UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS FACULTY SENATE BY-LAWS
(Revised April 8, 2005)
ARTICLE I.
GUIDELINES FOR THE ELECTION
OF AT-LARGE SENATORS
Section 1. The first Friday of March shall be the At-Large
election day. Voting will take place between 8:00 a.m. and 4:15 p.m.
Section 2. An At-Large Faculty Senate Subcommittee shall be responsible for conducting all At-Large elections. This Subcommittee shall consist of the four At-Large Senators whose terms do not expire during the on-going At-Large election year. One faculty Senator must be available by telephone during the time interval set aside for voting.
Section 3. The At-Large election shall be held online
within a secure website specifically constructed for Faculty Senate elections,
unless otherwise specified by the election committee.
Section 4. It shall be the responsibility of the Faculty Senate
President to notify in writing all eligible faculty members of the forthcoming
election at least 7 days prior to the election day.
Section 5. The faculty voter shall submit identification
information to gain access to the voting screen. This information may include
such faculty identifiers as faculty identification number, college affiliation,
and faculty PIN. Votes shall be submitted electronically to a secure site.
Section 6. A simple majority of those voting shall be required for
election to each at–large position. Should no person receive a majority,
a run-off will be held the following Friday.
(1) Prior to
constructing the run-off election website, the top three vote
receivers will be contacted by the committee chairman in order to notify the
candidates of Senate responsibilities and to confirm their willingness to hold
office. Should one of these candidates decline, the fourth highest will be
contacted, and so on.
(2) The two candidates receiving the highest number of
run-off votes are elected to the two vacant seats.
(3) Should one person receive a majority in the
regular election, that person is elected to one position for the at-large
position, pending he/she does not decline. The election held the following
Friday will be between the next two highest vote receivers.
Section
7.
The Faculty Senate At-Large
Subcommittee shall be responsible for:
(1) tabulating the votes immediately after the polls
close and
(2) notifying the Faculty Senate President.
Section
8.
The Faculty Senate President
shall be responsible for:
(1) notifying those elected and
(2) announcing the results to the
faculty.
Section 9. Absentee ballots for at-large elections may be cast in the dean's office of the current senate president.
ARTICLE II.
GUIDELINES FOR THE ELECTION
OF COLLEGE SENATE POSITIONS
Section 1. The first Friday of April shall be the
election day for college senator positions. Voting will take place between 8:00
a.m. and 4:15 p.m.
Section 2. The two college senators whose terms do not
expire during the on-going election are designated as election officials for
their respective colleges.
Section 3. It shall be the responsibility of the Faculty
Senate President to notify in writing all eligible faculty members of the
forthcoming election at least seven days prior to the election day.
Section 4. Elections will be held online within a
secure website specifically constructed for Faculty Senate elections unless otherwise specified.
Section 5. Each of the eligible faculty members shall
have one vote for each of the vacant college senate positions. Each faculty voter will submit
identification information to gain access to the voting screen. This
information may include such faculty identifiers as faculty identification
number, college affiliation, and faculty PIN. Votes will be submitted electronically to a
secure site.
Section 6. A simple majority of those voting shall be required for
election to the college senator position.
In the event no person receives a simple majority of those voting, a
run-off between the two highest vote-receivers shall be held on the following
Friday.
Section 7. The two College Senators designated as election
officials shall be responsible for:
(1) tabulating
the votes immediately after the polls close and
(2) notifying
the Faculty Senate President.
Section 8. The Faculty Senate President shall be responsible for:
(1) notifying
those elected and
(2) announcing
the results to the faculty.
Section 9. Absentee ballots for college elections may
be cast in each college dean's office.
ARTICLE
III.
Section 1. A special election will be held to fill
Senate vacancies of two years or more.
Vacancies of less than two years shall be filled by the following
appointment process:
(1) All faculty receiving votes in the most recent
election for that class of Senators shall be ranked in descending order
according to votes received.
(2) In the event of ties a random drawing will be used to
establish ranking.
(3) Starting with the highest ranked person, the Faculty
Senate President shall contact those on the list until one accepts the
position.
(4) If the vacancy remains, the Senate will appoint the winner of a special election to fill the position.
Section 2. Senators are expected to attend all regularly scheduled senate meetings. To be excused from a meeting, a
senator must notify the secretary of the senate of the anticipated absence prior to the meeting. If a senator
accumulates two unexcused absences in a semester, the secretary of the senate will notify the Executive
Committee, who shall declare the seat vacant. The vacancy will be filled by the process outlined in Article III,
section 1.
