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CHAPTER 1. FACULTY GOVERNANCE

The University of Texas at Austin                 Policy Memorandum 1.301
Office of the President                           Revised November 15, 2006

Subject: BY-LAWS OF THE FACULTY COUNCIL

Chapter 1, part III of the Handbook of Operating Procedures contains information regarding the Faculty Council. The following rules and regulations of a procedural nature constitute the by-laws of the Faculty Council.

1. Election of Members.

a. The schedule for Council elections shall be as follows, with election of General Faculty representatives in odd-numbered years and election of college or school representatives in even-numbered years:

All-University (nominating) primary election -- second week in March

All-University final election -- first week in April

College or school (nominating) primary election -- second week in March

College or school final election -- first week in April

b. The electors in all-University elections shall be the voting members of the General Faculty. There shall be just one constituency in the primary and final election of all-University representatives, but this constituency shall vote on two separate panels: (a) a panel made up of instructors and assistant professors and their equivalents, and (b) a panel made up of associate professors and professors and their equivalents.

c. The electors in each college or school election shall be the voting members of that college or school.

d. All candidates, both General Faculty and college or school, shall be voting members of the General Faculty.

e. Elected members shall take office the third Monday of September following their election.

f. No elected member shall serve for more than two successive terms.

g. Faculty members on modified service shall not be eligible to serve on the Faculty Council.

h. Vacancies shall be filled from the original panel in the order of the preferential ranking in the election of the member whose seat being filled. A leave of absence for more than one semester, in the case of an elective position, shall create a vacancy.

i. The President shall inform the Secretary of the General Faculty of any vacancy as soon as possible after the vacancy has been created.

2. Distribution of Seats Among Colleges and Schools. The size of the teaching staff (wherever used in this section the terms teaching staff or faculty shall mean full-time instructor equivalent) shall determine the number of seats given to a school or college; provided, however, that an independent school or college which has a teaching staff of ten or more, but which would not be entitled to a seat on the basis of proportionate representation, shall, nevertheless, be given one "free" seat. The distribution shall be made in two steps:

a. Ascertaining those independent schools and colleges having 10 or more faculty members which would not receive one seat if 32 seats were distributed by applying the divisor obtained by dividing 32 into the total University teaching staff. One seat shall then be allotted to each such independent school or college.

b. Apportioning 32 seats among those schools and colleges whose teaching staffs are large enough to receive at least one seat by apportionment. The divisor to be applied shall be determined by dividing 32 into the sum of the teaching faculty of such independent schools and colleges. The number of seats allotted to each such school or college shall be equal to the number of times its faculty is the multiple of the prescribed divisor, the undistributed balance of the 32 seats to be allotted to the schools or colleges having the largest remainders.

A reapportionment of the college and school seats shall be made in early spring of even-numbered years. It shall be the mandatory duty of the Secretary of the General Faculty to make the apportionment applying the formula prescribed above. There must be a sufficient number of seats to maintain a ratio of no less than two elected faculty members with vote for each other member with vote.

3. Method of Election. Colleges or schools having as many as two elective representatives shall use the method of election prescribed below for the General Faculty. Colleges having less than two elective representatives may determine their own method. All voting shall be by mail.

a. Nominating or primary election. In an election in which one or two seats are to be filled, a voter shall nominate in the primary election no more than one candidate. In an election in which more than two seats are to be filled, the voter shall nominate no more than two candidates. (In the selection of the all-University representatives, two names chosen from a group consisting of assistant professors and instructors with voting membership in the General Faculty and two names from a group consisting of associate professors and professors shall be nominated by each voter.) The persons receiving the highest number of votes shall be the candidates for the General Faculty or the college or school faculties, as the case may be, two names being presented for each place.

b. Final election. The Hare System, allowing for proportional representation, shall be followed in the final election of the General Faculty. This system is as follows:

(1) The ballot and the casting of the vote

(a) Ballots listing the names of the nominees in alphabetical order shall be distributed among the voting members. In General Faculty elections there shall be two separate and distinct ballots; on one there shall be listed the candidates nominated from the group of instructors and assistant professors, and on the other the candidates nominated from the group of associate professors and professors. Each voter shall record his choices for the positions to be filled in order of preference, the number "1" indicating first choice, "2" second choice, etc.

