Section V.D: Bylaws of the Graduate School of Education and Counseling

I. NAME

This document shall be known as “The Bylaws of the Graduate School of Education and Counseling.”

II. MEMBERSHIP

The Graduate Faculty shall consist of the Dean of the Graduate School of Education and Counseling, one Librarian to be designated annually by the Director of the Library, the President of the College, and all those holding tenured, tenure-track, or clinical faculty appointments in one of the Graduate School’s academic departments. For purposes of faculty business and elections, voting rights shall reside in tenured, tenure-track, and clinical faculty positions at half-time or higher.

In addition, the Graduate Faculty may extend membership to other individuals who participate significantly in the educational program of the Graduate School. Faculty membership so granted will be for a period of one academic year unless otherwise specified, and will be awarded upon recommendation of the Dean in consultation with Department Chairs and approval of the Faculty.

III. ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY

Each faculty member shall have the academic freedom and the responsibility to pursue knowledge and its free expression. Faculty members are entitled to freedom of inquiry and expression in the teaching of their courses and in research and publication.

When a faculty member speaks or writes as a citizen, he or she shall be free from institutional censorship or discipline, and shall avoid any implication that he or she is speaking for the institution.

Within and among the Faculty there shall be no discrimination based on race, color, gender, religion, national origin, physical impairment, sexual orientation, age, or beliefs.

IV. DEAN OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL

The Dean is Chair of the Faculty and, with the President of the College, represents the Faculty to the Board of Trustees and represents the School on official and public occasions. The Chair of the faculty moderates all regular meetings of the faculty. The Dean (through the faculty committees outlined in Section VI) shall be responsible for all policies and recommendations affecting personnel, budget, curriculum, and promotion and tenure for the Graduate School of Education and Counseling. The Dean shall work with the Dean of the Law School and the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences to strengthen institution-wide academic coordination and cooperation.

V. MEETINGS OF THE GRADUATE FACULTY

1. The Faculty shall meet periodically to discuss policies and procedures relating to the Graduate School of Education and Counseling. The Faculty shall also participate with Arts and Sciences and Law faculties in addressing issues of institutional concern.
2. The Faculty shall conduct the internal business of the School as a Committee of the Whole, unless such business comes within the specified jurisdiction of its designated standing committees or ad hoc committees. Such business includes, but is not limited to, evaluation or generation of proposals and recommendations from standing or ad hoc committees as well as the standards of student performance, financial aid, and other matters related to student welfare.
3. Schedule: Meetings of the Faculty shall be held at least once a semester except for the summer semester. Special meetings may be called at any time by the Dean, by written request of any committee (standing or ad hoc) established pursuant to these Policies and Procedures or any amendment thereof, or by the written request of 25 per cent of the members of the Faculty eligible to vote. Any such request shall be delivered to the Dean, who shall give three working days’ notice of any special meeting to the Faculty entitled to vote, together with specification of the items which may be brought before such a meeting. All meetings shall be governed by Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised.
4. Agenda: The Dean shall prepare the Agenda for all regular meetings of the Faculty. The Agenda for any special meeting shall be prepared by those who request the meeting and shall be delivered to the Dean with the request. The proposed form of resolution for each substantive proposal to be presented for voting at a Faculty meeting shall be circulated to each member entitled to vote, not less than three days prior to the meeting at which it will be considered (five days in the case of proposed amendments of this document). (This requirement will not preclude further amendment of the resolution at the meeting so long as, in the opinion of the Chair, the amendment relates solely to the subject of the circulated proposal.)
5. Executive Session: Faculty meetings are open to all who wish to attend unless an executive session is declared. An executive session can be declared upon a motion passed by a majority of the voting Faculty. When so declared, only members of the Faculty eligible to vote shall be entitled to attend.
6. Quorum: A quorum shall consist of a majority of faculty members certified to be available to vote according to an annual list prepared by the Dean and published by October 15 of each year.
7. Faculty meetings shall be governed by the procedures in Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised, except where those procedures are in conflict with specific procedures in these Bylaws.

