C O N T E N T S
SECTION I - Responsibilities of the Academic Senate
The Academic Senate
shall be responsible,
subject to the Board of Trustees of the City University of
New York, for the
formulation of policy relating to the admission and
retention of students,
curriculum, granting of degrees, Campus Life, and the
nomination of Academic
(full) Deans (as outlined in Section X). The
Academic Senate shall also
be responsible for and shall establish rules governing the
use of the College
name by organizations and clubs. It shall make its
own bylaws consistent
with the Bylaws of the Board of Trustees, and conduct the
educational affairs
customarily cared for by a college faculty.
SECTION II - Membership of the Academic Senate
The Academic Senate
shall be
a representative body of 90 Senators and 90 Alternates
elected by faculty and
students, and of those ex officio nonvoting members
designated in Section II,
paragraph F of this Charter. For the purpose of this
Charter, the faculty
is defined as all full-time Queens College persons in the
titles of Professor,
Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Instructor, and
Lecturer; students
are defined as all Queens College undergraduate and
graduate
students.
The 90 Senators
shall be
apportioned as follows:
A. Faculty -
60
1. Each academic
department
shall elect one (1) Senator.
2. The balance of
the 60
faculty Senator seats shall be divided as
follows:
a) Six (6) faculty
Senators
elected at large from the Division of the Arts.
b) Six (6) faculty
Senators
elected at large from the Division of the Social
Sciences.
c) Six (6) faculty
Senators
elected at large from the Division of Mathematics and the
Natural
Sciences.
d) Three (3)
faculty Senators
elected at-large from the Division of
Education.
e) The remaining
faculty
Senators shall be elected at large,
College-wide.
B. Students -
30
1. Undergraduate -
Twenty-four (24) who on the record date approved by the
Academic Senate have a
cumulative index of at least 2.0 and are not on
probation.
a) Seventeen (17)
Day Session
student Senators.
1. Eight (8) Day
Session
student Senators shall be elected at large by Day Session
students.
2. Three (3) Day
Session
student Senators shall be elected by Day Session students
from each of the
following groups:
a. Lower sophomore,
upper
freshman, and lower freshman classes;
b. Lower junior and
upper
sophomore classes;
c. Upper senior,
lower
senior, and upper junior classes.
b) Three (3)
Evening student
Senators shall be elected at large by Evening
students.
c) Two (2) SEEK
student
Senators shall be elected at large by SEEK
students.
d) Two (2) ACE
student
Senators shall be elected at large by ACE
students.
2. Six (6) Graduate
Division
student Senators who on the record date approved by the
Academic Senate have
accumulative index of at least 3.0 and are not on
probation, shall be elected
at large by Graduate Division students.
C. Alternates may
vote and be
counted as part of the quorum when properly
seated.
D. Faculty Senators
and
Alternates shall serve a term of two (2) years.
a) Half of the
faculty
Senators and Alternates shall be elected each
year.
E. Student Senators
and
Alternates shall serve a term of one (1) year.
F. 1. Ex officio
nonvoting
membership shall be extended to:
a) chairpersons of
Academic
Senate committees, the Parliamentarian of the Academic
Senate, and the
Ombudsman;
b) the College
President,
Provost, Vice-Presidents, Deans, Business Manager, and
Registrar;
c) the Presidents
of the Day
Session, Evening, Graduate, ACE and SEEK Student
governments;
d) the President of
the
Queens College Alumni Association;
e) the chairperson
of the
Queens College chapter of the Professional Staff
Congress;
f) the Chief
Librarian;
g) or a designee of
any of
the preceding.
2. These members
shall have
the privilege of the floor, the right to make motions,
participate in debate,
and all other privileges of membership in the Academic
Senate, with the
exception of voting or being an officer of the Academic
Senate.
SECTION III -
Election of Members
A. Election of
Senators and
Alternates shall take place during the spring
semester.
B. 1. All full-time
faculty
members of academic departments may vote in departmental
elections to fill
departmental Academic Senate seats.
2. All full-time
faculty
within an academic division may vote to fill their faculty
divisional Academic
Senate seats.
3. All full-time
faculty of
Queens College may vote to fill College-wide at large
Academic Senate
seats.
C. The
certification of class
standing and faculty status shall be made by the Registrar
and the Provost,
respectively, or their designees.
