Amended April 2001
This printing October 2001
CONSTITUTION
CENTRAL TEXAS COLLEGE FACULTY SENATE
ARTICLE I
The organization shall be known as the Central Texas College Faculty Senate.
ARTICLE II
The Central Texas College Faculty Senate exists as a group for the purpose of promoting:
a. Education;
b. Communication and understanding among the Board of Trustees, the College Administration, and the faculty;
c. High degrees of professional relations among members;
d. Presentation of the views and recommendations of the college faculty to college administration, Board appointed Councils, and/or the Board of Trustees as to policies or procedures on academic and professional matters that relate to the educational program and services provided by Central Texas College;
e. Student welfare.
ARTICLE III
Membership
Full membership is open to all faculty under at least a 9 month contract with Central Texas College. Membership is also extended to professional librarians, professional counselors/advisors, and administrators/faculty whose duties include teaching college credit courses at least 51% of time. All members shall pay annual dues.
Associate membership is open to adjunct faculty members, adjunct or full-time instructors, adjunct librarians & counselors and retired faculty members. Associate members have no voting privileges but are encouraged to participate in discussions and other senate activities.
ARTICLE IV
Officers
Any member of the Faculty Senate may hold office (see Article VI, By-Laws, 2-Elections). Officers of the Faculty Senate shall be a President, a President-elect, a Secretary and a Treasurer. These officers plus the chair of each Standing Committee of the Faculty Senate shall constitute the Executive committee of the Faculty Senate. Except for the President-elect of the Faculty Senate, no officer shall serve as the chair person of a Standing Committee. Standing committees are identified in the By-Laws, Article VI, 1-Committees.
President: The president shall preside at all meetings of the Faculty Senate and shall conduct all meetings according to Robert’s Rules of Order. The President is the official Faculty Senate spokesperson in formal dealings with the College Administration and the Board of Trustees. The Faculty Senate President may delegate the duty to be the official spokesperson to another member of the Executive Committee on a temporary basis.
President-elect: This officer will fulfill the responsibilities of the President when the President is absent. The President-elect shall be the Chairperson of the Faculty Affairs Committee and shall assume the presidency on the day before the Fall Faculty in-service meeting.
Secretary: This officer will maintain a current list of all members, record minutes of meetings, and circulate copies of the minutes to all members after each meeting. This officer shall be responsible for sending an appropriate response expressing the concern of Faculty Senate members upon the occasion of a colleague having a serious illness or in the event of the death of a colleague.
Treasurer: This officer shall be responsible for all funds and financial records of the Faculty Senate, pay all bills for which the Faculty Senate is responsible, and make financial reports to the membership at the outset of the Fall and Spring Semesters.
ARTICLE V
Amendments
Any Faculty Senate member may propose amendments to the Constitution. The text of any proposed amendment must be submitted in writing to all members at least thirty (30) days before any regular or called meeting at which the proposal is to be acted upon.
ARTICLE VI
By-Laws
1. Committees:
a. Standing Committees
The members of each Standing Committee shall be elected by the Faculty Senate members, and the Chairperson of each Standing Committee shall be selected from among committee members. Duties of each Standing Committee are described below, except that the President of the Faculty Senate may assign additional duties in a committee’s general area of responsibility. In conducting the business of a committee, a simple majority is required for approval. It is the duty of the committee’s chairperson to record minutes of all committee meetings, but the responsibility may be delegated to another committee member. These committees will be responsible for presenting their recommendations in a meeting of the Faculty Senate. No committee shall obligate or speak for the Faculty Senate.
(1) Piper Professor Selection Committee
The Piper Professor Selection Committee shall have five members who will serve two-year terms beginning in even-numbered years and two members will serve two-year terms beginning in odd-numbered years. The committee will be responsible for selecting a nominee for the Piper Professor Awards Program of the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation. This committee will make its recommendations for an upcoming academic year in the prior spring semester.
(2) Faculty Professional Development Program Committee
This committee shall consist of six members: Three members will serve two-year terms beginning in even-numbered years and three members will serve two-year terms beginning in odd-numbered years. The committee’s job shall be to make recommendation for in-service training, workshops, seminars, speakers, and other avenues for professional advancement of the faculty. This committee will make its recommendations for an upcoming academic year in the prior spring semester.
(3) Nominating Committee
This committee shall have five members. The Nominating Committee shall solicit nominations, compile ballots, and tabulate the results of elections of officers and committee members of the Faculty Senate. The election procedures are described below in Section 2.
(4) Faculty Affairs Committee
This committee shall have seven members, three of whom shall be elected by members of the Faculty Senate and the other four shall be the President, President-elect, Secretary, and Treasurer of the Faculty Senate. The Faculty Senate President-elect shall be the committee chairperson. This committee shall be responsible for:
(a) Serving a liaison with Campus Dean on appointments of Faculty Senate members to collegiate committees including the Employees Benefits Committee;
(b) Recommending and previewing additions, deletions and changes to the Central Texas College Faculty Manual;
(c) Recommending and or reviewing administration recommendations on faculty salary, benefits, teaching loads, office hours, leaves of absence, contractual matters, and other related concerns;
(d) Representing faculty concerns to the College administration, Board appointed Councils, and/or the Board of Trustees on policies dealing with the educational programs and services provided by Central Texas College which are of concern to those eligible for membership in the Faculty Senate.
