FS Constitution

The members of the faculty at the University of Houston established this constitution to provide an instrument for cooperative action in attaining such ends as the members may select.

Principles. Shared governance is the collective commitment of the faculty and administration at the University of Houston to work cooperatively, together with other University constituencies, to achieve a common vision of excellence for the University. Successful shared governance requires an active partnership at all levels of the enterprise, from individual programs to the overall University, to provide a basis for joint participation in setting priorities and formulating policy. Effective implementation of shared governance depends on mutual trust, shared confidence, and on-going communication between faculty and administrators, informed by an appreciation of their interdependent roles and responsibilities.

Faculty Role in Shared Governance. The faculty provides the excellence in teaching and research that determines the quality and reputation of the University. The faculty has a major role in devising academic policies, establishing performance standards, and in protecting academic freedom. Therefore, the faculty has the primary responsibility for curricular matters and degree programs. Recommendations about appointments, retention, and post-tenure review are a central faculty responsibility. The faculty has significant input in the formulation of budget priorities, including compensation policies. The faculty has a major role in the selection and review of administrators at all levels of the University. The faculty assists in setting goals to improve the quality of campus life, the surrounding community and the national academic standing of the institution.

Article One--Membership

Section One--The Faculty Senate shall consist of 52 permanent members elected by the faculty in the manner provided below. In any year, if the president's or the immediate past president's term as senator shall have expired, that person shall be designated senator-at-large and the total membership shall be 53 or 54, during which time the apportionment of senators by college shall not be affected.

Section Two--University of Houston faculty members who meet the eligibility criteria described in the bylaws may serve as members of the Faculty Senate, except those with the administrative rank of assistant dean or above.

Section Three--The unit by which representation shall be determined is the college, and not subdivisions thereof. For this purpose the following units are deemed to be colleges, with the current number of senators indicated in parentheses: Architecture (one), Business Administration (four), Education (four), Engineering (five), Graduate College of Social Work (one), Hotel and Restaurant Management (one), Law Center (three), Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (sixteen), Library (three), Natural Sciences and Mathematics (ten), Optometry (one), Pharmacy (two), and Technology (one).

All regular voting members of a college are eligible to vote in elections for senatorial positions. Elections must be by secret ballot.

Section Four--The Senate shall reapportion itself immediately before the 1980 election, and each fourth year thereafter. Reapportionment shall be made in the proportion which the number of eligible faculty in the said colleges bears to the total number of the eligible faculty in the said colleges, but each college shall be entitled to at least one member. Librarians are counted in the same manner as other faculty.

    If a new college is established, the Senate shall make provision for its representation at the next following election by one senator. If a college is discontinued, it shall cease to be represented. If a college is divided, its representatives shall be divided among the newly created colleges. If two colleges are merged, the successor college shall have the same representation as was previously held by the two separate entities. The apportionment of senators shall not be affected by the creation, division, merger, or termination of colleges until the next apportionment provided for in this article.

    Section Five--Elections to the Senate shall be for a term of three years, beginning on January 1. In the event of a vacancy, a special election shall be held to fill the unexpired term.

    Section Six--Regular elections shall be held in the fall semester prior to October 31 of each year for the terms then expiring. The dean or other officer in charge of each college shall certify the results of such elections to the secretary of the Faculty Senate.

Special elections to fill unexpired Senate terms shall be held within 60 days after a senator has resigned. The months of May, June, July, and August shall not be used in computing the 60-day period. Unexpired terms exceeding three months may be filled only by election. Unexpired terms of less than three months may be filled temporarily by an individual appointed by either the dean of the college or a college governance organization, at the end of which time a successor will be elected.

    So as to avoid prolonged lapses in representation, a senator who goes on leave and is absent from academic duties, or is for any other reason away from the university, for a period exceeding the summer plus one long (i.e. Fall or Spring) semester shall relinquish his/her senatorial position and a special election shall be held to select a replacement. When the absence does not exceed the summer plus one long semester, the senatorial position may, and for periods of more than two months should, be filled temporarily by an individual appointed by either the dean of the college or a college governance organization.

    Section Seven--Members of the Senate shall be eligible for reelection.

    Section Eight--In the event that a college fails to fill a senatorial position within the time periods provided in this article, the Senate shall conduct an election in accordance with the election rules and procedures normally utilized by that college.

    Section Nine--The Senate shall be the final judge in the conduct and validation of the election and the qualifications of its members.

    Section Ten--If a college loses a seat due to reapportionment, it shall be the one with the shortest term of office still remaining. In order that one-third of the Senate seats, or the nearest fraction thereto, are subject to election each year, terms of less than three years may be utilized as part of a reapportionment.

