Article III

Section 1 Definitions and General Procedures
  1. Definitions

    At the university level, councils stand at the second level of faculty governance and exist for the purpose of overall planning and coordination in academic and student affairs. Commissions are third level bodies, whose tasks are (a) to advise the Faculty Senate and/or the Academic Planning Council in the work of policy origination, and (b) to implement policies approved by the Faculty Senate and/or the Academic Planning Council. Commissions are not committees of the Academic Planning Council; therefore, commission decisions do not require approval by the Council before they are enacted. Each commission is to be instructed concerning the broad policy areas within which it is to operate, and then is commissioned to decide how, in appropriate detail, these policies shall be carried out.

  2. Chair, Vice Chair, and Secretary

    Each council or commission will elect its own chair, vice chair and secretary annually from among its faculty membership, except that ex officio members are not eligible to serve as officers.

  3. Membership and Terms

    A faculty member may serve up to three consecutive years on the same council or commission. Following three consecutive years, one year must lapse before a faculty member is eligible for appointment or election to the same council or commission. The Appeals Commission and the Complaints and Grievances Commission are exempt from this rule and members may serve up to two consecutive three-year terms. Following two consecutive terms on the Appeals Commission or two consecutive terms on the Complaints and Grievances Commission, one year must lapse before a faculty member is eligible for appointment to the respective commission.

    A faculty member may serve simultaneously on no more than two of the following in the same academic year: the Faculty Senate, the Academic Planning Council, the Academic Information Technology Commission, the University Undergraduate Curriculum Commission, the University Academic Budget Commission, and the University Rank Salary and Tenure Policy Commission. If a faculty member is elected or appointed to a third council or commission, he/she must decline or resign from a council or commission. The Appeals Commission and the Complaints and Grievances Commission are not considered in the limit of two. If tenure status is required for a council or commission, a faculty member is eligible for appointment or election only after official notification that the Board of Regents has granted tenure.

    Faculty terms on councils and commissions shall be staggered to preserve continuity. Students and Academic Staff representatives will be chosen in a manner determined by the Student Senate and Academic Staff Senate respectively.

  4. Voting

    Each council or commission member, unless designated as non-voting, shall be eligible to vote. Faculty substitutes will be announced at the beginning of a meeting and will be allowed to vote.

  5. Agendas and Minutes

    All councils and commissions will make available agendas and minutes upon request.

  6. Meetings

    All councils and commissions must have an initial meeting in September of each year. If a chair has not been elected, the Appointments and Elections Committee will designate a member of each council or commission to convene its initial meeting. Each April, the councils and commissions will provide the Faculty Senate with a brief summary of their activities.

Section 2 Academic Planning Council (APC)
  1. Responsibilities

    The broad duties of the Academic Planning Council are to participate with the university administration in the continuous development and review of both short and long range academic plans, and to participate in the continuous review of the implementation of those plans by the departments, colleges, and the university. After careful review and approval, such plans and policies will be forwarded to the Faculty Senate for discussion and adoption or referral back to the Academic Planning Council. Specifically, the APC:

    1. Recommends for Faculty Senate adoption:
      1. a formulation of the university's overall academic mission and strategy;
      2. criteria consistent with that mission for evaluating academic programs and setting program priorities;
      3. an overall philosophy of academic programming consistent with that mission;
      4. short and long range academic plans (including curriculum, staffing, library and media resources, and other resources necessary to teach classes) and policies developed by departmental and college faculty, by standing and ad hoc committees, and in continuous cooperation with the university administration for the orderly and timely assignment of instructional and instructional support positions;
      5. a plan for the apportionment of vacant or new positions when directed by system administration; and
      6. plans for the orderly creation, termination, expansion or contraction of, or reallocation of positions among academic programs, departments, colleges, and the Graduate School.
    2. Reviews both the short- and long-range academic plans, together with relevant supporting data, as submitted annually by each college faculty, for position allocations among its programs. These plans should be submitted to the APC. Short-range plans should address position allocations for the upcoming year. Long-range plans should address how the college would ideally allocate its currently assigned positions if it had complete flexibility in doing so. The council should annually examine current data to evaluate if actions taken by each college in the past year are consistent with these plans.
    3. Reviews the Chancellor's broad plan for apportioning the university's resources. Such review shall be made annually and shall be concerned with the plan's consistency with the university's mission and program priorities, and be based on careful review of that plan personally with the Chancellor or designee.
    4. Consults with and coordinates the academic planning activities among the University Budget Commission; University Undergraduate Curriculum Commission; Academic Information Technology Commission; University Rank, Salary, and Tenure Policy Commission; Campus Planning Commission; Graduate School; and other university governance bodies, based upon academic priorities as adopted by the Faculty Senate.
    5. Consults with the Chancellor when the question of declaring a fiscal emergency is under consideration, recommending to the Faculty Senate appropriate action pertaining thereto.
    6. Represents the faculty if and when a declaration of fiscal emergency comes before the Board of Regents, and assures that all procedures identified in UWS 5.04, 5.05, and 5.06 are followed.
    7. Monitors the number of faculty and academic staff with teaching assignments with a view to providing needed flexibility in appointment policies, while preserving the values to the university of tenure appointments.
  2. Membership
Section 3 University Academic Budget Commission
  1. Responsibilities
    1. Apportions available budgetary resources in support of academic and instructional support programs in accordance with Academic Planning Council priorities approved by the Chancellor and senates.
    2. Analyzes and evaluates proposals from college budget committees and fiscal agents and formulates and recommends to the Chancellor an apportionment plan for the funds designated for supplies, capital, and travel.
    3. Determines allocation of all student employment funds except segregated funds.
    4. Upon request, acts as an appeal body when the members of a student service board cannot agree on a basic budgetary matter concerning the student service area for which the board is responsible.
    5. Chooses from among its faculty members a representative to serve on the Academic Planning Council.
    6. Advises the Academic Planning Council as appropriate, concerning budgetary policies and priorities relating to supplies, capital, travel, and facilities management.
    7. Sets appropriate procedural standards for all budget committees or fiscal agents under its jurisdiction.
  2. Membership
    Ex-Officio:
Section 4 University Undergraduate Curriculum Commission
  1. Responsibilities
    1. Monitors the undergraduate curriculum of the university in order to maintain high standards of academic excellence and senate-established academic priorities and policies.
    2. Evaluates and acts upon curricular changes proposed by the college curriculum committees.
    3. Sets procedural standards and makes recommendations to the college curriculum committees.
    4. Determines general course requirements for all students.
    5. Consults with the Academic Planning Council in preparing recommendations to the Faculty Senate concerning academic policies and priorities for Faculty Senate consideration.
    6. Chooses from among its faculty members a representative to serve on the Academic Planning Council.
    7. Consults with the Academic Information Technology Commission concerning curricular proposals when appropriate.
  2. Membership
    Eleven faculty, with staggered three-year non-consecutive terms, with the following distribution:
Section 5 University Rank, Salary, and Tenure (URST) Policy Commission
  1. Responsibilities
    1. Evaluates and coordinates the policies of the college RST committees in a manner consistent with Faculty Senate and Board of Regents policies and procedures.
    2. Develops and recommends for Faculty Senate adoption overall RST policies.
    3. Consults with the Academic Planning Council in areas where academic and budgetary priorities and policies relate to questions of rank, salary, and tenure.
    4. Sets the general policy guidelines and procedural standards (in addition to, and in conformity with, the RST procedures set forth in the local Personnel Rules and ProceduresCBylaws, Part III) that will serve to guide the college RST committees in their work, and assure that the college committees are informed about them and carry them out.
    5. Establishes the procedures according to which the resources for merit awards and inequity adjustments shall be made available to the college RST committees, and monitors the standards and guidelines by which the college RST committees shall make those awards and adjustments.
    6. Recommends to the Faculty Senate the procedures for determining salaries.
    7. Conducts the faculty evaluations of the deans, provost, and chancellor. Summarizes the evaluations and provides a copy of the summary to the administrator.
    8. Consults with the Provost and the Equal Employment Opportunity Officer when necessary.
  2. Membership
Section 6 Appeals Commission
For the purposes of this section, the Library faculty shall be considered a Adepartment.
  1. Responsibilities
    1. Hears any faculty member's appeal of a decision not to renew a probationary member's appointment, or to deny tenure at the completion of the maximum probationary period, made by a department review body, the tenured members of a department or its functional equivalent, or a college RST committee, according to the appeal procedure set forth in the Faculty Bylaws, Part III, Article VIII, Section 3.
    2. Acts as an appeal body on the request of any faculty member against whom the Chancellor has filed charges that may lead to dismissal. In such circumstances, the commission shall act as a hearing agent for the Board of Regents pursuant to Section 227.12 Wis. Stat., and in accordance with all procedures set forth in UWS 4.
    3. Acts as an appeal body on the request of any faculty laid off because of fiscal emergency, in accordance with all the procedures set forth in UWS 5.
  2. Membership
    1. There shall be nine members on the commission appointed by the Faculty Senate upon recommendation of the Appointments and Elections Committee except that:
      1. there shall be no more than one member from any one department,
      2. there shall be no member currently serving on any CRST committee,
      3. each member shall be appointed to a three year term and a member may serve two consecutive terms, and
      4. all members shall be tenured.
    2. The Faculty Senate shall maintain a list of alternates to serve as members of the Appeals Commission under the conditions specified in b, iii, 2 below. These alternates shall serve three year terms and may serve consecutive terms unless they become active members of the commission. In this case they may not serve more than two consecutive terms as members or alternates.
    3. A panel of five members shall be selected by the Commission to hear a particular case according to the following:
      1. No member of the appealing member's department or DRB may serve on the appeal panel for that faculty member.
      2. The appealing faculty member shall have the option of disqualifying one member of the commission from serving on that faculty member's review panel; the Department Review Body shall also have the option of disqualifying one member; and commission members may disqualify themselves. If fewer than five members remain, the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate shall appoint an alternate or alternates (sufficient in number to make a panel of five) from the list of alternates to be maintained according to b, ii, above.
      3. In the event that not enough regular members or alternates are able to serve, the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate shall prepare a list of alternates to be approved by the Faculty Senate.
    4. The Appeals Commission shall select its own Chair, and when constituted, each panel shall select its own Chair.
  3. Reporting Procedures
    1. When acting on an appeal of a non renewal or denial of tenure at the completion of the maximum probationary period decision, its report may include remedies which can, without limitation because of enumeration, take the form of a reconsideration by the decision maker under instructions from the panel, or a recommendation to the next higher reviewing level. The panel shall remand all cases for reconsideration by the decision maker, unless it specifically finds that such a remand would serve no useful purpose. The panel shall retain jurisdiction during the pendency of any reconsideration. If an adverse decision has been made by the department or the college RST committee, and the appeals panel believes an error has been made, it shall abide by the provisions in Part III, Article VIII.
    2. When acting on a dismissal case, the panel shall act in accordance with the provisions of UWS 4.07.
    3. When acting on a layoff case, the panel shall act in accordance with all the provisions of UWS 5.14.
Section 7 Complaints and Grievances Commission
  1. Definitions
    1. Complaint: An allegation brought by an administrator, student, academic staff member, other faculty, classified staff member, or member of the public, which is
      1. an allegation against a member of the faculty, and is
      2. an allegation concerning the said faculty member's conduct, alleging it violates certain rules or policies, or adversely affects the faculty member's performance of his or her obligations to the university but which is not serious enough to warrant dismissal proceedings under UWS 4. The complainant may or may not have any personal stake or involvement in the claim; and may or may not be personally affected by the conduct in question. The remedy sought is a sanction imposed upon the faculty member against whom the complaint is made.
    2. Grievance: An allegation brought by a faculty member, which is
      1. an allegation against those in authority to make decisions or policies, and is
      2. an allegation concerning any university decision or practice, except decisions concerning rank, salary, tenure, or renewal.