(5) Executive Committee
The members of this committee are specified in ARTICLE IV of this constitution. A simple majority vote is required for approval of agenda items.
b. Special Committees
The President of the Faculty Senate may appoint a chairperson and two members for any ad hoc committee deemed appropriate.
(1) Constitution/By-Laws Committee
The chairman and at least two other members shall be appointed by the
President yearly to review the Constitution/By-Laws and make recommendations as appropriate.
(2) Membership Committee
This committee shall consist of a chairman and at least two other members appointed by the President. The committee shall be responsible for recommending events and other actions to recruit new members.
(3) Auditing Committee
This committee shall consist of a chairman and two other members appointed by the President to conduct an annual audit.
2. Elections
a. Elections of officers and committee members shall be conducted annually at the April Faculty Senate meeting.
b. The Nominating Committee shall solicit and accept written nominations from the Faculty Senate membership at large, verify the eligibility of nominees, and compile a ballot of candidates. Nominations shall include the offices of President, President-elect, Secretary, Treasurer, and members of each Standing Committee.
c. There must be at least one candidate for each position to be filled. If there are no eligible nominees for any particular office, the Nominating Committee shall issue another call for nominations in that category. The committee shall continue until such time as a full-slate of nominated officers is complete. If an individual is nominated for more than one executive office, then the Nominating Committee shall contact the nominee for a preference. No individual may be a candidate for more than one office; however, a Faculty Senate member may be selected a member of more than one committee.
d. The Nominating Committee shall notify each candidate that his or her name has been duly placed in nomination and will ascertain the candidate’s willingness to serve if elected. The nominating committee, only at the request of the candidate, may exclude from the ballot, the name of any qualified candidate presented by a Faculty Senate member.
e. Any Faculty Senate member may announce for any elected position by sending a memorandum to the Nominating Committee
f. Elections shall be by secret ballot. The Nominating Committee shall supervise this election closely. All ballots shall be counted at one meeting of the Nominating Committee.
g. A plurality of the votes cast is required to win an election.
h. The Nominating Committee shall post copies of the election results at convenient locations on the College Campus by listing the winner of each elective position.
3. Terms of Office
a. Persons elected to serve in the following positions shall begin their terms of office on the day before the Fall faculty in-service meetings and continue for one year. Those whose terms will be as specified are:
-President
-President-elect
-Secretary
-Treasurer
-Committee Members for Standing Committees
b. A member may serve in any office for any number of terms, but not more than two consecutive terms.
c. Any Faculty Senate member may present articles of impeachment against any officer at any regular meeting, but no action will ensue until the next regular meeting or a called meeting no sooner than thirty (30) days after the articles are presented. Removal of an officer requires a 2/3 majority vote for the entire membership of the Faculty Senate. Voting for an impeachment article(s) will be by secret ballot. Impeachment offenses shall be those that represent sufficiently serious actions as to justify this extreme step.
d. If an office is vacated during a school year, the Faculty Senate President shall appoint a replacement, which shall serve until the next regularly scheduled election.
e. If the vacancy exists in the office of the President, the President-elect will assume the office and will serve the remainder of the term and the regular term as planned. The new President will propose a President-elect nominee who will be confirmed by a vote of the Faculty Senate at the next meeting.
4. Meetings and Quorums
a. The Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate shall announce at the Fall Faculty In-Service Meeting, the tentative meeting dates for the academic year. A regular meeting of the Faculty Senate shall occur at least twice each semester during the fall and spring semesters and at such times as deemed necessary during the summer semester.
b. A quorum is constituted by those in attendance at any regular or called meeting.
c. The Executive Committee may call a special meeting of the Faculty Senate on one week’s written notice to the members of the Faculty Senate.
d. All Faculty Senate meetings and those of committee will be in accordance with Robert’s Rules of Order, latest edition.
e. Decisions of the Faculty Senate (except as noted elsewhere in these By-Laws) shall be by a simple majority, either by a show of hands or a voice vote. The presiding officer shall determine the outcome of the vote, but a simple majority of the members present may request and receive a secret ballot vote.
f. All constitutional amendments shall require approval of 2/3 vote of all the membership present or by proxy.
g. An absent Faculty Senate member may send a proxy vote by sending written notification to the Faculty Senate President identifying the issue or issues on which the vote is cast by proxy. This proxy statement must bear the name and signature of the absent member. A general proxy vote statement (I hereby give my proxy vote to _____________to vote as he/she believes right.) will be unacceptable.
5. Audit
An annual audit shall be conducted by a three-member committee appointed by the president.
ARTICLE VII
Ratification
This Constitution shall go into effect when it has been approved in an election by those who join the Faculty Senate in the Spring of 1990. The approving vote necessary for adoption of this Constitution shall be a simple majority of the votes cast for the ratifications.
ARTICLE VIII
Authentication
This Constitution is approved on the 28th of November, 1989.
FOR THE ADMINISTRATION: FOR THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES:
James R. Anderson, Ph.D. Riley J. Simpson
Chancellor President, Board of Trustees
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