VI. COMMITTEES

Section l. Standing Committees

The Standing Committees within the Graduate School shall consist of the following:

1. Graduate Curriculum Committee
   1. Charge: The Graduate Curriculum Committee shall have responsibility to generate, review, or evaluate and make recommendations to the Dean concerning any curricular matter or issue relating to the academic programs in the Graduate School, including addition, deletion, or alterations of programs, degrees, or courses offered, and admission and graduation requirements in the Graduate School; will formulate and review other academic policies and procedures, and will consider curricular issues relating to the academic calendar.
   2. Membership: The Faculty representing each department in the Graduate School shall perform the duties of the Graduate Curriculum Committee. The Dean, in consultation with the Faculty Executive Committee, appoints members to the Graduate Curriculum Committee.
2. Graduate Faculty Executive Committee
   1. Charge: The FEC shall coordinate the business of the faculty. This may include the coordination of the work of standing and other committees, and meetings of the faculty as a whole (except any infringement upon standing committee responsibilities expressly enumerated by the Bylaws). The FEC shall serve as a conduit of faculty representation to the Dean and as a sounding board for faculty views in response to decanal requests for consultation on diverse matters. The Secretary of the Faculty may serve as chair of general meetings of the faculty or may delegate this responsibility. The Secretary of the Faculty shall serve as leader and spokesperson of the faculty so far as permitted by the Bylaws. The FEC shall set forth slates of nominees for committee elections, normally held toward the end of the spring semester. Additional nominees can be forwarded by individual faculty members, as described earlier and as noted in the Bylaws.
   2. Membership: The Faculty Executive Committee (FEC) shall include one tenured member (who will serve as chair of the FEC) and two members from the eligible voting faculty. The three members must represent more than one department at the Graduate School. Eligibility shall include department chairs with roster faculty status who are not serving as members of the Graduate Dean’s Executive Council. Election to the FEC will occur in two stages, once every two years, in the spring semester. The faculty shall elect, from the tenured faculty, an FEC chair, also known as the Secretary of the Faculty. The Committee shall be elected for a two-year staggered term. If the Secretary of the Faculty is to be elected in a given year, that election shall be held first, with other members to be elected the following year. Elections for both the Secretary of the Faculty and FEC members will be held in the same manner. No member may serve more than two consecutive terms. Should a member resign or otherwise be unable to complete a term, an election shall be held to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the term.
      
      Any faculty member eligible to vote may nominate a candidate for the Secretary of the Faculty position by notifying the incumbent Secretary of the Faculty in writing at least one week prior to the election. If three or more persons are nominated, a primary election will be conducted to reduce the number to two candidates. The two candidates with the highest number of primary votes will be placed on a slate for election by the faculty.
      
      Any faculty member eligible to vote may also nominate candidates for the two other FEC positions by notifying the incumbent Secretary of the Faculty in writing at least one week prior to the election. If four or more persons are nominated, a primary election will be conducted to reduce the number to three candidates. The three candidates with the highest number of primary votes will be placed on a slate for election by the faculty.
3. Graduate Faculty Personnel Committee
   1. Charge: The Graduate Faculty Personnel Committee shall have the responsibility to generate, review, or evaluate and make recommendations to the Dean concerning matters of Faculty hiring, academic freedom, sabbatical leaves, or other personnel matters except matters related to Faculty review. All requests for sabbatical or other leaves, requests for creation or filling of new or old positions shall be submitted to the Graduate Faculty Personnel Committee. The Graduate Faculty Personnel Committee will forward its recommendations to the Dean.
   2. Membership: The Dean, in consultation with the Faculty Executive Committee, appoints faculty members representing each department to the Graduate Faculty Personnel Committee.
4. Graduate Faculty Committee for Promotion and Tenure
   1. Charge: The Committee shall conduct all major Faculty reviews, including reviews for promotion and tenure. The Graduate Faculty Committee for Promotion and Tenure shall forward its recommendations to the Dean.
   2. Membership: Voting members of the Graduate Faculty Committee for Promotion and Tenure shall include six tenured members of the Faculty, making every effort to assure representation from each department, on rotating two-year terms, and an outside member. The Dean shall serve as a nonvoting member. Committee assignments should be staggered so there is continuity. Faculty members shall be elected by a vote of the Faculty; the outside member shall be approved by the faculty. The outside member will be a practitioner, preferably with college or university experience. The Committee will elect its own Chair from among the elected Lewis & Clark Faculty members.
      
