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Faculty Senate Policy

This policy was posted for public comment from January 16 – 31, 2024.

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In earlier planning files for this policy, adjunct faculty were included as voting members of faculty senate. This was an important and heartening change that has been removed from this version. Adjunct faculty make up a large part of the teaching/learning experience at SLCC and their voice is essential, especially at a community college that holds "inclusivity" as a core value. Many adjunct faculty at SLCC have teaching and curriculum development experience, like full-time faculty. They also have first-hand experience navigating the complexity of adjunct-specific department expectations, implementing a pre-designed curriculum or creating their own curriculum, sense of belonging to the larger department and school they are in, and other challenges that are unique to the adjunct experience. I hope faculty senate will reconsider their decision to remove adjunct faculty as voting members. Including them will ensure representation from one of our most vulnerable faculty groups, and it will ensure that SLCC has a comprehensive and inclusive faculty senate.

D.1.a.1.b: This could mean that if motion passes or fails by one vote, the Senate president could cast a vote to make a it a tie, since that would be an effect on the outcome. Is this the intent, or is it only to break ties?

D.2.c.3: Did you mean “academic supervisor,” which you have defined in the first section? Having an ambiguous term like “academic administrator” can cause confusion.

E.4.a.3: I assume this is supposed to be “terms” and not the singular? That’s how it’s worded in the next sections, at least.

F.1.f: I have a problem with this section. It means that everyone else in Academic Affairs must be individually invited and approved by the Senate President, which means that these invites can change from year to year. I can understand the need to have a provision for Senate to enter a restricted session of only members, if need be, but by default closing the meetings to, say, the Director of Faculty Development, the Director of Learning Outcomes Assessment, Director of Curriculum, all Associate/Assistant Provosts, all Deans, and many others whose roles are directly influenced by faculty leadership seems extreme to me. It’s also not how the meetings are currently run. Additionally, it’s tough to enforce because many academic administrators also teach courses as an overload and would therefore be eligible to attend the meetings as adjunct faculty anyway. I’d recommend having the meetings be open to all who want to attend and include a provision for closing the meeting by vote.

1. In section 3.f, change “Human Resources” to “People and Workplace Culture.”

4. Procedures

1. Section B. Purpose of Faculty Senate

In section 4.B.1.b, should “Justice, Equity, and Inclusion” remain in the policy given HB261. The committee prefers to keep this language in. Consider adding to the policy near the end the following language: “The Provisions of this Policy shall be deemed severable, and the invalidity or unenforceability of any provision shall not effect the validity or enforceability of the other provisions hereof.”

2. Section C. Shared Academic Governance Statement

1. In section 4.C.4, in the Shared Academic Governance Statement, the term “Administration” needs to be defined.

2. In section 4.C.5 add the following sentence to the end of the paragraph: “A copy of the written explanation will be delivered to the Faculty Association and Staff Association President. The Faculty Senate President shall be required to share the written explanation with the entire Faculty Senate” or words to this effect.

3. In section 4.C.6.b, the term “Executive Leadership” is used. This should be defined. This should be “appropriate Executive Cabinet member” instead of “Executive Leadership.”

4. In section 4.C.6.d, there should be a link to the AFPRT policy.

5. In section 4.C.6.f, there should be a link to the Faculty Senate’s “internal procedures.”

3. Section D. Senate Membership and Elections

1. In section 4.D.1.a (5) add subsection (iii) to state as follows: “When a department or program with fewer than 5 faculty members is combined with another small department or program, the Faculty Senate should combine these small departments so that the two departments have aligned interested and are in close geographical proximity with each other” or words to this effect.

4. Section E Faculty Senate Leadership

1. In section 4.E.1.b deleted the “&”.

2. In section 4.E. 2. b add the word “Senate” so it reads “Senate Vice President,” so it is differentiated from “Faculty Association Vice President.”

3. In section 4.E.2.e, are there two Senate Curriculum Committees? This should be changed to the singular tense.

4. In section 4.E.2.e and f, create a link to the webpage for the Senate Curriculum Committee and General Education Committee.

5. In section 4.E.3, the roles and duties of the Faculty Association President and Vice President have not been defined. They should be added.

6. In section 4.E.3.c.(2), a link should be made for the Faculty Senate Bylaws.

7. In section 4.E.4.a(1), the Senate President’s term is for three years. Meanwhile in section 4.E.4.b(1), the Senate Vice President’s term is only one year. Consideration should be given to making these two terms the same.

8. In section 4.E.4.a(3), add the work “an” before the word “additional.”

9. In section 4.E.4.b(3) add the words “for an” before the word “additional”. Also remove the “s” from “terms.”

10. In section 4.E.4.C and D, why does the policy differentiate the Senate Curriculum Committee and Senate General Education Committee from other standing committees. Should they be consolidated into one group? The other standing committees are: 1) Calendar Committee; 2) Learning Outcomes Committee; 3) APAFT; and 4) Adjunct Faculty Impact Committee.

11. In section 4.E.4.c(1), why does the policy refer to “faculty lead” of the General Education Committee. Shouldn’t this be “chairperson” or “chair”?

