3.2 Standing Committees of the Faculty

Responsibility for the academic program of the College has by tradition and agreement been delegated to the faculty by the Board of Trustees and its chief administrative officer, the President of the College. It is through the system of standing committees that the faculty organizes its work in order to meet this responsibility. It is the intent of the faculty that the composition of the standing committees reflects the diversity of the faculty body to the extent that is possible. To assure that all segments of the College community are properly involved in the work of the committees, students and administrative officers are also expected to serve on several of the committees.

As the presence of administrators on faculty committees suggests, the faculty understands that the work of the College requires close cooperation between members of the faculty and members of the administration. Cooperation may not always mean agreement, however, and the faculty recognizes that in fulfilling its constitutional responsibilities the administration may sometimes need to act contrary to faculty advice or recommendation. The administration recognizes in turn that the governance system is designed to assure that where it is appropriate faculty advice will be offered only after careful deliberation by designated representatives. The faculty therefore expects that the administration will respond to such advice in a timely, informative, and relevant manner.

The faculty through its committees establishes policies and procedures which give form and character to the collegiate program. The committees regularly review these policies and procedures to evaluate their effectiveness, but implementation of policy and responsibility for monitoring the application of rules rests with the appropriate administrative officers and/or faculty members. It is important for the committees to maintain close working relationships with those persons on the campus who are charged with policy implementation and to consult with them when considering questions which relate to their responsibilities. It is equally important for those carrying out committee policies to report to the appropriate committee from time to time on the performance of their tasks.

Helping to establish policies and procedures which can be clearly understood and applied by all members of the College is a major responsibility of the standing committees. In order to assure that legislation proposed for action by the faculty is in an advanced stage of preparedness, preliminary discussion should occur in one of the committees. When it is not clear which committee is most appropriate, the Executive Committee will assist individuals or groups in making referrals to committees.

By the end of the academic year the chair of each standing committee submits a written report to the Vice Chair of the Faculty, summarizing the work of the committee during the year. These reports shall become part of the cumulative record of the faculty's business filed in the Provost's office. Copies of the report are sent to the President and to the senior administrator who serves with that committee.

Each committee shall take care to review, evaluate, and recommend improvements in the policies and procedures that fall within its responsibility.

Members of standing committees are elected by the faculty from those of its membership referred to in section 3.1.1, categories A and D. Some administrative officers are ex officio members of standing committees, as provided below. Student membership is determined and provided by Student Council. Members of the faculty become eligible for service on standing committees after one year of service to the College. The term of service for faculty members is normally two years. Normally, standing committees are chaired by a tenured member of the faculty with one year of prior service on that committee. The faculty meeting elects chairs of standing committees unless otherwise specified. A member of the faculty under review for appointment without limit may be elected to chair a standing committee, but may serve as chair only if tenured.

Student representation on faculty committees shall consist of three to four student members on the Committee on Academic Standards and two student members on the Curricular Policy Committee. These student representatives shall have full voting privileges on their respective committees. The Student Council shall be responsible for sending student representatives to faculty committees, early in the fall. The faculty encourages diverse and representative student participation on faculty committees.

On standing committees of the Faculty, only teaching members of the Faculty and student members vote. The chair of each standing committee must be tenured, or pending for tenure when elected.

Committee responsibilities are divided into three categories: duties for which committees have autonomy and authority are listed as responsibilities; duties for which committees have important input that should, in most cases, be followed is classified as advice; duties for which committees have interest and contribute opinion is classified as consultation.

The committees in sections 3.2.2-3.2.8 comprise the standing committees of the faculty, which, in contrast to other faculty committees and teams, hold specific responsibility to represent the collective interests of the faculty and the academic program.  These committees must report their work to the faculty at each faculty meeting and coordinate with the executive committee and each other when questions arise that fall outside the scope of any particular committee.  Reports should, as much as possible, include future topics of discussion so that members can direct feedback to committees efficiently.  There is an expectation that faculty committees work together as well as consult, collaborate, and engage with other faculty groups, Campus Senate, Staff Council, Student Council and other campus structures, administrators, staff, and students whenever possible and appropriate.  It is also expected that committee chairs invite experts, offices or people responsible for specific duties to committee meetings when discussing relevant issues.  Ex Officio members of committees might, as situations dictate, designate alternate representatives to committees to serve on a yearly basis.

