Shared Governance on the 16 UNC Campuses: Minimum Standards of Governance

Be it resolved that the Faculty Assembly directs the Governance Committee (1) to send the following draft document to the senates/councils of the 16 UNC campuses for their comments and recommendations prior to the April 2005 meeting and (2) to present the revised document to the Assembly at that meeting with a recommendation for its ratification.

Shared Governance on the 16 UNC Campuses: Minimum Standards of Governance

A strong tradition of shared governance is essential to the excellence of any institution of higher learning. The Faculty Assembly recognizes the following as minimum essential standards of governance that must be in place on each of the 16 campuses of the University of North Carolina.

The Faculty Senate or Council

1. The faculty must be represented by an elected Faculty Senate or Council that holds regularly scheduled meetings throughout the academic year.
2. With few exceptions, voting membership of the senate/council must be limited to elected faculty representatives.
3. Members of the senate/council must represent departments, colleges, schools, or comparable academic units and must be elected directly by the faculty of those units.
4. The officers of the senate/council, including its presiding officer (president or chair), must be elected by the membership of that body or by the faculty as a whole.
5. Procedures for the election of the senate/council's membership and officers, as well as their responsibilities and terms of office, must be codified in published bylaws or other document approved by and amendable by the senate/council.
6. Procedures for the operation of the senate/council and its committees must be codified in published bylaws approved by and amendable by the senate/council.
7. The senate/council must be given adequate resources to ensure effective governance, including:
   a. an adequate budget
   b. reasonable authority over its budget
   c. adequate office space
   d. adequate secretarial support
   e. appropriate release time for the chair/president

Faculty Governance Responsibilities

1. The responsibilities and procedures of faculty governance must be codified in a published governance document approved by and amendable by the faculty or their elected representatives.
2. The university's curriculum is primarily the responsibility of its faculty. The faculty, through its elected senate/council (or through its delegated faculty committees or through elected faculty councils of its colleges and schools) must give approval to campus curricular policies prior to their implementation, including but not limited to the following:
   a. graduation requirements
   b. "basic studies"/"general education" requirements for undergraduates
   c. the establishment of all new departments, schools, and colleges
   d. the establishment of new degree programs (including online programs)
   e. establishment of or substantive changes to majors
   f. the elimination or consolidation of degree programs or departments (except in cases of declared financial exigency)
   g. the establishment of individual new courses
   h. campus admission and retention policies
   i. attendance and grading policies
   j. grade-appeal procedures
   k. drop/add policies
   l. course-repeat policies
   m. policies for graduation with honors and for honors programs
   n. honor-code policies
   o. the granting of honorary degrees
3. The faculty, through its elected senate/council and consistent with policies in The Code, must exercise authority to determine and amend campus policies of reappointment, tenure, and promotion, and of post-tenure review; all revisions to those policies, without exception, must be ratified by the senate/council.
4. The faculty, through its elected senate/council, must approve faculty handbooks and academic policy manuals (and campus policies therein).
5. For joint committees on which the faculty is represented:
   a. Faculty representation must appropriately reflect the degree of the faculty's stake in the issue or area the committee is charged with addressing.
   b. The faculty members of joint committees must be selected by the elected faculty leadership or by processes approved by the senate/council.

Administration-Faculty Collegiality

1. A collegial, candid, and cooperative relationship should exist between the administration and the faculty. When requested, administrators should report to the senate/council and respond to questions.
2. Except on rare occasions, senior administrators should uphold the decisions of the senate/council in areas in which the faculty has primary responsibility, such as curriculum and tenure/promotion policies.
3. The chancellor and other senior administrators should consult in a timely way and seek meaningful faculty input on issues in which the faculty has an appropriate interest but not primary responsibility, including but not limited to the following:
   a. the university mission, emphases, and goals
   b. budget
   c. campus master plan or strategic plan
   d. building construction
   e. enrollment growth
4. The chancellor should effectively advocate the principles of shared governance to the Board of Trustees.
5. The chancellor should typically sustain the recommendations of faculty tenure, hearings, and grievance committees.
6. When the chancellor acts against the recommendations of such committees, the chancellor should meet with the committee or otherwise adequately communicate the reasons for not sustaining its recommendations.
7. The Board of Trustees should exercise due respect for the governance prerogatives of the faculty.
8. The faculty should participate meaningfully in the selection of academic administrators (through membership on search/hiring committees and the opportunity to meet and comment on "short-listed" candidates before hiring decisions are made).
9. The professorial-rank faculty of each department should approve the appointment and reappointment of its department head/chairperson.
10. The professorial-rank faculty of each department should approve the term of office of its department head/chairperson.
11. Each full-time faculty member should regularly evaluate the performance of senior administrators.
    a. The faculty??s evaluation of administrators should be in addition to and independent of the mandated periodic evaluation of administrators.
    b. Administrators evaluated by faculty should include the chancellor, the provost, the faculty member's college/school dean, and the faculty member's department head/chair.
    c. The faculty should determine the questions and format of the faculty evaluations of senior administrators.
    d. The results of these evaluations should be made available, at a minimum, to the person evaluated and to that person's immediate supervisor.

Noncompliant Campuses

It is the responsibility of the faculty of each campus to advocate, seek, and monitor the campus's adherence to the Minimum Standards of Governance. When a campus is not in compliance with one or more standards, faculty should seek resolution through processes at the campus level. However, when the faculty's sustained efforts to secure compliance have not been successful, the faculty, either through its senate/council or by the action of one or more faculty members, is encouraged to consult with the officers of the Faculty Assembly.

In cases that, in the judgment of the Assembly's officers, may constitute serious noncompliance, the Assembly's officers may authorize appointment of an ad hoc panel to investigate and prepare a report. The members of an investigating panel are faculty members from other campuses who have no previous involvement in compliance issues on that campus. The panel is asked to visit the campus alleged to be noncompliant, to meet with parties in the faculty and administration, and to prepare a report for submission to the Assembly's Governance Committee. The investigating panel's draft report recounts the facts of the case and sets forth conclusions as to whether the campus is in compliance with the Minimum Standards of Governance. The Governance Committee may call for revision of the report prior to its release.

The Governance Committee sends the revised text to the principal parties for their corrections and comments. The responses are taken into account in preparing the final text for presentation to the Assembly. If it deems that the campus is neither compliant nor working to achieve compliance, the Governance Committee may seek the good offices of the Office of the President in achieving a resolution. Finally, if all efforts fail, the Governance Committee may recommend that the Faculty Assembly censure the noncompliant administration. The Assembly continues to seek compliance, upon the attainment of which, the Governance Committee recommends to the Assembly that the censure be removed.

Unanimously adopted by the UNC Faculty Assembly, February 2005.