SCHOOL OF LITERATURES, CULTURES AND LINGUISTICS

BYLAWS

August 18, 2008

 

I Organization

 

A. Constituent Units.  The School of Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics shall consist of the Departments of the Classics; East Asian Languages and Cultures; French; Germanic Languages and Literatures; Linguistics; Religion, Slavic Languages and Literatures; Spanish, Italian and Portuguese; the Program in Comparative & World Literature and the Unit for Cinema Studies.

 

Additionally, the School administers interdepartmental and interdisciplinary programs, including Second Language Acquisition and Teacher Education (SLATE) and Speech and Language Processing.

 

The faculty of each academic unit in the School shall have the power to determine its own internal organization in such matters that do not affect relations with other units in the School, in accordance with the University statutes, the bylaws of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the bylaws of the School.

 

B.  Voting Faculty.  The faculty of the School shall consist of all academic staff in the School with rank or title of assistant professor, associate professor, or professor, who are tenured or receiving probationary credit toward tenure.  In School-wide votes, faculty holding joint appointments in two or more units in the building may vote only once.  Emeriti and emeritae, adjunct and visiting faculty, and faculty with only a 0% appointment in one or more units of the School may not vote on School matters.

 

II Governance

 

A.    The Director

 

The Director shall be the chief executive officer of the School, with the responsibilities and duties outlined in the University Statutes, Article III, Section 5 (http://www.uillinois.edu/trustees/statutes/).  The Director shall have responsibility for the coordination of interdisciplinary and interdepartmental programs in the School and serve as liaison between the School and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and with other administrative units of the University.

 

At the time of appointment, the Director shall have the rank of Professor in a constituent unit of the School and shall be appointed by the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. 

 

The performance of the Director shall be evaluated at least every five years. The Dean shall solicit input from the School faculty for the appointment and review of the Director.

 

Specific duties of the Director include:

 

  1. Serving as liaison between the School and the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and with other administrative units of the University;
  2. Coordinating interdisciplinary and interdepartmental programs;
  3. Calling and presiding over meetings of the faculty;
  4. Serving as Chair of the Executive Committee;
  5. Calling and presiding over meetings of the executive officers of the academic units at least once a semester;
  6. Creating ad hoc committees as necessary;
  7. Appointing members of standing and ad hoc committees, with the exception of the Executive Committee.  Members of the Executive Committee shall be selected according to the rules listed below in B1;
  8. Recommending faculty appointments, reappointments, non-reappointments,  promotions, rollbacks, leaves of absence without pay, and sabbatical leaves to the Dean. Recommendations for appointments, reappointments, non-reappointments, promotions, rollbacks, leaves of absence without pay, or sabbatical leaves shall originate in the home unit(s) of the individual involved; the unit’s (units’) executive officer(s) shall then advise the School’s Executive Committee on the evaluation of said faculty member;
  9. Overseeing the School-level finances that extend beyond a single academic unit;
  10. Overseeing the non-academic staffing needs of the School;
  11. Making salary recommendations for the non-academic staff of the School;
  12. Determining and implementing a policy for the use of space in the School;
  13. Overseeing the collaborative and interdisciplinary computing initiatives in the School, such as the Phonetics and CA laboratories and databases.  

 

B. The Executive Committee

 

The Executive Committee shall function in accordance with the University Statutes, Article III, section 3.  It shall work with the Director to develop and execute policy and transact such business as may be delegated to it by the faculty or by the Director.  It shall advise the Director on all significant space proposals, on significant financial commitments of the School, including the use of the building fund, and on the appointment of all standing and ad hoc committees.

 

1. Membership

 

a. The Executive Committee shall have six members who have tenure at the rank of Associate Professor or Professor.  No unit may have more than one member on the committee.  By a random process, each unit of the School shall be assigned a number.  In the initial year of the school, one member from each of first three units shall be selected by those units, to serve a one-year term.  At the same time, one member from each of next three units shall be elected to serve a two-year term.

 

In the second year, those members elected for a one-year term shall be replaced by members of each of three other units (units 7-9).  These new members shall serve two-year terms.

 

Subsequently membership in the Executive Committee shall rotate through all the Units, changing three members each year.

 

b. A member of the Executive Committee may not succeed himself/herself.

c. At the beginning of each academic year, each unit with a seat on the Executive Committee shall designate its member through internal processes to be determined by the unit.

d. The Director is an ex officio member of the Executive Committee of the School and its Chair.