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Elections are conducted by the Executive Committee whenever a faculty position on a standing committee needs to be filled. Chairs of the standing committees as well as division and program representatives on the Executive Committee (see section 3.2.3) are elected prior to the March meeting of the faculty. Prior to the April meeting, the Executive Committee conducts elections for regular members of committees, the Senate, and the GLCA Academic Council. Committee members are elected on a rotating basis, with approximately half of each committee elected each year. To assure an element of continuity in the work of the Resource Allocation Subcommittee of the Executive Committee, these five representatives will be selected for three-year terms on a staggered schedule. While the Executive Committee prepares the nominations for standing committee positions, provision will always be made for nominations from the floor of the faculty meeting.

The standing committees here represent specific committees who are charged with policy deliberation and report to the faculty at the faculty meeting.  Other committees are outlined in other sections of the handbook.

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The Executive Committee is charged with organizing faculty governance; to provide a place for all branches of faculty governance to communicate with each other and to develop faculty-wide and institutional perspectives on faculty work. The Executive Committee directs and responds to committee work, interfaces with institutional offices and communicates with and engages other governance structures on campus. 

Members

  • Four faculty, elected by the divisions (3 year term)
  • One faculty, elected by members of interdisciplinary departments and programs (3 year term)
  • Chairs of Committee on Academic Standards, Curricular Policy Committee, Faculty Affairs Committee, Faculty Development Committee and Senate Co-Chair 
  • Chair and Vice Chair of the faculty 
  • President, Provost, Associate Provosts
  • Vice President for Student Affairs, ex officio
  • Vice President for Library and Information Services, ex officio

Duties

  • Responsible for policy deliberation: to raise questions on, explore, and provide feedback on policy from an interdisciplinary and collegiate perspective
  • Responsible for coordinating work of standing committees
  • Responsible for the creation of ad hoc committees
  • Responsible for the creation of action committees for short-term, purpose-driven, analysis of critical, urgent or cross-committee interests.  
  • Responsible for policy regarding nominations of honorary degrees
  • Responsible for planning and supervising faculty elections
  • Responsible for communication with Campus Senate, Staff Council and Student Council when appropriate and to seek advice and perspectives from these bodies.
  • Provide consultation to the President and Provost on collegiate long-range planning and budget-making

Resource Allocation Subcommittee

The Resource Allocation Subcommittee is charged with reviewing and advising on the allocation of college resources, specifically with respect to its impact on the academic program.

Members

  • The Chair is elected by the subcommittee from among the elected members of the subcommittee and is typically a tenured returning member of the subcommittee.
  • The four divisional representatives elected to the Executive Committee
  • The interdisciplinary representative elected to the Executive Committee
  • Provost, ex officio, as a non-voting member
  • Chair of the Faculty, ex officio

Duties of the Subcommittee

  • Responsible for soliciting requests for the renewal of existing tenure-track lines as well as new tenure-track lines, reviewing these requests and ranking these requests to advise the President and Provost.
  • May review external reviews of departments and programs and make recommendations for long-range planning and budget-making when appropriate. 
  • May provide consultation to appropriate college offices regarding non-personnel academic resources (budgets, library resources, classrooms, equipment, technology, etc.).   
  • May provide consultation to the President and Provost regarding long-term and strategic planning and budget-making with regard to the academic division.

The Assessment Team

The assessment team is responsible for coordinating assessment documents, providing consultation to the Office of Institutional Research and supporting the periodic reaccreditation of the college when assessment materials are needed.

Members

  • Chair of the Resource Allocation Subcommittee
  • Chair of the Committee on Academic Standards
  • Chair of the Curricular Policy Committee
  • Director of Institutional Research, ex officio

Duties of the Team

The Assessment Team will meet one time before the end of the first week of classes each year, with this meeting called by the Director of Institutional Research. At this meeting the assessment team is responsible for accepting the reports on assessment, provided by the Office of Institutional Research, from the previous year, agreeing on the assessment process for the upcoming two years, and to consult with the Office of Institutional Research to determine questions that assessment should try to answer and provide feedback on the assessment process.

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The Curricular Policy Committee is responsible for studying the curriculum as a whole with a specific focus on the core of the four-year curriculum 

Members

  • Four faculty
  • Chair
  • Two students 
  • Associate Provost
  • Dean for Academic Advising
  • Registrar
  • Provost, ex officio
  • Vice President for Library and Information Services, ex officio

Duties

  • Responsible for the approval of new courses, for the approval of new academic programs, and reviewing substantive changes in department or program curricula
  • Responsible for reviewing new academic partnerships.
  • Responsible for legislation regarding graduation requirements.
  • Responsible for studying and revising curricular goals in the context of the College Mission Statement and Evolving Strategic Planning
  • Responsible for reviewing assessment data for use in making decisions on curricular policy.
  • Responsible for reviewing academic facilities, such as the library that play a key role in the curriculum 
  • Provide consultation to the President and Provost as to how college decisions affect the curriculum as a whole.

