Legislative History:
At its meeting of March 2, 1998, the Academic Senate approved the following Policy Recommendation presented by James Brent for the Organization and Government Committee.
Supersedes: S90-1Action by the University President:
Approved as University Policy." Signed Robert Caret, 3-28-98
Whereas In certain departments,
part-time faculty who have been given voting rights may
outvote regular (tenured and tenure-track) faculty on departmental matters,
including matters regarding departmental voting rights, and
Whereas, Tenured and tenure-track faculty
are usually presumed to be more permanent
than temporary faculty and therefore have a more direct interest in and
knowledge
of the performance of a departmental chair, therefore be it
Resolved, That University Policy S90-1 be modified to read as follows:
1. Voting rights described in this policy exclude all personnel matters and nominations for department chairs but include all other departmental matters.
a. Only regular (tenured and tenure-track) faculty may vote on nominations for department chairs.2. Department of primary assignment.
a. For purposes of this policy, "department of primary assignment" means the academic department or equivalent unit officially designated for a faculty member at the time of appointment, or the department to which he/she has been subsequently officially reassigned on a permanent basis. The department of primary assignment of faculty permanently assigned to more than one department is the department in which they serve more than half time.3. Regular faculty have full permanent voting rights in the department of their primary assignment. Permanent voting rights are terminated by permanent reassignment to another department, complete retirement, or other termination of employment. They are suspended for any semester in which the individual holds a full-time administrative or other non-instructional position in the university. Leave (with or without pay), part time non-instructional assignment, temporary reassignment to another department or partial reduction in load do not limit or suspend departmental voting rights in the department of primary assignment.b. The department of primary assignment for regular faculty not serving more than half-time in any one department shall be as designated by the Academic Vice President, after consultation with the faculty member and the departments in which he/she serves. Changes in such designations may be requested by the faculty member, but shall not be effective until the semester following that in which the change is approved.
4. Regular and temporary faculty departmental voting rights.
a. Regular faculty, while serving in a department other than that of their primary assignment, also have proportional voting rights in that other department equal to the amount of time they are serving in that other department, i.e. if full time, a full vote; if half time, a half vote, etc.5. The department chair has full voting rights in that department, whether or not it is her/his department of primary assignment and whether or not she/he serves in it full- or part-time.b. Temporary faculty have proportional voting rights in a department equal to the amount of time they are serving in that department.
6. While students, staff, or other non-faculty may have voting rights on departmental committees, organizations, and other such groups, they may not be granted departmental voting rights.
7. Faculty retired under the Faculty Early Retirement
Program retain departmental voting rights during any semester in which
they are on active service in the department. In semesters in which FERP
faculty are not on active service, they may also vote if
a) they give the department written notice of their intention to take part in departmental affairs before the beginning of the semester, and8. Proxy and absentee voting in departmental matters is permissible only if authorized by a specific departmental policy.b) they are entitled to return to active service in a subsequent semester.