Oakland University Senate

Second Meeting
Thursday, October 15, 1981
3:00 p.m.
128, 129, 130 Oakland Center

AGENDA

Respectfully submitted by Keith R. Kleckner for the Steering Committee.

A. Old Business:

None

B. New Business:

1. Resolution from the Committee on Academic Standing and Honors (George Feeman).

MOVED that a student holding a baccalaureate degree cannot have his or her undergraduate GPA modified by additional work; however, a student who holds a baccalaureate degree and who qualifies for an additional baccalaureate degree may receive departmental and University honors provided that consideration for honors shall be based only upon the additional credits presented for the additional degree, such additional credits to total at least 62.

Comment: This policy is offered as a substitute for the following policy (approved by the Senate March 13, 1975):

3.d. A student holding a baccalaureate from Oakland University cannot have his or her undergraduate GPA modified by additional work nor can the student be a candidate for University or departmental honors. The present legislation discriminates against Oakland University alumni. Students with a baccalaureate degree from other institutions are eligible for honors if they have at least 62 credits at OU beyond their baccalaureate.

 First Reading: Debatable, amendable, but not eligible for final vote at this meeting.

2. Approval of amendments to the Constitution of the College of Arts and Sciences (Brian Copenhaver).

MOVED that the following amendments be approved in the Constitution of the College of Arts and Sciences (new language underlined):

1. That Article III, section 1, subsection 2, be amended to read:

There shall be fourteen members of the Assembly who shall be elected from the full-time non- visiting faculty members holding primary appointments in the College of Arts and Sciences. The electorate shall consist of all faculty members holding primary appointments in the College of Arts and Sciences with one of the following academic titles; Special Instructor, Instructor. Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor. These members shall be elected at large from the electoral groupings as determined in Article III (ii), below, provided that the number of elected representatives from each electoral grouping be proportional to its number of faculty members in the College as a whole, and provided further that:
a. elected members shall serve two-year terms, staggered as to term,
b. the College Elections Committee shall implement this provision.

2. That Article III, section 11, be amended to read:

For all electoral and appointive purposes specified herein, the Executive Committee, with the approval of the Assembly, shall determine representational groupings of departments which share, as nearly as possible, similar disciplinary and scholarly traditions. These groupings may be reviewed at any time by the Executive Committee to assess their continued representational adequacy, but they must be so reviewed during the Fall Semester of every second year.

3. That Article IV, section 1, be amended to read:

All full-time faculty members holding primary, non-visiting appointments in the College of Arts and Sciences shall be eligible to serve on its standing committees, except that members of the Executive Committee of the Assembly shall be members of the Assembly and members of the Committee on Appointment and Promotions shall be bargaining unit faculty members. All standing committees of the College shall report to the Executive Committee of the Assembly. Unless otherwise specified by the Assembly, the faculty term of office of all standing committees shall be three years, with members serving staggered terms. Nomination and ratification of members to standing committees, except where elective, shall take place in the winter semester, with service to begin the subsequent academic year.

4. That Article IV, section 11, be amended in its introductory paragraph, that a new subsection 8 be added, and that subsections previously numbered 8 through 11 be renumbered as 9 through 12:

