Article V. General Procedures

Section 1: Meetings

A. General Meetings

  1. The co-chairs shall convene the Senate regularly, typically at least once a month when the College is in session and no fewer than six (6) times during the academic year.
    • i. Any of the co-chairs may preside at a meeting. This duty will typically rotate between the three co-chairs. Meetings may not take place if none of the co-chairs are available to preside.
  2. Meetings of the Senate shall ordinarily be open to the public. Adequate facilities shall be provided for the public to observe Senate proceedings.
  3. The Senate may close its sessions if warranted by nature of matters discussed. The Senate must exhibit a good faith effort to provide a twenty-four (24) hours advance notice to the campus community if a meeting will be closed.

B. Special Meetings

  1. Special meetings of the Senate may be called in any of the following ways, with the matter(s) to be considered to be specified in the call:
    • i. By a co-chair of the Senate or
    • ii. By a vote or written petition via email to the official Campus Senate email address of the majority of the voting Senate officers.
  2. The notice of a special meeting shall include the agenda and shall be sent to the officers of the Senate as far in advance of the meeting as possible with a minimum of twenty-four hours notice.
  3. The scheduling of a special meeting shall reflect the urgency of the matter(s) specified in the call, the requirement for reasonable notice, and the availability of the officers.

C. Quorum

  1. A quorum will consist of three voting student officers and three voting non-student officers.

D. Parliamentary Authority

  1. Robert’s Rules of Order shall guide the Senate in all cases to which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with these bylaws.
  2. The Senate shall loosely follow Robert’s Rules of Order unless a two-thirds majority vote of the present, voting members determines that Robert’s Rules of Order should be strictly observed.
  3. If in a period of strict observance of Robert’s Rules of Order, the administrative coordinator shall act in the role of the parliamentarian.

E. Attendance

  1. Attendance is expected of all officers at all regularly scheduled Senate meetings.
  2. The Campus Senate administrative coordinator shall maintain a record of attendance for all officers and guests.
  3. Elected officers shall not be absent from two (2) consecutive regularly scheduled meetings.
    • i. After two (2) absences from consecutive regularly scheduled meetings, the
      administrative coordinator will notify the co-chair.
    • ii. The co-chair shall address the concern of absences using their discretion and
      potentially enact the removal from office procedure found in Article 3, Section 4.

F. Minutes

  1. The minutes of the Senate meetings shall be recorded and, as approved or amended by the Senate, shall be the official and permanent record of Senate action and debate.
  2. Copies of the minutes shall be distributed to all members of the Senate within a reasonable time after each Senate meeting.
  3. Meeting minutes and other important legislative decisions shall be maintained in the College archives as a permanent record.

G. Agendas

  1. Matters to be placed on the agenda for action at meetings must be presented in writing to the administrative coordinator. Written agendas shall be distributed to members of the Senate no later than twenty-four (24) hours prior to a meeting.
  2. Items which have not been placed on the written agenda as specified above may be added to the agenda, presented at meetings, and discussed by the Senate; however, no final action can be taken on such matters until a subsequent meeting.

Section 2: Communication

A. Communication Detail

All official statements from the Campus Senate shall be issued by the co-chair through the administrative coordinator.

Section 3: Record Keeping

A. Record Keeping Detail

General meeting minutes, a summary of the legislation and meeting agenda items shall be maintained by the administrative coordinator and stored in the College archives.