Section 1. The title of this organization shall be the Faculty Assembly of the School of Arts and Sciences and the Whiting School of Engineering.

Section 2. The role of this organization shall be to provide a forum for the faculty to discuss and make recommendations concerning matters pertaining to the purposes and functioning of the University.

Article II. Membership

Section 1. Membership in the Faculty Assembly is automatically held by faculty who have full-time appointments as instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, professor or professor emeritus in the School of Arts and Sciences or in the Whiting School of Engineering, or such an appointment in another division of the University with a joint appointment in a department or program in the School of Arts and Sciences or the Whiting School of Engineering.

Section 2. Membership may be conferred on other members of the University by a majority of the actual votes of the Assembly.

Section 3. Membership terminates when the conditions specified for holding or conferring it cease.

Section 4. If not members of the faculty of either the School of Arts and Sciences or the Whiting School of Engineering, the President and the Provost of the University shall be ex-officio members of the Faculty Assembly.

Article III. Officers

Section 1. There shall be three officers of the Faculty Assembly, i.e. a Chair, a Vice-Chair, and a Secretary. Together, they shall serve as the Steering Committee. The Chair of the Faculty Assembly shall be that member of the Steering Committee who has most seniority on the Committee and the Secretary shall be that member of the Steering Committee that has the least seniority on the Committee. All members of the Faculty Assembly with full-time appointments on the Homewood Campus shall be eligible for election to the Steering Committee, except that one year must elapse before a member, having served for three consecutive years, is again eligible for nomination. One member of the Committee shall be elected during the fall semester of each academic year for a three-year term in such a manner that the terms of the members of the Steering Committee are staggered.

Section 2. The Chair of the Steering Committee shall be responsible for the orderly transaction of the business and shall preside at all meetings of the Assembly. The Vice-Chair, with the assistance of the other members of the Steering Committee, shall be responsible for calling the meetings of the Assembly, for preparing the agenda for the meetings and for making the agenda available to all members at least ten days before each meeting. The Secretary shall be responsible for all correspondence of the Assembly and for preparation of minutes of each meeting. The minutes of meetings will be distributed at least ten days prior to the next meeting of the Assembly.

The Steering Committee may be delegated such other duties as the Faculty Assembly deems appropriate.

Staff assistance needed for the proper performance of the duties of the Steering Committee shall be provided by the Deans of the Schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering.

Section 3.

3.1 Prior to each fall semester, the Steering Committee, will obtain nominations for the expected vacancy on the Steering Committee by polling the faculty.

On or before the first day of classes the Steering Committee will distribute nominating ballots to the electorate, requesting one nomination for the vacancy, and indicating that ballots are to be returned no later than seven days from the date of distribution. Ballots will be accompanied by a list of Faculty Assembly members eligible to serve.

3.2 The ballots will be canvassed by the Steering Committee.

3.3 The three highest candidates will be selected for a second balloting, except in the case of a tie for third place, in which case all faculty members tied for third place are to be included in the ballot. In the second balloting, the candidates are to be listed in alphabetical order and no further information concerning their standing is to be announced. A website will be established which allows authenticated secure voting by the electorate via the internet. In the absence of such an electronic voting system, paper ballots may be provided to each eligible voter.

3.4 A preferential balloting system is to be used. For a ballot to be valid, it must have a vote for a single candidate indicated as the first preference (“one” or “1”). A voter may also express preferences for up to N-1 additional candidate(s) by marking second preference(s) ("two" or "2") for any of these candidate(s).

3.5 Notification of the second balloting should be mailed or e-mailed as soon as possible following the canvassing of the first ballot. Ballots should be requested by via the website or by return mail, but in no event later than seven days from the date of mailing of the ballot.

3.6 The ballots are to be canvassed immediately following the seven-day voting period as set forth in 3.2 above.

3.7 The Steering Committee would find its new member through the following procedure. Each first-preference vote on a ballot is assigned one point, while each of the second preference votes, if expressed by the voter, is assigned one half point. All points for each candidate are counted and tallied. The candidate receiving the largest number of points is elected. In the event of a tie in the number of points received by candidates, the candidate with the largest number of first-place votes (“one” or “1”) will be elected. If the voting remains tied, the elected member will be decided by lot.

3.8 Following an election, the Secretary of the Steering Committee will notify all members of the Faculty Assembly in writing of the outcome of the election.

3.9 Unexpected vacancies are filled by the same procedure. In the event of simultaneous vacancies, two elections will be held, the second to begin immediately following the announcement of the results of the first.

Section 1. The Faculty Assembly shall regularly meet twice each semester at times set by the Steering Committee, but not more than two of the meetings in any academic year shall be scheduled for the same weekday. The Chair of the Steering Committee shall preside at all meetings of the Faculty Assembly. However, if the Chair is unable to attend, Vice-Chair of the Steering Committee or the Secretary will preside. Written notice of the regularly scheduled meeting times for each academic year shall be sent to all members by October 15. When, however, in the opinion of the Steering Committee there is insufficient business to justify convening the Assembly, the second meeting of the semester may be cancelled by notice to all members of the Assembly.

