Faculty Senate Orientation
2014-2015
Any university faculty is made up of passionate teacher/scholars dedicated to making
the campus and community a better place to study, live and work. On most campuses,
the Faculty Senate (or an equivalent governing body) is a place where a person can
make real and meaningful contributions toward the struggle for campus and community
betterment. Unfortunately, few faculty or staff have any training or guidance in “how to”
participate in a university governance body.
The information presented in this orientation includes statutory and constitutional
references, a meeting schedule, contacts, procedural rules, some behavioral
recommendations, and a little of my own experience as a member of the UWO Faculty
Senate since 1993. As you gain more experience on the Senate you will develop your
own conclusions about the most effective way(s) to govern. – Past President, JRS.
SPECIAL NOTE:
[Meeting Material Distribution]
In the fall of 2013, the Faculty Senate President decided to have the Faculty Senate
materials sent out electronically to be consistent with our efforts across campus to go green.
However, we do realize that not everyone has access to electronic devices for meetings. If
you would like to request or require a hard copy of the materials, please contact April in the
Senate office. The electronic copy of the meeting materials are typically sent out the Friday
before the meeting to all senators, with necessary hard copies also going out by Friday, and
received in campus mail usually Monday.
The Faculty Senate: Mission Statement
The Faculty Senate is the primary governing body for the faculty in the University's system of
shared governance.
The Senate actively participates in the study, formulation, development, enactment and review of
the institution's policies. The Senate is responsible for cooperative institutional governance,
effective communication (constituencies, administrators, etc.), and administrative oversight, and
it exercises participatory rights over budgetary matters. It acts as a voice for all university faculty,
represents their interests and maintains their prerogatives. The Faculty Senate is the official
organization through which the faculty can assert their primary responsibility for all academic
and educational activities as well as faculty personnel matters. As the faculty's leading
representative body, it has all the powers vested in the faculty except for those reserved by the
Constitution or delegated to university committees, colleges, schools, departments or equivalent
units.
Senate Office: Dempsey Hall 205 ~ (920) 424-2102
2014-2015 Faculty Senate President: Kay Neal
Contact: neal@uwosh.edu/ 424-7046 or 424-1054
SENATE MEETINGS SCHEDULE: Reeve Union [Room 306] at 3:10 p.m.
2014
September 16 & 30
October 14 & 28
November 11 & 25
December 9
2015
January 13 (as needed)
February 3 & 17
March 3 & 17
April 7 & 21
May 5
ORIENTATION GUIDES
1. Statutory Basis For Faculty Governance
A. Wisconsin Statutes Chapter 36.09(4): “The faculty of each institution,
subject to the responsibilities and powers of the board, the president and the
chancellor of such institution, shall be vested with the responsibility for the
immediate governance of such institution and shall actively participate in
institutional policy development. As such, the faculty shall have the primary
responsibility for academic and educational activities and faculty personnel
matters. The faculty of each institution shall have the right to determine their
own faculty organizational structure and to select representatives to
participate in institutional governance.”
B. UW Oshkosh Faculty Constitution Article II, section 2(B) (on primary
faculty responsibility): “The Faculty Senate, in cooperation with colleges
and departments or equivalent units, and recognizing the students’ role and
the Chancellor’s responsibilities and authority, shall have primary
responsibility for formulating university-level policy about the following”:
i. Academic and educational activities including instruction, review and
coordination of curriculum, academic planning, and faculty
development.
ii. Faculty personnel matters including salary procedures, universitylevel policy about faculty status, appointments, reappointments,
dismissals, tenure, promotion, merit, participation in outside
activities, personnel planning, faculty development, and the rights of
laid-off faculty. Where applicable, all such policies shall be
consistent with the Wisconsin Administrative Code.