Article Two--Officers

    Section One--The Senate shall have a president, a president-elect, and a secretary. These officers shall be members of the Senate and shall be elected by the Senate for a term of one year, provided that their terms of office shall not end sooner than the election of their successors. The duties of these officers may be provided for in the bylaws. The bylaws may provide for other officers.

    Section Two--One or more deputies may be appointed by the secretary of the Faculty Senate to assist in the discharge of the duties as secretary of the Senate. Such deputies need not be members of the Senate or the faculty.

    Section Three--If the Office of the President becomes vacant, the president-elect shall become president. If the office of president-elect or secretary becomes vacant, a new election shall be held to determine the successor.

Article Three--Executive Committee

Section One--The Executive Committee shall consist of the president-elect, the president, the immediate past-president, and the secretary of the Faculty Senate, two members elected by the Senate, the chair of the Faculty Governance Committee and the chairs of Senate standing committees. The president of the Faculty Senate shall act as presiding officer of the Executive Committee, and the secretary of the Faculty Senate shall act as the secretary of the Executive Committee. Members of the Executive Committee shall serve one-year terms, provided that their terms shall not end sooner than the selection of their successors.

    To coordinate the efforts of the shared governance structure and increase its effectiveness, the Executive Committee shall invite the chairs of the Graduate and Professional Studies Council, the Research Council, the Undergraduate Council, and the Staff Council to serve on it as non-voting ex-officio members.

    Section Two--The Executive Committee shall direct the activities of the Faculty Senate. The president of the Senate shall appoint committees with the advice and consent of the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee shall prepare the agenda for the meeting of the Senate and shall propose to the Senate appropriate committee structure and other devices to carry out the business of the Senate.

    Section Three--The Faculty Senate may at its discretion, by a majority of those present and voting, empower the Executive Committee or any other committee of the Senate, to act for it in any particular matter, or any well-defined class of matters. Such power may be rescinded at any time.

    Section Four--The president of the Faculty Senate shall be responsible for communicating the actions of the Senate to the appropriate administrative authorities of the university. Prior to such communication, however, the Executive Committee shall be empowered to refer back to the Senate any action for further consideration at the next or subsequent meeting as the Senate may determine provided, however, that the same matter shall not be referred back hereunder a second time.

    Section Five--If an at-large member of the Senate Executive Committee resigns, the Executive Committee may fill the vacancy by the appointment of a member of the Faculty Senate.

Section Six--In the spirit of shared governance and to increase its effectiveness, the Executive Committee shall meet with the Chancellor/President, the Senior Vice Chancellor/Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, the Executive Vice Chancellor/Executive Vice President for Administration and Finance, and other senior administrators on a regular basis. The Executive Committee shall prepare the agenda for these meetings.

Article Four--Faculty Governance Committee

Section One--The Faculty Governance Committee shall consist of the president of the Senate, the president-elect of the Senate, the immediate past-president of the Senate, and six members elected by the Senate. No more than one member of the committee, excluding the ex officio members, shall come from any one college. The immediate past-president will serve as chair of the committee. If the immediate past-president is unwilling or unable to serve, the Senate shall elect an additional member to the committee, and the committee members will select their own chair from among the elected members of the committee. If a member of the committee resigns, the Senate Executive Committee may fill the vacancy by appointment of a member of the Faculty Senate.

Section Two--The committee is charged with the responsibility of regularly reviewing faculty governance within the University and making recommendations on improvements when needed.

    Section Three--No later than June 1 of each year, the Senate shall have completed the appointment of faculty members to standing committees and shall forward the names of appointees to the appropriate administrators.

    Section Four--The committee shall notify the Senate of nominations of faculty members to serve on committees or similar groups other than standing committees. The committee shall nominate to the spring Assembly of the Faculty names for positions to be filled on the Faculty Grievance Committee. (For composition of membership, see Bylaw Seven.) Additional nominations may be made from the floor at the spring assembly. The committee shall promptly proceed to conduct a campus-wide election, and then to publicize the results. If a vacancy occurs on the Grievance Committee, the Faculty Governance Committee shall appoint a replacement for the portion of the term remaining until the next scheduled election.

    Section Five--Except as provided elsewhere, the Faculty Governance Committee shall oversee the election of Faculty Senate officers. At the last regular meeting of the Senate in November, the committee shall present two nominations for the positions of president-elect and secretary, and four nominations for the two at-large positions on the executive committee. The committee shall also present eight nominees to fill the six elective positions on the Faculty Governance Committee. Following the presentation of the slate, the chair of the committee shall call for additional nominations to be made from the floor. Senators whose term of office is about to expire and who have not been re-elected to an additional term by October 31 are eligible for election to the Faculty Governance Committee, but not the other positions. The election shall take place at the first regular meeting of the Senate in December. At the discretion of the committee, absentee balloting may be allowed.

