Faculty Council Minutes

Faculty Council Minutes

RICE NEWS
December 9, 1999

Present: Akin, Ambler, Bayazitoglu, Caldwell, Dailey, Dharan, Mutchler, Patten, West, Wiener, Wilson and Wittenberg. Guest: Maarten van Delden. Absent: Cox, Droxler, Ghorbel and Rea.

The agenda consisted of: (1) Graduate Program in Literature, Language and Culture, (2) Sexual Harassment, (3) Bylaws for Faculty Meetings, (4) Revised University Mission Statement, (5)Revisions of Procedural Guidelines of the Appeals and Grievances Committee.

(1) Graduate Program in Literature, Language and Culture: After van Delden explained the background and need for this program, he responded to questions from council. It was then moved and seconded that council approve the proposal. All voted in favor of the approval with the exception of one, who abstained.

(2) Sexual Harassment: Caldwell announced that this issue is being studied by the policy subcommittee.

(3) Bylaws for Faculty Meetings: Following is a draft of the proposed bylaws of meetings of the faculty of Rice University, which were prepared by Alan Chapman with minor modifications by both University and Faculty councils:

These bylaws are provided for the equitable and orderly conduct of business in meetings of the faculty of Rice University and in no way attempt to define or describe the governance structure of the university.

Article 1. Membership and Participation

1.1. Voting Members. Voting members in meetings shall consist of the following members of the faculty:

a. Full- or part-time tenured faculty.

b. Untenured full-time professors, associate professors and assistant professors.

c. Full-time lecturers and instructors with two or more years at Rice in these positions.

d. Part-time, untenured professors as well as associate professors and assistant professors, designated as half-time or more, with two or more years of such service to Rice.

e. Research faculty, except such faculty shall not be eligible to vote on matters pertaining to tenure and exclusively to undergraduate curriculum affairs.

1.2. Attendance. In addition to the voting members, attendance at meetings is open to students, staff and other interested persons unless the meeting is closed as provided in 1.4. Members of the media must identify themselves as such.

1.3. Participation. Privileges of the floor and participation in the business proceedings of a meeting are limited to voting members and those staff members whose special knowledge is required. Other attendees may speak upon the invitation of the chair or by a majority of the voting members.

1.4. Closed Meetings. A meeting may be closed by the declaration of the chair or by a majority of the voting members upon the adoption of an undebatable motion to do so. In such a closed meeting only the voting members and such senior staff members as specified may remain in attendance.

Article 2. Officers

The officers of a meeting of the faculty consist of the following:

2.1. Chair. The presiding officer, or chair, of all meetings shall be the president of Rice University and will conduct the meetings in accordance with the parliamentary authority specified in Article 4. When necessary the president may appoint the provost or the speaker of the Faculty Council to chair a meeting.

2.2. Secretary. At a regularly scheduled meeting, the faculty shall elect a secretary to serve for a term of three years. The secretary shall issue the notices of meetings of the faculty and shall keep minutes of all meetings. Generally, there will be no verbatim reporting of remarks and discussion, except when the secretary deems this advisable, nor will professorial rank be recorded. The secretary will deposit a complete set of the minutes of the faculty in the university archives at the end of each academic year.

2.3. Parliamentarian. At a regularly scheduled meeting, the faculty shall elect a parliamentarian to serve for a term of three years. The parliamentarian shall advise the chair in its rulings in accordance with theadopted parliamentary authority.

Article 3. Meetings

3.1. Calendar. There shall be at least three general meetings of the faculty each academic year in addition to an end-of-the-year meeting for the conferral of degrees. Midyear degree conferral may occur at one of these three meetings, but if necessary an additional meeting may be held for this purpose. The dates of the meetings shall be determined by the president, in consultation with the University and Faculty councils as necessary. A notice of a meeting of the faculty, with agenda and any specific proposals, shall be issued by the secretary at least three days prior to a scheduled meeting.

3.2. Special Meetings. A special meeting of the faculty, for a stated purpose, may be called by the presentation to the secretary of a petition signed by at least 50 members of the voting faculty.

3.3. Quorum. At any general or special meeting a quorum shall consist of those voting members in attendance.

3.4. Order of Business. The order of business at a general meeting will usually be as follows:

a. approval of minutes of the previous meeting,

b. unfinished business,

c. reports of special committees,

d. reports of standing committees,

e. new business,

f. announcements and

g. adjournment.

3.5. Agenda. The agenda for a meeting of the faculty is established by the president, in consultation with the University and Faculty councils and other university standing and special committees. Individual voting members may propose business items to be introduced under the heading of new business; however, if such proposals concern matters under the jurisdiction of a standing or special committee, such items will not be admitted as agenda but will be, instead, referred to the appropriate committee.

Article 4. Parliamentary Authority

The rules contained in the current edition of “Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised” shall be the parliamentary authority for the conduct of business at all meetings of the faculty. These rules shall be applied in all parliamentary questions to which they apply and that are not superseded by these bylaws and any special rules of order that the faculty may adopt.

Article 5. Special Rules of Order

At a regularly called meeting, the faculty may adopt special rules of order to supersede those of the parliamentary authority by a two-thirds majority of the voting members provided that the proposed rule has been circularized with the agenda for the meeting. At any meeting, a special rule of order may be suspended for a single, stated purpose by a two-thirds majority of the voting members.

Article 6. Amendment of Bylaws and Special Rules of Order

These bylaws and any special rules of order may be amended at any regularly called meeting by a two-thirds majority of the voting members provided that the proposed amendment has been circularized with the agenda for the meeting. A proposed amendment may itself be amended atthe meeting provided that the amendment to the amendment does not increase the modification contemplated by the original amendment.

