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F06-6

At its meeting of December 4, 2006, the Academic Senate passed the following Policy Recommendation presented by Chris Hebert for the Organization and Government Committee.

POLICY  RECOMMENDATION                                                                                                      POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS TO INCLUDE RATIONALE                                                                 AND ESTIMATED EFFECT ON WORKLOAD

Whereas,        the Academic Senate should make every effort to improve communication with the                                   campus community, and 

Whereas,        the rationale for Senate policy recommendations and their workload impact is not always                         made clear by existing Senate practices, and

Whereas,        increased clarity in communication is particularly important where Senate policy                                        recommendations, in fact, are only to implement government and system mandates and                          requirements, and

Whereas,        the potential effect on workload that will result from Senate policy recommendations                                 should be more clearly stated, particularly where increases result from externally                                      imposed requirements, now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED,   that By-Law 6.7 be amended by deleting the third sentence, and

RESOLVED,   that a new By-Law 6.7.1 be adopted, as follows:

6.7.1  All policy recommendations shall include

a) A statement of the rationale of the policy, including its source, intent and claimed need, in language suitable for communication to faculty, staff and students affected;

b) Either the policy committee’s finding that the recommended policy is not expected to have any significant financial impact, or an estimate, obtained from a named body or person responsible for implementing the policy, of the approximate direct cost or saving to the University if the recommended policy is adopted;

c) A statement of the likely workload impact of the policy, that is, whether and how much compliance will increase or decrease required activity or expenditure of time by faculty, staff or students.  

Approved:                    November 13, 2006

Vote:                            7-0-0

Present:                      Selter, Reader, Norton (non-voting), Sakadjian, Parsons, Hebert (chair), Hilliard,    Hooper.

Absent:                        Backer, Kahanov

ACTION BY UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT:   Approved by President Don Kassing on December 11, 2006