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Faculty Senate Bylaws

ARTICLE I

Purposes and Objectives

Section 1. To promote the best interest of Daemen College

Section 2. To serve as the representative agency of the faculty of Daemen College

Section 3.  To serve as an advisory agency to the President of Daemen College

Section 4. To further a close liaison among the Board of Trustees, the administrative officers, the faculty, and the students of Daemen College

Section 5. To further cooperation among the divisions and departments of Daemen College

ARTICLE II

Composition

Section 1. The Daemen College Faculty Senate shall consist of eleven full-time faculty members as provided in Article IV and apportioned as follows:

  1. The Faculties of Arts and Sciences shall elect three members from their The Faculties of Health and Human Services shall elect three members from their division.
  2. Five faculty members shall be Senators-at-Large elected by the vote of the faculty eligible to vote
  3. If a faculty member teaches in more than one division, this individual will vote in the division in which the person has the greatest teaching.  If teaching responsibility is equally divided between two divisions, the individual may decide with what division his/her ballot will be cast.

ARTICLE III

Officers

Section 1. The officers of the Daemen Faculty Senate shall consist of a President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer.

Section 2.  The President of the Faculty Senate shall preside at and conduct the meetings of the Faculty Senate.  The Vice-President of the Faculty Senate shall exercise all the powers and duties of the President in the President’s absence.

Section 3. The President of the Faculty Senate shall maintain the rolls of the Senate, shall send out all notices of meetings.  The secretary shall record and maintain the minutes of the meetings, and shall cause such copies of the minutes of the meetings to be distributed to Faculty Senators, members of the Daemen College Faculty, and such others as the Senate may direct.

Section 4. The Treasurer of the Faculty Senate shall prepare a tentative budget for subsequent year funding, to be submitted to the Vice President of Academic Affairs, by February 1.  The treasurer shall also maintain a record of disbursements as allocated by the Senate.

Section 5. The term of office for all elected officers of the Faculty Senate shall be one year.  Each shall be eligible for not more than two consecutive elections to office.

Section 6. Officers of the Faculty Senate shall be elected by the Senate from its members at a meeting to take place in the month of May, such meeting to be called and presided over by the Faculty Senate President for the preceding year.

ARTICLE IV

Elections of Faculty Representatives

Section 1. The Faculty Senate solely, acting as a body, shall have the power to determine the eligibility, as stipulated in Articles II and IV, of faculty members to vote for and to serve on the Faculty Senate.

Section 2. Elections to the Faculty Senate, in accordance with Article II, shall take place in April and the term of office shall be for two years.  Terms of divisional and at-large representatives will be staggered to provide continuity.

Section 3. The Vice President of the Senate shall assume the responsibility of conducting the election, counting the ballots and notifying the faculty of the results of the balloting.  The results will be verified by one other faculty member.

Section 4. Elections for both Divisional Senators and at-large Senators will be conducted in two stages.

Faculty may request to have their name removed from consideration for the election.  There will be a minimum one week period from ballot dissemination to election deadline.  Faculty who will be serving on the Educational Policy Committee for the subsequent year are not eligible to be elected.

For the Divisional Senators, faculty in each division will be requested to vote for three senators from the list of eligible faculty in stage one.  In stage two, faculty will select three names from a list of the six faculty who received the highest number of votes in stage one.  If there is a tie in the number of votes in stage one, the Vice President can choose to include a maximum of nine names or minimum of five names for the second stage ballot.  The three individuals receiving the highest number of votes in the second stage will be elected to the Senate.  Should a tie arise in the second stage, an additional ballot will be issued to break the tie.

For the At-large Senators, all faculty will receive identical ballots and will be requested to vote for five senators from the list of eligible faculty in stage one. In the second stage, faculty will select five names from the eight faculty who received the highest number of votes in stage one.  If there is a tie in the number of votes in stage one, the Vice President can choose to include a maximum of ten names or minimum of seven names for the second stage ballot.  The five individuals receiving the highest number of votes in the second stage will be elected to the Senate.  Should a tie arise in the second stage, an additional ballot will be issued to break the tie.

ARTICLE V

Sub-committees

Section 1. Members of the sub-committees of the Senate shall be appointed by the Senate and the membership of these committees shall select their respective Chairpersons.

ARTICLE VI

Meetings

Section 1. In addition to the meeting of the Faculty Senate in May, the Senate shall meet at least once during each regular semester, Fall and Spring. Meetings shall be called by the Faculty Senate President.

Section 2. Special meetings may be called by the presentation of a petition signed by three members of the Senate or may be called by the President of Daemen College.

Section 3. Ordinarily each member of the Senate shall be notified in writing by the President of the Senate of any meeting not less than five days before the date thereof.

Section 4. A two-thirds majority of the Senate shall constitute a quorum at all Faculty Senate meetings.

Section 5. Except as otherwise stated, all action taken by the Faculty Senate shall be taken by a simple majority vote of those Senators present and voting.

Section 6. A minority recommendation shall be taken in writing if at least one member of the Senate so desires.

ARTICLE VII

Amendment of Faculty Senate By-Laws

Section 1. A simple majority of the Faculty Senate at any regular or special meeting may propose an amendment in writing.

Section 2. Ten percent of the full-time Daemen College faculty members may propose an amendment in writing to the Faculty Senate and that body will consider such amendment as the first item of business at the next meeting of the Senate.

Section 3. Such amendments will not become effective until submitted in writing to the Faculty of the College eligible to vote for Senate members and approved by a simple majority vote of those who vote on the amendment.

ARTICLE VIII

General Rules

Section 1. Modified Robert’s Rules of Order shall govern all matters not covered specifically in these By- Laws.

ARTICLE IX

Effective Date

Section 1. These By-Laws shall be in full force and effect when approved by a simple majority of full-time faculty members voting in the Fall Semester 1968-69.

Section 2. All full-time faculty members regardless of rank are eligible to vote upon the adoption of these By-Laws.

Section 3. In the event of approval of these By-Laws, they shall become effective on the final day of balloting, such date to be set by the existing Faculty Senate.

Note: Original Faculty Senate By-Laws approved by the Daemen College Faculty in August, 1965.

Articles II and IV were amended in April, 1968 Articles II and IV were revised in November, 1972 Articles II and IV were revised in May, 1985.

Article IV was revised in May 2006.

Updated on September 8, 2022

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