    The grievant must be the person directly affected by the decision or practice about which the grievance is being made.

    The remedy sought is a change in university decision or practice that results in personal satisfaction to the grievant.

  2. Responsibilities
    1. Hears and investigates complaints and grievances which have previously been heard but not resolved at the individual, departmental, college or university level.
    2. Hears and investigates complaints and grievances when hearing the complaint or grievance at a lower level is inappropriate.
    3. Assures that pertinent rules and procedures are followed including those identified in UWS 6.01 and 6.02.
  3. Membership
    1. Five faculty members shall be appointed by the Faculty Senate upon recommendation of the Appointments and Elections Committee, except that:
      1. no more than one member shall be from any one department or program,
      2. each member shall be appointed to a three-year term and no a member may serve two consecutive terms, and
      3. all members shall be tenured.
    2. The Faculty Senate shall maintain a list of alternates to serve as members of the Complaints and Grievances Commission under the conditions specified in iii below. These alternates shall serve three-year terms unless they become active members of the Commission. In this case they may not serve more than two consecutive terms as members or alternates.
    3. A panel of five members shall hear a particular case according to the following:
      1. the complainant or grievant may disqualify any member; that person shall be replaced by a faculty member chosen from the list of alternates provided by the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate;
      2. any member may disqualify him-or herself; and
      3. in the event that not enough regular members or alternates are able to serve, the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate shall prepare a list of alternates to be approved by the Faculty Senate.
  4. Reporting Procedures

    Within 30 calendar days of hearing and investigating a complaint, the Complaints and Grievance Commission shall make a recommendation to the Chancellor concerning disciplinary action, a recommendation that the complaint be dismissed, or a recommendation that the complaint be referred to the appropriate department or administrator.

    Within 30 calendar days of hearing and investigating a grievance, the commission shall recommend to the Chancellor a way of resolving the matter.

    The Chancellor shall act on the recommendation of the commission within 30 calendar days of its receipt.

    The decision by the Chancellor on the recommendation of the commission, or on the complaint or grievance in the absence of a commission recommendation, shall be final, except that the Board of Regents, upon petition of a complainant, grievant, the commission, or other faculty body, may grant a review on the record.

Section 8 Academic Information Technology Commission
  1. Responsibilities
    1. Advises the Associate Vice Chancellor for Information Technology on academic computing matters and approves course-related information technology policy and course-related software and hardware issues.
    2. Provides a forum for suggestions, questions, and concerns from faculty, staff and students with respect to academic information technology.
    3. Reviews the annual budget of the Office of Information Technology prior to its submission.
    4. Encourages and promotes the effective usage of information technology on campus.
    5. Elects from its membership a representative to the Academic Planning Council.
    6. Acts as an advisory body to the University Undergraduate Curriculum Commission concerning curricular use of information technology.
  2. Membership