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APPENDIX J
Guidelines for Student Participation on Senate Committees
Students sit on the majority of Senate committees, and their participation is highly valued for at least two reasons: 1) Students bring knowledge and perspectives that are unique to them and highly relevant to the work of the Senate, and 2) Meaningful committee work contributes to the education of our students. To provide students a truly meaningful committee experience, chairs of Senate committees are asked to extend to their student members the same courtesies and considerations that they extend to all other members. Specifically, chairs are requested to follow these guidelines:
1. Chairs should work with the Senate staff as early as possible when a student vacancy is known so that a replacement can be found. Usually, the Senate staff contacts leaders of the Associated Students, who appoint the student members. Committee chairs should be explicit about the length of the appointment and any special qualifications they feel that student members should have. In turn, Associated Students will solicit information about the committee as well as strive for wide student representation among its appointees.
2. Chairs should arrange to meet with new student members prior to their first meeting in order to brief them on the charge, structure, and recent activities of the committee.
3. Chairs may wish to request that an experienced member of the committee (student or faculty) serve as a mentor to the new student member. This mentor could meet briefly with the student before and after the first several meetings the student attends.
4. Chairs should avoid scheduling a meeting when a student member must attend a class or a required lab. (For those committees that have set meetings times, such as the Academic Coordinating Commission, Associated Students will appoint students whose class schedules are not in conflict.) Students should be informed that meetings cannot be scheduled around work or recreational activities; however, chairs should afford to students the same courtesies they extend to other members of their committees. For example, it is customary for chairs to be sensitive to the child caring responsibilities of all committee members.
5. Chairs should avoid scheduling meetings during exam week.
6. Students should be included in the calculation of the quorum for all meetings of the committee.
7. Chairs should inform all members in writing of the attendance requirements for continuation of membership on the committee. If poor attendance can result in dismissal from the committee, the members should be informed and given reasonable warning.
8. Students should be informed at the outset of their work on the committee of whatever expectations there are for confidentiality of the committee's work.
9. Chairs should make a special effort to get agendas and minutes of the committee to student members, who are not as easily contacted through campus mail as are faculty members. Chairs should request that Associated Students mail materials to students` local addresses.
10. Students are often unfamiliar with parliamentary procedures, and chairs should make a special effort to acquaint students with them. The Senate and its standing committees follow Sturgis.
11. Chairs should acquaint student members with the protocol expected of the committee's members. In particular, students should know what forms of address are customary. In no case should faculty use a different form of address for colleagues and students. If a faculty member is to be addressed as "Professor Smith," a student is to be addressed as "Mr. Moore" and not "Bob."
12. Students are often unfamiliar with some of the internal operations and structure of the university, the knowledge of which enhances one's participation on committees. For example, a committee member is at a disadvantage in a discussion of faculty appointments if the committee member does not understand the differences among the faculty ranks or the meaning of such terms as "FTE" and "recaptured funds." Students should be encouraged to interrupt in an appropriate fashion to ask for definitions, clarifications, or background information.