ARTICLE IV.
Section 1. The Senate will elect officers in the following
order: vice-president,
secretary/treasurer and
parliamentarian.
Section 2. The president will keep the nominating open as long as
possible and nominations will cease only by unanimous consent.
Section 3. Nominees who are willing to accept their nominations
will leave the room following the close of nominations as the Senate goes into
executive session.
Section 4. The balloting will be secret.
Section 5. An absolute majority is required for election
to any office, said majority to be obtained as follows:
A.
if 5 or more
persons are on the ballot, there shall be a run-off among the top 3 unless one
nominee has a majority;
B.
if 3 or 4
persons are on the ballot, there shall be a run-off among the top 2 unless one
nominee has a majority;
C. if there is a tie (or deadlock), another vote shall
be taken immediately. If the tie (or
deadlock) is not broken on that vote, then and only then, the president shall
cast a vote.
Section 6. All ballots shall be counted by
non-senators and totals
given directly to the president.
ARTICLE
V.
GUIDELINES
FOR FACULTY SUBMISSION OF ISSUES TO SENATE
Section 1. All concerns and proposals from faculty
members shall be submitted in writing to the Faculty Senate President.
Section 2. The President, in a timely fashion, will submit the
issue (concern or proposal) to the appropriate Faculty Senate Committee.
Section 3. A copy of any resolution or committee recommendation
must be given to all Senators at least three working days before it is to come
before the Senate for a vote. [This rule may be temporarily overridden for a
particular resolution or recommendation by a 2/3 vote of the Senate.]
ARTICLE
VI.
COMMITTEE
ASSIGNMENTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Section 1. The Executive Committee will make assignments to Senate
committees after reviewing Senators’ preferences for committee membership.
Section 2. Senate committees are required to:
A. Consider
carefully all matters with which they are charged by the Senate;
B. Make a recommendation and/or report on such issues to
the Senate.
Section 3. The Faculty Senate committees and their areas of
responsibilities are as follows:
The Executive Committee consists of the Faculty Senate President,
President-Elect, Parliamentarian, and Secretary. The Executive Committee shall make assignments to the other
Faculty Senate Committees, serve as an advisory body to the Faculty Senate
President, propose recommendations for the Senate’s consideration, propose
amendments to the Faculty Association Constitution, and make recommendations on
the by-laws of the Faculty Senate.
The Committee will monitor, consider, and make recommendations to the
Senate on concerns of the faculty in the following areas: salaries, fringe benefits, handbook and
procedure manual, and professional development.
The Committee will monitor, consider, and make
recommendations to the Senate on concerns of the faculty in the following
areas: salaries, fringe benefits,
handbook and procedure manual, and professional development.
The Committee will monitor, consider, and make recommendations to the
Senate on matters which seem to have direct impact on academic quality and
integrity such as the various academic support system’s policies and
procedures, as well as general institutional conditions in-so-far as those
conditions influence academic quality and integrity.
The Committee will make recommendations to the
Senate on membership for University committees and will make a continuous study
of all standing committees with the exception of the President’s Administrative
Council and the Council of Deans. The
Committee publishes a complete list of committees and memberships for
distribution to the faculty and administrative offices each fall. Unless otherwise designated, term of service
for standing University committees will begin at the start of the fall term.
ARTICLE VII.
Section 1. At the beginning of each academic year, the Committee
on Committees shall designate each Senator as a contact Senator for a certain
group of specified faculty members based on such considerations as the
proximity of those faculty members to the contact Senator.
Section 2. The contact Senator shall be responsible for informing
the faculty members in a timely and appropriate manner [e.g., by posting the
upcoming Senate agenda in specified places] of issues scheduled to come before
the Senate for a vote.
ARTICLE
VIII.
POLICY
ON ACCESSIBILITY TO THE FACULTY SENATE
The UCA Faculty Senate has
been, and will remain, committed to open and accessible communication. The goal of Senators is to provide fair and
consistent representation of all views, issues and concerns important to the
faculty.
Any individual who wishes to
speak to the Faculty Senate should contact the President of the Senate and
request to be put on the agenda of the next regularly scheduled Senate
meeting. All such requests must meet
the same agenda deadlines which Senators must meet. In certain critical or unusual situations, however, the President
may elect to entertain a motion for suspension of the rules in order to allow
presentations to the Senate even when agenda deadlines have not been met.