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EP-002-078, Review of Policy on Absences for Meetings of the Academic Senate

CALIFORNIA STATE POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY, POMONA

ACADEMIC SENATE

ELECTIONS & PROCEDURES COMMITTEE

REPORT TO

THE ACADEMIC SENATE

EP-002-078

Review of Policy on Absences for Meetings of the Academic Senate

Elections & Procedures Committee Date:

Executive Committee

Received and Forwarded Date:

Academic SenateDate: 5/20/09

First Reading

9/30/09

Second Reading

The referral (EP-002-078) is requesting a revision in the bylaws to address four specific issues:

  1. Should any “absences from scheduled meetings” count (regular, special or emergency) or only absences to regular meetings?
  2. Should “absences from scheduled meetings” be interpreted as any meeting regardless of whether it is a full Senate meeting or a Committee meeting?
  3. Should absences from full Senate meetings be counted separately from absences from Committee meetings or are they combined when counting to determine if a Senator will be removed?
  4. If absences are counted separately, should absences from scheduled meetings of a standing or ad hoc committee trigger removal just from the Committee or also from the Senate?

The examination of this referral was conducted in two steps: interviews with resource people and review of the bylaws and constitutions of other California State University campuses.

  1. Interview with Recommended Resources

In an attempt to further examine the issue of absences from scheduled meetings of the Academic Senate, we interviewed Dr. Sara Garver and Dr. Martin Sancho-Madriz.

  1. Review of Bylaws and Constitutions

The bylaws and constitutions of five California State University System campuses (Chico, Fullerton, Long Beach, Sacramento, and San Luis Obispo) and the CSU Academic Senate were reviewed.

Reasons for Attendance Requirements

  • Missing more than three meetings from regularly scheduled meetings effectively means missing more than one third the annual meeting total and may be considered a reasonable limit after which to take action to change a senator.
  • The number of three absences from regularly scheduled academic senate meetings coincides with the limit specified at other CSU institutions.

Discussion:

As seen in other CSU Academic Senate Bylaws, when specified, the range of permissible absences from scheduled meetings was one to three per term. Fullerton states after three absences Senators “shall be invited by the Executive Committee to resign”, while both SLO and Chico state more than two absences as grounds for dismissal from the Senate. Sacramento Academic Senate Bylaws call for removal after one absence; however, it is important to note that at this institution one year terms for Senators are specified in the bylaws. The CSU Academic Senate Bylaws and Long Beach Academic Senate Bylaws give no specific number of allowable absences.

We feel that clarifying three as the maximum number of absences permissible for Cal Poly Pomona Senators will make Article IX, Section 1(B) and Article X, Section 2(A) consistent with each other. Furthermore, this number of absences from scheduled meetings coincides with other institutions in the CSU.

In order to clarify the situationthe committee considered each of the four particular issues mentioned in the referral. We were guided by the intent of the current Article X, Section 2(B):

“In the event that a Senator will be absent from Academic Senate activities for more than one quarter, he/she shall be replaced by a special election to fill the balance of the unexpired term”

  1. With respect to “absences from scheduled meetings” (regular, special or emergency), we recommend that theseapply only to absences from regular meetings of the full Academic Senate. Proxies, which are currently mentioned in Article X, are a voting issue considered in Article IX 1(B), and do not belong in the attendance section of the Bylaws. The attendance rules do not belong in the voting section either.
  1. With respect to whether “absences from scheduled meetings” be interpreted as any meeting regardless of whether it is a full Senate meeting or a Committee meeting, we recommend that “absences from scheduled meetings” be interpreted as full Senate monthly meetings only.
  1. With respect to whether absences from full Senate meetings be counted separately from absences from Committee meetings or if are they combined when counting to determine if a Senator will be removed, we recommend that absences from full Senate meetings not be combined with Committee meeting absencesor Special Meetingsin the count of absences to determine if a Senator will be removed from the Senate.
  1. With respect to whether more than three absences from scheduled meetings of a standing or ad hoc committee should trigger removal from the Committee (and automatically from the Senate), our Committee noted that committee participation takes many forms. Active participation in committee work cannot always be measured by the attendance record. We recommend that the removal of a Committee Member (Senator or not) from a Senate committee by the Executive Committee for lack of participation in committee work be done at the recommendation of the Committee Chair.

Recommendations:

The Elections and Procedures Committee makes the following Bylaw changes respecting this referral:

Article IX, Section 1(B):Any member may be represented by proxy, provided that a signed assignment of proxy is submitted prior to the meeting and provided that the person to whom the proxy is given is a voting memberof the Senate. The proxy holder may assign his/her own proxy and those he/she holds to a third member, unless those proxies have been designated by their makers as nontransferable. No Senator may be absent or submit proxies for more than 3 consecutive regular meetings of the Academic Senate. Should a Senator be absent or submit a proxy for the next regular Academic Senate Meeting after three unattended meetings a special election will automatically be called to fill the balance of such a Senator’s term.

Article X, Section 2(A):The Executive Committee shall remove from the Academic Senate or from a standing or ad hoc committee of the Academic Senate, any member with more thanthree consecutive unexcused absences (one academic quarter’s time) from the regularly scheduled monthlymeetingsof the full Academic Senate. No senator may submit more than three consecutive proxies for regular meetings. After the third consecutive proxy, such senator will be replaced by a special election to fill the balance of the unexpired term.. Should a Senator be absent for the next regular monthly Academic Senate meeting after three unattended meetings, a special election will automatically be called to fill the balance of such Senator’s term.” The Executive Committee shall also remove from the Academic Senate any member with a total of 5 absences from regular Senate meetings in an academic year.

Article X Section2(B):In the event that a Senator will be absent from Academic Senate activities for more than one quarter, he/she shall be replaced by a special election to fill the balance of the unexpired term TheExecutive Committee shall remove a member from a Senate Committee for lack of participation in the work of the committeeat the recommendation of the Committee Chair.

Article IX Section 1(E): omit “Table” from the list of motions since that is what is meant by postpone.