Section IV.G: Bylaws of the Law School
ARTICLE I. MEMBERSHIP
Section 1. Faculty
The voting members of the faculty shall be tenured faculty, tenure-track faculty, tenured-in-position faculty, clinical faculty, and lawyering faculty, hired pursuant to the 80-percent hiring rule. Appointment to a tenure-track, tenure-in-position, clinical, or lawyering faculty position requires an 80-percent vote of the voting faculty and student representatives to the faculty, present and voting either in person or by electronic means at a regularly scheduled or duly noticed special meeting of the faculty; approval of the dean of the School of Law (the “dean”); and approval of the president of Lewis & Clark College (the “president”). In addition, except as provided in Article II, Section 4 below, two student representatives shall be entitled to participate in and vote at meetings of the faculty.
Section 2. Dean’s Term
The President shall appoint a new Dean to a defined term of service as Dean. It is expected that the term of service will be three to five years. In the fall semester of the final year of the Dean’s term, if the Dean desires to serve an additional term, a faculty member elected by the faculty at the first faculty meeting of the year shall collect feedback on the Dean’s performance and provide a report on that feedback to the Dean. The elected faculty member shall thereafter report to the faculty on the general results of this survey, and the faculty, after receiving that report, shall vote whether to recommend to the President that he or she appoint the Dean to an additional term of service. The elected faculty member shall submit the faculty recommendation to the President. The President shall appoint the Dean to an additional term of service, or not, at his or her discretion. It is expected that any additional term of service will also be three to five years. Nothing in this section limits the President’s authority to remove the Dean or the faculty’s authority to otherwise provide feedback to the Dean.
Section 3. Student Representatives
Student representatives to the faculty may be selected by any means acceptable to the student body, although no student may serve as a student representative to two faculty committees or to the faculty and to a faculty committee during the same year.
ARTICLE II. MEETINGS OF THE FACULTY
Section 1. Regularly Scheduled Meetings
Regularly scheduled meetings of the faculty shall be held once each month and be noted on the law school calendar. The Dean shall circulate the agenda of regularly scheduled faculty meetings one week prior to such meetings.
Section 2. Special Meetings
Special faculty meetings may be called by the Dean or by five members of the voting faculty if the business of the law school requires a special session. If possible, the Dean shall give at least two days’ notice of a special faculty meeting. The notice shall include the agenda for the special meeting.
Section 3. Attendance at Faculty Meetings
Except as provided in Section 4 below, all members of the faculty, all administrative staff members invited by the Dean, the student representatives to the faculty, and student representatives to each committee having business before the faculty may be present at all faculty meetings.
Section 4. Executive Sessions
When the Dean determines that the matters to be considered are confidential, the Dean shall declare an executive session of the faculty. Attendance at an executive session is limited to members of the faculty eligible to vote and other appropriate individuals designated by the Dean.
Section 5. Quorum
A quorum shall consist of a majority of faculty members and student representatives who are entitled to vote.
Section 6. Minutes
The Dean shall ensure that minutes are kept and circulated for all meetings of the faculty. All statements of new policy decisions affecting students will be posted and provided to all student representatives. The Dean’s Executive Assistant shall maintain an official file of all minutes and policy decisions.
Section 7. Promotion and Tenure
Faculty meetings concerning promotion and tenure shall be governed by the procedures and standards specified in the Law School’s Promotion and Tenure document.
ARTICLE III. COMMITTEES
Section 1. Committee Structure
At the beginning of each academic year, the Dean shall establish the following committees: Admissions; Budget; Curriculum; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; and when necessary, Faculty Appointments and Personnel. The Dean, the Associate Dean of Faculty, and the chair of the Budget Committee shall form the Sabbatical and Leave Committee. The Dean shall establish such additional committees including subject area committees as the Dean determines necessary and appropriate.
Section 2. Membership
After consultation with members of the faculty the Dean shall appoint the chairs and faculty members of each committee. The students shall select up to two student representatives to serve on each committee designated in Section 1, other than the Sabbatical and Leave Committee. Other committees may also solicit one or two student representatives. Student representatives may vote and otherwise participate in all committee meetings. The Dean shall designate appropriate members of the administrative staff to serve as nonvoting ex officio members of each committee.
Section 3. Committee Charge
At the beginning of each academic year, the Dean shall prepare a memorandum for each committee outlining the duties and responsibilities of each committee for the year.
Section 4. Committee Procedures
(a) Whenever a faculty committee is to meet and discuss policy or formulate recommendations with respect to policy changes, a written notice and agenda for the committee meeting shall be circulated in advance to committee members, to all faculty members, and to appropriate members of the administrative staff.
(b) Any faculty member may attend the meetings of any committee. At the discretion of the committee chair, students not on the committee and members of the administrative staff not on the committee may attend and participate in committee meetings.
(c) The committee chair shall ensure that minutes are circulated to the Dean’s Executive Assistant, all committee members, all members of the faculty, the student representatives to the faculty, and appropriate members of the administrative staff.
Section 5. Committee Policy Recommendations
Recommendations for policy changes developed by each committee shall be in writing and shall be circulated to the Dean’s Executive Assistant, the faculty, each student representative to the affected committee, and the student representatives to the faculty. Each faculty member and each student representative to the faculty will have seven days from the date of receipt by the Dean’s Executive Assistant of a recommendation within which to register an objection to the policy recommendations. If no such objections are received within the seven-day period and the Dean concludes that there is no need for discussion at a faculty meeting, the actions taken will be considered ratified by the full faculty and the recommendations made will be considered the recommendation of the faculty to the Dean. If an objection is registered within the seven-day period, the Dean shall place the proposed policy recommendation on the agenda for the next regularly scheduled faculty meeting.
ARTICLE IV. FACULTY REPRESENTATIVES TO THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES, THE LAW SCHOOL BOARD OF VISITORS, AND INSTITUTIONAL COMMITTEES
The faculty shall elect a faculty representative to the Board of Trustees and a faculty representative to the Board of Visitors at the first faculty meeting of each academic year. The Dean shall appoint faculty representatives as necessary for institutional committees.
ARTICLE V. RATIFICATION
These Bylaws shall be ratified upon the approval of a majority of the voting faculty, the President, and the Board of Trustees.
ARTICLE VI. AMENDMENTS
These Bylaws may be amended by a majority vote of the voting faculty and approval of the President.