Internal Procedures

1. The functions of the UC are established in FPP 6.54.B.

2. The UC meets weekly during the fall and spring semesters and as needed throughout the summer and during the winter and spring breaks. The UC chair decides on meeting times, traditionally all afternoon on Mondays. Four members constitute a quorum.

3. The meeting agenda is prepared by the UC chair with the assistance of the secretary of the faculty and distributed to committee members in advance of the meeting. Members of the University Committee may place items on the agenda by submitting a written or oral request to the chair in advance of the posting of the agenda. Materials for the meeting are normally distributed at least 72 hours prior to the meeting.

4. The Office of the Secretary of the Faculty provides support to the UC. The secretary of the faculty attends all UC meetings and maintains committee records. The first item on the agenda of regularly scheduled UC meetings is the approval of minutes of any meeting(s) whose minutes have not already been approved.

5. Decisions of the UC are made by consensus or, if formal votes are taken, by majority rule. Formal votes are recorded in the minutes. The committee may include minority views in its written communications. UC members are free to express minority views individually either in writing or orally.

6. The chancellor and provost have a standing invitation to attend the sessions of the UC meetings and may present items of interest to the committee.

7. Items are generally discussed by the entire committee; however, the UC may decide to appoint subcommittees to investigate agenda items and/or prepare draft reports to bring before the committee as a whole.

8. The UC chair for the coming year is elected by the committee members early in the Spring Semester. The chair assumes duties on 1 June, the starting date of the new committee. Normally, the incoming chair will be in the final year of the three-year term that he/she is serving. (In some cases he/she may have replaced someone else part of the way through this term, and therefore might not have served two full years at the start of the third year of that term.)

9. The UC holds an annual planning meeting that normally takes place close to 1 June. At the planning session the committee: 1) discusses its operating procedures for the coming year; 2) discusses committee assignments; 3) establishes the role of and expectations for committee members; 4) reviews the chair selection procedure to be followed in the spring; and 5) identifies and sets priorities for initiatives. The meeting also serves as an orientation session for new UC members.

10. According to the by-laws of PROFS, Inc. and Faculty Document 262(a), the members of the UC serve as the Board of Directors for PROFS.

11. Pursuant to FPP 6.06.H., the UC appoints, subject to confirmation by the senate, appropriately qualified faculty to fill vacancies on elected faculty committees until the vacancies are filled at the next annual election. When a vacancy occurs on the University Committee, the UC shall make the appointment only after consultation with the Committee on Committees or members of the COC when it is not possible for the COC to convene in a timely fashion.

16 December 2002