SP.96.11
February 9, 1998

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
URBANA-CHAMPAIGN SENATE

University Statutes and Senate Procedures
(Final;Action)

SP.96.11 Proposed Changes to Senate Bylaws, Part A.5 (Meetings) and Part D 7(c) (Committee on Committees) to Eliminate the First Organizational Meeting

Background

The current Bylaws call for two organizational meetings of each new Senate to be held shortly after the general election of senators and before the last day of classes. At the first of these meetings, nominations for the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Senate Council and for members of the Committee on Committees are made. This meeting has become very perfunctory; in recent years, it was held in the 10 minutes immediately prior to the regularly scheduled Senate meeting in March. The following changes make this first meeting unnecessary.

Recommendations

The Senate Committee on University Statutes and Senate Procedures recommends approval of the following modifications to the Bylaws, Part A.5 and Part D 7(c).

In the amendments below, text to be deleted is in [square brackets] and text to be added is underscored.

Proposed Amendment to the Senate Bylaws, Part A.5: (a) [Two] One organizational meeting[s] shall be held after the general election of senators and before the last day of classes. All newly elected faculty and student senators, those faculty senators whose terms extend through the next year, and ex officio senators shall be eligible to participate.

(b) [At the first] Prior to this organizational meeting, nominations shall be made for the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Senate Council and for members of the Committee on Committees.

(c) The nomination and election of the Committee on Committees shall be as stated in Part D 7(c) of these Bylaws.

(d)

1. Nominations for Council officers shall be made by the incumbent Committee on Committees. Nominations may also be made [from the floor] by mail and must be accompanied by a consent to serve from the person nominated. Nominations by mail must be received in the Senate Office prior to the date set by the Senate Council. The nominations will make no distinction between Chair and Vice-Chair. [Each nominee must be present and state willingness to serve if elected or the nominator must present such a statement signed by the nominee.] If there are more than four nominees, ballots will be cast [at the nominating meeting] by mail to reduce the number of nominees to four. On such a ballot each voter may cast two non-cumulative votes.

2. The final election shall be by mail ballot. Each voter may cast one vote for Chair of the Senate Council. The nominator may provide a brief biographical sketch of each nominee for the ballot mailing.

3. The nominee receiving the highest number of votes shall be declared elected Chair, and the nominee receiving the second highest number of votes shall be declared elected Vice-Chair.

(e) As soon as the names of the nominees for a new Senate are known, the incumbent Committee on Committees will commence its work of nominating, as needed for the coming year, chairs and members of the other standing and ad hoc committees of the Senate and the Senate representatives to various other bodies. The Committee’s nominations shall be reported at the [second] organizational meeting of the new Senate. After nominations from the floor, the Senate shall hold the elections. Immediately after the election meeting, faculty committee chairs shall caucus and elect seven faculty members of the Senate Council from among the faculty senators who chair the standing and ad hoc committees of the Senate. The student members of the Senate shall elect the student members of the Council before the [second] organizational meeting.

(f) Certification of election results will be completed by the Senate Clerk entering those results in the minutes of the meeting.

(g) The organizational meeting[s] shall be supervised by the Senate Council, and the Chancellor or the Chancellor’s designee shall preside.

Proposed Amendment to the Senate Bylaws, Part D 7 c:

1. Nominations for the Committee on Committees shall be made by the incumbent Senate Council. Nominations may also be made [from the floor] by mail. Nominations [from the floor] by mail for faculty committee positions shall be made by faculty senators, and for student committee positions by student senators. Each nomination by mail shall [have the] be accompanied by the consent of the nominee.

2. If necessary, a preliminary [election] mail ballot shall be held to reduce the number of faculty or student nominees, as the case may be, to twice the number of positions to be filled. In any such preliminary [election] mail ballot, each student senator may vote for as many student nominees as there are student committee positions to be filled, and each faculty senator may vote for as many faculty nominees as there are faculty committee positions to be filled. Cumulative voting shall not be allowed.
3. The final election shall be by mail ballot. Unless fewer persons were nominated, the final ballot shall contain the names of twice as many faculty senators and twice as many student senators as there are faculty positions and student positions, respectively, to be filled, and among the students named there shall be at least two undergraduates if an undergraduate is to be elected and at least two graduate or professional students if a graduate or professional student is to be elected. If there was a preliminary [election] mail ballot, the names on the final ballot shall be those of the nominees receiving the highest numbers of votes. However, with respect to either the faculty nominees or the student nominees, the names on the final ballot from any college, school, division or institute shall not exceed one if fewer than three committee positions are to be filled, or two if more than two committee positions are to be filled. The names of persons barred from the final ballot by this provision shall be disregarded in determining which nominees received the highest numbers of votes on the nominating ballots.
4. On the final ballot each senator may vote both for as many faculty nominees as there are faculty positions to be filled, and for as many student nominees as there are student positions to be filled. Cumulative voting shall not be allowed. The faculty nominees and the student nominees receiving the highest numbers of votes shall be elected, except in cases where subsection (b) above would thereby be violated.

Senate Committee on
University Statutes and Senate Procedures
H. George Friedman, Jr., Chair
Carolyn Dry
Robert Fossum
Krishna Haney
Harry H. Hilton
Jason Konzelmann
Mark Roszkowski
Robert C. Damrau, ex officio
Thomas M. Eakman, Observer
C. K. Gunsalus, ex officio (designee)
Vera V. Mainz (PAC Liaison)