Senate

Orientation 2015Elizabeth Wells, Secretary of Senate, Mount Allison

With material from:

Diane Holmberg, Chair of Senate, Acadia University

Overview

Role/power of Senate

Includes brief history

How to be an effective Senator

Resources to help you be effective

Questions?

Tips from experienced Senators, if available

Discussion on ways to make Senate as effective as

possible

The Role/Power of Senate

What is the role of Senate?

The Senate is responsible for the educational policy of the University

Bicameral structure: BoR is in charge of finances, Senate is in charge of academics

Explicitly includes power to:

Create faculties, schools, departments

Approve curricula

“Determine, regulate, and control” academic policy

Determine standards of admission

Determine courses of study, qualifications for degrees

Deal with examinations

Deal with fellowships, scholarships, awards

BUT, “ subject to the availability of funds controlled by the Board and the powers reserved to the President in the Act.”

How much power does Senate

actually have?

Lots, and none

We ARE in charge of everything to do with academic policies, procedures,

decisions, etc.

BUT, if it will cost money, that money ultimately must come from the BoR

Remember, we need BoR’s permission to spend money, but they need our

permission to do anything that will affect academic policy – only works

well if both work together

If other sectors proceed on academically-relevant decisions without

Senate approval, we don’t have a great deal of explicit power, but we do

have the “power to shame”, and that can have an impact

Remember, there is still a LOT of room to influence aspects of academic

policy that are revenue-neutral

Senate and its committees govern

almost all aspects of students’

academic lives What students get into (and stay in) the University?

Admissions and Readmissions, Appeals committtees

What do students learn when they get here ?

Academic Matters Committee

When do they learn it?

Timetable Committee

What are the consequences if they cheat / perform poorly?

Academic Judicial Committee;

How are our advanced students trained?

Graduate Studies Committee

Senate must approve all graduates; sets standards for graduation from each program

Senate must approve the creation of any new academic programs,

Senate and its committees also

govern many aspects of faculty

members’ lives at Mt. A.

Sets academic goals and priorities, including hiring priorities Planning Committee

Assesses the ongoing functioning of academic programs and makes recommendations for changes

Academic Matters Committee, Experiential Learning

Supports the teaching and research missions of Mt. A.

Technology and Teaching and Learning Committees

Determines which research projects receive ethical approval

Research Ethics Board

And so on… We DO control a lot (but not always effectively)

Relationship between Senate

and sub-committees

Can and should be a two-way street

Subcommittees have power in their own domain. Can review how things are currently done; can change them

Smaller changes within their mandate often don’t need Senate approval. May be good idea to report to Senate, to keep apprised and get feedback

Larger changes within their mandate, may be a good idea to get Senate approval; good feedback opportunity and more official buy-in

If changes do/may exceed the committee’s own authority, can always make recommendations for Senate’s approval

Senate and sub-committees,

cont’d

Can go the other way: If Senate or Senators have

questions/concerns about how something is going in a

particular Senate committee’s domain, can ask

committee to investigate the issue and report back

Could even change the terms of reference of the

committee

Senate can create new committees (ad hoc or standing)

to do work in particular areas, and can eliminate

existing sub-committees

Most work probably best done at committee level, but

only if they’re active and fully functioning

Take-home points

Although it’s not always used effectively, Senate DOES

have a great deal of power

If you don’t like how something is currently done, it

CAN, in theory, be changed

How to be an Effective

Senator

Get involved with Senate’s

sub-committees

Most of the real work is done at the sub-committee level; Senate often more approval, sober second thought

If there’s an area you want to improve, get on the sub-committee, get it talking, work to effect positive change

Keep lines of communication with Senate open, but:

If what you’re doing is clearly within your sub-committee’s terms of reference, prepare reports to be “received” by Senate. Can be talked about, could send it back to committee for more work, but Senate can’t amend it; you’re really just informing them of what you’re doing

If you’re making more major changes (e.g., changes in policies/procedures), prepare specific and carefully crafted motions to be “approved” by Senate – these are amendable, and may or may not be passed, but it sure doesn’t hurt to try

Moving forward on your own

issues… Are there issues that concern you, or those you represent, in the

academic domain? If so, choose some causes

If they fall within a sub-committee’s domain, you can talk to the

committee; start with the chair

If you can’t find the chair, or nothing is happening, you can bring it to

the floor of Senate, as a discussion item or as a motion for the

committee to consider the issue and report back to Senate. If you can

convince other Senators to be concerned, something may happen

If it doesn’t seem to be in any particular committee’s domain, you can

draft your own motion to make change, or bring it to Senate for

discussion – perhaps an ad hoc committee can be struck

Motions are usually the best way to get things done. Prepare them

carefully

Feel free to talk to me as Secretary ahead of time; I might have some

suggestions as to the best way to go about something

Considering/approving

others’ issues Take your role to consider and approve other people’s motions seriously

Agendas, with motions, are circulated at least a week ahead; one month’s

notice is needed for some (e.g., changes to by-laws)

Read them over carefully, with time to think about them – do you agree?

