Senate Bill 12-13-51
| Bill ID: | 12-13-51 |
| Name: | Proposal to Amend the Membership of the Senate Executive Committee |
| Proposed: | 03/29/2013 |
| Sponsor: | Matthew Popkin, Samantha Zwerling, Joshua Hiscock, Katherine Beardsley, Mark Stewart, Marcia Marinelli, David Colon-Cabrera, Adam Janus, Joseph Calizo, Marsha Guenzler-Stevens |
| Proposal: | The Senate Executive Committee is the most powerful committee of the University Senate. It has the first and second to last say in terms of decision-making. Its members receive hundreds of pages of reports from all the Senate committees and task forces responding to their charges a month prior to any potential discussion on the Senate floor, providing detailed information earlier in the review process than other members of the University Senate. The description of the Senate Executive Committee is as follows: "The Senate Executive Committee (SEC) is responsible for carrying into effect the actions of the Senate. When the Senate receives a new idea or proposal, the SEC is the first body to review it... The major responsibilities of the SEC include acting as an initiating body suggesting possible action by the Senate, reporting to the Senate on administrative implementation of policies adopted by the Senate, and serving as a channel through which any member of the campus community may introduce matters for consideration by the Senate or its committees. Nearly all items that come before the Senate are first discussed and debated in one of the standing committees. The standing committees report back to the SEC, which considers the report and determines if it is clear and precise enough for a Senate floor discussion and intelligent voting before placing it on the Senate agenda." (www.senate.umd.edu/committees/sec/index.cfm) Senate Executive Committee members also meet monthly with President Loh and the Vice Presidents of the University of Maryland (UMD). These meetings are known as the "President's Breakfasts" and are closed meetings. President Loh and the Senate Executive Committee set the agenda for each breakfast. The membership of the University Senate's Senate Executive Committee is stipulated in the Plan of Organization under section 8.2a, entitled "The Executive Committee," and it reads as follows: "The Executive Committee shall include the Chair and Chair-Elect of the Senate and the following: seven faculty members, elected by and from the faculty Senators; two staff members, elected by and from the staff Senators; two undergraduate student members, elected by and from the undergraduate student Senators; and one graduate student member, elected by and from the graduate student Senators." Although the Senate Executive Committee does include representation from students (both graduate and undergraduate), staff, and faculty, it could be improved to more effectively and holistically represent the campus community. The University Senate is a self-proclaimed "shared governance" institution that directly advises President Loh, but the Senate Executive Committee could be more effective with some minor adjustments to its current membership, irrespective of the specific individuals who currently or may in the future serve on Senate Executive Committee. There is a lack of representation of non-tenure track faculty (NTTF) members on the committee. Of the seven designated faculty members, not one of them is NTTF, despite the sizable number of NTTF present on this campus. It is also worth noting that the Senate Chair and Chair-Elect are virtually always faculty members. Additionally, there are too few undergraduate students (2), graduate students (1), and staff (2) on the Senate Executive Committee to sufficiently represent their constituencies and the campus. In the event that one of any of above senators are unable to attend, their constituency is at a significant disadvantage. In general, any discussion that were to incorporate all perspectives on a topic (excluding the chair and chair-elect and non-voting members) would incorporate seven faculty perspectives, two undergraduate perspectives, one graduate perspective, and two staff perspectives. This is not presuming that faculty, or any constituency for that matter, act, speak, vote, or behave homogenously, but it does bring to light the limited number of perspectives that can be incorporated from other experiences in the campus community. |
| Active? | No |
Status
| Status: | Completed |
| Completed On: | 05/02/2013 |
History
| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Senate Chair Novara |
| Received: | 2013-05-02 |
| Decision: | The revised proposal will be submitted to the Plan of Organization Review Committee for its consideration. |
| Related Files: |
| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Matthew Popkin, Samantha Zwerling, Joshua Hiscock, Katherine Beardsley, Mark Stewart, Marcia Marinelli, David Colon-Cabrera, Adam Janus, Joseph Calizo, Marsha Guenzler-Stevens |
| Received: | 2013-04-15 |
| Related Files: |
| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Senate Executive Committee (SEC) |
| Received: | 2013-04-01 |
| Decision Date: | 2013-04-08 |
| Decision: | The SEC voted to return the proposal to the proposers. |
| Actions: | The SEC agreed that the Plan of Organization Review Committee (PORC) should review the proposal. The SEC voted to return the proposal to the proposers for expansion and clarification before forwarding it to PORC. |
| Next Step: | Proposers Review |
| Related Files: |