Subject: Re: A possible motion concerning voting rights in the UO Senate for the UO Senate Vice President
To: Peter Gilkey
From: Franklin Stahl
Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2009 09:24:20 -0700
Dear Peter,
Thanks for including me in this correspondence. My take on our present governance structure is that the Senate can make (propose, really) changes in the gov. doc., which become effective upon ratification by the Statutory Faculty (President plus "Professors"). Thus, I think Nathan can't vote until after the Senate proposes the change to the Statutory Faculty (which can be done this November).
Best, Frank
Franklin W. Stahl Molecular Biology 1229 Univ. of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403-1229
Subject: Re: A possible motion concerning voting rights in the UO Senate for
the UO Senate Vice President
To: Peter Gilkey
From: Tracy Bars
Date: Thu, 04 Jun 2009 08:56:50 -0700
Dear Peter:
The rules committee will be pleased to present this motion to the Senate at the October meeting.
Best, Tracy
Subject: A possible motion concerning voting rights in the UO Senate for the UO Senate Vice President
Dear Tracy, Ali, and Michele:
I have been in correspondence with Paul Simonds (the Senate
Parlimentarian) and there is a bit of technical housekeeping that
perhaps needs to be done given that Nathan Tublitz is to be the
Senate Vice President in 2009/10 and that he does not at present hold a
Senate Seat. Rather than recapping things in this email, I will
simply point you to the web site
http://www.uoregon.edu/~uosenate/dirsen090/PGPS3Jun09.html
where the relevant correspondence between me and Paul is posted (and
where I shall post this email presently) -- I am trying to be as
transparent this year as possible. So I am asking you to draft a
housekeeping motion along the lines of
Concerning amending the charter, I think the operative words are
perhaps "... amended by a two-thirds vote of the University Senate at
any meeting, provided the amendment has been proposed in writing to
the Secretary, and a copy of the proposed amendment has been sent to
each member of the University Senate at least thirty days before the
meeting at which the amendment is to be considered." I am copying
this to Professor Stahl to solicit his input as well as he is well
versed in such matters as perhaps he might feel that only the
statuatory faculty could amend the charter. I have consulted with
Nathan and he most graciously left the decision on whether to proceed
further up to me. I am also copying this to Dave Hubin as he is most
knowlegable in matters of faculty governance. Surely more input is to
be preferred to less! But I emphasize. The final decision is up to
the Senate Rules Committee!
Again. Thank you so very much for your work on this crucial Senate
Committee. Please keep me informed as to your progress on this and
also on US09/10-1.
Respectfully submitted
Peter B Gilkey
UO Senate President 2009/10
Dear Peter,
I think the motion you propose to give the vice-president (who is
not a senator under present circumstances) senate membership is probably a
good idea. She or he will usually attend the meetings and be involved in
the usual vice-presidential committee work. Adding voting privileges makes
sense to me. Having already allowed voting in a prospective president who
is not at the moment a senator, I see no reason to deny a slot as senator
for full participation in the senate. It should be considered also as part
of whatever new governance system is approved.
Have there been any contrary opinions?
Subject: Voting rights of the Senate Vice President
Dear Paul.
I am writing to you about a potential sticky point for next year. The
Charter of the UO Senate states "4.8 With a total of 51 Senators, or
less if constituencies are not represented, the quorum for the
University Senate is one more than half, as presently constituted. No
business shall be transacted unless a quorum is present"
Last year as Vice President, I was NOT a senator and thus did not
count toward the quorum nor did I vote. Then Senate President Paul
van Donkelaar afforded me the courtesy to make various procedural
motions, raise points of order, etc. And in any event, I extend the
same courtesy to Nathan. But I never voted nor was my presence
counted in any quorum question.
A similar question arises concerning Senate Vice President Nathan
Tublitz this year. So I am just writing to you to get your take on
the question cited above. I am copying Nathan and Gwen and Dave to
invite them to weigh in as well -- Gwen in her role as Secretary of
the Senate and Dave through his long standing involvement in Faculty
Governance. Do you think we should ask the Senate Rules Committee to
write a motion to amend the charter along the lines of "if the Vice
President of the UO Senate is not a serving UO Senator, he shall
serve ex-officio on the Senate with full voting authority and the
membership of the Senate will be temporarily increased to 52 Senators
for the period in question concerning questions of quorum".
Of course, Nathan has the right to the floor to speak to motions,
introduce motions, etc. What is at question is solely whether he
counts towards a quorum and whether or not he can vote.
Respectfully submitted
Peter B Gilkey
To: tbars@uoregon.edu, aemami@uoregon.edu, mhenney@uoregon.edu
Cc: tublitz@uoregon.edu, gwens@uoregon.edu, simonds@uoregon.edu, fstahl@uoregon.edu, hubin@uoregon.edu
From: Peter Gilkey
Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2009 07:57:20 -0700
And, if you concur that this is a good idea, I will ask you (i.e. the
Senate Rules Committee) to present the motion to the Senate at the
October meeting for approval. Of course if you do not concur that
this is a good idea, please so inform me and I shall not proceed
further in this regard. I shall be guided by your advice in this
matter and I wish in no way to infringe on your perogatives in this
matter as the Senate Rules Committee. Furthermore, I claim no
monopoly on wisdom in this matter and you should feel free to rewrite
this motion! In particular, please consult the Senate Charter
http://www.uoregon.edu/~uosenate/SenateCharter.html
to make sure we do not thereby create some absolutely horrible
conflict in the Charter. I forsee no significant financial impact
from this motion.
Subject: Re: Voting rights of the Senate Vice President
To: Peter Gilkey
From: Paul E. Simonds
Date: Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:42:08
To: Paul E. Simonds
From: Peter Gilkey
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2009 10:28:26 -0700
Web page spun on 4 June 2009 by Peter B
Gilkey 202 Deady Hall, Department of Mathematics at the
University of Oregon,
Eugene OR 97403-1222, U.S.A. Phone 1-541-346-4717 Email:peter.gilkey.cc.67@aya.yale.edu of
Deady Spider Enterprises