If you have problems / issues, think about how these could best be

addressed. Do you just have a clarifying question? Do you have an

amendment to propose? Are your concerns sufficient that you think the

issue should be referred back to the committee?

Figure out your exact plan (e.g., have amendments written down)

It’s fine to check with others (e.g., people in your unit; fellow Senators)

to get ideas / input

It’s often good to talk to the people making the motion – a “courtesy

head’s up” can help everyone enter Senate better prepared and save time

It would be great to talk to me as the Secretary ahead of time, so I can be

better prepared for what will be happening on the Senate floor -- again,

will save time and prevent confusion

Participating in discussions…

Feel free to participate in discussions; best if we get a wide range of input

Keep your statements relatively brief and to the point – speak only once to a motion, you are allowed twice with up to 10 minutes maximum per turn

If speaking to motions or amendments, stay on track: e.g., “I support the motion, for this reason…”

If there’s a long speaker’s list, it may take awhile to get to you. Jot down your point so you remember it when it’s your turn!

If someone else makes the point you were planning to make in the meantime, you can make a different point if you have one, or you can pass

You don’t have to repeat points that have already been made

Even if you have a new point, if it’s not crucial and the vote is clearly going to go in the direction you favour, you could hold back

If you want to do something but aren’t sure how to do it, it’s perfectly okay to say that and ask for guidance from the Chair

Useful procedural motions

Your Handbook contains a set of useful procedural motions to move debate along / cut it off if it’s going on too long on one question

The Chair must continue as long as there are speakers on the speaker list; you, however, can make a motion to move things along

You could:

Make a motion to limit debate

Refer the issue to committee

Call the question

Postpone definitely

Table the motion

To do any of these things, between speakers, raise your hand, call out “Mister Chair”, and when he recognizes you, state what you want to do (or ask for guidance if not sure)

Note you do not have to wait for your turn on the speaker’s list

Making Motions

Ask yourself three questions:

Is this the purview (or should it be of a Senate

committee?)

Is this related directly to Academic policy?

Is this the purview of Senate as the governing body of

academic mission of the university?

Crafting a motion

Make sure you do this in consultation with others, after

talking to the relevant committee and its chair; the

best motions come from committees who have gone

over an issue

Frame as an action: I move that Senate

consider/approve/recommend….

Have a mover and seconder who will both be at the

meeting. Include this in submission of motion

Submit motion before one week ahead of meeting. In

an emergency, 48 hours before, so that Senators can

properly consider the motion

Attendance at Senate

You have been elected by your departments for a three-

year term; take this seriously. You represent your

departments (not yourselves) at these meetings.

If you cannot attend, you can delegate an alternate.

Make sure they understand which way the department

would like to vote on an upcoming issue

Let the secretary know ONE WEEK before the meeting,

so that I can send them the materials and they can be

fully prepared

If you go on leave, you give up your three-year term and

someone else needs to be elected for another three-

year term

Take home points

Do your homework!

Take responsibility, personally, to make sure things

happen

Learning a bit of procedure, and using it, can be helpful

Useful resources

Where can I get more

information?

The Senate website (under “Governance”)

All sub-committees, terms of reference, membership

Minutes of all past meetings, to get historical context

Agendas, in case you lose yours, to see what’s coming up

Senate cycle of reporting

Senate Handbook

Worth consulting if you plan to make a motion, or an amendment, or want to be as effective as possible in your discussions

Last two pages has cheat sheet on procedures

Other Senators, past or present

Can maybe give some historical context, offer suggestions

Where to get more info,

cont’d

Me, as Secretary! (senatesecretary@mta.ca)

Talk to me in advance, ask questions

“I want to do X. Any suggestions as to what’s the best way?”

“I plan to do Y, just so you know…”

Ask the Chair questions on the floor, any time you need to know something

Point of (parliamentary) inquiry

Point of order

Point of information

Point of personal privilege

Who cares: “Question, Mister Chair” is just fine, any time at all between speakers (again, usually no need to wait for your turn on the Speaker’s list)

Take home points

It’s always perfectly okay to ask questions

If you want to do something at Senate, my job as

Secretary and Robert’s as Chair is to help you figure out

how to do it

To recap

If you want to change something, go ahead and start

working to do so

Always do your homework and come prepared

Print off the last two pages of the handbook for a quick

chart of senate procedures

I’m here to help

Welcome; we all look forward to working with you!

Remaining business

Questions?

Tips from experienced Senators?

Ideas on making Senate run effectively?