Faculty Council

Lane Community College
Faculty Council Charter
Adopted April 2005

I. Mission Statement

Faculty Council contributes to the quality of education at Lane as the deliberative faculty representative group on academic matters.

II. Roles

1. Provides a campus-wide forum for faculty to collaborate in governance over academic issues and policies within its authority as established by tradition, contract, and need;
2. Appoints to/Recommends faculty to serve on committees such as the Academic Council, Curriculum Committee, Degree Requirements Review Committee, and Curriculum Development Funding Committee, including standing curricular committees;
3. Works in concert with Administration, Governance Councils, The Lane Community College Education Association (LCCEA), and other faculty groups (Such as: Professional Development, Strategic Learning Initiative (SLI)) to address campus-wide issues;
4. Provides faculty perspectives in response to issues raised by the Vice President of Instruction and LCCEA;
5. Provides a critical nexus of communication between faculty, staff, and Administration;
6. Addresses issues, sparks discussion, develops solutions, and assists with implementing changes.

III. Operation

A. Freedom of Discussion

In realizing its role, any issue that impacts on the faculty at large, excluding confidential matters, may be considered by this group. Faculty Council does not engage in dealing.

B. Communication

The Faculty Council will keep faculty informed about campus issues by:

1. Receiving reports from division representatives to the Faculty Council
2. Reserving a portion of the agenda for those outside of the Faculty Council to introduce issues, give reports, etc., as appropriate.
3. Directing Faculty Council representatives to keep divisions informed
4. Hosting forums.
5. Appointing faculty to college councils and committees.
6. On-line communication to representatives and the faculty at large.

C. Academic Program Decision Making

The Faculty Council provides a means for faculty to make decisions on the academic program by:

1. Acting as a forum for discussing ideas and proposals
2. Acting as the approval body for faculty on college-wide instructional plans
3. Establishing task forces on issues that need a plan or proposal submitted to Faculty Council
4. Making decisions
5. Providing another avenue for developing relationships between faculty members
6. Working in conjunction with the LCCEA and respecting each other's jurisdiction

IV. Organizational Structure

A. Membership

1. Divisions will make provisions for faculty members to actively participate in Faculty Council.
2. Members of the Faculty Council are representatives by division. Faculty in each division will elect their own representatives to send to the Council. Each division will have two representatives chosen from different disciplines or instructional units. Representatives will serve two-year terms, be selected during spring term in alternate years, and may be elected for consecutive terms.
3. Special elections may be held when needed to fill vacant positions.
4. Full-time and part-time faculty teaching during the forthcoming academic year shall be eligible to be elected as division representatives.
5. Elections shall be conducted within each division according to the established division practice or by secret ballot. The previous yearís representative whose seat is not up for re-election shall conduct the nominating and voting processes.
6. Although divisional representatives are the decision making members, Faculty Council meetings are open to the entire college community, and attendance by any interested party is encouraged. The goal of the Council is to foster effective communication and collegial discussion of issues for the entire faculty.
7. All faculty members are encouraged to participate in other college committees and task forces as well as any other college activity that involves faculty. The Council shall actively solicit/encourage full faculty participation in shared governance.
8. Regular attendance of Council representatives will ensure continuity in the decision-making.
9. All members shall have equal access to the same information that, to the extent practical, consists of primary documents as well as digests and analysis.
10. The Faculty Council shall include a non-voting representative from the Office of Instruction & Student Services (OISS) LCCEA, The Associated Students of Lane Community College (ASLCC), and Classified Council.

