A.  Any Senator, faculty member, student leader, or UVSC Administrator may request placement of an appropriate item on the Senate agenda by presenting the item to a member of the Senate Executive Committee.

     B.  A group representing ten percent of the faculty members shall secure consideration by the Senate of any appropriate matter, including proposed amendments to the Senate Constitution or Bylaws by presenting the item to any Senator along with the appropriate number of signatures.  The sponsoring Senator shall forward the item and signatures to the President of the Senate within 10 days of receipt who shall follow the Senate Policy Approval Process (See Bylaw VI.C).

     C.  Senate Policy Approval Process

          1.  Step 1

When a policy or policy revision is sponsored in accordance with the Campus Policy Approval Process, the Steward shall present the proposal to the Faculty Senate President. When a policy or policy revision originates in the Faculty Senate or when the policy is an internal Senate policy, Constitution change, or Bylaw change, the Senator with the proposal shall function as Steward and present it to the Faculty Senate President.

          2.  Step 2

The Faculty Senate President shall present the proposal to the Executive Committee at the next scheduled regular meeting, or if the matter is urgent, shall call a special meeting of the Executive Committee.

               a.  The Executive Committee shall assign the proposal to the chair or chairs of relevant Senate standing committees. Standing committees shall review the proposal concurrently or sequentially as determined by the Executive Committee. Chairs of the standing committees shall consult with committee members in reviewing the proposal. A written report of committee findings and recommendations shall be provided to the Faculty Senate President prior to a time established by the Executive Committee for receipt of the committee report.

               b.  The Executive Committee shall review the standing committee report(s) and determine whether to return the proposal to the Steward with feedback for amendment or modification or whether to take the proposal to the Faculty Senate. (The return of a proposal to its Steward does not constitute Senate approval. The Executive Committee may only act on behalf of the Faculty Senate on urgent matters that cannot wait for the next meeting of the Faculty Senate.  (See Bylaw XI.F.1.b).  Any subsequent revision received by the Faculty Senate President from the Steward shall begin the review process at Step 1.

               3.  Step 3

The Executive Committee shall place the proposal on the agenda as an information item for the next scheduled Faculty Senate meeting. Senators shall take the proposal to their respective departments.

               4.  Step 4

The Executive Committee shall place the proposal on the agenda as an action item for the next scheduled Faculty Senate meeting. The Senate shall vote whether to approve, approve with amendments, or not approve the proposal by a majority vote of those present.

               5.  Step 5

The Faculty Senate President shall report the result to the Steward and in the case of an approved internal Senate policy, Constitution change, or Bylaw Change, shall implement the proposal or take the proposal to the full faculty for ratification when required.

          D.  All actions of the Senate shall be subject to review by faculty members and may be appealed by the following procedure:  

               1.  Written requests for appeal of actions taken by the Senate may be made by any group representing ten percent of the faculty members.  This appeal shall be made within ten days of the distribution date of the description of the action taken by the Senate.

               2.  The action shall be reviewed at the next regular meeting of the Senate or at a special meeting called for that purpose after all Senate members have been given two weeks' notice of the meeting.

               3.  The Senate will then act either to sustain or to rescind the action in question.

               4.  If the Senate votes to uphold the challenged action and the appealing parties still are not satisfied, they have thirty calendar days to complete procedures for a referendum on the matter by obtaining support by signatures from fifteen percent of the eligible faculty and by submitting those signatures to the Senate Executive Committee.

               5.  The Executive Committee will then appoint an Ad Hoc Committee, consisting of two Senate members and two petition members, to prepare a referendum ballot on the matter and to submit the same to the eligible faculty for a vote.

               6.  This Committee shall also receive and count the ballots, then report the results to the Senate Executive Committee, who will in turn announce the results to the Senate and to the Faculty.

               7.  The referendum vote will resolve the matter and be binding on all parties concerned.

          E.  The following are the procedures according to which the Faculty Senate President shall take action on policies presented to the President's Council for approval during the Summer months, which shall be defined as May 1 to August 15:

               1.  During the summer months, the faculty Senate President shall notify the Faculty Senate of all proposed policies during Stage 2 in the Campus Policy Approval Process as soon as they are available for review.

               2.  The Faculty Senate President shall be empowered to act¹ on behalf of the Faculty Senate regarding any policy presented in President's Council unless at least six members of the Faculty Senate formally request that action on the policy be postponed until the Fall, in which case the Faculty Senate President shall request that the proposed policy not proceed to Stage 3 of the Campus Policy Approval Process until it can be considered by the full senate in the Fall semester.  Faculty senators' requests to postpone action on a policy must be made in writing (hard or electronic copy) and with sufficient time for the Senate President to request the above-mentioned postponement in the policy process.

                3.  In the event that the President's Council considers a policy despite the Faculty Senate President's request that it be postponed until Fall, then the Faculty Senate President shall be empowered to act on the behalf of the Faculty Senate in President's Council.

VII.  Election of Senate Officers 

     A. Nomination and election of the President-Elect will be held during the Fall semester of even years.  Candidates for President-Elect must be full-time and tenured.

     B. Nomination of Executive Secretary-Elect will be held the Fall semester of each year.

     C. Nomination of candidates for office shall be submitted by petition of a group representing ten percent of the faculty members eligible to vote.  This petition must be submitted to the President of the Senate at least ten working days prior to the announced date for ballot distribution.

     D.  The Personnel and Elections Chair will prepare a slate of names and provide the list of candidates to the faculty members eligible to vote prior to the election.  The election will be held among the faculty members eligible to vote.

