Article VII: Faculty Meetings

B34F

The regular faculty meeting will be held on the first Friday of the months of September, November, December, March, and May. At least three days in advance of regular meetings, the President or his/her designee will cause to be prepared and distributed to each member a written notice and an agenda accompanied by minutes of the previous meeting. The agenda will be prepared jointly by the President and the Chair of the Academic Council, with the advice and counsel of the Chair-Elect of Academic Council and the Provost/Executive Vice President.

1. Call to Order and Invocation/Meditation
2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting
3. Academic Council Business Items (led by the Chair of Academic Council)

• Report and Resolutions of Academic Council, with discussion
• Reports and Resolutions of Standing Committees, with discussion
• Questions and Concerns to Academic Council

4. Reports of Task Forces or Special or Ad Hoc Committees (led by either Chair of Academic Council or the President of the University)
5. Administrative Business Items (led by the President of the University)

• Reports of Administrative Officers

6. Unfinished Business
7. New Business
8. Announcements
9. Adjournment

• Formal announcement of faculty action will be made only by the President or his/her designee or by vote of the faculty.
• Non-voting members may participate in discussion.
• A major policy item, including a curriculum change, will not be allowed to come to a vote at a regular meeting unless the proposal in writing has been distributed with the agenda three days in advance or unless the item has been discussed at a previous meeting.
• All elections will be decided by a majority of votes cast by eligible voters.

B29F

The President will call a special meeting whenever (1) the President considers it necessary, or (2) Academic Council or any ten faculty members request such. Special meetings follow the order of business and procedure for faculty meetings.

B23K

The first Friday of February is reserved for meetings of the faculty of each school or college for the purpose of consideration and discussion of matters within their purview, including curriculum. The agenda of the meeting will be set by the appropriate Dean, who will also preside over the meeting. At least three days in advance of the meeting, each Dean will prepare and send a written notice and an agenda accompanied by minutes of the previous school/college meeting to all faculty of the relevant school or college. Additional meetings may be scheduled by the Dean of each school/college when needed and/or meetings may be scheduled on alternative dates according to pre-established practice.

B26T

Elon University’s Statement on Shared Governance begins with the premise that the active engagement of the University’s various constituencies is a prerequisite for effective, democratic governance (see Section I-3). In order to promote this level of engagement, the University’s governance structure must provide opportunities for those constituencies to communicate and cooperate in a way that meets the following conditions. First, all faculty members—teaching faculty, staff with faculty rank, and administrators with faculty rank—must feel empowered to express their ideas honestly and in a productive way. In addition, they must feel confident that a structural mechanism exists to ensure that these ideas, once expressed, will be taken seriously by those who participate directly in the governance of the institution. Town Hall Faculty Forums, described in more detail below, are designed to satisfy both of these conditions.

• Three separate Town Hall Faculty Forums, one for each of the three categories of faculty as defined in the Policy Statements and Definitions, will be held on the first Friday afternoon in October and April. These forums will be led by the following faculty members: the Chair of Academic Council will lead the teaching faculty forum; the Academic Council representative of staff with faculty rank will lead that group’s forum; and the President or Provost/Executive Vice President will lead the faculty forum for administrators with faculty rank. The Chair-Elect of Academic Council will serve as recorder at the teaching faculty Town Hall Faculty Forum. The leaders of the other two Town Hall Faculty Forums will appoint an eligible faculty member to serve as recorder. In each case, the leader will prepare the agenda for his/her forum and publicize that agenda to the faculty.
• With the help of the faculty members who served as recorders, each of these three leaders—all of whom are members of Academic Council—is responsible for accurately conveying to Academic Council the sense of the discussion that occurred at their respective forums. In this way, the ideas expressed at each of the Town Hall Faculty Forums will be incorporated into Academic Council’s deliberations on issues of importance to the University community.
• As the term, “Town Hall Faculty Forums,” makes clear, these meetings exist for the express purpose of fostering discussion and communication. Since these forums are not official meetings of the faculty, no official business can be transacted.