Article Five--Assembly of the Faculty

    Section One--All eligible faculty members at the University of Houston shall be eligible to attend the Assembly of the Faculty.

    Section Two--Assemblies of the Faculty shall be held at least once each fall and spring semester at the call of the president of the Faculty Senate. Additional meetings shall be called by the president of the Senate upon petition by five members of the Senate or 25 faculty members, or by action of the Executive Committee.

    Section Three--One of the purposes of the Assemblies of the Faculty shall be to report to the faculty the actions of the Senate since the last Assembly of the Faculty. The Executive Committee of the Senate shall prepare the agenda for the Assembly of the Faculty. The agenda shall provide for the introduction of business at the meeting by any faculty member. The president of the Faculty Senate or the person discharging the duties of the president shall act as the chair of the Assembly of the Faculty. The secretary of the Faculty Senate shall act as secretary of the Assembly of the Faculty.

    Section Four--The quorum for meetings of the Assembly of the Faculty shall consist of forty eligible faculty.

Article Six--Meetings and Voting

    Section One--The Senate shall meet at least once a month during the regular nine-month school year.

    Section Two--The first regular meeting will be held in January, after the beginning of the spring semester.

    Section Three--Prior to the February meeting, the Executive Committee shall present a calendar of regular meetings for the remainder of the calendar year. The Executive Committee, with due notice, may either alter the calendar of regular meetings or call special meetings. Upon the written petition of at least 10 senators, a special meeting must be called.

    Section Four--One-half of the members of the Senate shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

    Section Five--All meetings shall be conducted according to parliamentary laws as set forth in the latest edition of Roberts' Rules of Order, except where a contrary rule is provided by this constitution, or by the bylaws, or by any standing rules.

    Section Six--Any faculty member may petition the Executive Committee to be permitted to address the Faculty Senate in regard to any matter within the Senate's competence. Such appearance shall be subject to limitations of time as provided by the Senate, but permission hereunder shall be granted as freely as the due conduct of the Senate's business shall permit.

    Section Seven--Except where the constitution or bylaws provide otherwise, all elections and matters voted upon shall be determined by a majority of those voting.

    Section Eight--Written ballots shall be used for elections. Other matters will be determined by a show of hands unless written ballots are requested by at least three members of the Senate.

Article Seven--Bylaws

    Section One--The Senate may adopt or amend bylaws as follows:

    (1) At a regular meeting of the Faculty Senate by a majority vote provided, however, that notice of such bylaw or amendment to a bylaw must have been given a reading in the exact form in which it is finally adopted at the previous regular meeting or

    (2) If the proposed bylaw, having been read at the previous meeting, is amended by a majority vote of the Senate subsequent to its reading, it may be adopted by a two-thirds vote of those present.

Article Eight--Amending Process

    Section One--This constitution may be amended only as follows:

    (1) At a regular meeting of the Faculty Senate by a two-thirds vote of the members present provided, however, that notice of such amendment must have been given by a reading of the amendment, in the exact form in which it is finally adopted, at the previous regular meetings,

    (2) By a written three-fourths vote of the total membership of the Senate, or

    (3) By a three-fourths vote of those members present at an Assembly of the Faculty provided, however, that notice of such amendment must have been given by a reading of the amendment, in the exact form in which it is finally adopted, at a meeting of the Assembly of the Faculty at least 30 days previously.

Bylaws

ONE --An eligible faculty member is a full-time, tenured or tenure-track faculty member or a full-time Library faculty member of the University of Houston.

    THREE--The Executive Committee shall act as the Credentials Committee to decide questions arising in connection with credentials of members of the Senate. In order to promote effective representation for all colleges, the president may invite any member who misses three or more meetings during a calendar year to consider resigning from the Faculty Senate.

    FOUR--All members of standing committees shall be appointed from the membership of the Faculty Senate. The Senate standing committees are: the Budget and Facilities Committee, which shall conducts a continuing review of the university's financial resources, including the ways in which such resources are actually spent; the Educational Policies and Student Affairs Committee, which shall review and recommend policy concerning the substance and presentation of undergraduate and graduate education, shall review the operations of the appropriate administrative offices with respect to the implementation of existing policy and the promulgation of policy changes, and which shall create and maintain more effective coordination and cooperation with student organizations at the University of Houston, shall be concerned with the improvement of campus life, and shall review the operations of the administrative offices responsible for the promulgation of policies concerning student and campus life; the Faculty Affairs Committee, which shall review and recommend policy concerning the conditions of faculty employment, the updating of the Faculty Handbook, and shall review the operations of the appropriate administrative officials with respect to the implementation of existing policy and the promulgation of policy changes; the Scholarship & Community Committee, which shall serve as liaison between the Faculty Senate and both the internal university community and the various external-local and regional—communities that the University serves. The committee shall assist faculty in three areas: promoting scholarly activities; conducting scholarly activities; and communicating scholarly activites.