2. Faculty Senate Constituencies (Article III, section 2 Faculty Constitution):
“Within each constituency, one faculty senator shall be elected to represent each
13.8 FTE faculty or major fraction thereof.” The constituencies:
A. College of Business (COB)
B. College of Education and Human Services (COEHS)
C. College of Letters and Science (COLS): Fine and
Performing Arts Division (FAPA)
D. COLS: Humanities Division (HUM)
E. COLS: Mathematics and Natural Science Division
(MatSci)
F. COLS: Social Science Division (SocSci)
G. Combined College of Nursing and Service faculty assigned
to non-college units (CON/Services)
3. Committee Structure
a. Special Committees (members elected by Faculty Senate)
i. Executive Committee
ii. Constitution and Bylaws Committee
iii. Elections Committee
iv. Committee on Committees
b. Faculty Senate Committees (faculty membership is voluntary and
appointed by the Senate)
i. Academic Policies Committee
ii. Academic Policies General Education Subcommittee
iii. Administrators Evaluation Committee
iv. Assessment Committee
v. Budget Committee
vi. Faculty Advocacy
vii. Compensation Committee
viii. Hearings Committee
ix. Improvement of Instruction Committee
x. Personnel Policies Committee
4. How to initiate Senate action:
a. Through committees [call the President or April Dutscheck, (University
Associate) for membership list]
b. Through the Senate President (2014-2015: Kay Neal)
c. Through the Executive Committee:
i. Kay Neal (x7046 or 1054; email: neal)
ii. Karl Loewenstein (x2464; email: loewenst) [President-Elect]
iii. Denise Robson (x7152; email: robson)
iv. Christine Roth (x7287; email: roth)
v. Julia Chybowski (x7028; email: chybowsj)
5. Accountability: The Five “C’s”
Elected officials at all levels of government, within and outside of academia, must
“answer to” someone or some group. In faculty governance, Senators typically
identify themselves as being accountable to one or more of the following:
*College
*Constituency
*Conscience
*Campus Community
*Community Outside Campus
Deciding to whom or what you are accountable can be difficult, depending
especially on the issue under consideration. For example, let’s say the Senate is
on the verge of passing a policy that would urge automatic tenure for instructional
academic staff after 7 years of continuous service to the institution. Members of
your College may make it clear that by a 2-1 margin they oppose such a policy,
while your immediate Constituency (say, your department or team) is more
evenly divided. The wider Campus Community (i.e. students, classified staff,
administrators, etc.) appears to support the policy except for strong opposition
from administrators, and the Community Outside Campus is mostly unaware of
the policy. Meanwhile, you know personally of 3 or 4 academic staff who have
worked for 16-20 years on 1-year contracts, so your Conscience tells you that
they should be tenured. What do you do?
6. Appropriate Conduct At Senate Meetings
a. Show up on time. Meetings always start at 3:10 every other Tuesday and
usually adjourn by 5:00. Call April Dutscheck (x2102; e-mail dutschecka) or
Kay Neal if you cannot make a meeting.
b. You will be sent a packet of materials before each Tuesday meeting, usually
no later than the Friday of the previous week. Read the materials, and
call/e-mail April Dutscheck or Kay Neal if you locate errors. If items are
confusing, call/e-mail President Neal or other members of the Executive
Committee.
c. Get a brief summary of Sturgis Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure.
d. Observe civility during debate. According to Sturgis:
Debate must be fundamentally impersonal. All discussion is addressed to
the presiding officer and must never be directed to any individual.
A motion-its nature or consequences-may be attacked vigorously. But it is
never permissible to attack the motives, character, or personality of a
member either directly or by innuendo or implication. It is the duty of the
presiding officer instantly to stop any member who engages in personal
attacks or discusses the motives of another member or is discourteous in
word or manner. If the presiding officer fails to interrupt, any member
may rise to a point of order and call the attention of the presiding officer to
the speaker’s misconduct. It is the motion, not its proposer, that is the
subject of the debate. Meetings must discuss measures, not people . . .
E. Effective Deliberation Skills:
1. Do not speak until recognized by the President.
2. Address all members of the Senate as “Senator” as opposed to
“Dr.”, “Ms.”, “Mr.”, “Tom,” etc.
3. When there is a motion on the floor, try to keep your
comments focused on the motion.
4. If before or during deliberations you become convinced that
you will vote in a certain way, seek recognition and explain
your reasoning to the Senate. This is merely a suggestion, as
you are under no obligation to participate in the
deliberations.
5. Be mindful of the fact that our meetings must end at 4:50.
Therefore, try to keep your comments brief and to the point.
6. There is no shame in being confused, needing more
information, or asking for the motion to be repeated. At all
times during deliberations, it is appropriate to seek
recognition to ask for clarification(s).
