The Campus Assembly

Membership

The Morris Campus Assembly includes the faculty, professional and administrative staff (P&A), elected civil service/bargaining unit staff members (United Staff Association—USA), and elected student members. For purposes of this constitution, faculty, professional and administrative staff, students, and civil service/bargaining unit staff are defined as follows:

Faculty

Faculty eligible for membership include professors, associate professors, assistant professors, instructors, lecturers, and teaching specialists holding at least a 60 percent appointment for the semester. Division chairs, lecturers, and teaching specialists shall be counted as faculty rather than as P&A staff. Faculty on sabbatical or single semester leave shall be removed from membership for the duration of that leave unless they submit a written petition to the Steering Committee requesting to remain a member of the Campus Assembly during the leave. The Steering Committee shall grant all such requests.

P&A

Academic administrative staff (93xx) and academic professional staff (97xx) holding at least a 60 percent appointment for the semester are eligible for membership.

USA

Members of the campus community holding at least a 60 percent civil service/bargaining unit staff appointment, (who are not included in the P&A categories), are eligible for election to membership in the assembly.

Students

Students eligible for election to membership must be enrolled for eight or more credits in residence during the semester when the election takes place. Student members of the assembly must carry at least eight credits in residence during each semester of their term.

All members of committees who have business on the assembly floor are eligible to participate in the discussion of that business but only Campus Assembly members may vote on it.

An employee whose appointment is split between the faculty, P&A, and USA categories and whose total appointment is at least 60 percent shall be counted as a member of the category in which the appointment percentage is largest. If the largest percentage is the same in two or more categories, the individual may choose in which of those categories he or she will be counted.

Powers

The Campus Assembly is recognized by the University Senate as the official campus policy-making and legislative body. The powers and responsibilities include the following:

• To establish appropriate policies, procedures, and regulations governing the campus and to act on all issues that materially affect the campus as a whole. Areas included are institutional mission, organizational structure, allocation of resources, budget, curriculum, academic support services, faculty development, honors, functions, admissions, retention, graduation, study abroad, student services, athletics, student activities, awards, financial aid, student behavior, and campus events. The Campus Assembly does not recommend students for graduation or for academic awards, as that power is reserved for the faculty.
• To establish standing and ad hoc committees to assist in the discharge of its duties.
• To review the actions of the Steering Committee and of all committees of the assembly.
• To receive and discuss reports from the chancellor and other administrative officers of the campus or to request reports on matters affecting the campus.
• To discuss and act upon any measure or question appropriate to the legislative body of the campus.

Officers

• The chancellor of the campus is the chair of the Morris Campus Assembly.
• The chair of the Steering Committee is the vice chair of the assembly. The vice chair presides in the absence of the chancellor or when the chancellor temporarily vacates the chair in order to take part in the discussion of an issue.
• The chancellor shall provide a secretary for the Campus Assembly.
  • The secretary is responsible for the minutes of all meetings of the assembly. The minutes are subject to additions and corrections by assembly members only.
  • Within four weeks following each meeting of the assembly, the secretary shall distribute the minutes to each member of the assembly, to the Office of the Chancellor, to the Morris Campus Student Association, and to the clerk of the University Senate. Minutes are available to the entire campus community.
  • The secretary is responsible for maintaining the membership record and the attendance record. The attendance record will indicate whether each member was present, absent, or excused from each meeting.
• A parliamentarian shall be elected biennially by the Campus Assembly. Only members of Campus Assembly are eligible for this position. The parliamentarian advises the chair on the propriety of actions according to the constitution, the by-laws, and other rules of procedure adopted in writing by the assembly. Where there is no explicit written rule of procedure, Robert’s Rules of Order governs.