BY-LAWS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
Adopted November 7, 1975
Last Amended April 30, 1999
It is desirable that all members of the faculty participate in the policy decisions affecting academic standards, research facilities, and personnel matters. The principles of election to committees and the rotation of committee assignments will enable virtually every faculty member to weigh policy, which will result in informed recommendations, an increase in the range of alternatives, and widened perspectives on policy. These principles will also encourage innovation while maintaining continuity of policy -- a condition that tends to minimize conflict and to discourage apathy. Each member of the faculty deserves the opportunity to serve on departmental committees, as this service is regarded by the university as a mark of merit, power, and influence.
Although the Department and university are committed to the principle of elections without regard to distinctions of rank, seniority, and tenure, some concessions to these will have to be made in the cases of promotion and tenure.
Members of the faculty have the right to appeal any personnel decisions which affect them. Procedures governing such appeals are described later in these bylaws or in the EOPP procedures document.
The faculty is the policy making body within the Department of Sociology, interpreting policy as well as formulating it. With the exception of the Promotion and Tenure Committee, it elects the standing committees of the Department and the Director of Graduate Studies, elects the ad hoc committees as the need arises, and has the right to issue procedural regulations for any of its committees. If the faculty should issue such a procedural rule, it will go into effect at the end of the semester during which it was adopted and will take precedence over any regulation previously adopted by the committee.
Faculty meetings will ordinarily occur once a month, and are open to all. As used in these Bylaws, "Regular Faculty" (or "Permanent Faculty") are those faculty on tenure or tenure-track appointments; the "Voting Faculty" includes the following: (l) all persons holding regular faculty rank in sociology, (2) one graduate student representative and one undergraduate student representative, and (3) any person on at least a 3/4 time temporary contract for the second or subsequent year. A quorum shall consist of a majority of the voting faculty.
The agenda should be circulated to the faculty at least one day in advance of the meetings and faculty should be notified of the meetings. Proxy voting will be permitted only when the proxy voter does so in writing and states the motion on which the proxy vote is being cast. The voter also must be present for at least a portion of the meeting and for the specific issue on which proxy voting is being done. The vote is left with the departmental Chairperson.
If a departmental committee acts unfavorably on a proposal brought before it by a faculty member, the faculty member may present it at the next regular faculty meeting, when the committee will also report its recommendations. This provision specifically excludes personnel matters.
The Chairperson is responsible to the faculty for carrying out policy; calling regular and special faculty meetings; setting agenda of regular faculty meetings upon consultation with committee chairpersons; calling meetings of the Council; acting as faculty liaison with the Dean and other administrative branches of the university; and in general, for the smooth running of the Department.
The Chairperson is an ex officio member of every departmental committee except the Appeals Board, lacking the right to vote on deliberations but furnishing information. In case of disagreement with a committee, the Chairperson has the right to take the case to the entire faculty.
When the need arises for immediate policy decisions occasioned by non-recurring and nonforseeable events, the Chairperson may consult with the Council either individually or collectively. Such decisions, however, must be referred to the entire faculty at its next regular meeting for its concurrence or nonconcurrence with the principles involved in the decision.
The departmental Chairperson is officially invested with the authority to schedule classes offered by the Department, in consultation with the Curriculum Committee, the Director of Undergraduate Studies and the Director of Graduate Studies.
In consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies, the Chairperson allocates the graduate assistantships on the recommendations of the Student Selection and Awards Committee. This committee should specify the criteria and procedures utilized in granting the awards.
In addition to being consulted by the Faculty Recruitment Committee in its decisions to issue invitations to candidates to visit the campus and to make offers of positions, the departmental Chairperson may vote as a member of the faculty on prospective candidates.
When a new Chairperson is to be appointed, the departmental Chairperson will announce the open position to the Department Council, and Council, in writing, will call for candidates and will set a deadline no sooner than two weeks after such announcement when nominations of candidates will be closed. One week and again two days prior to the close of nominations, Council will circulate a list of candidates to the faculty. Subsequently, Council (excluding any candidates) will convene a meeting in which the candidates can be queried by members of the Department, conduct an election of nominees to the Dean, count the ballots, and report the vote totals to the Department and to the College.
If a Chairperson is reviewed for possible appointment to a second term, that review will be conducted by the Council in office at the time such review is requested. That review must include a faculty vote. The committee's recommendation to the Dean must report, and must be consistent with, the faculty vote.
The electorate will consist of all permanent faculty of the Department. Voting will be by written, secret ballot sent to the residence of each member of the permanent faculty no less than ten calendar days prior to the advertised deadline for voting.
The Chairperson will be evaluated annually by the members of the Council, including the Director of Undergraduate Studies and the Director of Graduate Studies. No Chairperson may serve more than two successive terms, and the duration of a single term is three years.
