Bylaws of the College of Arts & Sciences

I have posted the following documents to assist members of the faculty of the College of Arts & Sciences in evaluating the proposed new Bylaws for our College, which are scheduled to be voted upon at the College Faculty Meeting to be held at 9:30 AM on 24 April.

I hope you will read and compare these documents, and give them careful consideration.

After such a review, my personal recommendation is to vote "no" on the proposed revision. Here are my principal reasons:

1. The proposed revision would significantly diminish the role of the faculty, from "legislative body" on academic matters to "advisory", transferring authority over curriculum to the Dean.
2. The proposed revision would invalidate some existing departmental bylaws and practices, in cases where they presently call for the faculty to decide on any matter, as opposed to making "recommendations".
3. The proposed revision was drafted in the Dean's office. There does not appear to have been any opportunity for faculty members outside the Dean's office to participate in or provide input to the drafting process. I conducted telephone of the department chairs, and found that none of them were aware of this project. I believe this is a violation of the intent of our faculty contract, which specifies: "The faculties of the colleges and departments shall have the right to make their own constitutions and bylaws, by which to conduct their respective governance responsibilities. Such bylaws shall be subject to review and approval by appropriate Administration officials."
4. The one month advance notice required by our present Bylaws has not been given. First notice of this proposal was sent by e-mail on 10 April. Changes of this magnitude deserve enough time for a thorough discussion.

I also have reservations about several other changes, including deletion of the definition of a quorum, deletion of the Arts & Sciences Policy Committee, deletion of the provision for faculty senators-at-large, and addition of a statement that "merit funds will be distributed by the Dean". The latter is problematic for me, because the distribution of merit funds is not determined by bylaws, but by the faculty Collective Bargaining Agreement, which is renegotiated annually.

There are some aspects of our present bylaws that clearly need updating, such as replacing the Board of Regents with the Board of Trustees. Also, as can be seen by reading the Constitution of the University of Florida's College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, there are other ways in which our own bylaws could be improved. So, I do believe it is appropriate to consider a revision. However, the revision should provide for input from the entire faculty, and be conducted by representatives chosen by the faculty. Therefore, after voting down the existing proposal, I would recommend a motion like the following:

A faculty committee shall be formed, charged with reviewing the existing Bylaws of the FSU College of Arts & Sciences, and recommending appropriate amendments. The committee will present its recommendations no later than one month before the next meeting of the Arts & Science Faculty.

The amendments shall each deal with only a single subject, so that they can be voted up or down individually. In its deliberations, the committee shall solicit input from the general faculty of the College, and shall review other relevant documents, including the UFF-FSU Collective Bargaining Agreement, applicable Florida Statutes, and the bylaws of peer colleges within the Florida State University System. Membership of the committee shall be one representative elected by the faculty of each department in the college. In addition The Dean shall assign one representative, non-voting, to serve as administrative liaison. The Dean's representative shall call the first meeting of the committee, at which the voting members shall elect a member to serve as chair.