The
University Senate of Michigan Technological University
DEPARTMENTAL
GOVERNANCE
(Proposal 16-92)
(Proposal
5-11)
Senate Policy 710.1
Background:
The senate and the administration have failed to reach agreement
on revision of the university’s charter policies for five years while the key
document that defined the charter process is now 18 years old. Points of
conflict became complicated by the faculty’s creation of the AAUP collective
bargaining unit and the administrative response to that action. The
Senate advanced two proposed updates to the policy, 11-06 and 22-08. Both of
these were rejected by the administration.
This document updates the existing policies (16-92 and
amendments and related policies) with most proposed revisions sought by the
faculty. The controversial issues were identified through a series of
discussions and correspondence with administrators and various units. The
Academic Policy discussed the issues during 2009-2010 and proposed this
compromise during the Spring of 2010.
The University Senate deliberated and decided to hold this proposal until units
could consider these revisions side-by-side with a parallel proposal that would
establish university-wide policy covering searching for, hiring, and evaluating
unit chairs and school deans.
Key points of contention and proposed resolution:
1. Search for, selection of, and review of Chairs: This
proposal calls for units to remove these provisions from their charters.
The University Senate proposes to establish new policy to govern the
process of evaluating and searching/selecting new chairs. In the past,
the senate wanted to allow units to establish charters so those units could
make binding recommendations to the administration regarding the selection and
retention of department chairs and deans. No matter the faculty preference, the
administration hire deans, directors, and chairs, which they believe serve “at
the pleasure of the president.” In shared governance, however, units have the
power to recommend preferred candidates or individuals under review, or rank
the individual as acceptable/unacceptable. If members of a unit are
unhappy with the president’s decision, that department, unit, or individual can
rely upon the university’s grievance policy, which is also defined by the
Senate.
2. Time until approval: The Provost agreed that
charters deserve prompt response from the administration but the 60 day
deadline set forth in 22-08 was deemed unreasonable. The Senate agreed that the
regular period of 90 days as defined in the senate constitution was a good
compromise.
3. Policy for creating new charters and sending reps
to the senate: This document establishes this procedure.
4. This Policy includes more specific instruction on
defining governance within the unit, requiring the charter to define the
rights and responsibilities of faculty, professional staff, non-tenure
track persons, and others in the unit.
5. Conflicts with university-wide policy: While
there was much concern on this issue, everyone actually understood that nothing
in a unit charter could be in conflict with university-wide policy or senate
policy. This makes that explicit again.
6. Updating the charters: This provides for SHARED
responsibility in maintaining charters. It is unrealistic of the faculty
to expect that an administrative assistant will catch every conflict with
evolving policy. At the same time, the administration cannot reasonably
expect the units to monitor policy changes that marginally relate to our
day-to-day activities. Shared governance means that we must all make best-faith
efforts to keep the policies up to date. When discovered to be in
conflict, everyone must agree to fix charter-related conflict in a timely
manner.
7. Grievance regarding charters The University’s
grievance procedures are currently detailed in Senate Procedures 704-1-1.
Proposal Preface:
Since 1994, each department, school, research, or academic unit at
Michigan Technological University has been required to maintain a written
charter. The charters were originally created by Senate proposal 16-92 and then
subsequently modified by a series of proposals clarifying specific issues,
including policies on the evaluation of teaching 12-03, procedures
regarding sabbatical leaves 09-05, for recommending
Emeritus/Emerita status 20-02, and defining
university grievance processes 23-00.
In order to restore the normal process of updating existing
documents and provide for the creation of new charters, this proposal replaces
proposal 16-92 so that
charter policy better reflects best current practices and meets concerns
identified in the proposals listed above, specifically point 6 regarding university
wide procedures for the selection and evaluation of Chairs and Deans.
This document therefore supersedes and replaces 16-92.
Units are encouraged to simply cut-and-paste existing charter
language into their new charter proposal and operating manual as
appropriate. This should ensure rapid approval.
Proposal Text:
Redefining Departmental Governance
Being necessary for the conduct of shared governance, every
department, school, library, and other research or academic units (hereafter
all called “university units” or “unit”) will establish and maintain a written
charter. The charter should address issues that cannot constructively be
defined in a university-wide manner, specifically including required policies
and practices defined below (originally 16-92).
A unit’s charter cannot conflict with University or Senate
policies and in cases where this occurs the
higher-level governing document has priority and the lower-level document must
be brought into compliance. Any language found not to be in agreement will
immediately be considered invalid, but this will have no effect on the rest of
the charter’s language.
A new unit may approve a new charter with a simple majority vote
of the academic constituency of that unit. The unit may send
representatives to serve as voting members of the University Senate as soon as
it begins operating under a provisional charter. Those representatives
should be selected by a simple majority of the voting members in the unit, as
defined in section I.1.a below. These representatives serve while the new
unit charter is under review by the administration.
When a new unit creates its first charter or an established unit
revises their current charter, the document is registered with the University
Senate and advanced, without further discussion or debate, to the
administration as a senate proposal. The administration has three months
to provide written response to the proposal (as defined in Senate
Constitution, Article III, E.4-6). If
after that time the charter proposal is neither vetoed nor approved by the president,
the proposal is considered approved and goes into effect.
Required Charter Contents to be Stated in
the Following Numerical Order:
1. a. A procedure for changing and
approving the charter, including a definition of the voting members of a unit
and the procedure for changing eligibility.
b. Procedures and responsibilities for updating
the charter and keeping it in compliance with University-wide and Senate
policies. Units should propose conflict resolutions in a timely manner
once one has been identified
2. A clear definition
of the duties and responsibilities of the Department Chair or Director.
3. Procedures for
recommending promotion, tenure, and reappointment among their members.
Specific areas that must be addressed in the charter are found in Appendix I. (Tenure, Promotion
and Reappointment Procedures):Section 1. (Responsibilities of Each Academic Unit) of the
Tenured/Tenure-Track Faculty Handbook which implement the Board of Trustees
(BOT) Policy on Academic Tenure and Promotion as decreed in the BOT’s Bylaws and Policies, Chapter 6.4 Academic Tenure and Promotion.
4. A definition of the role
of professional staff and other non-tenure/tenure-track members in unit
governance.
5. A procedure for
obtaining advice from the unit faculty regarding recommendations for sabbatical leaves (Senate
Proposal 09-05)
6. A procedure for
recommending Emeritus/Emerita status to the President for presentation to the
Board of Trustees. This procedure shall include approval by department/school
faculty and an appeal system and may be initiated by the retiree or his/her
department/school (Senate Proposal 20-02).
7. A procedure for departmental/school
grievance (Senate Proposal 23-00).
8. Units may include other
policies or practices if they feel that they warrant being included in their charter.
Proposal
16-92:
Adopted as Amended by
Senate: 29 September 1993
Approved by President:
15 February 1994
Approved by Board of
Control: 18 March 1994
Proposal 5-11:
Introduced to Senate: 10 November
2010
Revised and reintroduced: 23 November 2010
Senate Returned to Committee: 08 December 2010
Revised and reintroduced to Senate: 19 January 2011
Slight editing (in red
) done at Senate meeting: 19 January 2011
Adopted by Senate: 02 February 2011
Amended by Administration (in green): 11
March 2011
Amendments Adopted by Senate with Friendly Amendment (in purple): 23 March 2011
Senate Amendment Approved by Administration: 31 March 2011
September 2015: Name changed from Board of Control to Board of Trustees