(2) Determining the results

(a) An electoral quota shall be fixed by dividing the total number of ballots by the number of places to be filled plus one, and adding one to the result of the division.

     Total ballots cast
     --------------------------+1*= electoral quota
     Number of places plus 1

     *If the quotient contains a fraction, the fraction is dropped.

(b) First count. The total number of first choices for each candidate shall be counted. Any person or persons receiving the electoral quota on the first count shall be declared elected to the Council.

(c) Second count. All surplus votes for the person or persons elected, that is, votes above the electoral quota, shall be distributed according to the second choices of the electors casting these surplus ballots. All ballots shall be mixed in a receptacle, and a number of ballots equal to the number of surplus votes shall be withdrawn. When second choices are marked for persons already elected, then the third choice of the elector shall be counted; similarly, when third choices are marked for persons already elected, then the fourth choice of the elector shall be counted. Any person or persons receiving the electoral quota shall be declared elected to the Council.

(d) Third count. If the total number of places has not been filled on the first and second counts, then the candidate receiving the lowest number of votes shall be dropped. The second choice of electors voting for this candidate shall be added to the votes tabulated for the other candidates. When second choices are marked for persons already elected, then the third choice of the elector shall be counted; similarly, when third choices are marked for persons already elected, then the fourth choice of the elector shall be counted. Any person or persons receiving the electoral quota shall be declared elected.

(e) Further counts. The process followed on the third count shall be continued until the total number of places on the Council is filled.

(f) In case of a tie in either the nominating or the final election, the decision shall be made by the election officials in the following manner:

The names of the persons in the tie shall be placed in a receptacle, together with a number of blanks three times the number of tied names. A drawing shall then be made. The first name drawn shall be the choice if the tie is for only one position. If several persons are tied for two or more positions, then the drawing shall continue until such positions have been filled.

4. Election Officials.

a. The Secretary of the General Faculty shall be the responsible official for notifying the deans of the dates of college or school elections.

b. The Secretary, in a General Faculty election, and the dean, in the college or school election, shall prepare the ballot and an explanatory statement and instructions, send a copy to every qualified voter, receive the returns, and with two tellers appointed by the Secretary for a General Faculty election, or by the dean for a college or school election, count and tabulate the results. The dean shall certify the results to the Secretary of the General Faculty in writing not later than one week after the election. The Secretary shall announce the results to the General Faculty.

c. The Rules Committee of the General Faculty shall make the final ruling in any election dispute or on any election matter not covered by these rules.

5. Legislation.

a. The notice advising members of the Faculty Council of a matter to be discussed, in addition to stating in substance the motion, if any, to be offered, shall include a summary of data, which, if studied before the meeting, will contribute to a more intelligent understanding and analysis of the issues involved. The Secretary shall use the following form in sending out documents for the consideration of the Council:

(1) Caption, descriptive of content.

(2) Classification and notice of procedure.

(3) The report, which is to consist of:

(a) date of adoption by recommending body, if any;

(b) if a catalog change is being proposed, citation of catalogue with page(s) and line(s) to be changed if change is being proposed;

(c) the recommendations;

(d) the reasons for the proposal.

(4) A statement of the protest procedure in the case of legislation being acted on by circularization.

(5) Date of filing the report or recommendations with the Secretary.

(6) Date of distribution.

b. Proposed legislation shall be classified by the Secretary for handling as follows:

(1) Emergency legislation approved by the Council may be sent directly to the President and the Board of Regents for adoption without first being presented to the members of the General Faculty except as information. It shall be put into operation immediately upon approval by the Faculty Council, but the President shall have veto power over all such legislation. Should emergency legislation later be disapproved by the Board of Regents, it shall cease to be in operation.

(2) Minor legislation approved by the Council may be sent directly to the President and the Board of Regents for adoption without first being presented to the members of the General Faculty except as information. The President has the power to change the classification from minor to major legislation for ten working days following Council action.