B. Meetings

1. Regularly scheduled meetings shall be held. Votes shall only be held when at least half the membership is in attendance.
2. Agendas will be divided into sections with suggested time limitations on each.
3. To save time, people are expected to talk to the co-chairs about any last-minute adjustments to the agenda before the meeting.
4. Persons wishing to elicit opinions, input or help from Faculty Council shall be asked to submit a brief description of the problem or situation that shall be distributed to the faculty prior to discussion of the issue. Council members will be encouraged to review the material prior to the meeting.
5. Issues that need research and reflection will be referred to standing committees of the college or task forces, so that when a proposal is returned to the Faculty Council, the members can discuss the issue more effectively.
6. A chair will be appointed by the co-chairs at the time of forming a task force, and will be listed under Committee Reports and will be asked to submit the amount of time needed for reports to the co-chairs.
7. Persons/committees/task forces will submit items that need decisions or discussion by Faculty Council to the co-chairs. Copies of these items will be sent out with minutes prior to the next meeting whenever it is possible. This will provide ample opportunity for those who might be affected by the issue to review and discuss it prior to the Faculty Council meeting. If it is impossible to distribute before the meeting, the written information should be brought to the Faculty Council and distributed at that time.
8. Proposals from committees should have the difficulties worked out as much as the committee is able before the submission to the Faculty Council.
9. Co-chairs will delegate tasks to other Faculty Council members in order to encourage full Council participation in the functions of Faculty Council. Persons shall be assigned to track each important issue and report as necessary for the development and resolution of the issue.
10. It is the responsibility of all persons present to comment succinctly and to the point (i.e., if committee has not met, or has no reports, the proper response is ìno reportî)
11. Meetings will be conducted using a modification of Roberts Rules of Order, whereby the use of consensus provisions may be required by any Faculty Council representative on items of stated importance.
12. If a council member requires consensus on an item, and consensus is not achieved, both majority and minority reports will be issued.

C. Criteria For Agenda Items

Criteria for selecting the agenda items:

1. Does it concern teaching and learning at LCC or in higher education?
2. Does the Faculty Council have the necessary information to address the issue?
3. What is the timeline?

Requests to make presentations to the Faculty Council should be submitted in writing.

D. Standing Committee Representatives

Faculty Council shall recruit/ appoint representatives to other college decision-making bodies.

1. Recruitment will be by faculty-wide solicitation of statements of interest and qualifications to be considered by the council members, except when a sitting representative wishes to renew her/his appointment. In that case, the council will vote on the renewal without a campus-wide solicitation.
2. Except in cases where a single statement of interest has been received and the council members decide by consensus to appoint the candidate who submitted it, appointment will follow a vote by secret ballot.

E. Committees

To facilitate the smooth and efficient operation of the Faculty Council, committees and task forces shall be formed as required.

1. The co-chairs shall maintain a list of all task forces, chairs and members.
2. These task forces shall cease to exist when their mission has been completed.
3. Standing curricular committees (Academic Council, Curriculum Committee, Curriculum Development Funding, and Degree Requirements Review Committee, and other curricular committees so formed) and task forces shall submit reports and minutes to co-chairs in time to be published with the agenda.

F. Co-chairs

1. The Faculty will elect two Faculty Council members to act as co-chairs. Co-chairs will serve for two years and elections will be held every year such that the terms of the co-chairs overlap.
2. In the event of a resignation, a special faculty-wide election will be held for a replacement to complete the resigning co-chairís term.
3. Co-chairs will participate as members of the council in addition to performing their duties as co-chairs.
4. In the event that a sitting co-chairís division elects two new members, not including the co-chair, the co-chair will continue to carry out the duties of co-chair until the end of his/her term, but will not otherwise participate as a representative of her/his division.
5. The Faculty co-chairs shall each receive release time equal to one class per term to represent the interests of the faculty.

The co-chairs shall:

1. Keep order at meetings.
2. Keep discussion to a reasonable time schedule.
3. Poll the members for decision making at the end of discussion.
4. Wrap up each meeting with a restatement of action items.
5. Establish a calendar of meetings.
6. Keep the budget.
7. Keep a list of operational procedures (printing, mailing, room reservations).
8. Keep a list of Faculty Council actions and accomplishments.
9. Act as representatives & liaisons for Faculty Council as needed.
10. Keep the Faculty Council & faculty informed of instructional issues and developments.