Faculty Senate Bylaws
1.01 NAME
The name of this organization shall be Faculty Senate of Rogue Community College (FS/RCC)
2.0 MISSION STATEMENT
2.01 The faculty of Rogue Community College, in accordance with the College’s Core Values, its Mission and Vision statements, and represented by the Faculty Senate of Rogue Community College, exercise the courage to empower and provide leadership, to consult on college governance issues, pursue integrity, fairness, and truth with the highest ethical standards, ensure the maintenance of respect and an intellectually open and diverse environment, and promote excellence on all levels of College life and activities.
2.02 The Faculty Senate of Rogue Community College pursues empowerment, excellence, diversity, equality, dignity, respect, and integrity through thoughtful leadership and envisioning in all areas of teaching, learning, and academic freedom.
3.0 PURPOSE
3.01 The Faculty Senate of Rogue Community College (FS/RCC) enables the democratic participation of all members in discussion and action upon all matters of mutual concern to the faculty of the College in accordance with the relevant standards for accreditation.
3.02 The Faculty Senate of Rogue Community College (FS/RCC) ensures the highest quality of educational standards, encourages ethical practices and goodwill within the institution, and ensures the provision of maximum educational opportunities within the College district.
3.03 The Faculty Senate endorses, advocates, promotes, defends, pursues, and articulates all aspects of education in a democratic society as they pertain to academic freedom.
3.04 The Faculty Senate does not address contracts or collective bargaining issues and thus, will not stand in conflict to the charter and mandate of Rogue Community College Education Association (RCCEA).
3.05 The Faculty Senate holds the intention to support a “shared governance” concept.
4.0 FACULTY AND AUTHORITY
4.01 Advice to the President: The Faculty Senate shall have the right to consider and advise the president and the Executive Team on all matters of educational policy that includes but is not limited to such fundamental matters as curriculum, methods of instruction, program and course evaluation, facilities, materials for instruction, standards for admission and retention of students, and criteria for granting certificates and degrees. This power also includes those aspects of student life that relate directly to the educational process, such as guidance of extracurricular activities, and freedom of action and expression.
4.02 The Faculty Senate will normally exercise the above powers through its representative body and committees. The faculty shall have the right to review and approve or disapprove any action of the faculty senate by calling for a vote from all eligible faculty members.
5.0 FACULTY SENATE REPRESENTATIVES
5.01 Faculty groups will make provisions for faculty members to actively participate in the faculty senate.
5.02 Members of the Faculty Senate are representatives by faculty group. Faculty members in each group will elect their own representatives to send to the Senate. Each group will have one or two representatives chosen, or elected the beginning of fall term, according to their own preferred method. They will serve one year terms, beginning the first week of fall term and may be elected for consecutive terms. Special elections may be held when needed to fill vacant positions.
5.03 Full-time and part-time faculty members teaching during the forthcoming academic year shall be eligible to be elected as group representatives.
5.04 Five representatives of the part-time faculty will be elected at large. The election of the part-time faculty representatives will be conducted by the co-chairs. The election will take place at the beginning of fall term each year.
5.05 Although group representatives are the decision making members, faculty senate meetings are open to the entire college community, and attendance by any interested party is encouraged. The goal of the Senate is to foster effective communication and collegial discussion of issues for the entire faculty.
5.06 All faculty members are encouraged to participate in other college committees and task forces as well as any other college activity that involves faculty. The Senate shall actively solicit/encourage full faculty participation in shared governance.
5.07 Rogue Community College’s Education Association (RCCEA) shall be represented on Faculty Senate by one (1) non-voting liaison appointed by RCCEA’s Executive Committee.
5.08 RCCEA’s liaison shall have the privilege of the floor at all times.
5.09 The Faculty Senate shall include the Deans of Instruction, College Services & Student Services as non-voting members with the privilege of the floor.
6.0 OFFICERS
6.01 The Faculty Senate of Rogue Community College shall be overseen and governed by two Co-Chairs.
6.01.1 Offices shall be held for a two-year tenure.
6.01.2 All Faculty Senate Officers shall begin their tenure with the first week of Fall term.
6.01.3 Co-chairs shall be elected by the faculty during spring term to take office the following fall term.
6.02 Co-Chairs
6.02.1 The Faculty Senate shall be presided over by two Co-Chairs.
6.02.2 One co-chair will be considered an elder (based on second year in office).
6.02.3 One co-chair shall be a faculty member assigned primarily to Jackson county, and the other primarily to Josephine county.
6.02.4 One Co-Chair shall be elected to begin his/her tenure in an even calendar year, and one Co-Chair shall be elected to commence his/her tenure in an odd calendar year.
6.02.5 In the event of a resignation, a special faculty-wide election will be held for a replacement to complete the resigning co-chair’s term
6.02.6 Co-chairs will participate as voting members of the council in addition to performing their duties as co-chairs.
6.02.7 In the event that a sitting co-chair’s division elects two new members, not including the co-chair, the co-chair will continue to carry out the duties of co- chair until the end of his/her term, but will not otherwise participate as a representative of her/his division.
