MINUTES OF THE REGULAR FACULTY COUNCIL MEETING OF December 6, 2010 VIII. NEW BUSINESS. A. Proposed Changes to the Attendance Policy for the Faculty Council in the Handbook of Operating Procedures (D 8484). Professor Janet Staiger (radio-television-film and chair of the Faculty Rules and Governance Committee) said the first recommended change to the Handbook of Operating Procedures (HOP) dealt with Council meeting attendance and the need to assure that members actually wanted to attend and participate. She said the objective of this proposal was to more easily replace members than is currently allowed by the rules for nonparticipation by reducing the number of unexcused absences before a vacancy is declared. She explained that obtaining an excused absence is easily achieved by merely providing a phone call or email to the Office of the General Faculty to say why you could not attend a meeting for some plausible reason, such as ill health or attendance at a professional meeting. Given that there are usually only nine meetings during the year, Professor Staiger said her committee thought that missing two meetings without excuses was sufficient grounds for a vacancy to occur. This recommendation would reduce the number of unexcused absences from three consecutive ones to only two during the academic year. She said members having two unexcused absences would be notified and given a chance to explain their reasons. However, if a member were absent twice without plausible explanations, then a vacancy would be declared; the runner-up in the original election would be notified and asked to serve as a representative on the Council. In the case that there were no runners-up willing to serve, then a special election would be held to fill the vacancy. Professor Staiger asked if there were any questions, and there were none. Since the motion came from a standing committee, Chair Neikirk said a second was not required and opened the floor for discussion. When there was no discussion, he called for the vote, and the motion unanimously passed by voice vote. Return to main minutes