Bylaws of the General Faculty Meetings

  1. Membership

    Faculty eligible to vote at General Faculty Meetings are those who comprise the Faculty Senate electorate. This consists of all employees who have teaching/research/library responsibilities of 50% or more and .5 FTE or greater, including: temporary faculty, probationary faculty, tenured faculty, contingent unclassified professionals, provisional unclassified professionals, and regular unclassified professionals. These employees all have the e-class designation of FA or F2.

  2. Officers

    The presiding officer at all General Faculty Meetings shall be the President of the Faculty Senate. In the absence of the President, the Vice President share preside, and in the absence of both the President and Vice President the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate shall designate a presiding officer. The presiding officer shall appoint a secretary to take minutes of the proceedings and may appoint a parliamentarian. The presiding officer shall not participate in substantive debates of the General Faculty Meeting.

  3. Scheduling

    The Faculty Senate Executive Committee shall schedule all General Faculty Meetings by its own authority and shall control the agenda, except as noted below. The President of the Faculty Senate shall consult with the President of the University regarding the scheduling of General Faculty Meetings.

  4. Agenda

    At least ten calendar days before a General Faculty Meeting, each eligible faculty member shall be furnished with the agenda of topics to be considered at the meeting, including a detailed statement of any proposals submitted for action. An individual faculty member may request that the Faculty Senate Executive Committee place a topic on the agenda for the next General Faculty Meeting. Upon the written request of twelve or more faculty members, representing at least three departments and two college/school/University Libraries, an item shall appear on the agenda for the next meeting. Such requests must be made to the Executive Committee at least twenty-one days in advance of the scheduled meeting.

  5. Quorum

    A quorum is established with at least 50 members of the eligible faculty electorate present at the convening of a General Faculty Meeting. For discussion or voting on items presented at a meeting as non-agenda items, a quorum of one-third of all eligible faculty members is required.

  6. Length of Meetings

    No General Faculty Meeting shall last longer than ninety minutes, unless it is extended by a two-thirds vote of those present.

  7. Online Meeting and Voting

    Provisions for remote/online meeting and voting specified for Faculty Senate meetings shall apply to General Assembly meetings, except that all faculty are voting members.

  8. Rules

    The rules contained in Robert's Rules of Order shall apply, when they are not inconsistent with this document.

  9. Minutes

    The minutes of General Faculty Meetings will be sent to all eligible faculty members and posted on the Faculty Senate Web site.

Revision Dates

  • November 8, 2021: addition of VII. Online Meeting and Voting (Approved by Faculty Senate 11.8.21; approved by General Faculty 3.31.23)
  • April 29, 2019: update II. Officers; V. Quorum (Approved by Faculty Senate 4.22.19; approved by General Faculty 4.29.19)