The Assembly shall have an Executive Committee composed of the Dean of the College, who shall be chairman ex-officio and voting, and five College faculty members of the Assembly elected by it, and one student member of the Assembly chosen by the University Congress by its own procedures. There shall be one faculty member from each of the electoral groupings determined under Article III (ii), above, the remaining member(s) to be elected at-large, provided further that at least four members be tenured. Faculty members of the Executive Committee shall serve two-year terms, staggered as to term; the length of student member terms shall be determined by the University Congress. The Executive Committee shall:
    1. Call all meetings of the Assembly.
    2. Prepare the agenda for the Assembly, including the call of all matters from committees.
    3. Present to the Assembly for its approval nominees for the chairmanship and membership of all the standing committees of the College.
    4. Create such ad hoc committees as it judges necessary and designate the membership and fix the terms of such committees.
    5. Refer measures to the standing and ad hoc committees.
    6. Receive reports and recommendations from committees to be placed on the agenda of the Assembly, with authority to request reconsideration; after reconsideration a second recommendation from a committee must be placed on a subsequent Assembly agenda, with or without the endorsement of the Executive Committee.
    7. Have authority to introduce independent motions to the Assembly.
    8. Have authority to approve on behalf of the Assembly the graduation list and the departmental honors lists of candidates for the degrees offered by the College.
    9. Appoint replacements for such Arts and Sciences seats in the University Senate as may fall vacant in the course of a Senate term, as well as for vacated seats on all standing and ad hoc committees of the Assembly.
    10. Advise the Dean on all matters he wishes to bring before it; place before the Dean such matters as it deems necessary.
    11. Transmit to the University Senate such matters as concern it, and receive communications from the University Senate.
    12. Request the Provost of the University to invite up to four faculty members whose primary appointments are not in the College of Arts and Sciences to seats in its Assembly, serving terms of one year, and to inform the Assembly of such invitations.

5. That Article IV, section iv, paragraph one, be amended to read:

The College shall have a Committee on Instruction composed of six faculty members, one of whom shall be chairman, serving two-year terms staggered, at least one from each of the electoral groupings as determined under Article III (ii) and the remaining member(s) to be at-large, and two student members selected by the University Congress. The Dean of the College (or his deputy) shall be a voting member ex-officio. The Committee on Instruction shall:

6. That Article V, section 2, subsection 4, be added to read:

Operate in accordance with and fulfill all duties specified in the current Faculty Agreement between Oakland University and the Oakland University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

7. That Article V, section iii, be amended to read:

The membership of the Committee on Appointment and Promotion shall comprise the Dean as the non-voting member and six tenured bargaining unit faculty members holding full-time non-visiting primary appointments in the College of Arts and Sciences, at least one from each of the electoral groupings determined under Article III (11) except that no two members of the same department may serve concurrently. The membership shall be elected by those members of the electorate as specified in Article III (i), (2) who are also members of the bargaining unit. The terms of office of elected members shall be three years staggered as to terms. Elections shall be held in the winter semester for service in the subsequent academic year.

8. That Article VI, section 1, subsection 2, be amended to read:

The seats shall be apportioned among the electoral groupings as determined in Article III (ii), proportionately to the percentage of the total Faculty of Arts and Sciences in each grouping. Within each grouping there shall be at least one tenured and one non-tenured-delegate.

9. That a new Article VII be inserted, to read as follows, with the previous Article VII renumbered as VIII:

In the event of any conflict between this Constitution and the current Faculty Agreement between Oakland University and the Oakland University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors, the Faculty Agreement shall take precedence.

Comment: Essentially, these amendments are intended to accomplish the following purposes:
1. specify more accurately the electorate, membership, and organization of the Assembly;
2. facilitate the reorganization of electoral instructional groupings when appropriate;
3. correct the details about the CAP membership and electorate which have changed over the past 10 years;
4. delegate to the Executive Committee the authority to approve the graduation and honors lists on behalf of the Assembly; and
5. bring the Constitution into line with the Faculty Agreement.

These amendments have been reviewed by the Assembly in several stages and were approved by that body at meetings of March 25, 1980, November,25, 1980, and March 24, 1981. They were then ratified in a mall referendum of faculty conducted by the Elections Committee of the College of Arts and Sciences in April, 1981. They now await approval by the Senate and the Board. Copies of the complete Constitution, with amendments underlined, have been distributed to all Senators.

First Reading: Debatable, but not amendable and not eligible for final vote at this meeting. (In the past, school constitutions have been treated as debatable but not amendable. The debate during first reading may lead the sponsor to make corrections and emendations, but the Senate may not itself amend the document. A negative vote on second reading returns the motion, perhaps with specific instructions, to the sponsoring body; a positive vote constitutes approval.)  

C. Good and Welfare:  
        Private resolutions

D. Information items:
        Annual reports of the Academic Conduct Committee and the University Admissions Committee (distributed only to Senators)