D. 1. A vote to
recall a
Senator may be initiated by a petition signed by persons
to the Senator's
constituency. The number of valid signatures on such
a petition must be
not less than one-fourth of the total number of ballots
cast in the Senator's
category in the election at which the Senator was
elected.
2. If a majority of
the
ballots at the recall election are cast against the
Senator, his/her seat shall
be declared vacant, and a special election shall be held
to fill the unexpired
portion of his/her term.
3. The cost of a
recall vote
and special election shall be borne by those initiating
the successful recall
petition.
4. The Executive
Committee
shall be responsible for determining the validity of the
petition, as well as
resolving other questions relating to both
elections.
E. The Academic
Senate may
adopt bylaws regarding the removal from office of
habitually absent
Senators.
SECTION IV -
Meetings of the Academic Senate
A. The first
meeting of a new
Academic Senate shall take place no later than June 1st,
if possible, at which
time it succeeds the preceding Academic Senate.
B. This first
meeting shall
be convened by the Holder of the Chair of the Elections
Committee, who shall
serve as Holder of the Chair pro tempore, until a
permanent Holder of the Chair
is elected.
C. The Academic
Senate shall
meet regularly on the second Thursday of each month from
October through
May. The January meeting of the Academic Senate
shall be optional at the
discretion of the Academic Senate's Executive
Committee.
D. Regular meetings
of the
Academic Senate shall be open to all members of the Queens
College community,
and all shall have the right to speak on the
floor.
E. The Academic
Senate may
hold special meetings in accordance with its
Bylaws.
F. The Academic
Senate shall
be free to hold executive sessions, without any nonmembers
present, save such
as may be invited.
SECTION V -
Rules of Order
A. The business of
the
Academic Senate shall be conducted according to Robert's
Rules of Order Revised
(latest edition) unless, a quorum being present, a 2/3
majority of members
present and voting deems otherwise.
B. A quorum shall
consist of
one more than one-half of the voting
membership.
SECTION VI -
Officers and Executive Committee
A. The Academic
Senate shall
elect annually from its elected voting membership its
Holder of the Chair,
Deputy Holder of the Chair, Secretary, and such other
officers as it deems
necessary. A Recording Secretary, not necessarily a
member of the
Academic Senate, may be appointed by the Holder of the
Chair.
B. There shall be a
nine-member Executive Committee of the Academic Senate
which will be
responsible for preparing an agenda for all meetings and
for carrying on the
business of the Academic Senate between regular
meetings. It shall have
such other duties as will be assigned to it by the members
of the Academic
Senate. The officers of the Academic Senate shall be
members of the
Executive Committee, with the remainder of the positions
filled by election by
the Academic Senate so that there shall be three (3)
student
members.
SECTION VII -
Term Limits for Officers
Officers of the
Academic
Senate may serve no more than four (4) consecutive years
in any one (1) office.
SECTION VIII -
Academic Senate Committees
The Academic Senate
shall
create such standing, ad hoc, and special committees as it
shall deem
necessary.
A. Committee
membership shall
be open to all members of the instructional staff and to
all students who have
a cumulative index of at least 2.0 and are not on
probation.
B. All committee
members
shall be elected by the Academic Senate in accordance with
its
Bylaws.
C. Committees
normally shall
be composed of an equal number of members of the
instructional staff and
students, except when otherwise considered appropriate
because of the nature of
the problem to which the committee will address
itself. All committees
shall report to the Academic Senate at least once each
year.
D. Each committee
shall elect
from among its membership a Holder of the Chair or
Co-holders of the
Chair.
E. When feasible,
appointments to all Senate committees shall be for a
period of two years, on a
rotating basis.
F. A person may not
serve as
a voting member on more than two Academic Senate
Committees, of which only one
can be a standing committee.
SECTION IX -
College-Wide Committees
The Academic Senate
shall
create such College-wide committees as it deems
necessary.
SECTION X -
Selection and Review of Academic Officers
Academic (full)
Deans shall
be nominated in the following manner:
A. The Academic
Senate will
elect a Search Committee consisting of five full-time
faculty members and five
students who are members of or majors in the departments
or divisions to be
included within the constituency for which the dean being
sought will be
responsible. Students elected to Academic Senate Search
Committees as
representatives from the Division of Education may be
either co-majors in
Elementary and Early Childhood Education or minors in
Secondary Education and
Youth Services, or be matriculated in a graduate program
in the
Division.
