Article I
Purposes and Objectives
Section 1. To promote the best interest of Daemen University;
Section 2. To serve as the representative agency of the faculty of Daemen University;
Section 3. To serve as an advisory agency to the President of Daemen University;
Section 4. To further a close liaison among the Board of Trustees, the administrative officers, the faculty, and the students of Daemen University;
Section 5. To further cooperation among the colleges and departments of Daemen University.
Article II
Composition
Section 1. The Daemen University Faculty Senate shall consist of eleven (11) full-time faculty members as provided in Article IV and apportioned as follows:
- The faculty members of the Colleges of Arts, Sciences and Education (AS&E); Health, Human Sciences and Business (HHS&B); and Health Professions (HP) shall each elect two representatives from within their respective colleges for a total of six (6) College Senators.
- Five (5) faculty members shall be Senators-at-Large elected by the faculty eligible to vote (see Appendix G: Voting Rights and Eligibility).
- If faculty members teach in more than one college, they will vote and run as a representative of the college in which they have the greatest teaching responsibility. If teaching responsibility is equally divided between two colleges, they shall inform the Senate Vice President in which college they will participate for Senate purposes during the academic year.
Article III
Officers
Section 1. The officers of the Daemen Faculty Senate shall consist of a President, VicePresident, 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 and shall send out all notices of meetings. The Secretary shall record and maintain the minutes of the meetings to be distributed to Faculty Senators, members of the Daemen University 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 VPAA/Provost 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 (1) year. Each shall be eligible for not more than two (2) 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
Election 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 of these by-laws, shall take place in April and the term of office shall be for two (2) years. Senators are limited to three (3) consecutive terms, or seven (7) years of consecutive service should their first term be a replacement appointment, after which they will be ineligible to serve for one (1) year. Terms of College and At-Large representatives will be staggered to provide continuity. 82
Section 3. The Vice President of the Senate shall assume the responsibility of conducting the election, determining the results, and notifying the faculty of the results of the balloting. The results will be verified by one (1) other faculty member.
Section 4. Elections for both College and At-Large Senators will be conducted in two (2) stages. Faculty may request to have their names removed from consideration for the election by notifying the Senate Vice President. There will be a minimum four-day period between ballot dissemination and election deadline. Faculty who will be serving on the Educational Policy Committee for the subsequent year are not eligible for Faculty Senate.
College Senators:
Stage One: Faculty eligible to vote in each college will select three (3) senators from the list of faculty eligible to serve within their college.
Stage Two: Faculty eligible to vote in each college will select three (3) names from a list of the six (6) faculty eligible to serve within their college 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 may include a maximum of nine (9) names or minimum of five (5) names for the stage two ballot. The two individuals receiving the highest number of votes in stage two will be elected to the Senate. Should a tie arise in stage two, an additional ballot will be issued to break the tie. Alternates will be selected from the individuals with the next highest number of votes.
At-Large Senators:
Stage One: All faculty eligible to vote will receive identical ballots and will be requested to vote for five (5) senators from the list of faculty eligible to serve.
Stage Two: Faculty eligible to vote will select five (5) names from the eight (8) faculty receiving the highest number of votes in stage one. In the event of a tie in stage one, the Vice President may include a maximum of ten (10) names or minimum of seven (7) names for the stage two ballot. The five (5) individuals receiving the highest number of votes in stage two will be elected to the Senate. Should a tie arise in stage two, an additional ballot will be issued to break the tie. Alternates will be selected from the individuals with the next highest number of votes.
Section 5. No more than two (2) members from the same academic department may serve on the Senate simultaneously.
Article V
Subcommittees
Section 1. Members of the subcommittees 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 University.
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 (5) 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 (T/TT/NTT) Daemen University 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. 84
Section 3. Such amendments will not become effective until submitted in writing to the Faculty of the University eligible to vote for Senate members and approved by a simple majority of that vote.
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 (T/TT/NTT) regardless of rank are eligible to vote according to the Voting Rights and Eligibility table (see Appendix G) 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. The voting period for online ballots is four (4) working days (weekend days excepted).
Section 4. Elections for Senate for the AY 2022-23 (conducted in Spring 2022) will consist of a two-step election in which the election of two (2) representatives from each of the three (3) colleges (to serve for a 1-Year Term) will occur followed by the election of five (5) At-Large representatives to implement the restructuring of Daemen College to Daemen University and from two Divisions to three Colleges. AY 2023-24 elections shall consist of elections of two (2) College representatives to a two-year term in order to reestablish an alternating annual cycle of electing College and AtLarge representatives for two-year terms.
Note:
- Article IV was revised in May 2006.
- Article IX was amended June 2020.
- Article IV was revised in May 2006.
- Article IX was amended June 2020. 85
- By-Laws were amended March 15, 2022, by vote of Faculty Senate and fullfaculty referendum to implement restructuring of Academic Affairs from two Divisions to three Colleges, effective AY2022-2023.