Appendix C
12/9/08
SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES AND RULES
Revision to the Constitution, Article II, Section 3 (l) (Voting Units)
Revision to the Bylaws, Article II, Section 2 (b) (Senate Council)
(Legislative)
Implementation: Upon Approval by the President
Background and Rationale
Prior to the reorganization of 1997-98, each campus in the Commonwealth Educational
System (CES) was a voting unit within the University Faculty Senate. When the
reorganization was implemented, five campuses became colleges and thus retained their
status as individual voting units. Two others became parts of other colleges and thus part
of those voting units. The remaining 12 campuses were combined into a single college,
the Commonwealth College. Since almost all units were now colleges or parts of
colleges, the University Faculty Senate revised its definition of voting unit and combined
all the campuses in the Commonwealth College into a single college voting unit.
The campuses of the Commonwealth College expressed concern that their need to elect
senators by campus conflicted with the Senate requirement that voting units elect senators
at large. The Senate responded by changing its rules to allow multi-campus units to
determine their own method of allocating Senate seats within their units, provided that
each location had at least one senator. While the allocation procedure for the
Commonwealth College was rather complicated and cumbersome, it did prove to be
workable for the College.
With the most recent reorganization the situation in the University has changed
significantly. The two campuses that had been parts of other colleges are now part of the
newly formed University College (consisting of the 12 campuses that had been the
Commonwealth College plus the two now independent campuses). Thus, there is only
one multi-campus undergraduate unit remaining in the University—the University
College. Furthermore, the way the College functions has also changed. Many of the
functions