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The Faculty Affairs Committee is charged with taking up, deliberating on and communicating concerns that are central to faculty life.

Members

  • Four faculty plus chair 
  • Associate Provost
  • Provost, ex officio

Duties

  • Responsible for reviewing conditions of employment and writing and maintaining legislation that is related to employment.
  • Responsible for writing and maintaining legislation related to promotion and tenure, as well as responding to faculty concerns regarding faculty reviews.
  • Responsible for periodically reviewing and updating the Faculty Handbook.
  • Responsible for examining issues that are of compelling interest to the faculty, or issues brought up during the faculty meeting
  • Responsible for considering structural issues related to employment at Kenyon: i.e. challenges with family care, spousal support, transportation, etc, and advocating for faculty.
  • Provide advice to the President and Provost on matters of compensation and periodic review of faculty salaries and benefits.
  • Provide consultation to the President and Provost on non-tenure track faculty policies and lines.

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The Faculty Development Committee is charged with centralizing, discussing and supporting faculty development.

Members

  • Four faculty plus chair 
  • Associate Provost
  • Director of the Center for Innovative Pedagogy, ex officio
  • Director of the Office of Sponsored Faculty Projects, ex officio

Duties

  • Responsible for soliciting applications for and reviewing applications of internal faculty development grants
  • Responsible for establishing legislation and priorities for general faculty development 
  • Provide advice to the Provost on programs designed to enhance faculty development
  • Provide advice the OSFP on faculty development issues related to external grants
  • Provide advice the CIP on faculty development issues related to teaching 
  • Provide advice and resources for supporting faculty as they prepare for internal grants
  • Provide consultation to the Provost about faculty engagement with diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts
  • Provide consultation to the Provost about new faculty orientation and programs for faculty development for new faculty
  • Provide consultation to grant-holders who have opportunities to provide sub-awards to faculty

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The Committee on Academic Standards is charged with developing and implementing policy that maintains the rigorous standards of the academic program and to support special programs, athletics and enrollment.  In addition to the main committee, which shall meet at least monthly, the committee comprises three subcommittees.

Members

  • Eight faculty, one of whom chairs the committee
  • Faculty stand for election to subcommittees
  • Two (or three) students
  • Associate Provost
  • Dean for Academic Advising and Support
  • Dean of Student Development
  • Registrar
  • Vice President for Enrollment Management
  • Director of the Center for Global Engagement, ex officio
  • Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, ex officio
  • Director of Athletics, ex officio
  • Director of Financial Aid, ex officio
  • Director of Student Accessibility and Support Services, ex officio

Duties

  • The Chair of the full committee will be responsible for compiling the written record for presentation at the faculty meeting and serving on the Executive Committee.
  • The full committee will meet at least once a month.
  • Responsible for legislation related to maintaining academic standards
  • Responsible for reviewing academic policies and drafting academic policy legislation
  • Responsible for reviewing student academic records and assigning Conditional Enrollment
  • Responsible for reviewing and assessing academic policies that affect the conduct of courses, timing of schedule changes, standards for OCS participation, defining satisfactory progress, grades, transfer of credit, records maintenance, and other issues of academic policy.
  • Responsible for receiving reports from the Academic Infractions Board and responding to them if necessary.

Subcommittee on Policy Implementation

Membership

  • Two faculty
  • Registrar, chair
  • Dean for Academic Advising and Support

Duties

  • Responsible for evaluating and acting on student petitions
  • The Registrar, as chair, will call meetings of the subcommittee, collect and prepare petitions and alert the petitioners of outcomes
  • Providing consultation to the Dean for Academic Advising and the Registrar on matters related to the interpretation of academic policy

Subcommittee on Enrollment

Membership

  • Three faculty (one of whom organizes the work of the subcommittee)

Duties

  • The subcommittee on enrollment will primarily be responsible for attending the monthly Campus Wide Enrollment Management Team in this capacity the subcommittee will 
  • Provide advice to the President, Provost and Vice President of Enrollment Management on issues related to student retention
  • Provide consultation to the President, Provost and Vice President of Enrollment on issues related to admissions, admission requirements and recruitment
  • Provide consultation to the Provost, Dean for Academic Advising and the Director of the First Year Experience regarding orientation
  • Responsible for legislation related to enrollment and student retention issues
  • When necessary, the subcommittee is responsible for legislation related to enrollment and student retention issues.

