Columbia College Academic Senate By-Laws

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BY-LAWS

The Vice-President/President-Elect, Curriculum Committee Chair and College Council Representative-at-Large shall be elected by majority vote of the electorate during the first week in April and newly elected officers shall take office on the first of May. If no candidate receives the majority of votes cast, a run-off election shall be held between the two candidates with the greatest number of votes. Guidelines for conducting elections are outlined in the Elections Policies and Procedures document.

The Adjunct Faculty Representative will be selected as follows: 1) a request for intent/interest in the position will be distributed by the President to all adjunct faculty in September; 2) all interested adjunct faculty will be interviewed by the Academic Senate Council; 3) the President will make an appointment based on the Council’s recommendation.

The Curriculum Committee shall nominate one or more candidates for Curriculum Committee Chair from the current membership of the committee. These nominations shall be forwarded to the Elections Officer by the second week in March.

The Senate-of-the-Whole shall meet at least four times a year during the academic year.

The Academic Senate Council shall meet at least once each month, except in the months when the Senate-of-the-Whole is meeting or in those instances when no agenda items are submitted that in the collective judgment of the senate officers require their attention. Any senate member may make a challenge to a meeting cancellation of this type, and when the majority of the senate supports that challenge, a meeting shall be held.

The agenda of both the Senate-of-the-Whole and the Academic Senate Council meetings shall be distributed to the members of the electorate at least five working days prior to the date of the meeting and to other people on request. Minutes of the previous meeting and supporting documents for action items, such as resolutions, will accompany the agenda.

A quorum for conducting the business of Senate-of-the-Whole shall be those members of the electorate present at the meeting. A quorum for conducting the business of the Academic Senate Council shall be four.

8. Representation on college or Academic Senate committees, intercampus groups and district committees will come from the Senate-of-the-Whole.

9. Faculty representation on all committees shall come from the electorate. At the first meeting of the Academic Senate-of-the-Whole, representation for all committee vacancies shall be solicited. During the course of the year, the President shall solicit volunteers for committee positions or vacancies that arise. The President shall make appointments subject to approval by the Senate Council.

10. Polices and procedures regarding the function and membership of Academic Senate Committees are created, reviewed, and updated by the Academic Senate Council or by the committees and approved by the Academic Senate Council. These committees must report regularly to the Senate-of-the-Whole, for example by newsletter. The specific Academic Senate committees, including functions and duties, are described in The Committees Document.

11. In the event that the President wishes to serve a second term, both the Vice-President/President-Elect and the Past President must also agree to serve second terms. A resolution authored by the three officers must be approved no later that the last meeting of the fall semester.

12. The President may serve a maximum of two consecutive one-year terms.

13. Resignations or requests for leaves of absence from an office must be submitted in writing to the Academic Senate Council and become final only when accepted by a majority of the Council. In the event of resignation or leave of absence of any officer (with the exception of the President) the President shall call a special election to fill the unexpired term of office.

14. Any officer may be subject to removal from office, as follows:

a. A recommendation for removal from office may be moved by a voting member of the Senate-of-the-Whole through the resolution process.

b. If the resolution passes, the Senate-of-the-Whole shall convene within two weeks to hear the case. A two-thirds vote of the electorate is then needed to remove the officer.

c. In the event of removal, except in the case of the President, a special election shall be held to fill the unexpired term.

15. In all Academic Senate business, the Brown Act and Robert’s Rules of Order shall be followed, supplemented by the resolution process as described in the Resolution Guidelines & Procedures. Action items related to academic and professional matters and the business of the Senate require a resolution.

16. The respective jurisdiction of the Academic-Senate-of-the-Whole and the Academic Senate Council in addition to those defined by Education Code and Title 5 is designated as follows:

Academic-Senate-of-the-Whole: Constitutional revisions; impeachment; election of officers; approval of all documents relating to District policy that is legally under the purview of the Academic Senate; approval of College policy proposed by the Academic Senate; approval of Academic Senate policies and procedures.

Academic Senate Council: Committee assignments, policies and procedures regarding the function and membership of Academic Senate committees; drafting the following: comprehensive plan, Academic Senate goals, resolutions, Academic Senate policy, recommendations to the administration and the District and College Councils; acceptance of resignation or leave of absence of any senate officer.