Senate Decision Protocol


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Protocol One: Submission

(Protocol for a new proposal, concept, or idea related to instruction that requires Senate to create an ad hoc campus exploratory committee)

  • Step 1: Submit agenda items to Academic Senate President or Academic Senate Secretary per instructions in the “Call for Agenda Items…” email sent to all faculty.
  • Step 2: Senate is presented the proposal, concept, or idea and engages in preliminary discussion.
  • Step 3: The Senate President puts a call out to all faculty to participate in an ad hoc committee to explore the idea further.

Protocol Two: Solicitation

(Protocol to solicit faculty involvement for an ad hoc or standing committee)

  • Step 1: Senate President emails a call for participation to all faculty.
  • Step 2: The division representatives reiterate the call for participation when they report back to their divisions.
  • Step 3: The call for participation is recorded in the Senate minutes, which are available to all faculty.

Protocol Three: Sense or Approval of the Senate

(Protocol for a new proposal, concept, or idea to be given either the ‘sense’ of the Senate or the approval of Senate)

  • Step 1: Request to agendize the item using the “Form to Seek Sense or Approval of Senate”, which asks two questions:
    • a. “Have the relevant faculty and/or department coordinators participated in the development and early stages of this item?”  Yes   No
      • a.  Name of departments:
      • b.  Name(s) of faculty:
    • b. “What is the level of faculty support within the affected disciplines?
      • Greater than 50% Equal to 50% Less than 50%  Unknown
  • Step 2: If the form indicates that the relevant faculty have not participated or that the level of faculty support is unknown, a request is made to contact relevant faculty before the item is put on the agenda for the sense or approval of the Senate (Protocol 1).
  • Step 3: After the relevant faculty are involved and the level of support has been determined, the item shall be agendized for the sense or approval of the Senate.