Apr 28, 2024  
Faculty Bylaws (Revised March 13, 2023) 
    
  Publication Home
  Article I. The Faculty
  Article II. The Elected Faculty Senate
  Article III. Faculty Delegate Assembly of the School of Allied Health Professions
  Article IV. Standing Committees
  Article V. The Subdivisions
  Article VI. The Administrative Council
  Article VII. The Dean of the School of Medicine
  Article VIII. The Dean of the School of Graduate Studies
  Article IX. The Dean of the School of Allied Health Professions
  Article X. The Chancellor
  Article XI. The Right to Appeal
  Article XII. Amendments
  Appendix A: Revision History
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Faculty Bylaws (Revised March 13, 2023)

Article II. The Elected Faculty Senate

 

A. Membership:

  1. Voting members of the Elected Faculty Senate shall consist of fifteen elected members of the voting General Faculty.  Six members shall be elected from the Clinical Science faculty, four members from the Basic Science faculty, three members from the Allied Health Professions faculty, and one member from the Graduate Faculty to represent the School of Graduate Studies. 
    Three members shall be elected from each of the following categories: a) Clinical Science faculty, b) Basic Science faculty, and c) Allied Health professions faculty. In addition, there shall be one member from the Basic Science Faculty, three additional members from the Clinical Science Faculty, and one member elected from the Graduate Faculty to represent the School of Graduate Studies. One member shall be elected at large to represent the faculty at the Council of Faculty Advisors and the LSU Board of Supervisors’ meetings, as described in Article II, Section C of this document.
  2. Members of the Elected Faculty Senate shall serve one two-year term and are eligible for two additional consecutive terms. After serving three consecutive terms, he/she must wait one year before being eligible for re-election. Exception may be made in the case of a member filling less than one year of an unexpired term, in which case he/she may be reelected thrice.  
  3. Ex-officio members shall include the Chancellor of LSUHSC-S, the Deans of the three schools, the President of the General Faculty, and a representative from the Administrative Council. Ex-officio members do not have voting privileges.
  4. No more than two persons from the same department or School of Allied Health Professions program may serve on the Elected Faculty Senate contemporaneously.
  5. Faculty members having joint appointments in both clinical and basic science departments in the School of Medicine shall be eligible for nomination and election in their primary appointment.
  6. In the event that an Elected Faculty Senate member cannot complete his/her term, the voting members of the Elected Faculty Senate shall appoint a replacement from the same faculty to complete the unexpired term, maintaining the representative balance.
  7. Members of the Elected Faculty Senate that miss three consecutive meetings may be subject to removal based on a majority vote of the Elected Faculty Senate. In that case, the remaining term will be filled as outlined in Article II, Section A.6.

B. Officers:

The officers of the Elected Faculty Senate shall be a President, a Vice President, and a Secretary elected from the voting membership of the Elected Faculty Senate. The term of each is one year. The President and Vice President may not serve consecutive terms in office; the Secretary, however, may serve two consecutive terms. Upon completion of his/her year in service, an officer is eligible to serve during the ensuing year(s) in another office.

  1. President: The President of the Elected Faculty Senate shall:
    1. Preside at Elected Faculty Senate meetings;
    2. Charter Elected Faculty Senate committees;
    3. Represent the Elected Faculty Senate at Administrative Council meetings;
    4. Prepare the agenda for Elected Faculty Senate meetings;
    5. Seek consultation with the Chancellor and/or his/her representative as needed;
    6. Authenticate by signature when necessary all acts, orders, and proceedings of the Elected Faculty Senate.
  2. Vice President: The Vice President of the Faculty Senate shall:
    1. Preside at Elected Faculty Senate meetings in the absence of the President.
  3. Secretary: The Secretary of the Elected Faculty Senate shall:
    1. Record the minutes of the Elected Faculty Senate meetings;
    2. Announce the Elected Faculty Senate meetings to members of the Elected Faculty Senate and interested parties;
    3. Distribute the minutes and agenda in advance of the Elected Faculty Senate meeting;
    4. Prepare and distribute ballots for elections to the Elected Faculty Senate;
    5. Serve as Secretary of the General Faculty as described in Article I Section B.2 and record the minutes from the General Faculty meeting.

C. LSUHSC-S Representative to the LSU Council of Faculty Advisors (COFA):

The General Faculty shall elect a representative to the LSU COFA for a two-year term. This representative shall:

  1. Attend all meetings of the LSU Council of Faculty Advisors and LSU Board of Supervisors (BOS);
  2. Provide reports to the Elected Faculty Senate and the General Faculty at their respective meetings;
  3. Identify a member of the Elected Faculty Senate or other senior faculty member approved by the Elected Faculty Senate to attend COFA and LSU BOS meetings in his or her absence;
  4. Be allowed to serve this role without limitation of terms. 