     E.  The Personnel and Elections Chair shall call for the official statements from the candidates.  Statements shall consist of no more than a one-page vitae and a one-page position statement.  Candidates may elect not to provide a statement.   The Personnel and Elections Chair shall distribute all statements at the same time and in the same manner to all eligible voters no later than 5 days before balloting.

     F.  In the event that no candidate receives a majority of the votes cast, a run-off election shall result between the top two candidates.  The one receiving the highest number of votes in the run-off election will stand elected.

     G.  Elections may be conducted electronically.  (See Bylaw XII).

VIII.  Election of Faculty Senators 

     A.  The number of senators shall not exceed 50.

     B.  Each school at UVSC shall be awarded a number of Faculty Senators based on the number of faculty members in that school who are eligible to vote in Faculty Senate elections.

     C.  Each faculty member shall be counted only once.  In the case of faculty members with a split contract, they should be counted as members of their home department.  The home department is defined as the department where the faculty member is presently seeking or has been granted tenure.

     D.  Webster's Method of Apportionment shall be applied as follows:

          1.  Obtain from the Office of Academic Vice President the total number of faculty members eligible to vote as defined by the Senate Constitution.

          2.  Divide the total number of faculty members eligible to vote by 50 (number of Senate seats), determining the Faculty-to-Senator ratio.

          3.  Divide the number of faculty members eligible to vote from each school by the faculty-to-senator ratio and round to the nearest whole number.

          4.  If two schools are both entitled to exactly 0.5 additional senators, such that rounding would result in 51 senators, the Chair of the elections committee shall assign the one available senate seat to one of the two eligible schools by coin toss.

     E.  The Faculty Senate shall be reapportioned every year based on the number of faculty members eligible to vote in each school on August 1st.

     F.  It shall be the responsibility of the faculty members eligible to vote from each school to have elected the appropriate number of senators based on the August 1st apportionment ready to serve by the first Senate meeting of the academic year.  Schools and departments shall report the names of newly elected senators to the Executive Secretary or the Personnel and Elections Chair on or before the day instruction begins in Fall semester.

     G.  In the unusual event that a school's representation falls to zero, that school will be awarded one Senator and then the remaining senators will be apportioned to the other schools using Webster's Method.  Allocation shall be based on the number of faculty members eligible to vote for the schools being apportioned the remaining senators.

     H.  Senators shall be elected for a three-year term and they may be elected for additional terms.

     I.  If Senators move from one academic school to another, they shall not retain their Senate seats, though they shall be eligible to be elected to the Senate from the new school.  If an academic school loses a seat or seats due to reapportionment, the faculty members eligible to vote from that school shall determine how to apportion the school's Senators among its faculty members (see Bylaw IX-D).  Some Senators may not serve their full three year terms in this case.

X.  Election of Standing Committee Chairs

     A.  The Personnel and Elections Chair shall prepare and conduct elections for standing committee chairs.  Chairs must be presently serving Senators.  

     B.  For each standing committee chair vacancy, nominations shall be accepted from the Senate floor. 

     C.  Once nominations have closed, at least a week shall expire before the election for a standing committee chair is conducted.  If only one candidate has been nominated, the Senate may immediately vote to elect the candidate by acclamation.

     D.  Elections within the Senate, including those for standing committees and chairs, shall be conducted by secret ballot.  Ballots shall be prepared by or under the supervision of the Personnel and Elections Chair.

     E.  In the event that no candidate receives a majority of the votes cast, a run-off election shall result between the top two candidates.  The one receiving the highest number of votes in the run-off balloting will stand elected.

     F.  Senators elected as standing committee chairs shall assume their responsibilities at the last meeting of the academic year unless they are filling a midterm vacancy. If filling a midterm vacancy, their responsibilities shall begin immediately .

     G.  The maximum term for Standing Committee Chairs will be three years, or until they leave the senate, whichever comes first.  Chairs may be re-elected for additional terms.

XI.  Election of Standing Committee Members

     A.  Elections for School Representatives on Senate Standing Committees shall be conducted by the Personnel and Elections Committee Representative for the School.  If the school does not have a Representative to the Senate Elections Committee, the election shall be conducted by the Senators of that School. Nominations shall be solicited from the Faculty of the School.  After the close of nominations, candidates shall be voted upon by secret ballot cast by the School Faculty that are eligible to vote.  In the event that there is only one candidate for a position, that candidate shall be ratified by a majority of the ballots cast.  If a candidate is not ratified, the process shall be repeated until a candidate has been ratified.

XII.  Senate Elections and Referenda may be conducted by electronic ballot

     A.  Both elections and referenda shall be conducted by electronic ballot to full-time faculty members eligible to vote.

     B.  At the request of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee or the entire Faculty Senate, the Chair of the Faculty Senate Personnel and Elections Committee shall prepare and conduct referenda by internet/electronic ballot.  Such balloting may be done in conjunction with elections or as a separate event.

     C.  To prepare a referendum, the Chair of the Faculty Senate Personnel and Elections Committee shall obtain approval of wording of the referendum from the Senate Executive Committee and shall distribute the referendum, along with any approved explanatory information and voting instructions, to faculty members eligible to vote by e-mail.

     D.  The ballot system for both elections and referenda shall be password protected and at least two members of the Senate Executive Committee shall have independent access to the results.  Only the Senate Personnel and Elections Chair shall have password authority to reset the ballot.  At least 10 days will be provided for voting.  Individuals who are unable or unwilling to vote by internet may request an absentee ballot or e-mail ballot from the Chair of the Faculty Senate Personnel and Elections Committee.

  ¹The term 'act' here is intended to capture all of the possible ways in which the Faculty Senate President may be an advocate for the interests of the Faculty Senate.  This includes but is not limited to voting, persuading, disputing, questioning, lobbying, arguing, protesting, etc.