Subcommittee on Academic Programs

Membership

  • Three faculty
  • One member serves as liaison to the Center for Global Engagement to support Off campus study applications
  • One member serves on the Academic-athletics subcommittee
  • Two (or three) students
  • Associate Provost
  • Dean for Academic Advising and Support
  • Dean of Student Development
  • Registrar
  • Vice President for Enrollment Management
  • Director of the Center for Global Engagement, ex officio
  • Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, ex officio
  • Director of Athletics, ex officio

Duties

  • Responsible for reviewing and producing legislation related to special academic programs
  • Provide advice to the Provost and the Center for Global Engagement related to off-campus study
  • Provide advice related to special academic programs including, but not limited to, teaching licensure, the 3-2 engineering program.

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Action committees can be created by the Executive Committee to study and recommend solutions for urgent or important issues that impact the academic mission.

Members

  • Membership for each Action Committee will be decided by the Executive Committee as appropriate for the issue at hand.  Generally, it is expected that the creation of an Action Committee will be announced to the faculty, and, when appropriate, faculty members may self-nominate to serve.
  • Committees will be chaired by a member of the faculty, chosen by the Chair of the Faculty in consultation with the Executive Committee

Duties

  • Chairs of Action Committees will attend Executive Committee meetings while these committees are working.
  • Chairs of Action Committees will give written reports at the faculty meetings while these committees are working.

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Amended 1986

Functions

  • receive grievances brought against the College by a member of the faculty as described in section 2.5; 
  • receive allegations from faculty members of unfair treatment regarding matters of professional life; 
  • receive allegations of unprofessional conduct brought by one member of the faculty against another member on behalf of any member of the College; 
  • provide written reports of the Committee's activities as these occur. (These reports, typically included in the FAC PAC, must not name the parties of particular grievance, but should take account of all grievances filed and indicate the manner in which they were handled, whether by informal consultation, mediation, investigation, or a hearing. In cases in which a panel has judged for the aggrieved, the reports should indicate whether the College has complied with the decisions.)

Members

  • three regular members, one of whom serves as chair, and 
  • three alternate members.

The chair and other faculty members of the committee will be elected by the faculty during the elections for faculty committees in the spring. Each must be a tenured member of the faculty and not a department chair or administrative officer. No two may be from the same department. Regular members and alternate members must include at least one member of each sex, whenever the composition of the faculty makes it possible. Except as provided in procedures for hearing grievance, alternate members participate fully in the work of the committee.

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The President, the Provost, or the standing committees may request of the faculty, through the Executive Committee, that an ad hoc committee be appointed to study a particular matter. In this way, the special interests and abilities of others can be used for a limited time when questions which require comprehensive study arise. An ad hoc committee reports its findings and recommendations to the officer or committee which requested it and to the Executive Committee. The faculty, through the Executive Committee, or the Executive Committee acting on its own may create an ad hoc committee to study any question of unusual import which does not clearly fall into the domain of a standing committee, and to report directly to the faculty. The Executive Committee controls creation of and appointment to ad hoc committees.

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3.2.11 Institutional Review Board (IRB)

The Kenyon College Institutional Review Board is hereby established, in compliance with Federal regulations (45 CFR 46), to review and approve all research involving human subjects performed at its facilities, by its agents, representatives and affiliates, or under its auspices. IRB approval is required before any human subjects research including, but not limited to, research utilizing questionnaires, interviews and other means of gathering attitudes, opinions, and views, as well as research involving direct biological or behavioral interventions or interactions with living persons, may be undertaken.

This legislation supersedes Sec 3.2.5 of the Faculty Handbook insofar as such rules vest in the Faculty Affairs Committee the responsibility for overseeing research proposals involving the use of human subjects. It is the policy of the College that no research conducted under its jurisdiction should be contrary to the mission of the institution.

All Kenyon College researchers (faculty, administrators, or students), research advisors, department/program chairs, and heads of administrative divisions, must complete the prescribed online Human Subjects Protection Training prior to submission of proposals to the IRB from or through such departments or divisions of the college.

Members

Members of the IRB are appointed by the Provost in consultation with the Associate Provosts and the chairs of departments and programs. To assure an element of continuity in the work of the IRB, faculty members will normally serve a three-year term. The terms may, at the election of the Provost, be renewed or continued.

The IRB consists of the Associate Provost, who chairs the board, and, as required by federal regulation, at least five members with varying backgrounds including a Kenyon College administrator, at least one member of the community unaffiliated with the College, and three faculty members, representing different academic divisions of the college. No two faculty members on the IRB may be from the same department. The board must include at least one member of each sex, with a goal of achieving gender balance whenever the composition of the faculty and administration makes it possible to do so.

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