      Any Faculty member eligible to vote may nominate a candidate for a vacant Faculty position on the Committee by notifying the Dean in writing at least one week prior to the election. If more than three persons are nominated for any vacant position, a primary election will be conducted to reduce the number to two candidates per open position. The two candidates with the highest number of nomination votes will be placed on a slate for election by the Faculty.
5. Graduate School Admissions Committee
   1. Membership: The Graduate Admissions Committee shall include the department chairs and two members of the faculty at large. The faculty members shall be two members appointed by the dean in consultation with the Faculty Executive Committee. The dean of the graduate school or designee, director of Educational Career, Licensing, and Accreditation Services, and the director of Graduate Admissions shall be ex officio, nonvoting members. Committee members may designate a substitute if they are unable to attend a meeting.
   2. Duties: In consultation with the appropriate program and/or department, the Graduate Admissions Committee shall review all program-level recommendations for admission to the graduate school, and make final decisions regarding admission. The committee may request further information from program faculty prior to making final decisions. In addition, the committee shall review, analyze, and present data in order to formulate and recommend admissions policies and procedures that support the vision, mission, and conceptual framework of the graduate school and shall forward these recommendations to the faculty for approval.
6. Graduate School Equity and Inclusion Committee
   1. Charge:
      • The Equity & Inclusion Committee shall review and monitor the progress of the Graduate School’s ongoing and strategic efforts to recruit, retain, and support students, staff, and faculty to form a diverse community composed of individuals with intersecting identities and to foster an equitable and inclusive climate for all students, staff, and faculty.
      • The Committee is also charged with identifying challenges and opportunities to enhance equitable and inclusive practices in curricula, policy, program development and relations for the benefit of the Graduate School and its community.
      • The Committee shall work collaboratively with other standing committees to promote and monitor progress towards meeting equity-oriented goals as well as review and examine institutional efforts in this area, recommending changes as and when appropriate.
   2. Membership: The Equity & Inclusion Committee’s voting membership is representative of graduate faculty and exempt and non-exempt staff. Faculty membership is distributed across all departments and ranks. The Dean, in consultation with the Faculty Executive Committee, appoints faculty members to the Graduate Equity & Inclusion Committee. Exempt and non-exempt staff members are selected by their respective groups. The Committee will elect its own chair.

Section 2. Ad Hoc Committees

Other committees established for the purpose of facilitating Faculty business shall be deemed “Ad Hoc” Committees. Ad Hoc Committees shall be all committees created either by majority vote of the Faculty or by the Dean to consider matters of special interest within the Graduate School.

Section 3. Selection of Committee Members

During spring semester, the Dean shall call for nominations to the Graduate Faculty Committee for Promotion and Tenure. The Dean shall present to the Faculty a plan of Ad Hoc Committee organization including membership and chairs of any ad hoc committees for Faculty approval at the Faculty meeting of the fall semester.

Section 4. Committee Procedure

All committees shall conduct their meetings in accordance with parliamentary procedures. Adequate notice of meetings of any committee shall be given to all of its members. A committee meeting may be called by the Chair and shall be called at the request of at least two (2) of its members.

VII. FACULTY REPRESENTATIVES TO THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND INSTITUTIONAL COMMITTEES

1. Each spring, the voting Faculty shall elect one of its members to serve a one-year term as Faculty Representative to the Board of Trustees. This term shall commence September 1 of the following academic year and shall continue for twelve months. Service by a Faculty member as the Faculty Representative to the Board of Trustees shall not preclude service by that Faculty member on a Standing Committee.
2. The Dean shall appoint members of the voting Faculty to serve as necessary on Institutional Committees.

VII. RATIFICATION

These Bylaws shall become effective and any prior Bylaws revoked upon approval by the Faculty, the President, and the Board of Trustees of Lewis & Clark College. Faculty approval shall be obtained by two-thirds (2/3) vote at a faculty meeting assuming a quorum is present, or, alternatively, Faculty approval shall be obtained by two-thirds (2/3) of the Faculty voting by secret mail ballot provided that at least 55 percent of the ballots are returned.

IX. AMENDMENTS

Proposed amendments to these Bylaws shall be submitted in writing at a regular meeting of the Faculty and acted upon at the next regular meeting or at a special meeting called for that purpose. In the latter case, notice of the meeting shall be sent in writing to all members of the Faculty at least five days in advance. Amendments must be approved by a majority of the voting Faculty certified to be on campus and available to vote, and by the President.

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