The Director of Undergraduate Studies is responsible to the faculty for implementing its policies regarding the undergraduate program. In this capacity the Director will oversee the undergraduate advising program and the process for admitting undergraduate students to major or minor in sociology. The Director will advise the departmental Chairperson on the scheduling of undergraduate courses, and will have primary responsibility for the department's involvement in the student registration process. The Director is a nonvoting member of the departmental Council and an ex officio member of the Student Selection and Awards Committee.
The Director of Undergraduate Studies will be nominated by the departmental Chairperson and confirmed by majority vote of the faculty, normally for a maximum of two consecutive two-year terms. If nominated for a final third consecutive term, the Director must be confirmed by a two-thirds majority of the faculty. If the Chairperson's nominee is not confirmed, the Director of Undergraduate Studies will be elected by the faculty.
The Director of Graduate Studies is responsible to the faculty for implementing its policies regarding the graduate program. In this capacity the Director of Graduate Studies will check on the progress and work of the graduate assistants and deal with the graduate students' problems. The Director of Graduate Studies will advise the departmental Chairperson on the scheduling of graduate courses. The Director is a non-voting member of the departmental Council and an ex officio member of the Student Selection and Awards Committee. The Director will consult with the departmental Chairperson in the allocation of graduate assistantships on this committee's recommendations. The Director of Graduate Studies will be elected for a two-year term by the faculty for a maximum of two consecutive two-year terms and must belong to the graduate faculty.
The College Council consists of one tenured faculty member from each Department. The representative from Sociology will be elected by the voting faculty by ballot from a list of those eligible and willing to serve. The elected representative will serve for a two-year term.
The following shall constitute the standing committees of the Department:
Voting members of the department Council and chairpersons of the standing committees will be elected by the voting faculty. (For the purpose of this paragraph only, the definition of "voting faculty" shall also include first-year temporary faculty who are recommended for reappointment by the Department.) Student members of the voting faculty are ineligible to serve on the Student Selection and Awards Committee. Council members, committee chairpersons, the Director of Undergraduate Studies, and the Director of Graduate Studies shall be members of the regular faculty. In addition to the standing committees, two ad hoc committees shall be selected annually: The Personnel Committee and the Appeals Board.
The elections will occur each spring and, with the exception of the Director of Undergraduate Studies, those elected will take office immediately. The Director of Undergraduate Studies will take office at the beginning of the next contract year (normally August 16th). Elections will proceed in the following order: Department Council, College Council Representative, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Director of Graduate Studies, chairpersons of the standing committees, members of the standing committees. Members, exclusive of chairpersons, will be chosen by any method the faculty deems appropriate. With the exception of the Promotion and Tenure Committee, the normal size of each committee is two or three (excluding ex officio members), although this may vary in practice.
1. The Curriculum Committee
The Committee's principal duties are to receive suggestions regarding the curriculum and to present curricular proposals to the faculty. The committee may appoint additional faculty for consultation on a single occasion or on a recurring basis if this is necessary to complete its work. In addition, it advises the departmental Chairperson on the scheduling of classes.
2. The Instructional Technology Committee
The committee's primary duties are to explore technologies that may enhance faculty instruction and/or research, and to make policy recommendations in this area to the faculty. It will review departmental computing needs and resources, including but not limited to the SOCQRL and other computing facilities. As appropriate, the Committee will consult with the Development Committee, the Curriculum Committee, or specific individuals who can assist the Committee in carrying out its tasks.
3. The Faculty Recruitment Committee
The Chairperson of the committee must hold tenure. The committee is authorized to perform all duties necessary to the hiring of all faculty members who come under the jurisdiction of the Affirmative Action program of the University. Specifically, these duties include the following: it shall receive suggestions about possible candidates from other members of the faculty for the current academic year and for the following two academic years. It shall consider these suggestions and add its own. It will handle the correspondence involved in exploring for new faculty. In consultation with the Chairperson of the Department of Sociology, the Committee will issue invitations to candidates to visit the campus and arrange colloquia and other events to occur during these visits. At the completion of all scheduled visits, the Committee will poll the permanent faculty employing pairwise comparisons by faculty who judge themselves sufficiently familiar with each member of each pair to make a valid comparison and will announce both the results of this polling and the Committee's own recommendation. In the event there is a material difference between the Committee's recommendation and the result of faculty polls, the Committee will defer recommending a formal offer to the Dean and will wait for a period of three days to enable the faculty to petition for a reconsideration of the announced recommendation of the Committee. If within this period of three days at least one-third of the faculty in Sociology sign and submit a petition to the Department Chairperson asking for reconsideration of this recommendation, the Committee will convene a meeting to which all faculty will be invited. If a quorum is present at the meeting, a three-fifths vote of those present against the recommended candidate will constitute a veto of the recommendation.
