Overview of changes to Faculty Senate Bylaws and Constitution

For purposes of best practices and consistency with other KSU Senate bodies, KSU’s General Counsel requested Faculty Senate review the current constitution and from that information create both a constitution and bylaws using a standard template. Following are details of changes made to the document.

Faculty Senate Constitution

Article III – Representation

Removed the details of the procedure relating to University Faculty Meetings from Constitution. Detailed procedures will be included in the Academic Affairs Procedure documents and incorporated into the Faculty Handbook.

Article IV – Membership & Eligibility

Item d. - Expanded the ex officio members of Faculty Senate to include Academic Affairs officials above the level of chairperson.

Article IV – Section 5 – Removal from Office

Added language regarding the removal of officers.

• a)Officers who are serving on committees where there may be a conflict of interest should step down from one committee or the other.
• b)A senator may be removed from office due to a conflict of interest, numerous unexcused absences, or dereliction of duties. Once a potential violation has been observed and documented, the officer will be notified via email by the Senate President of the allegation. The officer will be given an opportunity to respond in writing to this notification. If this notification does not suffice to solve the issue, the officer will be removed from office upon a vote of the Faculty Senate, following Robert's Rules of Order regarding voting. If the removed officer is not satisfied with the decision, he/she may file a complaint, per the Faculty Complaint and Grievance Policy.

Article X – Amendments & Bylaws

Added language reducing the number of notification days from five to three. The rationale is the effectiveness of electronic communication, and consistency with the elections policy.

Faculty Senate Bylaws

Article I - Section 3.a – Faculty have authority to manage their own elections in consultation with Academic Affairs personnel where necessary. This sentence added as a result of the change in the Faculty Senate Elections Policy, which was approved in Faculty Senate on 4/27.

Article I - Section 3.c – Minor changes to election process. Primarily in relation to electronic elections. Reduce number of days' notice for various tasks from five working days to three working days.

Article III – Section 1.c and 1.d – Removed the specific day of meetings, previously Monday, to biweekly without a specific date. Meetings are being held during the upcoming semester on Friday. This change prevents the need to update the constitution if the day and time of meetings change.