Section 2. At any time during the regular academic year the Faculty Assembly may be convened in extraordinary session by the Steering Committee, or by written petition signed by fifty members of the Assembly and submitted to the Vice-Chair of the Steering Committee.

Section 3. An opportunity shall be provided at all regular meetings for members of the Assembly to direct questions concerning activities of the Academic Council to the Deans, the Vice-Chair of the Council, or members of the Council itself. In addition, it is expected that the University President, the Provost and the Deans will be invited to address the Assembly and make themselves available for questions regularly.

Section 4. The Faculty Assembly is empowered, directly or through its Steering Committee, to appoint committees. These may be (a) standing committees; (b) ad hoc committees studying specific issues, and reporting to the Assembly at a future meeting; or (c) committees to confer with the Academic Council, or with administrative officers of the University, concerning matters which are of importance to the Assembly.

Section 5. Any member of the Assembly may submit items for the agenda of the next regular meeting of the Assembly. Any item submitted in writing to the Vice-Chair of the Assembly at least twenty days prior to a meeting must be placed on the agenda for that meeting and can be postponed only by majority vote of the members of the Assembly present at the meeting. Any item postponed or not covered during the scheduled period of the meeting is to be given priority on the agenda of the next regular meeting of the Assembly.

Section 6. The minutes of each meeting shall be deemed approved when each member of the Assembly has been sent a copy and no one has moved for a correction before or during the next meeting.

Section 7. Any recommendation to the Academic Council, or to any other official or agency of the University, shall have the official approval of the Faculty Assembly when it has been approved by a majority of the members present. For purposes of adopting formal resolution, 30 members shall constitute a quorum of the Faculty Assembly.

Section 8. Robert's Rules of Order shall be the official parliamentary procedure in all matters not otherwise specified by these By-Laws.

Section 9. The Steering committee, acting for the Faculty Assembly, may invite non-members to attend meetings of the Faculty Assembly, subject to the following provisions:

(1) In making up the agenda for a meeting, the Steering Committee shall announce whether it is open for attendance by students and other members of the University who are not members of the Faculty Assembly. Such visitors are subject to rules regarding seating and other arrangements that the Assembly or its officers may consider necessary to insure orderly transaction of business.

(2) Actual participation in discussion at meetings of the Faculty Assembly shall be restricted to members or to those specifically invited for that purpose by the Steering Committee. When appropriate, invitations to participate may be extended to persons outside the University.

(3) Decisions of the Steering Committee made under the terms of this article can be overruled only by a two-thirds vote of the members attending a Faculty Assembly meeting.

Section 1. The Faculty Assembly shall have a recommendatory privilege over any matter, before the Academic Council, except for promotions and appointments, which in the judgement of three voting members of the Council poses a fundamental issue pertaining to the integrity of the academic enterprise. Any official action taken by the Council on such a matter, when three voting members at the time of their dissenting votes invoke the Article V procedure, shall be suspended thereafter for 21 days of the academic calendar.

Section 2. For the purpose of this Article, notification by three voting members of the Academic Council to the Vice-Chair that the recommendation of the Faculty Assembly is requested shall require the Vice-Chair to
convene the Faculty Assembly within the 21-day period in extraordinary session if necessary and in the manner otherwise prescribed by the By-Laws. Notification of such a meeting must be made at least two weeks before the meeting is held.

Section 3. The request for the Faculty Assembly's recommendation to the Academic Council has to duly appear on the agenda for the meeting in which the Assembly makes its decision. The outcome of the Faculty Assembly deliberations, including the number present and the distribution of votes, shall be reported to the Academic Council.

Article VI. Amendments

Section 1. These By-Laws may be amended by majority vote of the members of the Assembly responding to a duly authorized referendum. To be submitted to referendum, the specific wording of the proposed amendment must be included on the agenda of the Assembly meeting, mailed to members of the Assembly at least ten days prior to the meeting, and a motion to authorize the mail ballot must be approved by majority vote of those present at the meeting. The text of the proposed amendment may be amended using normal parliamentary procedures before the authorization of the mail balloting has been approved, but may not be amended after the authorization of balloting. A referendum so authorized must be conducted within one month of its authorization except when there is less than one month remaining in the academic year. Under such circumstances, balloting must take place during the first month of the next academic year.

Section 2. Proposed amendments may be placed on the agenda by the Steering Committee, or by committees appointed by it or by the Faculty Assembly, or by written petition signed by fifty or more members and presented to the Vice-Chair at least ten days before the meeting at which they are to be acted on.

Adopted by the Faculty Assembly at its regularly scheduled meeting on Friday, October 4, 1968 and amended in meetings on September 19, 1969, May 2, 1970, October 3, 1975, January 30, 1976, March 17, 1978, September 26, 1980, May 8, 1981, October 29, 1982, and October 26, 1984, and as amended May 10, 1994 by mail ballot.

© 1999 The Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore, Maryland. All rights reserved.
Last updated 20Jan99 by dgips@jhu.edu