Policy on Committees

Committee work is very important to the governance of the university, and it is very important that committees be representative of all academic units and be governed in such a manner that their representatives take them seriously.

Committee Appointment

Committee representatives should be appointed at their unit meetings, and all members of the unit should have the opportunity to serve on any committee. However, care should be taken to ensure that no one takes on too many committee responsibilities, and that no one takes on none at all.

Committee Tenure

Committee members should not serve more than two consecutive one-year terms on any committee, and no one should serve more than one consecutive two- or three-year term on any committee, except in cases where a specific expertise and/or skill is required. Ex-officio members are exempted from this rule.

Committee Mission

All committees should have a general mission statement, stating their purpose and provenance. They should also state to whom the committee is answerable and to whom it should make recommendations.

Committee Process

Each committee should have a chair, either appointed or elected. If the committee so desires, there may also be a recording secretary. All committees will keep minutes of their meetings, and these minutes will be sent to the members of the committee as well as the entire campus. The chair will be responsible for making sure that all processes are properly followed and for calling committee meetings. The chair will also be responsible for distributing minutes of the committee's meetings to all committee members and the campus as soon as possible after each meeting.

In addition, the chair will write a report each year to the President or the body to whom the committee is answerable, explaining what the committee has done in the past year. If the committee has not met or has been inactive, the President or the body to whom it is answerable will consider whether or not the committee should exist any longer.