SP.03.08

November 4, 2002

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

URBANA-CHAMPAIGN SENATE

University Statutes and Senate Procedures

(Final; Action)

SP.03.08 Housekeeping Revisions to the Standing Rules Revising Senate Council to Senate Executive Committee

BACKGROUND

In accord with SP.02.04 (Revisions to the Bylaws Part D.1 – Senate Council), approved by the Senate on December 3, 2001, in which the title of “Senate Council” was changed to “Senate Executive Committee” to more closely reflect the function of the committee, USSP proposes the following housekeeping revisions to the Standing Rules.

In accord with SP.95.04 (Proposed Bylaws Changes to Merge the Committees on University Statutes and Senate Procedures, Elections and Credentials, and Parliamentarians), approved by the Senate on January 29, 1996, the duties of the Committee on Elections and Credentials were assumed by USSP. A housekeeping revision to reflect this change occurs on line 4.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The Senate Committee on University Statutes and Senate Procedures recommends approval of the following revisions to the Standing Rules. Text to be deleted is indicated in [brackets] and text to be added is underscored.

PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE STANDING RULES

2. Petitions to Obtain Expressions of Opinion from the Faculty Electorate

A petition…to require the Senate to present a question to and obtain an expression of opinion from the faculty electorate…shall be delivered to the Clerk of the Senate. The Clerk shall refer it to the Senate [Council] Executive Committee and to the Committee on [Elections and Credentials] University Statutes and Senate Procedures. The Committee on University Statutes and Senate Procedures shall determine whether the petition does in fact contain the signatures of at least 200 members of the faculty electorate and shall report to the Senate [Council] Executive Committee. … If the number of valid signatures is found to be sufficient, the Senate [Council] Executive Committee shall then recommend to the Senate… The [Council’s] Executive Committee’s report to the Senate shall include the exact language of the petition delivered to the Clerk of the Senate.

… If the Senate’s determination is in the affirmative, the petition shall then be referred to the Senate [Council] Executive Committee for its recommendation…

…

5. Open Meetings Regulations

…

D.

1. Matters of business which are judged by the Senate [Council] Executive Committee to warrant a closed session of the Senate will ordinarily be placed last on the agenda….

6. Tellers

At the beginning of each meeting of the Senate, the Chair of the Senate [Council] Executive Committee shall announce the names of at least three senators to act as tellers.

…

10. Copying and Searching Senate Records

…

B. Senate committee agenda, minutes, and working documents which are not distributed to the Senate are not considered public documents. They are not available for distribution except to the members of the originating committee and to the Senate [Council] Executive Committee, without the express consent of the originating committee.

…

E. Reasonable searching and copying of Senate records are provided by the Clerk of the Senate. Requests for such service must allow a sufficient amount of time. If necessary, priorities will be assigned in the following order: Senate [Council] Executive Committee Chair, Senate Committee Chairs, other senators, other persons. The Senate [Council] Executive Committee Chair will resolve any differences that may arise.

11. Election of a Senate [Council] Executive Committee Member from the Committee on the University Senates Conference

At its [second] organizational meeting, each new Senate shall elect one member of the Committee on the University Senates Conference to serve on the Senate [Council] Executive Committee, as provided in Bylaws D 1(b) and D 17 (a)…