General Principles for Faculty Meetings (revised
in November 2022)
1. The
Faculty of Hendrix College is defined in Section 16 of the Hendrix College By-Laws:
The Faculty shall consist of the President, Vice Presidents, Provost, or Dean of the College, and all officers of instruction above and including the rank of instructor. The Faculty shall meet upon the call of the President or the Provost or
Dean of the College and shall make rules governing its own procedure and shall
constitute such committees as may be appropriate. The Faculty shall prescribe,
subject to the approval of the Board, requirements for admission, for courses
of study, for degrees, and for graduation, and shall recommend to the Board
candidates for all academic and honorary degrees. The Faculty is responsible
for promoting the education and the welfare of students as defined within the
Statement of Purpose of the College. To
this end, the Faculty, through policy and participation, shall supervise all
student organizations and oversee all other student activities sanctioned by
the College. Each member of the Faculty shall contribute appropriately to the
fulfillment of these responsibilities.
2. The Faculty
Handbook should consistently use the term “Faculty” to refer to the
definition in By-Law 16."
3. Either
the President or the Provost can call a Faculty meeting to order. Typically, the Provost calls the meetings to
order and acts as Chair. The Council on
Academic Policy sets the agenda for Faculty meetings.
4. The
Faculty customarily meets once each month when the College is in session. Additional
meetings can be called by the President or the Provost. All members of the
Faculty are expected to attend Faculty meetings and should inform the Provost
if they expect to be absent.
5. The
standard agenda order is Call to Order, Reading of the Hendrix Statement of
Purpose, Committee Reports, Action Items, Discussion Items, New Business,
and Announcements.
6. In the
language of Robert’s Rules, the Faculty has not adopted Robert’s
Rules, but considers Robert’s Rules as persuasive. This means
Robert’s Rules carry weight in the absence of overriding reasons for following
a different course, but they are not binding on the body.
7. The
Provost will, as appropriate, make a call for interested Faculty to serve as
Parliamentarian. In consultation with the Council on Academic Policy, the
Provost will appoint a Parliamentarian to a four-year term. This Faculty member
will be familiar with Robert's Rules of Order and the exceptions to those rules
as detailed in subsequent sections of Faculty Meeting Procedures. The
Parliamentarian is charged with being present and ready to advise the Chair on
procedural matters during Faculty meetings.
8. Quorum and Membership
a. The quorum is a majority of the Faculty as defined in Section 16
of the Hendrix By-Laws.
b. Only members of the Faculty as defined in Section 16 of the
Hendrix By-Laws may vote.
c. In absentia ballots or proxies may
not be used in Faculty meetings. Members must be present to vote.
d. Classroom teachers without rank and administrative staff members
are welcome to attend Faculty meetings but cannot vote. Other visitors are
allowed to attend only after a motion, second, and a 2/3 vote to suspend the
regular rules. The Chair then invites the
visitors to enter the meeting.
9. Faculty
Meeting Procedures
a. All proposals appear on the agenda at two successive Faculty
meetings. At the first meeting the
proposal appears as a discussion item and at the second meeting as an action
item. There are four exceptions to this
rule:
i. Curricular
proposals are acted on in one meeting unless they involve the creation of new
majors or minors.
ii. Policy
proposals from the Committee on Student Life are considered adopted upon
presentation as part of a committee report unless a Faculty member objects from
the floor.
iii. Approval
of the graduation list.
iv. Approval
of the annual report from the Committee on Committees concerning committee
charges and memberships.
b. Discussion Items
i. When a
proposal appears as a discussion item, Faculty are invited to discuss the item,
ask questions of the sponsors, and recommend changes to the proposal.
ii. At this
stage, such recommendations are not considered as formal amendments, but simply
as suggestions for revision. The
intention is for the sponsors to have an opportunity to receive feedback and
then to make changes to proposal before it returns as an action item.
c. Action
Items
i. When a
discussion item returns as an action item, it is the expectation that a vote on
the item will be held at that meeting.
ii. If an
action item has been revised since it was a discussion item, the sponsors
typically give a brief presentation of any changes and the justifications for
those changes.
iii. As an
action item, the proposal is discussable and is open to amendments until the
Faculty is ready to vote.
iv. Sponsors
of an action item may withdraw the item before any votes are taken on
amendments or the item itself.
v. When it
is clear that discussion on an action item is ending, the Chair asks if there
are objections to moving to a vote. If
there are no such objections, the Faculty moves to vote on the item.
d. Amendments
i. Amendments
are formal proposals to alter a proposal that is on the agenda as an action
item.
ii. If an
amendment is offered as a friendly amendment, the sponsors may accept it, or
not. If the amendment is accepted as
friendly, the wording change is noted by displaying it where the Faculty can
view it. The Chair notes that the amendment has been accepted. If the
amendment is not accepted as friendly, the amendment can be withdrawn or it can
be posed as a formal amendment.
iii. Amendments
(other than friendly amendments) must be seconded, are debatable, and are
adopted by a majority vote.
iv. Once
seconded, amendments must be displayed for viewing by the Faculty. If a Faculty member has an amendment prepared
before the meeting, it is strongly recommended that the amendment be sent to
the Provost for inclusion with the agenda.
In this case, the Provost must receive the amendment no later than
Friday of the week before the meeting.
v. Second
order amendments (amendments to amendments) are in order. Third order amendments are not in order. However, Faculty may offer a third-order
amendment as a separate, first-order amendment.
e. Voting
Procedure
i. A
majority vote is a vote of more than half of the Faculty present voting for or
against the action item or procedural motion (not including abstentions).
ii. The
default voting method is by voice vote.
iii. If a
voice vote is indeterminate, the Chair or any Faculty member can move for a
count of hands. This motion does not
need a second, is not debatable, and does not require a vote.
iv. At any
time, any Faculty member may make a motion for a secret, written ballot for any
pending action item or procedural motion.
This motion requires a second, is not debatable, and requires a majority
vote. If the motion passes, the Chair
makes arrangements for conducting the secret ballot.
v. Once voting
on amendments is completed, a vote is taken on the original item (as amended,
or not).
f. New
Business. Generally, new business items
involve requests to Academic Policy to consider that a particular issue be
studied with a report back to the Faculty at a later meeting. New Business
proposals do not require a vote by the Faculty. However, if a Faculty member
is dissatisfied with the resulting (in)action from Academic Policy on a requested report, the Faculty member can make a motion to suspend
the rules to reintroduce the issue under New Business. If passed, AP must place the item on the agenda of the next or
subsequent meeting.
10. Procedural Motions
a. Suspend
the Rules. A motion to override any
existing rule requires a second, is not debatable, and requires a 2/3 vote to
be adopted.
b. Calling
the Question
i. Calling
the question is a motion to end debate and move to voting on an action item.
ii. This
motion must be seconded, is not debatable, and requires a 2/3 vote to pass.
iii. If the
motion passes, the Faculty immediately move to a vote on the action item.
c. Limit
Debate
i. When a
proposal appears as an action item, Faculty may make a motion to place a time
limit for discussion on the item.
ii. The
motion requires a second, is not debatable, and requires a 2/3 vote to pass.
iii. If the
motion passes, upon reaching the limit time the Chair immediately calls for a
vote on the action item.
11. At the
discretion of Academic Policy, faculty meetings may be held in remote or hybrid
formats as needed. Decisions will be reported when the agendas are
distributed. For remote or hybrid
meetings, members of the Faculty who are logged into the meeting are considered
present and allowed to comment and vote.