7. Stay open-minded at all times.
8. If you feel that you or your ideas are being attacked unfairly,
seek recognition from the President and then calmly but
assertively respond to the attack(s) or (if you feel the attacks
have “crossed the line”) ask the President the restore civility
to the meeting.
9. Speak loud enough to be heard by all members in attendance.
7. Realize that you are an ambassador for the Senate: Newer faculty have often
developed, for a variety of reasons, negative attitudes about the Faculty Senate. All
elected members of the Senate are responsible for defending the integrity of
governance institutions. Especially when you are talking to new faculty, be prepared
to answer the following Frequently Asked Questions:
a. Do I have to be tenured to get elected to the Faculty Senate? Answer:
No. All faculty members are eligible to serve as members of the Faculty
Senate except administrators above the level of chairperson or equivalent
who hold a limited appointment.
b. How long is a Faculty Senate term? Answer: The term of office for
faculty senators is three years and commences with the beginning of the fall
semester following their election.
c. How often does the Faculty Senate meet? Answer: The Senate holds a
regular meeting at least once per month during the two full semesters of the
academic year with a minimum of nine meetings per academic year.
d. How long do the Faculty Senate meetings run? Answer: Meetings begin
at 3:10 (usually on Tuesdays) and usually end by 5:00.
e. How much work is involved in being a Senator? Answer: Several days
before each meeting, Senators are sent a packet of information that they are
expected to read before the meeting and be ready to discuss at the meeting.
Senators are also expected to serve on at least one Special or Faculty Senate
Committee. Your department chair, mentor, or the Faculty Senate president
can give you advice as to the time commitment involved for each committee.
f. How do I declare my intent to run for a Senate seat? Answer: Elections
of faculty senators are initiated no later than the eighth week of the spring
semester and are concluded within a five-week period. Sometime during the
spring semester, you will receive a memo asking if you are interested in
running for the Senate. The names of those individuals who indicate a
willingness to serve are placed on a nominating ballot which lists, by
constituencies, the eligible faculty members who are willing to serve as
faculty senators. Each eligible voter shall receive a primary ballot for the
appropriate constituency along with instructions for voting. From the results
of the primary balloting, ballots are prepared for a final election.
g. Why should I serve on the Faculty Senate? Answer: In a shared
governance system such as that existing within the UW system, all faculty
are responsible for participating in the shaping of campus policies.
Additionally, serving on the Senate provides faculty with the opportunity to
exert a positive influence on formulating and putting into practice such
policies. Finally, serving on the Senate allows faculty to develop meaningful
relationships with colleagues across the campus.
h. Where can I obtain more information?: Answer: For more information,
visit the Faculty Senate web page: http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_senate/
PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT ME FOR MORE INFORMATION.
ONCE AGAIN, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE TO THE SENATE. I LOOK
FORWARD TO WORKING WITH YOU!
MOTIONS* STURGIS
Order of Precedence
PRIVILEGED
1.
2.
3.
Can Interrupt
Requires Second
Debatable
Amendable
Vote
no
no
yes
yes
yes
no
no
limited
no
no
yes
no
majority
majority
chair
edit a motion
kill a main motion
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
no
no
limited
limited
limited
yes
yes
no
no
yes
yes
yes
yes
no
majority
2/3
2/3
majority
majority
majority
majority
first introduction
main passed or lost
main passed
take from table a main
no
yes
no
no
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
no
yes
no
no
no
majority
majority
majority
majority
Motions
Appeal
Suspend rules
Object to consideration
chair’s decision
except const.-bylaws
main first time up
yes
no
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
no
no
no
no
no
majority
2/3
2/3
Requests
Point of Order
Parliamentary Inquiry
Withdraw
Division of question
Division of assembly
procedural violation
procedural question
any motion
decide each part
vote count doubt
yes
yes
yes
no
yes
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
chair
chair
chair
chair
chair
Adjourn
Recess
Question of Privilege
Purpose
Brief
Immediate Emergency
SUBSIDIARY
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Postpone Temporarily
Vote Immediately
Limit Debate
Postpone definitely
Refer to Committee
Amend
Postpone Indefinitely
table in meeting
close debate
table to other meeting
MAIN
General Main Motion
Reconsider
Rescind
Resume Consideration
INCIDENTAL
a.
b.