Appendix C

1/23/18

SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES AND RULES

Revisions to Constitution; Article I – Functions, Section 1

(Legislative)

Implementation: Upon Approval by the President

Rationale:

According to Article I, Section 1 “The University Faculty Senate shall have the following functions:

(a) Legislative

To serve as the sole legislative body representing the University Faculty as a whole. Its actions shall be authoritative on all matters that pertain to the educational interests of the University (graduate and undergraduate resident [emphasis added] instruction, research, and continuing education) and on all educational matters that concern the faculties of more than one college, subject, after consultation, to revision and orders of the president of the University.”

With the growth of Penn State World Campus, and other online delivery systems, the “resident” which precedes the word “instruction” could be read to limit the Senate’s jurisdiction over online education. In fact, such a limitation would contradict our institution’s commitment to a philosophy of “a course is a course.” as we do not differentiate between resident instruction and online instruction.

Moreover, the absence of a reference to “professional education” might be viewed as excluding professional instruction from Senate authority.

To clarify these issues, the CC&R recommends that “resident” be stricken and the remainder of the sentence be modified to more completely affirm that the Senate has ultimate authority over the entire educational interests of the University.

Recommendation:

That Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution be and is hereby amended as follows:

Please note that the following contains bold text for additions and strikeouts indicating deleted text. Deleted text is notated with [Delete] [End Delete]. Added text is notated with [Add] [End Add].

Article I

Section 1

The University Faculty Senate shall have the following functions:

(a) Legislative

To serve as the sole legislative body representing the University Faculty as a whole. Its actions shall be authoritative on all matters that pertain to the educational interests of the University ([Add] all [End Add] graduate, [Add] professional [End Add] and undergraduate [Delete] resident [End Delete] instruction, research, and continuing education) and on all educational matters that concern the faculties of more than one college, subject, after consultation, to revision and orders of the president of the University.

SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES AND RULES

  • Jonathan Abel
  • Michael Bérubé
  • Victor Brunsden
  • Mark Casteel
  • Ann Clements
  • Amy Dietz
  • Beth King
  • Richard Robinett
  • James Strauss
  • Jane Sutton
  • Ann Taylor
  • Kent Vrana (Chair)
  • Nicole Webster (Co-Chair)
  • Matthew Woessner