Constitution

Academic Senate By-Laws

  1. The spirit of the Academic Senate calls for its work to be carried out in open meetings and collaborative fashion, whenever possible and appropriate. Senate meetings and meetings of Senate committees are open. A meeting can be closed by a simple majority of members present (3/1999).
  2. The Academic Senate, or the Executive Committee at its own discretion, may decide that any specific question shall be voted on by mail or electronic (5/2016) ballot of all members of the Senate (4/1986).
  3. Selection of Associate Faculty to serve as voting members of the Academic Senate
    1. In the first week of classes, the Academic Senate Vice President will request the email addresses of all Associate Faculty from Academic Affairs.
    2. By the third week of classes, the Academic Senate Vice President will email these faculty members asking whether they would like to serve as voting members of the Academic Senate, with the understanding that only up to fifteen faculty can serve. The email would indicate that voting would require regular attendance at Academic Senate.
    3. The Academic Senate Executive Committee will vote to approve up to fifteen voting members from the list of volunteers. The associate faculty voting members should, as much as possible, be representative of the faculty of the various colleges, schools, and the library.
    4. At the second Academic Senate meeting of the semester, or the earliest possible Academic Senate meeting, the elected voting Associate faculty members will be announced (1/2016).
  4. From time to time the Academic Senate Executive Committee is asked to appoint or nominate faculty members to a committee or task force of the University Faculty Council, the Regional Faculty Caucus or other IU-wide organization. Whenever possible, the Executive Committee shall choose a current or recent faculty member of a standing Senate committee with a related area of responsibility. If none is available, the Executive Committee shall choose a faculty member with a related body of experience and expertise. These nominations and appointments will be announced at the following regular Senate meeting (2/2019).
  5. Ex officio and student members of standing, elected, or specially constituted committees of the Academic Senate typically serve in an advisory role and therefore are non-voting members of those committees, unless this Constitution provides otherwise or unless the committee itself grants voting status for the current academic year to an ex officio or student member by a vote usually to be held in the committee's first meeting of that year. As stated in Article VII, Section 2, no more than two members of a particular committee may be granted voting powers in this way except where the Constitution states otherwise (2/2019).