University Senate

The University Senate is the main policy-making body of the university. It was created in response to the events of 1968. In fact, the Cox Report specifically criticizes the lack of a senate, along with the existence of the four Faculties (Political Science, Philosophy, Pure Science, and Faculty of Columbia College).

Relationship with the Student Councils

The relationship between the University Senate and the student councils has often been misunderstood. From a strictly hierarchical reporting line perspective, a student council is created and empowered by a dean of student affairs, who reports to a dean of the school or faculty, and then on to the Provost, the President, and the Trustees. The University Senate, on the other hand, is led by the President and its actions are final upon the concurrence of the Trustees. Statutorily, student councils have no jurisdiction whatsoever over affairs of the University Senate.

Disagreements over Jurisdiction

There have been numerous disagreements over jurisdiction and formal authority between the University Senate and the student councils.

Attempted Impeachment

The Engineering Student Council attempted to "impeach" the undergraduate Senator from the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science in April 2009. However, they found out the hard way that they couldn't actually "impeach" a Senator. Merely describing the proceedings as "impeachment" and coming up with the rules and processes for such proceedings is meaningless. The most a council could do is remove the Senator from that council. The only way a Senator can leave office is by serving until the conclusion of his or her term, no longer being registered in the faculty in which he or she is elected, or by a duly constituted recall process in accordance with the by-laws of the University Senate. In the end, the University Senate did not recognize the validity of the Engineering Student Council's proceedings, and categorically ignored their findings.

Academic Calendar

The Engineering Student Council and Columbia College Student Council attempted to use the University Senate as a vehicle to present and approve their "limited early start" modification to the academic calendar in spring 2010. Representatives of the councils were given an opportunity to present to the Senate, and were questioned by the faculty on the practicality of their proposals. The Senate elected to not pursue their proposal. The councils then passed "resolutions" demanding that the University implement the proposal. The Senate ignored this "resolution", and then proceeded to implement its own compromise allowing students who have exams falling on December 23 to reschedule their exams.

Division of Engineering Seats

In late spring 2010, the Engineering Graduate Student Council petitioned the Senate's Elections Commission to "divide" the two seats allocated to SEAS into both a graduate and an undergraduate seat. Despite protests that "they have no authority", the Senate's Elections Commission actually did have the authority to subdivide its constituencies as it saw fit, since the seats do not "belong" to any student council, but rather to the Senate. The ESC refused to include the question of whether the seats should be split in its elections process. The Senate then ran its own referendum. The seats were restructured by the beginning of the fall 2010 semester.

2+2 Principle

The Student Affairs Committee has striven to clarify the boundaries between issues of jurisdiction between the student councils and the University Senate. A clear understanding of these and other issues is the only way to set the groundwork for a future of more productive and constructive relations. The Student Affairs Committee formulated the "2+2 Principle" in 2010. The principle states that Senate issues are "matters of policy which affect two or more schools in which decision is required by two or more administrative authorities."

A more detailed explanation of the principle follows:

• Matters of policy: The University Senate deals only with matters of policy. It does not concern itself with programming. In other words, it does not plan parties.
• Two or more schools: Taken directly from the Senate's by-laws and enacting language.
• Two or more administrative authorities: In deference to and understanding of the many shared administrative resources and student interests among the four undergraduate schools, which are technically separate schools despite having one student community.

External links

• University Senate website - straight out of the 1990s
• History of the Senate