The Constitution of the College Assembly
ARTICLE I
Establishment and Purpose of the Assembly
To ensure responsible and effective participation on the part of the faculty in the governance of the College of Social Sciences, a College Assembly is hereby established to have such membership, functions and operational procedures as described in the following articles. This Assembly will discuss and vote upon proposals presented to it, and make recommendations as appropriate.
ARTICLE II
Membership
The membership of the Assembly shall be composed of the dean, the assistant/associate dean, and all full-time members of the faculty. Full-time faculty members have one (1) vote and half-time faculty members have one-half (1/2) vote.
Student representation by department shall be according to the following scale:
|
Majors 1-150 |
Representatives 1 |
Student representation shall be enumerated for each department by the Office of Institutional Research on or about the last day in September of each academic year and the election of the students shall occur as outlined in the departmental protocols. Student representatives have one (1) vote.
All members of the Assembly shall consider it their primary concern to promote the greater and more universal good with respect to Loyola University as a whole.
ARTICLE III
Functions of the Assembly
The College Assembly shall consider policies for the College of Social Sciences. The College Assembly can make recommendations in all matters affecting the educational excellence of the college, including
- Academic requirements for admission
- Retention and graduation of students
- Curriculum
- Methods of instruction
- Student evaluation of instruction
- Examinations
Norms for appointment, rank, promotion, and tenure of faculty
- Specification of duties associated with faculty status
- Educational budgeting (for library, faculty, supplies, etc.)
- Existing or prospective physical resources (purchases, construction, renovation of buildings, etc.)
Priorities in the operating budget
Policy with respect to long-range planning.
College committees shall make an annual report to the Assembly. College representatives to university committees should keep the dean and the Assembly abreast of matters (where appropriate) affecting the budget, faculty or resources.
Proposals ratified by the College Assembly in these areas shall be forwarded to the appropriate authority.
ARTICLE IV
Officers of the Assembly
The officers of the Assembly shall be the president, the secretary, and the parliamentarian.
The dean of the college is, ex officio, president of the Assembly
The duties and authority of the president shall be the following:
To preside at meetings of the Assembly;
To schedule meetings for the third Thursday of each month in the window. A meeting may be canceled by the dean if there is no motion on the floor and no other business. A meeting may also be scheduled when one-third of the directors and chairs request by signed petition; or whenever one-third of the total membership requests a meeting by signed petition;
To prepare the agenda with the assistance of the Council of Directors and Chairs;
To distribute, with the assistance of the secretary, the minutes of the meetings and the agenda of forthcoming meetings, together with pertinent information on the matters scheduled for action;
To recognize non-members attending the Assembly who wish to speak at the president's discretion.
In the absence of the president, he or she shall designate an acting president.
The secretary shall be appointed by the president.
The duties of the secretary shall be to record the minutes of the meetings of the Assembly and to assist the president in the distribution of the agenda and of the minutes. The minutes shall be distributed to the members before the next meeting and be subject to approval at that meeting.
The parliamentarian shall be appointed by the president, subject to the approval of the Assembly.
ARTICLE V
Procedure for Meetings of the Assembly
1. Quorum
A quorum required and sufficient for voting shall be constituted by a simple majority of the membership of the Assembly, inclusive of the president.
2. Majority
a. Except as otherwise stated in the Constitution, by-laws, or other statutes of the college, and except as required by standard rules of parliamentary procedure, a resolution or motion is passed in a meeting at which a quorum is present.
b. In the election of persons, a plurality of the votes cast shall be sufficient unless a majority is expressly required by particular statute.
3. Agenda
The president and the Council of Directors and Chairs shall determine the agenda for the Assembly.
4. Action
All items on the agenda may be voted upon at that meeting if the relevant documents relating to the agenda items have been distributed to the Assembly members at least five working days prior to the meeting.
5. Rules of Order
a. Robert's Rules of Order are adopted as normative in matters of order and parliamentary procedure at the meetings of the Assembly, except as follows: When there shall be present for a meeting of the Assembly a number equal to at least one-third of the full-time faculty members of the College but less than a quorum as described in para. 1 above, the Assembly may, by majority vote of those present, resolve itself into a Committee. The Committee so established may do the following but no more: discuss and debate the items of the agenda; offer proposals to be voted upon my mail ballot by the entire membership of the Assembly; establish committees to study matters of concern to the Assembly, any such committee being charged with reporting to the entire membership of the Assembly.
b. Each year the parliamentarian will recommend that the Assembly follow a particular edition of Robert's Rules of Order. The edition must be in print or generally available. Absent a majority vote of members present and voting to overrule the parliamentarian's recommendation, that recommendation is accepted.
ARTICLE VI
Voting at Assembly Meetings
In order to vote at Assembly meetings, members must be either present or submit notification in writing to the secretary designating who in that member's voting unit may cast his or her proxy. Proxies are allowed only for members teaching a regularly scheduled class that conflicts with the meeting time of the Assembly and for faculty absent on University business. The proxy must be submitted one working day in advance of the meeting.
When in doubt of the outcome of a voice vote, the president of the Assembly can request a roll call by department; ten (10) or more members of the Assembly may also request a roll call vote by department.
ARTICLE VII
Adoption, Amendment, Interpretation
These statutes shall be valid and operative from the time of their approval and adoption by the provost/vice president for academic affairs of Loyola University.
Amendment of these articles shall be effected by a two-thirds majority of the votes cast at a meeting in accordance with the provision of Article V.4, and shall be valid and effective upon ratification by the provost/academic vice president.
The authority to interpret the articles and by-laws is vested in the president of the Assembly.
The Assembly is empowered to adopt by-laws for its operations by vote of a simple majority of the Assembly.