Articles of Agreement

To promote the college mission, we the faculty of Allan Hancock College affirm our commitment to student success and to excellence in teaching, learning, and service. To that end, we uphold a philosophy of shared governance through open communication and collaboration and of academic freedom and integrity. The Academic Senate represents the faculty in governance and is an organization whose primary function is to make recommendations with respect to academic and professional matters.

Article I – The Faculty

The Allan Hancock College Academic Senate represents all faculty. Full-time faculty senators must be full-time tenured or full-time tenure-track (including Willie Brown or reduced workload) and must represent a department.

Article II - The Academic Senate

Each department in the college shall be represented in the Academic Senate. For purposes of this document an additional department, hereafter referred to as the Academic/Student Service Department, and shall be considered in existence. Members of this Department include faculty eligible to serve as a senator (as defined in Article 1) who work in the Learning Assistance Program, Library, the District's nurses office, and Distance Education.

Representation shall be based on the ratio of one senator for each seven members of the department or major fraction thereof, provided that each department has at least one senator. In event that a faculty member is serving in more than one department, the said faculty member shall choose the department in which the faculty member shall be counted.

Part-time faculty are represented by three senators appointed by the Part-time Faculty Association during the spring semester prior to finalization of the next fall's class schedule, no more than one per division.

Full-time faculty senators shall be elected within each department during the spring semester prior to finalization of the next fall's class schedule.

The term of each senator shall be for two years and each senator shall have one vote.

The Academic Senate shall be the judge of the qualifications and elections of its members; and by a vote of two-thirds may expel a member, even if the senator is a member of the Academic Senate Executive Council Committee.   The senate shall make provision for any vacancies that may occur in the representation of any department in the senate or any officer thereof.

The Academic Senate may establish policies to clarify their position on College activities under their purview. These include, but are not limited to, the creation of standing committees and task forces and the development and execution of Academic Senate related election processes. New policies may be created or existing policies revised with a simple majority vote of senators.

Public comments at academic senate meetings are limited to 5 minutes per person with an additional 5 minutes at the discretion of the senate president.

Article III - The Executive Committee of the Academic Senate

Section One

At the beginning of each spring semester, prior to finalization of the next fall's class schedule, full-time tenured faculty or full-time tenure-track faculty (including Willie Brown or reduced workload faculty) shall elect at large five members of the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate, all of whom must have the qualifications of the senators, except that no more than two of whom may be members of the same department. They shall serve for two years and may be re-elected. Executive Committee members shall serve staggered terms so as to render the Executive Committee a continuing body. The immediate past president shall serve a one-year term as an ex-officio member of the Executive Committee.

Section Two

Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of their election, the Executive Committee shall choose by simple majority from among the five above, a President of the Academic Senate, a Vice-President of the Academic Senate, a Secretary-Treasurer of the Academic Senate and two Senator Counselors. Their selections shall be submitted to the Senate for confirmation at the first regular meeting following the elections. The president of the senate shall preside over the senate and the faculty in convocation; and shall, with the advice and consent of the Executive Committee, make all appointments not herein provided for; and prepare the agenda for the senate and the faculty in convocation; and discharge any and all responsibilities delegated to them by the senate or the faculty in convocation. The vice-president shall perform the duties of the president in the absence of the president and assume the office of president, should that office become vacant. The Secretary-Treasurer of the Academic Senate shall keep all minutes, records and accounts of the Academic Senate and the faculty in convocation.

The vice-president, the secretary-treasurer, and the senator counselors shall advise, counsel and assist the president; and perform such duties and discharge such responsibilities as may be delegated to the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate by the senate or the faculty in convocation.

Section Three

The Executive Committee shall set the times and places of its own meetings and of all elections, and determine the rules of its proceedings. It may, for purposes of these Articles, redefine the constituency of the Academic/Student Service Department as referred to in Article II without an Articles of Agreement change. A majority of the senate shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may be authorized to take such measures deemed expedient to induce a quorum. Members of the Executive Committee of the senate are senators-at-large with all the rights and responsibilities of senators except that the president of the senate shall have no vote unless the senate is equally divided or the president's vote would otherwise determine the result.

Article IV - Removal of Senators

Any senator (including members of the Executive Committee) elected by the faculty may be required to stand for recall, upon demand by valid petition of one-fourth of the full-time tenured faculty or full-time tenure-track faculty (including Willie Brown or reduced workload faculty) provided that a convocation of the faculty occur between the demand and the recall election, and that provision be made for the continued occupancy of the office.

Article V - Amendment

These Articles of Agreement may be amended at convocation called for by valid petition of one-fourth of the full-time tenured faculty and full-time tenure-track faculty (including Willie Brown or reduced workload faculty) or upon the request of the Academic Senate. The proposed amendments must be distributed to the faculty no later than 10 days before the convocation. A minimum of thirty percent of the full-time tenured faculty and full-time tenure-track faculty (including Willie Brown or reduced workload faculty) must be present to vote on the changes. Changes will pass upon a majority vote of those present.

 

Adopted at a Faculty Convocation 1/17/14