College Senate Standing Rules

Standing Rules of the College Senate at SUNY Geneseo

(As amended February 2016)

I. Rules concerning the senate place, time, and mode of meetings

The College Senate Chair shall, in consultation with the Senate Executive Committee, decide the time, place, and mode for meetings of the Senate.

II. Attendance at Senate Meetings

1. Attendance will be taken at all Senate meetings.

2. Senators shall not send substitutes to the Senate.

III. Voting

1. All Senators, Officers, and student members of the Senate present at Senate meetings may vote. The Chair of the Senate may reserve the casting of his/her vote until the announcements of the results, at which time s/he may vote in order to break or create a tie.

2. The Senate shall pass its normal business by majority vote. A "majority vote" means a majority of those votes cast, not of those present.

IV. Communication

1. The mover of a resolution or substantive motion in the Senate shall submit a copy in writing to the Secretary to be read at the time of the vote.

2. Minutes of Senate meetings may include, in addition to the minimum content delineated in the parliamentary authority, a summary of public speech occurring during the meeting. The extent of summarization in draft minutes is at the discretion of the Secretary and may vary among the parts of the meeting.  Matters considered to be of a confidential nature may, at the discretion of the Chair and Secretary, be omitted from the published minutes.

3. Individuals speaking during a meeting may be identified by title or role, but not by name unless they themselves so request of the Secretary, either during or after the meeting.

4. Written records of public speech during a meeting may be given to the Secretary before or after a meeting, to facilitate preparation of the draft minutes. Requests to include the full text of these in the draft minutes shall be honored by the Secretary.

5. During approval of the minutes, as well as correcting the accuracy of the record, corrections may change what public speech, other than officer or committee reports, is included in the minutes.  Such corrections may delete from but not add to the draft.

6. All minutes published in the College Senate Bulletin shall be explicitly designated as either “Draft” or “Approved.”

7. Minutes published in draft form must be republished once approved, even if no modifications were made.

V. Transmittal to the Administration

1. All motions passed by the Senate that propose to change operations of the college shall be sent to the Office of the College President for approval.

2. All motions passed by the Senate that propose to clarify, establish, or change college policies shall be transmitted to the appropriate administrative officer after receiving approval from the Office of the College President.

3. The above communications shall be done in writing or email by the College Senate Chair ordinarily within four days after the action.

VI. Submission of Business to the Senate

1. To ensure more adequate consideration, issues will normally be considered in the Executive Committee or in the Standing Committees before being placed before the Senate.

2. Items of routine business should be submitted to the College Senate Chair in writing at least three days prior to the Senate meeting.

3. Business items of importance, such as those requiring a vote, should be published in the College Senate Bulletin at least six days prior to the Senate meeting.

a. Such items should be delivered to the College Senate Secretary and Chair at least eight days prior to the Senate meeting.

b. Such items presented by committees should be accompanied or preceded by minutes from the meeting where the items were discussed.  These minutes may be in draft form.

4. The usual order of business for a parliamentary group will be used.

5. New items of business will appear on the Senate Agenda in the order received. However, the Chair, with the consent of the Senate, may create an order of business according to the relevancy of the subjects.

6. Motions to consider items not on the agenda should be restricted to emergencies.

7. The agenda should be published in the College Bulletin at least six days prior to a meeting.

8. Curricular motions may be presented and acted upon by the body without full presentation of the wording of the motions as long as the motions are available electronically, and the link has been provided in the agenda for the meeting in the required timeframe.

9. Policy matters must be presented to the College Senate according to the following rules.

• Editorial changes to existing policies, such as updating the names of College offices, departments, academic areas, or personnel titles, must pass a vote by committee (UPC or GAAC).
• All other policies matters must pass a vote in two readings in the College Senate.

All Policy matters must be reported to the College Senate monthly for publication in the Senate Bulletin.