4. The Development and Alumni Relations Committee
The committee's general task is to explore and develop resources to enhance the department's teaching and research missions. It will work with the library to coordinate and periodically examine library holdings in sociology. It will work with the Graduate School to invite colloquium speakers. It will maintain and strengthen positive relations with alumni through newsletters and other means.
5. The Student Selection and Awards Committee
The committee selects students for graduate work in accordance with departmental policy and recommends to the departmental Chairperson the allocation of graduate assistantships. It specifies the criteria and procedures of selecting, retaining, and reappointing graduate students and standards of granting awards. The chair of the Student Selection and Awards Committee or a faculty member designated by the Student Selection and Awards Committee will be the advisor of the Sociology Advisory Committee (SAC), and carry out the responsibilities mandated to that position.
6. The Promotion and Tenure Committee
The Promotion and Tenure Committee is vested with the responsibility for all actions that refer to the promotion, tenure, and retention of regular faculty. The Promotion and Tenure Committee will be composed of all tenured members of the Department of Sociology. The Chairperson, who must have tenure, will be elected by the voting faculty. Meetings during which personnel reviews of specific individuals are conducted will be closed to anyone not a member of this committee. Policy meetings, however, are open to all regular faculty. For the purpose of conducting business, a quorum shall consist of two-thirds of the membership of the committee exclusive of the departmental Chairperson who are not absent on leave and those who are on leave but who have declared themselves regular participants of the committee before the latter's first meeting in the term of their leave.
The phrase "first meeting" is defined to mean the first meeting of the full Promotion and Tenure Committee. A committee member may submit a request, preferably in writing, to the committee Chairperson to be excused from the full committee meeting for strong, compelling reasons. At the beginning of the meeting the committee shall decide whether or not to approve the request. If approved, that individual shall not be considered a part of the quorum count. Actions that do not refer to the promotion, tenure, and retention of particular individuals will be based on a majority vote of those present and voting so long as a quorum is present.
Recommendations for promotion to the rank of Professor will be made when approved by a majority of all members of the committee who hold that rank and who are eligible to enter into the basis of a quorum. Recommendations for promotion to the rank of Associate Professor will be made when approved by a majority of all faculty holding the ranks of Professor and Associate Professor and who are eligible to enter in the basis of a quorum. Positive recommendations for tenure will be made when approved by a majority of those present and voting, so long as a quorum is present.
All meetings of the committee shall be announced through written notices placed in the office mailboxes and deposited in the mail to be sent to the home addresses of all members with tenure, including the Chairperson of the Department, at least ten working days prior to the meeting. These notices shall contain a complete and clearly worded agenda.
A subcommittee consisting of three members of the full committee shall do the initial screening and submit a written report to the full committee. The report will be available to committee members and the candidate for at least five working days prior to the meeting to consider promotion and tenure. The subcommittee shall be elected by the members of the Promotion and Tenure Committee from a ballot listing all those eligible and willing to serve. The Chair of the Promotion and Tenure Committee is eligible for election to the subcommittee. Should a committee member wish to present opposing arguments, he/she may do so, with such comments to be read at the meeting. The candidate may also submit comments which will be read at the meeting.
Once the full committee has made its recommendation, the departmental Chairperson shall announce a date for transmittal of the departmental recommendation to the College. There shall be at least five working days between the departmental decision and transmission of the recommendation to the College.
Minority reports may be submitted together with the departmental recommendation if signed by one or more members of the Promotion and Tenure Committee who were present and voting at the meeting in which the departmental recommendation was adopted.
The candidate may examine the departmental recommendations and minority reports, if any, and may submit a written statement which shall be transmitted to the College together with the departmental recommendations and the minority reports.
The Committee will inform applicants for promotion of the following provisions of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences "Policies, Procedures, and Criteria Concerning Personnel Recommendations": (1) Departmental personnel recommendations shall be accompanied by at least four letters of external evaluation. (2a) It is expected that a candidate for promotion to the rank of associate professor shall have submitted one or more proposals to granting agencies for external funding of the candidate's scholarly program. This policy is effective for faculty whose tenure-track appointments begin during or after August 1998. (2b) It is expected that, subsequent to having been promoted to (or hired at) the rank of associate professor, a candidate for promotion to the rank of professor shall have submitted one or more proposals to granting agencies for external funding of the candidate's scholarly program. This policy is effective for faculty who are recommended for promotion to the rank of professor during and after Fall 2000.
7. The Assessment Committee
The Assessment Committee will conduct periodic assessments of the department's undergraduate, graduate, and general education programs, in accordance with departmental and university policy.
8. The Council
The Council's membership will consist of five members elected annually and three nonvoting ex officio members: the departmental Chairperson, the Director of Undergraduate Studies, and the Director of Graduate Studies. The elected members of the Council will be chosen by written ballot at least three weeks prior to the last faculty meeting of each academic year. If necessary, ties will be broken by a runoff election; remaining ties will be broken by a random process.
