FACULTY ADVISORY COMMITTEE
ARTICLES OF PROCEDURE
(Amended and adopted, August 29, 2001.)
- Any faculty member or retired faculty member may voice a suggestion or request consideration of a grievance to any member of the FAC. No committee member may refuse to hear such suggestion or grievance. Any matter thus presented shall be promptly reported to the FAC. A member of the faculty or a retired member may also request FAC attention to any matter in the interest of the University and specifically to any grievance. The FAC distinguishes between consultations and cases. The initial consultation stage involves collection of information about the basic facts and issues related to a suggestion or grievance. If after review at the consultation stage the FAC judges the matter to be within its scope, it may instruct the chair to (a) take up the matter with appropriate University authorities, or (b) appoint a subcommittee from its membership which shall investigate and report its findings and recommendations to the committee. The FAC prefers to investigate a suggestion or grievance after all other University avenues of appeal have been exhausted. Further, the faculty member submitting a grievance should be informed of the inadvisability of concurrent investigations of his/her case by other University or external channels and the FAC.
- The committee shall review the subcommittee report and take one or more of the following actions:
- (a) Return it to the subcommittee with appropriate instructions.
- (b) Arrange meetings of the committee with parties concerned.
- (c) Instruct the chair to take up the matter with appropriate University authorities.
- (d) Accept the subcommittee report.
- (e) Communicate its conclusions to the faculty member and to appropriate administrators and others, as listed at the bottom of the communication.
- (f) Dismiss the matter.
- (g) Take any action it deems desirable in the best interest of the faculty member involved and of the University.
- Whenever the committee reaches a recommendation that administrative action affecting a grievance should be taken, appropriate parties to the grievance shall be notified promptly and given the opportunity to bring to the committee's attention within a reasonable time any mis- understandings which might have affected the committee's con-clusions, or bring to the committee's attention any additional information relevant to the inquiry.
- A recommendation involving administrative action will be accompanied by the request that the matter be considered within thirty (30) days and the committee informed of the outcome.
- A chair is elected by a majority vote of the entire committee. The chair may designate a chair pro tempore to conduct official business of the committee in his/her absence. As an elected member, the chair shall have one vote on all questions, except as noted in Article 6 below.
- A member of the committee shall be disqualified, either by his/her own initiative or by a majority vote of the committee, from voting on any matter with elements of conflicting interest. On those occasions when the chair might be deemed to have a conflict of interest, a chair pro tempore shall be designated to conduct official business of the committee.
- A committee member shall accept no gifts from any party to a grievance.
- Five members shall constitute a quorum. Approval by a majority of those members present shall be required for adoption of any measure, except in the cases of public statements, member replacements, or amendments to these articles, as indicated below. A minority may file a statement to accompany any recommendation by the majority.
- Any matter coming before the committee shall be held confidential. There may be circum-stances in which one or more of the persons concerned and the committee agree otherwise. If this should occur or if a public statement is made concerning the committee's role in the matter, confidentiality will continue to be maintained for those aspects of the matter not mentioned in the public statement. Any public statement made by the committee in such circumstances shall be made by the chair or his/her appointee and shall have prior approval by a majority (5) of the entire committee. If litigation should occur in a matter before the committee and it becomes impossible to avoid disclosure of documents or testimony because of court orders, the committee as a body or any member of the committee must comply.
- At the request of the chair, and with the approval of a majority (5) of the committee members, a former member may be recalled to participate in current committee deliberations and actions involving a case in which he/she previously performed a principal role. During such deliberations, the former member shall be accorded the same rights and obligations of committee membership outlined in these procedures, except that he/she shall not be counted in determining a quorum nor have voting privileges.
- In accordance with the FAC File Policy, committee minutes and records shall be considered confidential and open to in-spection only for reasons satisfactory to the committee and authorized by it in writing. The committee's minutes and final communications shall be kept on file in the FAC Office for no less than 20 years. (Copies of the committee's File Policy are available upon request from the FAC Office, 228 English Building.)
- The committee shall report to the faculty annually and at such other times as it may deem appropri- ate. Copies of such reports shall be sent to the Provost and/or Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs, the Chancellor, the President, and the Clerk of the Senate.
- When a member of the Faculty Advisory Committee resigns, he/she will be replaced by the eligible person who received the highest number of votes among those who failed to be elected in the most recent election. The replacing member will complete the term of the member being replaced.
- The chair of the committee may, with the approval of a majority (5) of the committee members, request the resignation and replacement of a committee member who fails to attend committee meetings regularly and otherwise to participate fully in the work of the committee.
- These articles of procedure may be amended at any time by a majority vote of the entire committee.
CHAIR: Jefffrey O. Dawson, W-503 Turner Hall, 333-9281, jdawson2@uiuc.edu
OFFICE: Christa Pritchard, 228 English Building, 333-7373, cjpp@uiuc.edu