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Faculty Senate Charter Update

Proposed Changes to the OU Faculty Senate Charter

Overview

Many of the proposed changes to the Faculty and Faculty Senate Charter are simply to update language to match current usage and update the charter to reflect current practice. 
 

  • Moving procedural text from the charter to the bylaws.
  • Broadening the definition of faculty to include all full-time faculty, both regular and non-regular.
  • Adds a mission statement for faculty and a preamble for Faculty senate that articulates our purpose within the university and within shared governance.
  • Increasing the senate size from 50 senators to 60 senators. Including non-regular faculty as eligible to vote for and serve as senators.

To learn more, plan to attend one of the town halls related to the changes, email the Facutly Senate Office  or talk to your senator.  

Regular Faculty

BOTH Tenured and Non-Tenured Faculty at the ranks of Assistant, Associate, and Full Professors​. Non-tenure track faculty at these ranks are CURRENTLY eligible to vote for and serve on Faculty Senate​.

TOTAL Regular Faculty = 1,111

Non-regular Faculty

Non-regular Faculty​: Non-tenure track faculty at the ranks of Instructor, Lecturer, Senior Lecturer AND Researcher, Senior Researcher.

TOTAL Non-Regular (Full-time) Faculty = 655​ (Instructional Faculty – 312​ | Research Faculty – 343)

Extending Faculty Senate representation to non-regular Faculty will:

  • Give non-regular faculty representation within Senate​
  • Give non-regular faculty opportunity to serve in Senate​
  • Give non-regular faculty opportunity to serve on committees that represent faculty interests 

These changes will not affect the following:

  • Departmental voting rights 
  • Tenure/promotion and hiring votes and policy (unless already empowered by department)

Non-regular faculty are the only group on campus without representation, despite comprising over one-third of the faculty. Many Faculty Senate issues apply to this group, and OUHSC has already implemented representation, supporting the vision of "One OU."

Charter Documents

Town Hall Schedule and Registration

 

At the Town Halls, the Faculty Senate officers will provide a brief overview of the proposed changes to the charter and answer questions. Please submit your questions in advance via the registration link for the town hall you plan to attend. 

 

About the Vote

 

 

Vote will be by email. It will open April 28th and close on May 2nd. Your link will be unique to you, and you may only vote once. 

 

  • For this vote, only regular faculty may vote. 

  • The vote will be divided by sections, so you can vote to support just the revisions you agree with.

  • We need a quorum (20%) of the regular faculty to participate for the vote to be considered valid. This means it is important that you vote!

Revisions that the faculty support will be submitted to the OU Board of Regents for final consideration and approval. 

SAMPLE BALLOT