12. In section 4.E.4.c(1), there should be links to “procedures and handbooks.” It is difficult to find this material.

13. In section 4.E.4.d, add the word “Other” before “Standing Committee.”

14. In section 4.E.5.b addressing removal of Faculty Senate Leaders and Faculty Senator, there ought to be a mechanism to allow constituents to remove the Leader or Faculty Senate. As drafted, the process is “top down” only.

5. Section F Meetings, Committees and Bylaws

1. In section 4.F. 1. b, consider making the “annual schedule” a link to the policy.

6. Schedule G Duties and Responsibilities

1. In section 4.G.2.d, the reference to “3.2.C.D.1” is incorrect and should be fixed.

2. In section 4.G.3. a and b, these provisions are “self-serving” for Faculty Senators and Faculty Senate Leaders. As drafted, they are unfair to other faculty who serve on important committees not related to the faculty senate. All committee members should receive the benefits of 4.G.3. and b.

7. Section I. Faculty Senate Bylaws

1. The Bylaws, once completed, should be a link to this policy.

2. In section 4.I.3.a, the process necessary to adopt a bylaws change should be outlined in detail.

3. In section 4.I.3.b, the words “at least” should be inserted before “annually.” The Faculty Senate may discover bylaws problems that require immediate attention and not annual attention.

Responses

Adjunct faculty were included as voting members of faculty senate in an earlier draft of this policy. Desire for faculty senate to reconsider the decision to remove this provision.

No changes. Thank you for your comment. Faculty Senate amended the policy to remove the section regarding adjunct senators. Faculty Leadership is investigating ways to involve adjuncts in shared governance. Please reach out to Adam Dastrup and Kristen Taylor with any suggestions.

Suggestion to change “Human Resource” to “People and Workplace Culture” in 3.F.

This is a direct quote from the handbook. – Changed to “Provost Office website” & removed HR.

In section 4.B.1.b, should “Justice, Equity, and Inclusion” remain in the policy given HB261? Consider adding to the policy near the end the following language: “The Provisions of this Policy shall be deemed severable, and the invalidity or unenforceability of any provision shall not effect the validity or enforceability of the other provisions hereof.”

No change. The originator and faculty leadership advocate to keep justice, equity, and inclusion in the policy. This is in alignment to SLCC values and academic freedom and does not violate HB 261.

4.C. Shared Academic Governance Statement

In section 4.C.4, in the Shared Academic Governance Statement, the term “Administration” needs to be defined.

No change. It does need to be defined in this case. The FS President and Provost will direct each resolution to the appropriate individual within the college.

In section 4.C.5 suggest adding the following sentence to the end of the paragraph: “A copy of the written explanation will be delivered to the Faculty Association and Staff Association President. The Faculty Senate President shall be required to share the written explanation with the entire Faculty Senate” or words to this effect.

No change. The originator and faculty leadership agreed that the Senate President should have the purview to decide how best to share responses.

In section 4.C.6.b, the term “Executive Leadership” is used. This should be defined. This should be “appropriate Executive Cabinet member” instead of “Executive Leadership.”

Changed Executive Leadership to Senior Leadership to be more consistent with college operations.

In section 4.C.6.d, there should be a link to the AFPRT policy.

I support this. Hyperlink added.

In section 4.C.6.f, there should be a link to the Faculty Senate’s “internal procedures.”

No change -Great idea, but would be simpler and easier to maintain if the link was in the By Laws section of the document, 4.I.

A suggestion that 4.B.2-4.B.5 is an overly bureaucratic process. Would it be possible to place the responsibility for processing nominations on People and Workplace Culture and not with the various departments?

Section 4.B. has been revised to address this concern. Nomination submissions are now submitted to the People & Workplace Culture Benefits Office. PWC will then track the nomination submission. This will go into effect once the revised policy is approved.

4.D Senate Membership and Elections

D.1.a.1.b: This could mean that if motion passes or fails by one vote, the Senate president could cast a vote to make a it a tie, since that would be an effect on the outcome. Is this the intent, or is it only to break ties?

No changes - This is correct and aligns with Robert’s Rules.

In section 4.D.1.a (5) add subsection (iii) to state as follows: “When a department or program with fewer than 5 faculty members is combined with another small department or program, the Faculty Senate should combine these small departments so that the two departments have aligned interested and are in close geographical proximity with each other” or words to this effect.

No change. This isn’t necessary due to 4.D.1.a.5.c. This provision states that the VP consults with the current senators and provost. This allows the senators to decide how to combine/split.

D.2.c.3: Did you mean “academic supervisor,” which you have defined in the first section? Having an ambiguous term like “academic administrator” can cause confusion.

I would agree this would be more clear as academic supervisor. Note that academic administrator is also used in D.2.b.3. – Changes completed.

4.E Faculty Senate Leadership

In section 4.E.1.b deleted the “&”.

Agreed. The & is inconsistent with other lists. - Deleted

In section 4.E. 2. b add the word “Senate” so it reads “Senate Vice President,” so it is differentiated from “Faculty Association Vice President.”

Agreed. - Changed.

In section 4.E.2.e, are there two Senate Curriculum Committees? This should be changed to the singular tense.