6.02.8 Only one Co-Chair may be a part-time faculty member.
6.02.9 The co-chairs will be responsible for:
6.02.9.1 Establishing time and place for all general sessions and committee meetings.
6.02.9.2 Preparation and distribution of the agenda and materials for general session and committee meetings.
6.02.9.3 Representing and acting as the spokespersons for the Faculty senate and its executive committee.
6.02.9.4 Keeping order at meetings.
6.02.9.5 Keeping discussion to a reasonable time schedule.
6.02.9.6 Establishing a calendar of meetings.
6.02.9.7 Keeping the budget.
6.02.9.8 Keeping a list of operational procedures (printing, mailing, room reservations).
6.02.9.9 Keeping a list of Faculty Senate actions and accomplishments.
6.02.9.10 Keeping the Faculty Senate & faculty informed of instructional issues and developments.
6.02.9.11 Conducting the election of the 5 part-time faculty representatives.
6.03 Recorder
6.03.1 The Recorder of the Faculty Senate shall be responsible for
6.03.2 recording the minutes of all stated meetings of the Faculty Senate, and for
6.03.3 posting the minutes and making them available in a timely manner, and for
6.03.4 recording and maintaining the correspondence of the Faculty Senate with other entities, committees, councils, and/or organizations within Rogue Community College, and for
6.03.5 recording and maintaining the correspondence of the Faculty Senate with groups and agencies, and for
6.03.6 maintaining files and archives of minutes of the Faculty Senate and its committees
7.0 MEETINGS
7.01 The Faculty Senate shall meet regularly, once a month if possible, during the academic year. The time and location of the meetings will be scheduled on a yearly calendar.
7.01.1 All Faculty Senate meetings are to be announced as reminders at least six working days in advance of the scheduled date.
7.01.2 Meetings will be scheduled to ensure the best possible attendance using available technology.
7.02 The Faculty Senate shall meet once during Summer term, if warranted. The time and location of this meeting is to be announced in a timely manner.
7.03 There will be up to three but not less than one general faculty assembly meeting each year. This can be considered a meeting of the faculty senate but is intended to be an open all faculty meeting called by the senate to gather input and share information with all faculty members.
7.04 All meetings of the Faculty Senate are open to all part-time and full-time faculty.
7.04.1 All meetings of the Faculty Senate are open to the public for informational purposes.
7.05 Meetings of the Faculty Senate shall be presided over by the elder co-chair, or in his/her absence by the second co-chair.
7.05.1 The two Co-Chairs shall establish an agenda for each meeting.
7.05.1.1 The agenda for each meeting shall be distributed to all representatives of the Faculty Senate at least one week prior to the meeting, and shall be distributed to all full-time and part-time faculty by the recorder.
7.06 All Faculty Senate meetings shall be conducted by a governance model to be determined by the faculty senate.
7.07 Attendance by representatives should be considered mandatory. Representatives who miss two meetings within a year may be replaced by their faculty group. The group may, however, choose to re-elect the delegate.
7.08 Emergency faculty senate meetings can be called by the co-chairs.
7.09 A quorum shall exist when at least two-third of the Faculty Senate representatives are present.
7.10 Only the representatives to the Faculty Senate may vote.
7.10.1 No delegate of the Faculty Senate shall be allowed to vote by proxy.
7.10.2 Every delegate regardless of employment status shall have one vote
8.0 COMMITTEES
8.01 The Faculty Senate shall have the following committees:
8.01.1 Standing Committees may be established; and
8.01.2 Ad-hoc committees appointed by or requested during a regularly stated meeting by a majority of the representatives of the Faculty Senate.
8.02 The Faculty Senate may designate faculty representatives, if none exist, to any of the College’s standing committees and councils, that address issues of policy, governance, teaching and learning, and organizational structure.
8.02.1 The Faculty Senate shall receive reports from these faculty appointees as necessary and, if warranted, take any action deemed necessary and/or appropriate.
8.02.2 The Faculty Senate shall review the appointments on a yearly basis and, if warranted, designate new faculty appointees.
9.0 AMENDMENTS
9.01 These Bylaws can and shall be amended as necessary.
9.02 Amendments can be proposed by
9.02.1 Any seven (7) faculty members, or by
9.02.2 Any three (3) Faculty Senate Representatives.
9.03 Any proposals for amendments shall be submitted to the Faculty Senate in writing at a regularly slated meeting and must bear the signatures of all endorsers.
9.03.1 The representatives of the Faculty Senate shall review the proposed amendment at the following regularly-slated meeting and, given the approval by a two-third majority, present the proposed amendment to the faculty for final approval.
9.03.2 The proposed amendment shall be considered passed if either 9.03.2.1 A simple majority of all the faculty members eligible to vote approve of the amendment; or 9.03.2.2 A two-third majority of all the ballots cast by those faculty members eligible to vote approve of the amendment.
9.04 The amendment shall go into effect three (3) months after the approved vote by eligible faculty members.
November 19, 2010