EWU Faculty Organization

Adopted January 2004

We the faculty of Eastern Washington University agree that the following values make university life meaningful and possible:

• Academic freedom: Faculty members should enjoy the right to express views, teach, and conduct research without fear of retribution or censure.
• Diversity of students, faculty, and administrators: A rich variety of experiences, perspectives, and talents is essential to our strength as a university community.
• Constructive and collaborative relationships: Collegial relations between and among all members of the university community are the cornerstones of academic life.
• Instruction designed to develop the love of learning, inquiry, and knowledge for its own sake: We should encourage our students to appreciate the arts, humanities, and social and natural sciences as ways of enriching the quality of their lives, their understanding of the world, and their role as citizens in a democratic society.
• Instruction designed to foster learning skills: The undergraduate and graduate curriculum should help students develop lifelong learning skills enabling them to adapt to changing societal and career needs. These include the ability to write clearly, speak effectively, think critically, solve problems creatively, work cooperatively, and use advanced technological tools proficiently.
• Instruction designed to encourage applied learning: Our students should graduate with the ability to apply knowledge and skills from their core liberal arts education and disciplinary training in their lives, careers, and continuing education.
• Substantial faculty leadership in university affairs: Faculty members must be involved in setting university priorities, in recruiting individuals to fill vacancies on the faculty and administration, and in choosing faculty members to serve in such matters.
• Scholarship and the arts: Eastern Washington University faculty should be supported in achieving excellence in their disciplines at the local, regional, and national levels and in publicizing those accomplishments; the university and its reputation benefit greatly from such achievements.
• Community Service: Eastern Washington University should engage in activities to ameliorate social problems, provide assistance to K-12 teachers, and furnish other services contributing to the welfare of the region, the nation, and the world.
• Ethical Conduct: Underlying each of the above values is a belief in fostering ethical behavior in our students and modeling it in our own speech and actions.

FACULTY GOVERNANCE AT EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

Shared governance formally recognizes that the planning and development of university-wide policy is a responsibility delegated by the Board of Trustees to be shared between the administration and the faculty, and regular channels of communication must be maintained so that the Faculty Organization (FO), the United Faculty of Eastern (UFE), and the administration can discuss issues and concerns among themselves, together, and with the Board of Trustees and then articulate formal faculty positions.

THE FACULTY ORGANIZATION

The Faculty Organization is one part of Eastern's system of shared governance, the others being the United Faculty of Eastern (UFE) and the Administration of the university. The agreement which details Eastern's system of shared governance is outlined in EWU Policy 101-02, University Governanceof the University Governance System section of the Eastern Washington University Policies and Procedures manual.  Faculty Organization is the name given collectively to the Academic Senate, its councils, committees, and subcommittees.

SHARED GOVERNANCE

The collegial model of shared governance, which was adopted by EWU in 1984, formally recognizes that the planning and development of university-wide policy is a responsibility delegated by the Board of Trustees to be shared between the administration and the faculty. The administration fulfills its part of this shared responsibility through the administrative hierarchy, which is designed to administer policy and programs through EWU's system of departments, schools and colleges.

The faculty fulfills its responsibility in two ways: 1) through a system of departments, schools, and colleges designed to plan, develop and implement policies and programs inherent to the unit and to express judgment on personnel matters; and 2) through the Academic Senate, which, by a network of representative committees and councils, articulates formal faculty positions on policy matters along with the United Faculty of Eastern.

Collegiality, a key principle in any system of shared governance, recognizes and encourages the distinction between policy development and policy administration. There are two other principles necessary to the shared governance system: consensus and communication. Rather than majority rule, the system demands that there be prior consultation based on full and adequate documentation of need for new or changed policies or programs. It also requires that all parties be informed and that there be communication to build the confidence of all parties in the judgments and decisions being made. Shared governance cannot succeed without open, uninhibited discussion among all parties concerned. In keeping with the principle of consensus, there shall be no unilateral action by any party in the absence of such discussion. Regular channels of communication must be assured so that the faculty organization, the UFE, and the administration can discuss issues and concerns within each unit, together, and with the Board of Trustees. While sufficient time must be allowed for full participation, all parties must agree to respond in a timely manner to the issues that are brought forward for faculty consensus.

The President of the Faculty Organization sits on the President's Cabinet and reports on faculty issues at each meeting of the Board of Trustees. Faculty members of the various Faculty Organization Councils interact with administrative officers and attend policy development meetings to assure that communications are ongoing between administration and faculty. This is where the structure of the Faculty Organization becomes important.

The Constitution of the Faculty Organization of Eastern Washington University

Preamble

We, the faculty of Eastern Washington University, in order to establish ourselves as a self-governing body, do create and establish this constitution.