Prior to other departmental elections, the Council will receive nominations (including self-nominations) for College Council Representative, Director of Graduate Studies, and chairpersons of the standing committees. The Council will present an unedited list of nominees, to which others may be added, at the faculty meeting at which the remaining elections will be conducted.
The Council is responsible for the overall implementation of departmental policies. Subject to the faculty's will, the Council may make broad recommendations to the committees and will make recommendations to the Faculty Recruitment Committee pertinent to the number and types of new faculty to be recruited in the next academic year or two. Should the Department Chairperson seek it, the Council will advise about any policy occasioned by events of a nonrecurring and unforeseeable nature. Furthermore, it will supply any advice requested by the Chairperson, but the final decision is the Chairperson's responsibility. The Council will make emergency policy decisions and interpretations in areas not already decided by the faculty, but such decisions and interpretations must be reported to the faculty at the earliest possible date for its consideration and ratification.
Excluding the Department Chairperson, the tenured members of the Council will serve as the faculty Grade Appeals Panel, provided that at least four members of the Council hold tenure; otherwise, the Department Chairperson will appoint additional faculty as needed to comprise a Grade Appeals Panel of four tenured faculty.
The graduate-faculty members of the Council will serve as the Department's Credentials Review Committee for graduate faculty membership.
The Council will evaluate (and rank if required) faculty proposals for leave with pay, research stipends, and similar awards. Upon request by any affected faculty member, the Council will reconsider the ranking of proposals for leave with pay prior to submitting the ranking to the College. Finally, the Council will make an annual departmental budget review.
All Council members, excepting the departmental Chairperson, the Director of Undergraduate Studies, and the Director of Graduate Studies, are voting members. No voting member shall serve more than two consecutive years as a voting member, with the lapse of at least one year to re-establish eligibility. Nonvoting members (Chairperson, Director of Undergraduate Studies, and Director of Graduate Studies) are subsequently eligible to serve as voting members without a break in service, and vice-versa. Voting members of the Council may serve as chairpersons of other department committees, but the ex officio members may not. The Council will consider outside offers to faculty for departmental recommendations to the College on making counter offers.
9. The Personnel Committee
Consistent with the Department's EOPP procedures, the Personnel Committee shall assign ratings to each faculty member for the purpose of determining increments of salary. It shall consist of three members of the regular faculty elected by secret ballot by members of the regular faculty from a list of six such faculty selected by a random procedure. A faculty member otherwise qualified may not serve on this committee during the first year of service in the Department, nor may any individual serve for more than two consecutive years. The Personnel Committee will be elected each year after the due date for EOPP service reports and shall serve until the Departmental EOPP recommendations have been forwarded to the College.
10. The Appeals Board
The purpose of the Appeals Board is to hear the appeals of faculty members regarding the Personnel Committee's evaluations of their teaching, scholarship, and service. For these appeals its decisions within the Department are final. The Appeals Board in any given year shall consist of three members and one alternate selected by a random process from the permanent faculty exclusive of the departmental Chairperson, the members of the Personnel Committee, and those who lodge appeals.
It is suggested that the committees hold their meetings somewhat in advance of the regular faculty meetings in order to report any business they may have conducted and circulate their proposals one week in advance of departmental meetings. The minutes of their business should be available in the Department office. Subject to the aforementioned restriction in the case of the Promotion and Tenure Committee, the meetings of committees are open to all members of the faculty.
Faculty requests for reconsideration of promotion, tenure, and retention recommendations will be directed to the entire Promotion and Tenure Committee, whose decisions will be final within the Department of Sociology. The deciding vote will consist of a simple majority of all members of the Promotion and Tenure Committee eligible to enter into a quorum. A quorum shall consist of two-thirds of the membership of the committee exclusive of the departmental Chairperson who are not absent on leave and those who are on leave but who have declared themselves regular participants of the committee before the latter's first meeting in the term of their leave. The requester has seven calendar days in which to file a written request for reconsideration with the committee and will be allowed one hour to present the case. The requester may be accompanied at the presentation by up to three persons, only one being from outside the Department and/or university and that person is not to be a lawyer. The committee has seven calendar days in which to act and reply in writing to the requester. Minutes of the hearing are to be made available to the requester and committee members. If the original decision is upheld, the departmental Chairperson has no responsibility to be an advocate for the requester, but simply an even-handed provider of information and reasonable duplicating assistance to the requester.
Any change in the Bylaws must be proposed at one faculty meeting and brought up for action at the next. Such amendments must be passed by a two-thirds vote. If the faculty categorizes a proposed change as an emergency, the amendment may be adopted at the meeting during which it was proposed.