D. Meetings:

  1. The Elected Faculty Senate shall meet once a month and on call of the President or Chancellor. Meetings of the Elected Faculty Senate shall be open to members of the General Faculty upon their written request. The Elected Faculty Senate may vote to hold executive sessions, limited to voting members of the Elected Faculty Senate, and other persons whom the Elected Faculty Senate deems necessary.
  2. Minutes of all meetings of the Elected Faculty Senate shall be posted on the Elected Faculty Senate webpage and kept for the future use of the voting faculty, the Elected Faculty Senate, the Administrative Council, and the Chancellor. A permanent file of such minutes shall be maintained in the Medical Library and archived on the intranet.
  3. Eight voting members (>50%) of the Elected Faculty Senate shall constitute a quorum.

E. Functions and Duties:

  1. The Elected Faculty Senate shall advise the Chancellor on matters pertinent to the function and welfare of LSUHSC-S including, but not limited to, the following:
    1. Conditions affecting academic freedom;
    2. Criteria, policies, and procedures regarding faculty appointment, working conditions, evaluation, grievances, dismissal, promotion and tenure, retirement, and salary;
    3. Buildings, major equipment, and facilities;
    4. Rights and responsibilities of students, residents, and fellows, and any affairs of students, residents, and fellows brought to the attention of the Elected Faculty Senate;
    5. Criteria and procedures for the selection of academic officers of LSUHSC-S, including the Chancellor;
    6. The scope, mission, organization, budget development, and academic planning of LSUHSC-S;
    7. Matters pertaining to departmental and/or program review, specifically teaching, service, and research functions.
  2. The Elected Faculty Senate shall investigate and recommend action on matters raised by members of the Elected Faculty Senate, members of the General Faculty, or academic officers of LSUHSC-S.
  3. The Elected Faculty Senate shall make available to all members of the General Faculty minutes of each meeting, by posting meeting minutes on the Elected Faculty Senate webpage, and by presenting reports of its activities and actions at the regular meetings of the General Faculty. When an issue arises that requires General Faculty input, the Elected Faculty Senate shall prepare agenda items to be presented at regular General Faculty meetings of LSUHSC-S.
  4. The Elected Faculty Senate may call upon members of the General Faculty and appoint ad hoc committees to assist the Elected Faculty Senate in performing its duties.
  5. The Elected Faculty Senate may organize itself in any manner appropriate to the accomplishment of its duties.
  6. The Elected Faculty Senate shall supervise elections at LSUHSC-S as described in Article II, Section F of this document.

F. Elections:

  1. Elections shall be conducted by means of nomination petitions and election ballots. The Officers of the Elected Faculty Senate shall provide nomination petition forms for members of the voting faculty of LSUHSC-S. The Secretary shall verify eligibility for election to the positions to be filled.
  2. On the nominating petition, a faculty member may nominate no more than one person for each position to be filled. A valid nominating petition must have signatures of five voting faculty members, plus a statement from the candidate that he/she will serve, if elected. Nominations will remain open for a period of two weeks. All eligible candidates will be listed on the election ballot. Election ballots will be distributed to voting faculty members no more than two weeks after nominations close, and ballots will be accepted for two weeks after distribution. The nominees for the Elected Faculty Senate from the Clinical Science faculty, the Basic Science faculty, the Graduate faculty, and Allied Health Professions faculty will be so designated on the ballot, and a voter from those respective faculties may vote for as many candidates as there are positions to be filled in each category.
  3. In all elections, all votes shall have the same weight. The Elected Faculty Senate shall vote to resolve any ties.
  4. The Elected Faculty Senate shall report to the General Faculty of LSUHSC-S the names of candidates elected and the number of ballots distributed and returned.

G. Faculty Assemblies:

  1. The Elected Faculty Senate shall work with the following groups:
    1. The School of Allied Health Professions Faculty Assembly;
    2. The School of Medicine/School of Graduate Studies Elected Faculty Council;
    3. The Administrative Council of LSUHSC-S;
    4. Other committees of the General Faculty, as appropriate.
  2. The School of Medicine/School of Graduate Studies Elected Faculty Council consists of members of the Elected Faculty Senate who are faculty from these schools. If the President of the Elected Faculty Senate is not eligible for a seat on the Elected Faculty Council, then the Vice President of the Elected Faculty Senate shall act as the Chair of the Elected Faculty Council. If the Vice President of the Elected Faculty Senate is also not eligible, then the chair of the Elected Faculty Council must be elected from eligible members of the Elected Faculty Senate.
  3. Functions of the Elected Faculty Council are to:
    1. Meet independently of the Faculty Senate when situations arise that dictate the need for a meeting;
    2. Investigate matters pertaining to faculty of the School of Medicine or the School of Graduate Studies (This provision does not apply to research misconduct proceedings involving faculty of the School of Medicine, School of Graduate Studies or the School of Allied Health Professions. Research misconduct proceedings fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Research Integrity Officer)
    3. Advise the Dean of the School of Medicine and/or the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies about the functions and welfare of the faculty in these schools;
    4. Prepare items to be brought to the Elected Faculty Senate, if necessary;
    5. Advise the Dean of the School of Medicine and/or the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies on matters pertaining to departmental reviews, in which the teaching, research, and/or service functions will be evaluated;
    6. Make available to all members of the faculty of the School of Medicine and the School of Graduate Studies the minutes of each meeting of the Elected Faculty Council.