwarded to the Senate if it were in proper form, or send it back to the council it
originated from if further clarification was needed. Agenda items other than bills or resolutions
can be presented but if the SEC feels they need to know more, they would request further
information. This was the case when Senator Wills first made his initial request to the SEC in
November.
Chair Fessler has recommended that the Bylaws be amended that any senator shall have the right
to submit items to the Senate Executive Committee. If the item is only sent to the Senate Chair,
it does not get properly vetted. Senator Schmidt said the Bylaws takes precedent over the
Charter and the right would exist whether or not it’s in the Charter but GOV agreed there is some
ambiguity concerning the ten day rule. Chair Lyons will discuss the matter further with Chair
Fessler and the SEC.
GOV members briefly discussed the meaning of the statement in the handbook which states: “To
carry out its role, the Senate critically relies on Faculty committed to the goals of the University
and willing to participate in the governance of the University. Chair Lyons said she believed it
was related to the Public Officer’s Law and the Oath of Office that new employees are required
to sign.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 12:16 pm.
Respectfully submitted by
Gail Cameron, Recorder