FSEC votes to monitor attendance

The Faculty Senate Executive Committee is cracking down on senators who fail to attend meetings.

The FSEC voted at its Sept. 23 meeting to more closely monitor attendance of the senate and the FSEC, beginning at the end of the second full Faculty Senate meeting of the semester, to be held Oct. 13.

"Last year, a number of times we didn't have a quorum and couldn't act (on resolutions)," noted Peter Nickerson, professor of pathology and senate chair. "The question is, how should we deal with the issue?"

Under the charter of the Faculty Senate and the FSEC, "If an elected senator and his/her alternate are absent from two consecutive meetings of the senate, or from three meetings during the academic year, without explanation of such absence satisfactory to the chair of the senateŠor if an elected senator and his/her alternate are absent from four meetings during the academic year even with explanation, the senator's membership in the senate shall cease (terminating thereby the service of the alternate)."

The same responsibilities apply to senators elected to the FSEC.

When requested to look at the issue of meeting quorums, the Senate's Bylaws Committee was asked to draft a proposal that would reduce the size of a quorum of the senate and the FSEC from a majority of the voting members to 40 percent.

But the committee felt that the first step in addressing the problem should be strict enforcement of the provisions of the charter, said Judith Hopkins, technical services research analysis officer in the University Libraries and chair of the bylaws committee.

Hopkins asked that notices be sent immediately to absent senators to see what effect it would have on attendance