2. Committee Organization And Procedures
A. Members of committees shall work in the best interests of Central College as a whole and not based on personal or departmental interests.
B. Standing committees should conduct business with transparency and open lines of communication, seeking out expertise from interested and informed faculty or administrators, and disseminating committee work in regularly published public minutes. However, principles of confidentiality prevail in circumstances as required by institutional or faculty policy or employment law.
C. “Every faculty member has the right to attend and to be heard at any meeting of a standing committee. However, if there is business which cannot be handled apart from strict confidentiality, a committee may, for that purpose only, vote to meet in private session.” (Faculty Constitution FC.3.C)
D. Each standing committee shall fulfill its purpose by conducting business according to its faculty-approved charter. Committee operating procedures, including a list and sequence of specific duties, shall be maintained by each committee. At the end of each academic year, these documents should be reviewed and updated as needed.
E. Unless otherwise specified in faculty policies, faculty committees will operate by Robert’s Rules of Order.
F. A standing committee’s work for the year officially begins with the start of the academic year and, except in cases of extenuating circumstances, ends at commencement.
G. Standing committees shall adhere to the following principles of membership:
1. Each committee should include at least one tenured member of the Faculty.
2. A faculty member must fulfill membership requirements, including tenure, rank, and division, at the time of election.
3. Faculty members who are serving as department chairs or who have not yet completed their Year 2 review are not expected to serve on standing committees.
4. The Faculty affirms the principles of student representation, as appropriate, in faculty governance.
H. When a standing committee charter requires divisional representation, divisions shall be defined as follows:
1. Arts & Humanities Division: Art, English, History, Music, Modern Languages, Religion/Philosophy, Theater
2. Social Sciences Division: Communication Studies, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology/Anthropology, EAM, Education, Library
3. Natural Sciences Division: Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics/Computer Science, Physics & Engineering, Exercise Science
I. Each standing committee elects its officers, including chair and secretary.
1. Committees should strive for shared workload; to that end committees are encouraged to consider creating additional officers, such as a vice chair.
2. Elections of these officers are normally held at the start of the academic year but may be held at the end of the previous academic year.
3. Standing committee officers for a given academic year are elected by faculty members serving on the committee for that academic year.
4. Standing Committee chairs should normally hold tenure, but exceptions may be made in cases such as expertise, experience, or strong desire to chair. Individual standing committee charters may require the chair to be tenured.
5. Duties for officers include the following:
a. The chair of each standing committee shall set preliminary meeting agendas and give public notice of committee agendas, meeting times, and locations.
b. The secretary of each governance committee shall, in a timely manner, make meeting minutes available to the Faculty in the manner directed by the Faculty Steering Committee.
J. For each Faculty Trustee position at least two committee members must be nominated, as mandated by the Board of Trustees.
K. All committees have the right to request a forum; requests are submitted to the Faculty Steering Committee.
L. All standing committees have the right, in consultation with the Faculty Steering Committee, to form Ad hoc groups, with a specific charge and timeline, to assist with their work.
1. Ad hoc groups must include at least one member of the committee and may include non-committee members.
2. The standing committee’s minutes will include detailed updates of Ad hoc groups’ progress.
M. When a standing committee is preparing to recommend to the Faculty any proposal involving changes in the catalog or changes in policy, it should:
1. Take into consideration feedback from all affected and interested parties.
2. Submit their final proposal draft to the Faculty Steering Committee for its consideration and potential placement on a future faculty meeting agenda.
N. Each standing committee will submit to Faculty Steering Committee a brief update of its work each month to be distributed to the Faculty with the faculty meeting agenda.
O. At the end of the academic year, each standing will submit a written report to the chair of the Faculty Steering Committee. This report will identify ongoing work and agenda items for the following year.