(3) Legislation adopted by a college or school faculty and applying exclusively to and being of primary interest only to such a single college or school may be approved by the Faculty Council by the circularization procedure, provided no protest is received from a member within five working days after circularization. The college or school faculty is the only source of such legislation. The colleges in the arts and sciences area are considered as one college for the purpose of considering legislation affecting the requirements for the B.A. degree.

(a) The form of the notice on the circularization procedure shall be as follows: "If no objection is filed in the office of the Secretary within five working days of the date of circularization, the legislation proposed above will be held to have been approved by the Faculty Council. If objection is filed within the prescribed period, the proposed legislation will be presented to the Faculty Council at its next meeting."

(b) Should a protest be received, the legislation shall be brought before a formal session of the Council.

(c) Should the legislation be approved by the circularization procedure, it shall be forwarded to the President and the Board of Regents for action without being submitted first to the General Faculty except as information

.

(4) Once the Faculty Council has acted on major legislation, affirmatively or negatively, the legislation must be submitted to the General Faculty for final action.

(a) Major legislation approved by the Faculty Council shall be sent to the members of the General Faculty with notification by the Secretary that it will be presented to the Board of Regents for approval as General Faculty legislation unless signed protests, in writing, with reasons, have been received by the Secretary from ten members of the total number of voting faculty members within ten working days after notification. If sufficient signed protests are received, the legislation shall be presented to the General Faculty for decision at a meeting which shall be held as early as practicable, and in no case later than 30 days after the protest has been made.

(b) Major legislation not approved or else fundamentally amended by the Faculty Council shall be sent to the members of the General Faculty by the Secretary with notification that if protests of this Council action are received by the Secretary from ten members of the total number of voting faculty members within ten working days after notification, the legislation shall be presented to the General Faculty for decision at a meeting which shall be held as early as practicable, and in no case later than 30 days after the protest has been made.

(c) If legislation is being referred to the General Faculty because of a protest from a qualified group of the General Faculty, the Secretary shall so report and attach to the Council recommendations the statement of the protesting group.

(d) In the event that the protested legislation is not considered at a General Faculty meeting due to lack of a quorum, then the legislation shall be returned to the Faculty Council for action. The decision of the Council will be final. The signed protestors of the legislation shall receive advance notice of this meeting and be given the opportunity to present arguments to the Council. If the Council so chooses, it may call a second meeting of the General Faculty to consider the protested legislation.

(e) No major legislation shall be submitted to the General Faculty by the no-protest procedure during the months from June through August.

6. Rules of Procedure.

a. A request for a record vote shall be granted only if made by as many as three members of the Council.

b. Questions of jurisdiction arising between the Faculty Council and the General Faculty shall be referred to the Rules Committee of the General Faculty for determination.

c. Questions of interpretation of rules of procedure shall be determined by the Rules Committee of the General Faculty.

d. The order of business shall be as follows unless the Council shall otherwise determine:

(1) Approval of minutes

(2) Secretary's Report

(3) Discussion of Secretary's report

(4) Questions to the President (limited to 30 minutes unless extended by vote of the Faculty Council

(5) Special orders

(6) Petitions

(7) Unfinished business

(8) Reports of the General Faculty, Schools and Colleges, and Committees

(a) General Faculty

(b) College or school faculties:

(1) Architecture

(2) Business Administration

(3) Communication

(4) Education

(5) Engineering

(6) Fine Arts

(7) Graduate

(8) Law

(9) Liberal Arts

(10) Library Science

(11) Natural Sciences

(12) Nursing

(13) Pharmacy

(14) Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs

(15) Social Work

(c) Standing Committees (in chronological order of filing)

(d) Special Committees (in chronological order of filing)

(9) New business

(a) Matters presented by the President

(b) Matters presented by the deans and other administrative officials

(c) Matters presented by other members

(10) Remaining questions to the President. Involved questions, questions of major importance, and questions the answer to which may require preparation of factual material should be submitted in writing to the Secretary for transmittal to the presiding officer at least one week before the date of the meeting at which the question is to be considered. The document should be in duplicate, one copy for the presiding officer and the other for the Secretary's file.

(11) Adjournment