Article I (Identification and Purpose)
1. The Faculty Senate is the official body of the faculty at the College of Southern Idaho.
2. The Senate initiates, considers, and recommends policy relating to the Faculty and College.
3. The Senate provides a forum for faculty concerns.
Article II (Membership)
1. The membership of the Senate consists of all Faculty at the College of Southern Idaho as specified by the By-laws.
Article III (Executive Committee)
1. The Faculty Senate Executive Committee considers all faculty concerns that are brought before it. It initiates and recommends policies to the Faculty Senate at large.
2. The makeup of and election procedures for the Executive Committee are specified in the By-laws.
3. The Executive Committee selects officers and committees as specified in the By-laws.
4. Functions and terms of Executive Committee members are specified in the By-laws.
5. Dismissal of any Executive Committee member requires an affirmative vote of a majority of the membership of the Faculty Senate.
Article IV (Rank Committee)
1. The Rank Committee consists of four voting members: two technical and two academic senior faculty. Members are elected for three-year terms on a rotating basis.
Article V (Meetings)
1. A meeting of the Senate requires a quorum of members, as specified in the By-laws.
2. There shall be at least one meeting each semester held during the in-service faculty session.
3. Additional meetings may be called by the Senate Chairperson.
4. Additional meetings may also be called by petition from at least ten percent of the membership.
2. The Senate may adopt, remove, or change By-laws to this Constitution by an affirmative vote of a majority of the members present at a meeting or a majority of ballots returned with a mail ballot vote.
Faculty Senate By-Laws (as amended 10/28/08)
Membership
All full-time and part-time faculty serving under a faculty contract (as determined by the appropriate instructional dean or the Executive Vice President /Chief Academic Officer) are members of the Faculty Senate, hereinafter referred to as the Senate.
Elected Committees
1. The Executive Committee consists of nine Senate members. At its last meeting of the calendar year, it selects from itself a Chair and a Secretary to serve through the following calendar year.
The Chair serves as President of the Senate and may schedule regular meetings of that body or call special meetings by announcement disseminated to all Senate members with at least five working days’ notice (except as provided in Article V, Paragraph 4a of the Faculty Senate Constitution). The Secretary serves as Secretary of the Senate. Other duties of the Chair and the Secretary are determined by the Executive Committee.
The Executive Committee convenes ad hoc committees to address special issues and appoints willing Senate members to serve on campus-wide committees.
The Senate elects three new members to the Executive Committee each year – one from the professional-technical faculty, one from the academic faculty, and one from the Senate membership at large. Their terms begin on the first day of January following their election.
2. The Rank Committee is comprised as specified in the Faculty Senate Constitution. At its last meeting of the academic year, the Rank Committee selects from itself a Chair to serve through the following academic year.
The Senate elects two members to the Rank Committee in each of two elections in every three-year period. Their terms begin on the first day of August following their election.
3. The Senate elects two members to represent it on the Strategic Planning Committee – one academic and one professional-technical – every third year. Their terms begin on the first day of January following their election.
4. All elected committee members serve a three-year term. There are no term limits. Dismissal of any elected committee member requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the membership of the Senate.
5. Any newly-elected committee member shall be from the same faculty branch – professional-technical or academic – as that from which the departing member was originally elected.
Election Procedures
1. Each year, the Executive Committee convenes a Nominating Committee of five members – two professional-technical faculty, two academic faculty and a member of the Executive Committee at large to serve as its Chair. This committee identifies Senate members willing to serve on elected committees, and nominates them to fill positions being vacated in the normal course of the expiration of the terms of sitting members. It also accepts nominations to these positions from the Senate membership at large.
2. The Nominating Committee produces a ballot listing the nominees for each elected position and providing for a write-in vote for each position. The slates of nominees for each committee are presented separately on the same ballot.
3. A secret ballot is made available to the Senate membership on the first Monday of December. The tabulation of the vote is certified by the Chair of the Nominating Committee and the Secretary of the Executive Committee based on ballots received by the following Friday afternoon at 4PM MST. The time and location of this certification is communicated to the Senate membership on the ballot itself, and any Senate member may be present for the certification. All ballots shall be preserved with the records of the Senate for at least three years.
4. All tie votes are decided by the toss of a coin by the Secretary of the Executive Committee or other Executive Committee member in the Secretary’s absence.
Untimely Vacancies
1. Any untimely vacancy within an elected committee shall be filled by the person receiving the next highest number of votes for that specific position (be it academic, professional-technical or at-large) on the original ballot. In the event that no willing person can be so identified by the Executive Committee, that committee shall nominate willing Senate members of the appropriate faculty branch to the position, subject to election by the Senate by secret ballot at its next meeting.
2. Persons filling vacancies on any elected committee shall serve out the remainder of the term of the original occupant of the vacant position.
Meeting Quorum
1. Faculty Senate decisions shall be made by simple majority (more than fifty percent) of those members present and voting at any regularly scheduled or properly announced Senate meeting.
2. Decisions of any elected committee shall be made by a simple majority of its sitting membership voting at any regularly scheduled or properly announced meeting of the committee.
3. Parliamentary procedures as in Roberts Rules of Order shall be used for all Senate meetings.