UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

Kingston, Rhode Island

FACULTY SENATE

Report of the Executive Committee

Request for Consideration of Changes to the Faculty Senate Constitution

The Executive Committee believes that extended terms for its officers and members would address issues identified by last year's Executive Committee about the need for continuity of the Senate Chairperson and, more recently, discussions about the turnover of faculty members on the JSPC. Therefore the Executive Committee recommends:

That the Faculty Senate direct the Constitution, By-Laws and University Manual Committee to consider the possibility of amending Article IV and Article V of the Faculty Senate Constitution to increase the length of terms of some of the Officers, and/or some of the members of the Executive Committee, or staggering the terms of some of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee members over a greater length of time.

A change to the Constitution of the Faculty Senate must be approved by the Faculty Senate, followed by approval by the General Faculty in a referendum.

The current version of the pertinent Articles of the Constitution are given below:

Article IV. Officers.

1. The officers of the Senate shall be a Chairperson and Vice Chairperson...Their term of office shall be one year and they may be elected to succeed themselves once.

Article V. Executive Committee.

1. The Chairperson, Vice Chairperson and four senators elected annually from the elected membership of the Senate shall constitute an Executive Committee.