Special Rules of Order for Meetings of the Faculty of Rice University

Superseding the rules of the parliamentary authority, the following special rules of order shall apply to meetings of the faculty:

1. Important Items. A matter before the faculty judged to be an important item shall be adopted after two hearings and two affirmative votes at separate meetings. Significant matters of curriculum requirements and establishment of major courses of study are to be considered to be important items. Other business may be made an important item by declaration of the chair or by a majority of the voting members acting on a motion to so designate. An important item that has been substantively amended between the two required votes shall require a third affirmative vote to become adopted. Whether an important item has been substantively amended shall be ruled by the chair.

2. Debate. Each voting member may speak twice for a maximum of five minutes each time on any main motion or applicable debatable secondary motion.

3. Voting. The methods of voting at a meeting shall be by voice, show of hands, secret ballot and/or roll call according to the following procedures:

a. The chair shall determine whether to use voice voting. In the taking of a voice vote, if the chair is in doubt or upon the request of any eligible voter, the chair shall retake the vote by a show of hands.

b. The chair shall determine whether to use voting by show of hands. In the taking of vote by show of hands, if the chair is in doubt or upon the request of two or more eligible voters, the chair shall retake the vote and order it to be counted.

c. Voting by secret ballot shall be conducted only when so ordered by a majority of the eligible voting members voting on an undebatable motion to vote in that manner.

d. Voting by roll call shall be conducted only when so ordered by a majority of the eligible voting members voting on an undebatable motion to vote in that manner. If both a secret ballot and a roll call vote have been moved, the assembly will vote first on whether to take the vote by roll call.

(4) Revised University Mission Statement: The current mission statement reads: The mission of Rice University, shaped largely by its founder and the first president, is to provide an unsurpassed undergraduate education both in the sciences and engineering and in the arts, humanities and social sciences; to insure that such an education remains affordable; to produce internationally distinguished scholarship in carefully focused areas of research; to maintain the distinctive character of a community of learning that is relatively small in scale; and to serve the continuing educational needs of the larger community.

Faculty Council approved the following revised mission statement which will be forwarded to President Gillis for consideration by the board of trustees: The mission of Rice University, shaped largely by its founder and the first president, is to provide an unsurpassed undergraduate education in science, engineering, the arts, humanities and social sciences; to produce internationally distinguished scholarship and research and excellent graduate education in carefully focused areas; to insure that such an education remains affordable; to maintain the distinctive character of a community of learning that is relatively small in scale; and to serve the continuing educational needs of the larger community.

(5) Revisions of Procedural Guidelines of the Appeals and Grievances Committee: The following revisions were adopted (additions are italicized and deletions are underlined).

1. Purpose–The Faculty Council Appeals and Grievances Committee (A&GC) has been established by the bylaws of Faculty Council to investigate allegations regarding appeals of decisions on promotion and tenure made on procedural grounds and grievances not related to decisions on promotion and tenure brought to it by faculty members. The scope of the A&GC’s authority is to determine to the best of its ability the facts involved in the case and to prepare a confidential report or recommendation to the president with a copy to the speaker of Faculty Council and to the appellant or grievant. In the event that a third party is substantially involved in the case, the committee may recommend to the president that the third party receive a copy of the committee’s report or be otherwise informed of its findings. Any further action is at the sole discretion of the president. The A&GC will make itself available to the president’s representative to discuss and/or clarify its report.

2. Membership–According to Faculty Council bylaws, A&GC membership consists of those members of Faculty Council who do not also serve on the Promotion and Tenure Committee. From this group the speaker of the Faculty Council will annually appoint a convener who will receive complaints and call the A&GC into action. Anyone having a direct involvement or a potential conflict of interest in the case does not serve on that case. The A&GC members will then elect a chair from among those members to serve for each case it considers.

3. Confidentiality–All participants are expected to maintain strict confidentiality about all aspects of the proceedings. The A&GC alone will determine the extent to which material must be shared during proceedings with the involved parties for the purpose of pursuing its investigation. No material given to the committee will be voluntarily divulged outside the proceedings. When the A&GC begins a hearing, it will inform the provost of the name of the appellant or grievant and the general nature of the case. The provost will be informed when a case is closed. Understanding that the university has legal obligations, the A&GC recognizes that an administrator may need to discuss with other administrators the facts and allegations on which the case is based. Those administrators shall not, however, discuss the matter with persons not having a need to know in order to fulfill their duties to the university.

4. Grievance or Appeal–After A&GC has received the initial appeal or grievance, the appellant or grievant will be asked to prepare a document that gives details supporting the appeal or grievance. This document should include a specific list of grounds for appeal or grievances and a list of names, places, documents and other supporting materials germane to the case.

5. Interviews–The A&GC will interview whomever it deems appropriate to supply information about the appeal or grievance. The need for absolute confidentiality will be stressed to all participants. This includes even the fact that they were asked to talk with the A&GC. Neither the names of the people nor the times of the interviews will be divulged. Consultants will be utilized by the A&GC as it deems necessary.All interviewees will appear individually. No one will be allowed to accompany the appellant or grievant or any of the interviewees.

6. Records–Audio tape recordings of the formal interviews before the A&GC will be made. This confidential record will remain in the hands of the chair of the A&GC. After the case is closed, the audio tapes will be destroyed when so authorized in writing from with the approval of university legal counsel. A&GC members are also free to take whatever notes they deem appropriate. These notes will remain the property of the individual A&GC members.

7. AAUP Guidelines–AAUP recommendations were consulted in the formulation of these procedural guidelines, but these guidelines do not conform in all respects with those recommended by the AAUP.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:15 p.m.

Joan Reid, secretary