Faculty Senate

Article II:  Purpose and Powers

The Faculty Senate of the University of South Carolina Beaufort, having been created by the university faculty to act on behalf of university faculty is endowed with all the powers and authority of the university faculty except for those powers reserved by the university faculty itself. The Senate shall formulate policy regarding the educational practices and standards of the university and all other matters pertaining to the conduct of faculty affairs except those exclusively reserved for the faculty at large – subject to review and approval by the EVCAA, the Chancellor, the President, and the Board of Trustees.

The Faculty Chair may call a faculty meeting for the purpose of reconsidering an action of the Senate upon receipt of a petition signed by 25% of the voting members of the faculty. A decision made by the Senate may be overruled at a regular or called General Faculty meeting by a majority of the full faculty membership.

Article III: Membership

Section 1.

The Faculty Senate shall consist of a chair, secretary, one at-large adjunct representative, one at-large instructor representative, and elected representatives as designated by the department as stated in Section 2.

Section 2.

Members of the faculty at large shall include representatives selected from the full-time tenure-track faculty holding the rank of Assistant Professor or above as well as full-time instructors and professional librarians.

Elected Senators.  The faculty in each represented academic department and the library shall elect one or more Senators based on the number of faculty eligible to vote for Senator in the represented department or school:

1. ) 1-7 members – one elected Senator.
2. ) 8-14 members – two elected Senators.
3. ) 15 or more members – three elected Senators.
4. ) All tenured, tenure-track, and full-time non-tenure track faculty, and instructors with appointments of one year or more are eligible to vote for Senator.

Department chairs are responsible for providing the following to the Senate Chair and Secretary at the beginning of the academic year:

• Current full-time faculty headcount.
• Current roster of full-time faculty.
• Names of the elected faculty representatives and alternates for the department.

The Senate Chair shall designate terms of one, two, and three years for Senate members so that approximately one-third of the members will be elected each year. This designation shall be made so that each electoral unit will have a reasonable balance of experienced members each term. Thereafter members of the Senate shall have terms of three years, unless chosen to fill an unexpired term.

Section 3:  Alternates

Each department, except the library, shall elect two alternates on a yearly basis; the library shall elect one. These faculty members will have the same membership eligibility described in Section 2 of this Article. These proxies will serve as substitutes for specific absent Senators from the same college, with the same status as a full member at any senate meeting and vote in their absence. Alternates may twice succeed themselves.

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