We phrased it this way to allow for potential changes to SCC. Made it singular.

In section 4.E.2.e and f, create a link to the webpage for the Senate Curriculum Committee and General Education Committee.

Not necessary to have with in policy however this prompted us to make a plan to add links to Faculty Senate Sharepoint, perhaps make Gen Ed a stand alone sharepoint page.

In section 4.E.3, the roles and duties of the Faculty Association President and Vice President have not been defined. They should be added.

That is the purview of FA documents and I wouldn’t think it should be in this document. No change.

n section 4.E.3.c.(2), a link should be made for the Faculty Senate Bylaws.

I am not opposed to this, but should we have the link in one spot (the by laws section) or throughout? - No change.

In section 4.E.4.a(1), the Senate President’s term is for three years. Meanwhile in section 4.E.4.b(1), the Senate Vice President’s term is only one year. Consideration should be given to making these two terms the same.

CRAO recommended these terms due to the fact that VP is still an elected senator while the president is not. This means that the VP term limit is limited by the individual senators term, hence the year to year basis. – No change.

In section 4.E.4.a(3), I assume this is supposed to be “terms” and not the singular? That’s how it’s worded in the next sections, at least. Or add the work “an” before the word “additional.”

Yes, I agree that wording, “terms” is more consistent with E.4.b.3. – Change completed.

In section 4.E.4.b(3) add the words “for an” before the word “additional”. Also remove the “s” from “terms.”

I disagree with this due to the nature of VP terms. They would need to be able to run for multiple additional terms. – No change.

In section 4.E.4.C and D, why does the policy differentiate the Senate Curriculum Committee and Senate General Education Committee from other standing committees. Should they be consolidated into one group? The other standing committees are: 1) Calendar Committee; 2) Learning Outcomes Committee; 3) APAFT; and 4) Adjunct Faculty Impact Committee.

This is due to SCC and Gen Ed being elected by a different procedure than other senate standing committees. – No change.

In section 4.E.4.c(1), why does the policy refer to “faculty lead” of the General Education Committee. Shouldn’t this be “chairperson” or “chair”?

This terminology is directly from the Gen Ed committee handbook. No change.

In section 4.E.4.c(1), there should be links to “procedures and handbooks.” It is difficult to find this material.

I generally support hyperlinks and allowing information to be easily accessible, but worry that maintaining the links will be onerous. Changing a file name or location would break links. No change.

In section 4.E.4.d, add the word “Other” before “Standing Committee.”

No change.

In section 4.E.5.b addressing removal of Faculty Senate Leaders and Faculty Senator, there ought to be a mechanism to allow constituents to remove the Leader or Faculty Senate. As drafted, the process is “top down” only.

No change. The policy on removing senators by constituents is in 2.G.2.c. I would argue that removal of senate leaders should be initiated by senators; however, constituents can remove their senator. This would allow constituents to remove VP and standing committee chairs (not gen ed or SCC).

4.F Meetings, Committees, and Bylaws

F.1.f: This section means that everyone else in Academic Affairs must be individually invited and approved by the Senate President, which means that these invites can change from year to year. I can understand the need to have a provision for Senate to enter a restricted session of only members, if need be, but by default closing the meetings to, say, the Director of Faculty Development, the Director of Learning Outcomes Assessment, Director of Curriculum, all Associate/Assistant Provosts, all Deans, and many others whose roles are directly influenced by faculty leadership seems extreme to me. It’s also not how the meetings are currently run. Additionally, it’s tough to enforce because many academic administrators also teach courses as an overload and would therefore be eligible to attend the meetings as adjunct faculty anyway. I’d recommend having the meetings be open to all who want to attend and include a provision for closing the meeting by vote.

This is an interesting point. I would like to discuss this. Changed to “Senate meetings are open to all SLCC employees and students. If there are constraints, priority will be determined by the Senate President. Community members can be invited by the Senate President.”

In section 4.F. 1. b, consider making the “annual schedule” a link to the policy.

No change. Support the idea in principle but concerned about broken links and maintenance. This prompted a great discussion on how to improve the FS sharepoint page to make it more functional for the college.

4.G Duties and Responsibilities

In section 4.G.2.d, the reference to “3.2.C.D.1” is incorrect and should be fixed.

Should be 4.2.D.1. Made change.

In section 4.G.3. a and b, these provisions are “self-serving” for Faculty Senators and Faculty Senate Leaders. As drafted, they are unfair to other faculty who serve on important committees not related to the faculty senate. All committee members should receive the benefits of 4.G.3. and b.

Plan to shift to a-c to ByLaws, and “The College shall presumptively consider” Include in expectations.

4.I Faculty Senate Bylaws

The Bylaws, once completed, should be a link to this policy.

Agree in principle. Determining if this is possible. – Will ask Policy office to add link once completed.

In section 4.I.3.a, the process necessary to adopt a bylaws change should be outlined in detail.

We don’t think we need to within policy. The by laws may further specify if necessary. – No change.

In section 4.I.3.b, the words “at least” should be inserted before “annually.” The Faculty Senate may discover bylaws problems that require immediate attention and not annual attention.

We support this change. Added “at least.”