10. Curricular matters must be presented to the College Senate according to the following rules.

• Experimental courses, course renumbering, and curricular matters that directly result from course renumbering or course renaming may be implemented by the Provost’s office without explicit College Senate approval.
• Curricular matters including editorial changes to course and program descriptions, course renaming, and deletions of courses must pass a vote by committee (UCC or GAAC).
• Deletion of minors, and microcredentials must pass a vote in one reading in the College Senate.
• The removal of a General Education and/or Geneseo Education for a Connected World designation from a course, the addition of a General Education and/or Geneseo Education for a Connected World designation to a course, and changes to general education and/or Geneseo Education for a Connected World designations or requirements for a course must be approved by the GLOBE committee.  
• All other curricular matters must pass votes in two readings in the College Senate. This includes but is not limited to: creation or revision of courses, majors, minors and microcredentials , revisions to majors or graduate programs that change the focus, add or remove tracks, or change credits.

All curricular matters must be reported to the College Senate monthly for publication in the Senate Bulletin.

VII. Rules concerning the committees' place, time, and mode of meetings

1. The College Senate Chair shall decide the time, place, and mode for meetings of the Executive Committee.

2. Chairs of Standing Committees will call their meetings at a time, place, and mode most convenient for the members of the Committee.

VIII. Attendance at Committee Meetings

1. The minutes of the Executive Committee and the Standing Committees will carry the names of those who are present.

2. Senators shall not send substitutes to the Standing Committee meetings.

3. A Chair of a Standing Committee, if unable to attend a meeting of the Executive Committee, may send a Committee member to represent the Committee at an Executive Committee meeting. S/He may also appoint a Chair for the Committee when s/he is unable to attend.

IX. Initiation of Business

1. Any Faculty member, as defined in the Faculty Constitution, may refer a matter to a Senator or to the College Senate Chair. The Senator may refer the matter in writing to the College Senate Chair for assignment to the appropriate Committee.

2. Any Faculty member may refer an issue to a Chair of a Standing Committee.

a. If clearly within its province, the Committee may proceed, informing the Executive Committee of the topic and its source.

b. Doubtful areas must be cleared through the College Senate Chair.

3. Students should channel issues through the Executive Committee of the Student Association, their representatives on the Standing Committees of the College Senate, or the College Senate Chair.

X. Functioning of the Committees

1. The Standing Committees will conduct their appropriate routine business within the policies of the College.

2. The Standing Committees may provide appropriate sub-committees.

a. The Chair of any sub-committee shall be a member of the parent Standing Committee.

b. The sub-committee is responsible to the parent Standing Committee.

3. Committees of the Faculty and of the College shall maintain a manual of policies and procedures.

XI. Communication of Committees

1. Sub-committees of the Standing Committees of the Senate

a. The charge to the sub-committees shall be specified in writing. The charge and the membership shall be reported to the Executive Committee.

b. When the sub-committee has started a certain direction of study, the Faculty will be notified through the Standing Committee Chair's report to the Executive Committee. Sub-committee Chairs shall be responsible for keeping the Standing Committee Chairs informed. Interested Faculty members are encouraged to attend the Committee meetings at which policies are being formulated.

c. Each sub-committee should report its recommendations to the parent Committee in writing and give in writing the reasons for its recommendations.

2. Secretaries of Standing Committees of the Senate

a. Each Standing Committee shall choose a member to act as Secretary for the preparation and distribution of minutes.

b. The Secretary of each Standing Committee will be responsible to see that a copy of the minutes is published in the College Senate Bulletin.

3. Chairs of Committees of the Senate

a. The Chair of each Standing Committee or sub-committee is responsible for announcing the time and place of regular meetings in the College Senate Bulletin.

b. The Committee Chair shall place significant parts of agenda in the College Senate Bulletin so that contributions of interested Faculty may affect policies at the Committee level.

c. The Chair of each Standing Committee shall promptly inform the Executive Committee of New Business. Reports to the Executive Committee will highlight the more important parts of the Committee minutes and keep the Executive Committee and Faculty informed as to the work of the sub-committees.