    The Budget and Facilities Committee chair shall be a member of the UH Faculty Advisory Committee on Purchasing and Plant Operations. The Faculty Affairs Committee chair or designee shall be a member of the UH Faculty Advisory Committee on Human Resources.

    FIVE--Minutes for regular Faculty Senate meetings will be provided to each senator before the next regular meeting; copies will be available to others upon request from the Faculty Senate office. Minutes for special meetings will be prepared promptly and distributed in the same manner as the minutes of regular meetings.

    SIX--When the Senate is requested to nominate faculty members to serve on any committee or other body for which members are not nominated by the Faculty Governance Committee, the power to nominate rests with the president of the Senate. All nominations shall be promptly communicated by the president to the Executive Committee and the Faculty Governance Committee.

    SEVEN--The Faculty Grievance Committee has thirteen faculty representatives who are elected by the entire faculty to three-year terms of office, with approximately one-third of the membership being replaced each year. If a member resigns, a replacement is appointed by the Faculty Governance Committee to serve until the next annual election. Those then elected serve out the original term of office (see Article Four). The nominees should be broadly representative of the diversity in the faculty and in the academic perspectives.   No more than three members shall be from the same college when said college has 200 or more full-time, tenured or tenure-track faculty and no more than two members shall be from the same college when said college has fewer than 200 full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty. The Faculty Governance Committee shall nominate at least two candidates more than the vacancies. Recognizing the value of participation in the grievance process by members of each college, the Faculty Governance Committee shall work with due diligence to include a candidate from each college without a continuing member on the Grievance Committee. In consideration of the burdens of the committee, election to the Grievance Committee shall constitute a resignation from other university level committees unless the elected member otherwise specifically requests.

    The members of the Grievance Committee must be full-time tenured faculty with the rank of associate professor or higher or senior associate librarians or higher. Members of the administration, including deans or directors, assistant or associate deans or directors, and department chairs, are not eligible to be members of the committee.

    The University Grievance Committee exists as the final faculty body to which a faculty grievance may be submittedincluding a decision for nonrenewal of contract of a nontenured faculty member if the appeal is based upon procedural issues including the allegation that adequate consideration of the individual's qualifications was not given or that considerations violative of the individual's academic freedom contributed significantly in the decision not to renew the contract.

    EIGHT-- The president and president-elect or their representatives shall serve as Senate representatives to the University Faculties Executive Council [UFEC]. Each representative shall serve until the end of the calendar year, or until replaced. A Senate representative may continue to serve even if the Senator's term of office has expired.

    NINE--The Senate is a member of the Texas Council of Faculty Senates (TCoFS), a state-wide organization composed of state colleges and universities. The two representatives to TCoFS shall be the president and president-elect of the Senate.

    TEN--The president of the Faculty Senate, the president-elect of the Faculty Senate and the chair of the Faculty Governance Committee are members of the University Coordinating Commission (UCC) which shall operate to coordinate and expedite communication among faculty, staff, students, and the administration in the development of policies and procedures.

    ELEVEN--The Senate is a member of the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics. The delegate to, and an alternate for, the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics (CoIA) will be elected by the UH Faculty Senate for two-year terms. The elections will be held as necessary at the same meeting as the other officers each year. The delegate and alternate must be members of the Faculty Senate at the time of their election. In the event that neither can attend a meeting of CoIA, the Faculty Senate Executive Committee may appoint another Faculty Senate member as the UH representative for that meeting. (The first year's delegate and alternate will be elected at the first UH Faculty Senate meeting after membership in CoIA is accepted and they will hold office until the next induction of new officers of the Faculty Senate.)

   TWELVE--In situations where there is the possibility of eliminating or drastically reducing academic departments or programs with the result that faculty might be terminated, the president of the Faculty Senate will appoint an ad hoc committee representing the academic interests of the campus. This committee will participate actively in deliberations and proceedings concerning possible reduction or elimination. Committee participation shall be timely and shall afford ample opportunity for the Faculty Senate to represent adequately its viewpoints prior to final decision.

Constitution of the Faculty Senate