Article I. Name of Organization

The name of this organization shall be the Faculty Organization of Eastern Washington University.

Article II.  Purpose

Section I.  The Faculty Organization's primary purpose shall be to benefit the faculty and the institution of Eastern Washington University.  Specifically, the aims are to promote academic quality in an intellectually supportive environment that fosters student learning outcomes by

1. Strengthening and protecting academic freedom and tenure;
2. Promoting faculty development;
3. Optimizing current and developing new academic policies;
4. Supporting the ongoing development of effective pedagogical practices; and
5. Partnering with the United Faculty of Eastern to advance the academic welfare of all faculty.

Section II.  The organization shall endeavor to maintain and strengthen shared governance at Eastern Washington University and shall represent the views of the faculty in all matters pertaining to shared governance.

Article III.  Membership

Section I.  The membership of the Faculty Organization shall consist of all faculty members of EWU, to include all regular full-time and part-time employees of the University designated with faculty status, excluding casual or temporary employees as defined in WAC 391-35-350, administrators, confidential employees, graduate student employees, post-doctoral and clinical employees, and employees subject to Chapter 41.06 or 41.56 RCW.

Section II.  An official roster of the Faculty Organization shall be established and maintained by the Faculty Organization.  This roster, by request, shall be available to any member of the Faculty Organization.

Section III.  Full time employees of Eastern Washington University not qualifying as members may appeal for special membership status to the Academic Senate.  The Rules Committee shall place matters of membership, exception, appeals or changes on the agenda of the Academic Senate for its action.

Article IV.  Officers

Section I.  The officers of the organization shall consist of a president, a vice president (who is also the president elect), a secretary and a treasurer.  The president of the Faculty Organization shall serve as chair of the Academic Senate and the vice president of the Faculty Organization shall serve as the vice chair of the Academic Senate.

Section II.  Elections of officers for the following academic year shall be conducted during the spring quarter of each academic year.  Candidates may be self-nominated or nominated by any regular member of the Faculty Organization; in either case the nominee must accept in writing. Ballots shall include an option for write-in candidates.

Section III.  If an officer of the Faculty Organization resigns or for any other reason leaves office, the office is vacant and that officer must be replaced. In case of a vacancy of the office of the president, the president-elect will assume the office of the president for the remainder of the term. If the changeover happens before December 31, the president-elect will serve only until the end of that school year.  If the changeover happens after December 31, the new president will serve the balance of the term as well as a successive term. In either case, an election will be held to replace the president elect. In case of a vacancy of any other office, there will be an election to fill the office for the remainder of the term.

Officers of the Faculty Organization are subject to recall.  A petition to recall any officer of the Faculty Organization, which is signed by at least twenty percent of the members of Faculty Organization, will require a recall election be conducted.  This recall election shall be conducted by members of the Rules Committee of the Academic Senate, excluding that officer whose tenure is being contested, and shall be completed within twenty-one faculty working days of receipt of the petition.  If a majority of the ballots cast in such a recall election favor recall of that officer, then the office shall be declared vacant by the Rules Committee within five days of the completion of the recall election.

Article V.  Committees

Section I.   The following shall constitute the standing committees of the Faculty Organization:

1. Academic Senate.  The Academic Senate, together with its councils, committees, and subcommittees, is the legislative arm of the Faculty Organization.
2. Executive Committee.  The executive committee shall be composed of the four elected officers of the Faculty Organization.  The president of the Faculty Organization is the chair of the executive committee.
3. Rules Committee: The Rules Committee shall be composed of the four elected officers of the Faculty Organization, the chairs of the various councils of the Academic Senate, and three faculty at large. The Provost (or designee) and up to three members of the ASEWU are non-voting members.

Section II. Additional councils and committees:  The Academic Senate may constitute additional councils and subcommittees as required:

1. Faculty Organization Committees, Councils and subcommittees:
2. Hybrid Committees, Councils and subcommittees.

Section III. A list of existing committees, councils, and subcommittees and their membership shall be maintained by the Faculty Organization and is available upon request.

Article VI.  Meetings

Section I.  Meetings of the Faculty Organization and meetings of any subcommittees of the organization, including the Academic Senate and councils, shall be conducted in accord with Robert's Rules of Order.

Section II. The Faculty Organization:

1. Meetings of the Faculty Organization may be called by:
   1. The chair of the Academic Senate;
   2. A petition of at least ten percent of the membership of the Faculty Organization; or
   3. A petition of a majority of the membership of the Academic Senate.
2. The date and agenda of meetings of the Faculty Organization shall be announced in writing to all members at least one week in advance of the meeting. Proposed amendments to the constitution and changes in the Academic Senate regulations must be announced in writing to all members at least two weeks prior to the meeting.
3. A quorum shall consist of 40 percent of the membership. Once quorum is met, a majority shall be 50 percent of the members attending plus one.