 

2. Responsibilities and Duties

 

  1. The Executive Committee shall advise the Director on recommendations for appointment, reappointment, non-reappointment, tenure and promotion, rollbacks, leaves of absence without pay, and sabbatical leaves originating in the home unit of the individual involved.  A formal vote shall be taken in each case and this vote shall become part of the case documentation.  In cases of tenure and promotion, only those members of rank equal to or higher than that being considered for the candidate shall participate in the review process. 
  2. The Executive Committee shall review third-year evaluations of faculty.  
  3. The Executive Committee shall advise the Director on the appointment of members of standing and ad hoc committees.

 

 

3. Meetings

 

a. The Executive Committee shall meet at least three times each semester.  A meeting of the Executive Committee may be called by the Director or by a majority of its members.  An agenda shall be posted prior to each meeting.  Minutes of each meeting (except executive sessions used for the discussion of personnel issues) shall be made available to the Faculty. The Director shall not have a vote in the recorded votes of the Executive Committee.

b. No meeting of the Executive Committee shall be held absent a quorum of four or more members.

 

C.     Standing Committees

 

The standing committees of the School are:

 

 

1.      Curricular Initiatives Committee. The Curricular Initiatives Committee shall facilitate communication across the academic units in respect to curricular and programmatic initiatives. Its function is to initiate, facilitate, coordinate, and integrate interdisciplinary and interdepartmental initiatives and programming. The non-tenure track faculty may elect a non-voting member to this committee.

2.      Facilities Committee.  The School Facilities Committee shall be responsible for advising the Director on the administration of the facilities of the School that support the research and educational missions of the School. The Facilities Committee shall report to the Director and the School Executive Committee. The non-tenure track faculty may elect a non-voting member to this committee.

3.      Scheduling Committee. The Scheduling Committee shall facilitate and coordinate the scheduling of courses of interdisciplinary and interdepartmental programs. The Committee shall also coordinate the scheduling of interdepartmental lectures, seminars, and colloquia. The non-tenure track faculty may elect a non-voting member to this committee.

4.      Faculty Appeals Committee. The Faculty Appeals Committee shall consider appeals of decisions concerning personnel, especially in the following areas: rollbacks, promotion and/or tenure, sabbatical leaves, leaves of absence without pay, and non-reappointment.

      The Faculty Appeals Committee shall consist of four members at the rank of Professor.  Members of the Faculty Appeals Committee shall be elected by the faculty for two-year terms, with two elected each year. In the spring semester the Director shall conduct elections for positions that will become vacant the following academic year. The Director shall call for nominations by petitions signed by at least eight members of the Faculty.  No Unit may be represented by more than one member.  A member may not succeed himself/herself.

 

D. Appeals

 

A faculty member may appeal an adverse decision of the Director on matters that include but are not limited to a recommendation for non-reappointment or denial of sabbatical leave.  An appeal shall be initiated by written notification to the Director within 30 days of the decision.  The Director shall notify the Faculty Appeals Committee of the appeal within 10 days of receipt of the appeal.  The Faculty Appeals Committee shall be responsible for hearing the appeal.

 

The Director may not attend meetings relating to the appeal.  The Faculty Appeals Committee shall make a timely recommendation to the Director.  If the Director declines to reverse the original decision, the faculty member may appeal to the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, according to the bylaws of the College.

 

E. Departments, Programs, and Units

 

Each academic unit shall

 

  1. provide evaluations and make recommendations for promotion of faculty within that unit. Faculty with joint appointments shall receive such evaluations and recommendations from each unit.
  2. forward to the Director recommendations on appointments of faculty within that unit;
  3. be responsible for its respective budgets, including initiation of recommendations for salary increases for faculty and academic staff;
  4. be responsible for its respective undergraduate and graduate programs; 
  5. have the right to appeal to the Dean if necessary on matters concerning actions by the Director and the Executive Committee. Such appeals shall be taken only after the academic unit concerned has notified the Director and the Executive Committee of its intent to appeal.

 

IV Revision of the Bylaws

 

A. These bylaws shall be formally reviewed every five years by the School Executive Committee. 

B. Changes in the bylaws may also be initiated by petition from at least 20% of the Faculty.  The proposed changes shall be discussed by the Faculty at a regular or special faculty meeting to be held no earlier than ten days after notification of the Faculty of the proposed change and meeting date. 

C. Modifying amendments to the main amendment shall require a 2/3 majority of the Faculty present and voting at the meeting. 

D. After the meeting, the Faculty shall vote by mail ballot on the proposed amendment as modified by further amendment, if any, at the faculty meeting.

E. Passage of the final amendment by mail ballot shall require a two-thirds majority of the Faculty who vote, provided that at least two-thirds of the eligible faculty participate in the vote.