BYLAWS
OF THE FACULTY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
[Amended April and September 2003]
ARTICLE 4. MEETINGS
Section 4.1. Call of Meetings.
As specified in the college
bylaws Article VII, Section 2, departmental meetings shall be held at
least twice each semester. Meetings may be convened by the chair or by
the written request of thirty five percent of the voting members of the
English faculty, with written notice to all English faculty members at
least three working days prior to the meeting. All faculty members are
obligated to attend.
Section 4.2. Quorum.
A quorum will consist of not less than half of the voting members of the
English faculty as defined in Article 2 of these bylaws.
Section 4.3. Minutes.
Minutes of all meetings will be kept and distributed to all English
faculty members by the departmental secretary. The minutes will be
forwarded to the dean's and president's offices. It will be the
responsibility of the secretary to keep a file of all minutes, bylaws, and
all other material relating to English faculty meetings.
Section 4.4. Agenda.
The chair will propose the agenda for
English faculty meetings at the time that he/she notifies the faculty of
meetings. Any faculty member may place an item on the agenda at any time
prior to the meeting. Agenda items will include approval of minutes of
the previous meeting, announcements, unfinished and new business, and,
when appropriate, committee reports and policy actions. New business may
include material not on the agenda, but whenever major policy decisions
are to be made, the motion involving substantive policy decisions must be
published in whole or summary form along with the agenda. This rule may
be suspended only by a declaration of emergency by the chair, such
declaration to be ratified by a two-thirds vote of English faculty
present, provided there is a quorum.
Section 4.5. Voting.
Voting will normally be by voice, except that a secret ballot may be taken
upon the request of any faculty member.
Section 4.6. Open Meetings.
Meetings of the English faculty will
be open to the students of the university; however, the English faculty,
by majority vote, may hold executive sessions from which students are
excluded. Observers attending meetings of the English faculty will speak
only by invitation of the chair.
