Guidelines for Preparing Senate Reports

Accessibility

Templates for Senate reports have been created in order to become compliant with requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Each template contains formatted text to aid in preparing written reports in a format that can be reviewed and acted upon expeditiously. Please use these templates every time reports are generated. Features of the templates that are vital for ADA compliance are the formatting of text using Styles within Microsoft Word. Using Styles instead of simply formatting text using the Bold, Size, and Font configuring tools is necessary for screen readers to recognize the formatted text as headings.

Upon opening the Report templates, as you place your cursor in the template text, you will notice that the first heading: “SENATE COMMITTEE ON ____” is formatted with Heading1-Senate-Reports in the Styles group on the Home tab. You can keep this formatting by typing within the text that appears upon opening, but this can also be done by highlighting the text and simply clicking on the custom “Heading1-Senate-Reports” style. The second heading: “Report Title” is formatted with “Heading2-Senate-Reports” in the Styles group on the Home tab, etc. When adding any new content, please use Styles for formatting text. It is very easy to use, and has various formatting styles to accommodate content.

Please avoid the use of footnotes in reports.  Footnotes require special processing to make them compliant with ADA accessible format. Instead, add the reference information at the point of insertion of the related text in the document.

Policy or Governance Document Revisions.  For reports that include revisions to policies or governance documents, include the following text before any revisions:

Please note that the following contains bold text for additions and strikeouts for deleted text.  In addition, added text is delimited with [Add] [End Add] pairs while deleted text is delimited with [Delete] [End Delete] pairs.

For instance:

The term of office for [Add] regular [End Add] members [Delete] and alternates  [End Delete] will be three years commencing on July 1. The terms will be staggered to provide for continuity.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Reports are required to be accessible if they are published by the Senate Office and shared on our website. Please check for accessibility before submission, as they may be returned to your committee if there are significant accessibility issues.

If they are originally hosted on a different website (ex. a referenced document published by another university), report sponsors are not responsible for creating an accessible alternative. If you are unable to or do not have the means to make a document accessible, please reach out to the Senate Office.

Delegation of Duties

Senate Office: The Executive Director of the Senate Office will ensure that each report conforms to the checklist. Reports found not to conform will be brought to the attention of the Senate Chair who will discuss the issue with the Committee Chair.

Senate Chair: The Chair shall review reports prior to meetings of the Senate Council to ensure that they are properly organized. At meetings of the Council, the Chair’s task is to guide the conversation and to seek consensus.

Executive Director: During Senate Council’s discussion of a report, suggestions for changes in a report are often made. If Senate Council votes to approve a report for a Senate meeting with changes, it is the responsibility of the Executive Director to verify that the changes are included in the final report.

Report Recommendations

Recommendations adopted at the March 25, 2003 University Faculty Senate Meeting.

a. Oral Informational Reports. The practice of permitting Senate committees to sponsor oral informational reports will be discontinued. Committees will be permitted to sponsor written reports, as described in recommendations (b) and (c) below. By considering only written reports, Senate Council can better evaluate the readiness and appropriateness of reports prior to placing them on the Senate Agenda.

The Senate Council may sponsor reports from University administrators.

b. Mandated Reports. Written copies of mandated reports will be placed in the Senate Agenda, but neither presented nor summarized orally at Senate meetings. These reports are routine, and if prepared well, are self-explanatory. Senate Council will allot time at the Senate meetings for reactions to the mandated reports and for sponsors to respond to such reactions. Presenters must adhere to time limits.

c. Non-Mandated Informational Reports. Sponsors of the non-mandated informational reports must clearly articulate a specific purpose for taking Senate meeting time. Printed copies of the non-mandated reports will be placed in the Senate Agenda, but presenters will neither present nor review the contents of such reports at Senate meetings, unless Senate Council determines that an oral presentation is warranted. Senate Council will allot time at the Senate meetings for reactions to the non-mandated reports and for sponsors to respond to such reactions. Presenters must adhere to time limits.

Reports are to be submitted according to due dates.

Format of Senate Reports

Article 1 of the University Faculty Senate Constitution clearly defines the functions of the Senate. However, by historical practice the Senate has developed two labels for reports: “legislative” and “informational.” There exists a great deal of confusion both within and without the Senate with regard to the meaning or significance of our actions. This legislation is proposed to alleviate that situation.

New Categories of Actions of the Senate

1. Legislative Reports and Actions of the Senate

In keeping with the University Faculty Senate Constitution, Article I, Section 1(a) the Senate has a legislative function and may pass legislation that shall be authoritative with regard to the educational interests of the University resident instruction, research, and continuing education programs; and on all educational matters concerning faculties of more than one college, subject to revision and orders of the President. These Senate actions shall be termed legislative and shall result from Action by the Senate on Legislative Reports and/or motions originating with Senate Committees or individual members of the Senate.

Legislative actions of the Senate shall pertain only to items of business for which the Senate has legislative authority or to items of business internal to the Senate such as the Senate Constitution, Bylaws, and Standing Rules.

2. Advisory and Consultative Reports and Actions of the Senate

In keeping with the University Faculty Senate Constitution, Article I, Section 1 (b) the Senate has an advisory and consultative function, both through its corporate whole as well as its constituent parts, to the President on any matter that may affect the attainment of the educational objectives of the University. In fulfillment of this function the Corporate Senate may take various actions as appropriate. The wording of these actions should be as precise as possible to accurately convey the intent of the Senate Action. Reports developed for action by the Corporate Senate should be given the title Advisory and Consultative Report. The exact wording in the body of the report should accurately reflect the intent and nature of the advice or consultation.

3. Informational Reports of the Senate

These reports originate from the various standing and special committees of the Senate. An informational report may be written or oral. It should report past or present events or situations in a factual manner. It may report committee opinions or conclusions. In no instance should the report imply endorsement by the Corporate Senate. (If this is intended then the report should be presented as a Legislative Action Report or Advisory and Consultative Action Report.) Informational Reports are received by the Senate but receipt does not imply endorsement. In many instances the report will be received without comment. Informational reports may provide the basis for future Senate actions or the report may receive endorsement by vote of the Senate as a whole. Such a report might thus become Legislative or an Advisory and Consultative Report to the President.

4. Forensic Function of the Senate

In keeping with the University Faculty Senate Constitution, Article I, Section 1(c) the Senate serves as a forum for exchange of ideas among the members of the University Faculty. Also in keeping with Standing Rules, Article 1, Section 7 (d)(e) forensic concerns of the Senate may become the basis for Senate action after the Chairperson declares the forensic discussion period to be at the end. Such Senate action shall then take place to fulfill the Legislative Function or Advisory and Consultative Function of the Senate and the action shall reflect either of these modes.

5. Courtesy Actions of the Senate

These actions shall be in the form of resolutions or other expressions honoring or recognizing various individuals, organizations, or institutions. Courtesy actions shall originate from Senate Council or the Senate Officers.

Rationale

By tradition we have labeled many actions as “legislative” when indeed they are “advisory and consultative” and not “legislative” when examined in light of our Constitution. These problems are even more confusing when our “actions” or “inactions” are reported in the public media and non-Senators attempt to interpret their significance.