1. The Academic
Senate shall
elect an additional faculty member and an additional
student, who are members
of or majors in the Division of Education, to serve on the
Search Committees
for the Deans of Arts, Social Sciences, and Mathematics
and Natural
Sciences.
2. The Academic
Senate shall
elect an additional faculty member and an additional
student, who are not
members of or majors in the Division of Education, to
serve on the Search
Committee for the Dean of Education.
B. The Committee
shall submit
to the President a confidential list of three to five
candidates from which the
President shall nominate one to the Board of Trustees for
approval. In
the event the President rejects all the Search Committee's
choices, the
Committee will submit another list of names to the
President for his or her
consideration. This procedure shall be followed
until a dean is
selected.
C. The Search
Committee shall
follow procedures consistent with Affirmative Action
guidelines and shall hear
nominations from any member of the campus community for
the position of dean
and shall consider for candidacy any person with
distinction within his or her
chosen field of study and with demonstrated administrative
skill.
D. Review of Dean's
qualifications:
1. At the beginning
of every
fifth year of a Dean's term, a Committee (the composition
of which shall
correspond to the composition of the Search Committee)
shall be elected by the
Academic Senate to review the Dean's performance through
confidential
consultations with departmental chairpeople, program
directors, and other
persons who are in a position to comment knowledgeably on
the Dean's
performance. The Review Committee will then make a
confidential report to
the President including a recommendation for or against
continued appointment.
Investigations of the Review Committee shall be conducted
with the strictest
confidentiality. The findings of the Review
Committee shall be reported
to the President no later than May 30, of every fifth year
of the Dean's
term.
2. If the President
does not
reappoint the Dean, the Review Committee shall constitute
itself as a Search
Committee, as outlined above, and nominate additional
candidates to the
President for consideration.
3. The term "Dean"
in the
above section refers to all full Deans.
E. Review of the
Provost:
At the beginning of
every
fifth year of the Provost's term, a Committee (the
composition of which shall
correspond to the composition of a Dean's Search
Committee) shall be elected by
the Academic Senate to review the Provost's performance
through confidential
consultations with departmental chairpeople, program
directors, and other
persons who are in a position to comment knowledgeably on
the Provost's
performance. The Review Committee will then make a
confidential report to
the President including a recommendation for or against
continued appointment.
Investigations of the Review Committee shall be conducted
with the strictest
confidentiality. The findings of the Review
Committee shall be reported
to the President no later than May 30th of every fifth
year of the Provost's
term.
F. Review of the
Chief
Librarian:
At the beginning of
every
fifth year of the Chief Librarian's term, a Committee (the
composition of which
shall correspond to the composition of a Dean's Search
Committee) shall be
elected by the Academic Senate to review the Chief
Librarian's performance
through confidential consultations with departmental
chairpeople, program
directors, and other persons who are in a position to
comment knowledgeably on
the Chief Librarian's performance. The Review
Committee will then make a
confidential report to the President including a
recommendation for or against
continued appointment. Investigations of the Review
Committee shall be
conducted with the strictest confidentiality. The
findings of the Review
Committee shall be reported to the President no later than
May 30th of every
fifth year of the Chief Librarian's term.
SECTION XI -
Voting Rights of Lecturers, Promotion to Full
Professor
A. In addition to
those faculty members
authorized by the Bylaws of the City University of New
York to vote in
departmental elections for chair and for members of the
departmental Personnel
and Budget Committee, those lecturers who hold
Certificates of Continuous
Employment shall be entitled to vote.
B. Nominations for
promotion
to Professor shall be forwarded to the College Committee
on Personnel and
Budget by the chairperson of the department together with
the recommendation of
the departmental Committee on Personnel and
Budget.
SECTION XII -
Presidential Search Committees
Representatives of
the Queens College
faculty on Presidential Search Committees shall be elected
as
follows:
Faculty
representatives, of a
number to be designated by the Board of Trustees, shall be
nominated either by
the College Personnel and Budget Committee or by advance,
written nomination
ballot. Election of the faculty members to the Search
Committee shall be
by majority vote of the faculty representatives of the
Academic Senate.
The students will have no vote on faculty
representatives.
