SUMMARY
This motion will create a new committee, the Academic Priorities Committee (APC), a new elected faculty committee. Its functions will replace those of the Faculty Committee on Educational Legislation, which would cease to exist if this motion is passed. The new APC will also replace the Academic Council and the Academic Priorities Subcommittee, administrative committees that have no constitution in the Faculty Rules. Part 2 of this motion provides for the election of members to this new committee and allows the current ad hoc Academic Priorities Committee to serve as the APC until the new committee takes office on July 1, 2003.
RATIONALE:
The Academic Priorities Committee is a new standing
committee of the faculty, proposed by the Task Force on Faculty Governance and
recommended by the Faculty Executive Committees. It replaces, in effect, the
administrative committee known as the Academic Council and the Council for the
Curriculum of the Faculty known as the Faculty Committee on Educational
Legislation. The Academic Priorities Committee advises the President on all
academic matters. Its responsibilities extend from the initial administrative
review of major academic proposals through the continued monitoring of all
academic programs. The Academic
Priorities Committee recommends to the Faculty for its approval all new
departments and degree programs approved by the APC, makes budgetary
recommendations to the proposed University Resources Committee, and makes
general recommendations on academic policy to the President. This Motion is
presented to create the Academic Priorities Committee and insert it in the
proper place in the Faculty Rules & Regulations.
MOTION
Part 1.
Motion to amend the Faculty Rules, effective immediately, for the
purpose of establishing the Academic Priorities Committee, a standing committee
of the Faculty, by removing the charge of the Faculty
Committee on Educational Legislation, found in the Faculty Rules and
Regulations as Part I, Section 2, IV, C and all other references thereto, and
inserting in the Faculty Rules and Regulations as Part I, Section 2 the
following charge for the Academic Priorities Committee:
A. Academic Priorities Committee (APC)
1.
Charge
The Academic
Priorities Committee is responsible for making recommendations to the President
concerning the general direction of academic programs.
a.
To make recommendations on the strategic allocations of academic resources
for operational, instructional and research purposes.
b. To review all
major academic budgetary proposals prepared for submission to the University
Resources committee.
c.
To review proposals to establish and/or renew departments,
centers, programs, and institutes and make recommendations thereon for approval
by the Faculty.
d. To supervise
external reviews of and changes in the status of academic units and make
recommendations thereon.
e.
To receive reports on appointments to named chairs and review
policies for making such appointments.
f.
To review proposals for new university-level joint efforts with
other institutions and make recommendations thereon to the President.
g. It may itself
also initiate proposals for the development of academic programs.
h. To review policies
on student admissions and aid that shape the composition of the University.
2.
Membership
The membership
of the Academic Priorities Committee shall consist of the Provost, the Dean of
the Faculty, the Dean of Biology and Medicine, the Dean of the College, the
Dean of the Graduate School, and the Vice President for Research and six
tenured faculty members or senior lecturers of broad experience and scholarly
distinction who are expected to serve the general interests of the University. Faculty members will serve staggered
three-year terms. Chairs of
academic divisions and departments are not eligible for service on the
Committee. The Provost shall serve as Chair. The
Vice-Chair shall be a faculty member chosen by the Committee.
3.
Method of
Election
Each year a
ballot will be prepared with two positions with two faculty members per
position. Candidates for each slate are to be chosen by the Faculty Executive
Committee in consultation with the Provost after seeking nominations from the
voting faculty. Candidates should be representative of the divisions of
knowledge in the University and diversity in the Faculty. The candidate on each
slate with the majority of the votes will serve on APC; the other candidate
will serve as an alternate in the event of a protracted absence of the
candidate with the majority of the votes.
4.
Operations
The Academic
Priorities Committee shall appoint such subcommittees as it sees fit for the
performance of its charge. Proposals
come to the committee in written form specified by the committee from clusters
of faculty, programs, centers, and departments.
Part 2
Motion to
constitute the Academic Priorities Committee immediately upon ratification of
this motion, and to direct the Faculty Executive Committee to conduct initial
elections for the Academic Priorities Committee during the current academic
year; two of the initial committee members to serve for one year, two for two
years and two for three years, all to assume office on July 1, 2003; current
members of the ad hoc Academic Priorities Committee, appointed by the Provost
to serve as ad hoc members of the committee until the new committee
members assume office.