Section III.   The Academic Senate:

1. The Academic Senate meets bimonthly during the academic year according to the meeting schedule approved by the Academic Senate during the previous academic year.
   1. Special meetings of the Academic Senate may be called by
      1. The chair of the Academic Senate;
      2. A majority vote at a meeting of the Academic Senate; or
      3. A majority vote of the Faculty Organization.
2. The date and agenda of meetings of the Academic Senate shall be announced in writing to all members during the week prior to the meeting.
3. A quorum of a meeting of the Academic Senate shall be fifty percent plus one member. Once quorum is met, a majority shall be fifty percent of the members attending plus one.

Article VII.  Voting

Section I.  Only members of the Faculty Organization are allowed to vote at meetings of the Faculty Organization, Academic Senate, or Executive Committee of the Faculty Organization, or in any ballot of the membership conducted by the Faculty Organization.  The selection of faculty members to serve on Faculty Organization councils, committees or subcommittees requires approval of the Academic Senate.

Section II.  The Faculty Organization may form new committees, subcommittees and councils jointly with administration, ASEWU or other bodies. These committees are jointly administered. The creation of such a hybrid committee must be approved by the Academic Senate. The selection of faculty members representing the Faculty Organization to serve on these councils, committees or subcommittees requires approval of the Academic Senate. The voting membership of these committees is determined by the charge approved by the Senate.

Section III.  When official business is conducted by secret ballot, those secret ballots shall be distributed by the executive committee with the due date marked on the ballot and those ballots must be returned to the Faculty Organization by the due date; ballots returned after this time period will not be valid.

Article VIII.  Amendments of the Constitution

The constitution of the Faculty Organization can be amended by a vote of the membership of the Faculty Organization with at least two-thirds of the votes in favor of amendment.

Article IX. Bylaws

Bylaws, in keeping with the tenets of the constitution, may be created by the Academic Senate to address procedural or operational issues of the Faculty Organization.

Article X.  Recommended Voluntary Contributions

Section I.  Many expenses of the Faculty Organization are paid through voluntary contributions by the members. Members may elect to contribute a portion of their salary through payroll deduction; forms are available from the treasurer or Faculty Organization office.

Section II.  Special assessments to cover extraordinary expenses of the Faculty Organization may be levied by a two-thirds vote of the membership of the Faculty Organization.

Section III.  The treasurer shall ensure that a current record of voluntary contributions and assessments paid by members of the Faculty Organization is kept.  Copies of this record shall be available to any member on request.

To fulfill responsibilities of shared governance, the university establishes collaborative bodies known as boards, councils, committees, or task forces that are charged with performing specific duties requiring student, faculty and administration involvement.

Two types of collaborative bodies typify faculty engagement in shared governance at Eastern Washington University: Faculty Organization (FO) Committees and Institutional Committees.

Faculty Organization Committees

Faculty Organization Committees (and councils) are those advisory bodies administered by the Faculty Organization and refer to "governance committees...that carry out the work of the faculty as a whole" (Redbook, AAUP Policies and Documents, 9th edition). These committees and councils are usually composed chiefly of faculty members, but they may also have student and administrative representation. The Executive Committee of the Faculty Organization shall serve as a nominating committee for such committees and councils.  Senate members may make floor nominations and shall be notified of the elections in sufficient time to secure nominees who have agreed to run.  Faculty members are selected by (but not necessarily from) the Academic Senate.  Where appropriate, the Senate shall attempt to expand the number of faculty involved in academic governance.  Faculty Governance Committees (and councils) report to the Academic Senate by way of the Rules Committee.

Institutional Committees

Institutional committees refer to "standing and ad hoc committees...that typically are formed and convened by the administration as a means of communication among university constituents and to carry out administrative initiatives and tasks.  Institutional committees generally have a mixed membership that may include faculty members, administrators, staff members, and others." (Redbook, AAUP 9^th ed.).  Institutional committees usually report to the administration; faculty on these committees may also be required to report to the Academic Senate according to the relevance of the committee's charge to the work of the Faculty Organization.

Faculty representatives to Institutional Committees are identified through one of two processes: one, administration and FO executives jointly select faculty representatives following a nomination phase administered by the Academic Senate; or, two, administrators request faculty participation through the Academic Senate and thereby initiate a recruitment phase followed by the generation of a list of faculty nominees approved by FO executives and submitted to the administration for final selection from the list.

Academic Senate approved April 18, 2005

Faculty Organization Council/Committee Organization Chart 2023