ACD 111–02: Unit Bylaws

To describe the role of bylaws in academic units

Academic Senate

Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost of the University

Faculty

Academic professionals

All colleges, departments, and other academic units must have bylaws. Bylaws outline the structural framework of academic units and are considered to be the permanent rules under which they operate. Additional operating procedures will be written as standing rules. Unit bylaws must be consistent with Board of Regents and university policies and bylaws. Prior to unit approval, bylaws should be reviewed for consistency by supervising deans and the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost of the University. If problems are identified, the bylaws will be returned to the unit for reconsideration. The current version of unit bylaws must be distributed to all faculty and academic professionals and must be on file in the offices of the Academic Senate and the executive vice president and provost of the university.

Bylaws are binding upon current and future administrative officers and members of the academic unit. If either faculty or administrators wish to deviate from procedures outlined in a unit’s bylaws, they must go through the specified amendatory procedures that are included in the unit bylaws. If members of a unit believe there has been a violation of unit bylaws, a complaint may be brought to the Governance Grievance Committee following the usual grievance policies and procedures (see ACD 509–02, “Grievance Policies and Procedures for Faculty,” and ACD 509–03, “Grievance Policies and Procedures for Academic Professionals”).

If the Governance Grievance Committee finds that there has been a violation of unit bylaws, the committee must report its findings in writing to both the president of the university or designee and the president of the Academic Senate.

Bylaws should:

1. establish the organizational framework for the internal management of academic units
2. set up ways in which administrators, faculty, and academic professionals share responsibilities and obligations (see ACD 203–01, “Faculty Governance—Responsibilities,” and ACD 203–02, “Academic Professional Governance—Responsibilities”)
3. determine how units will organize themselves to give advice to their chairs and to their deans

   and

4. avoid problems by clarifying procedures and lines of authority.

Bylaws cannot:

1. be changed in a single meeting
2. be changed by a simple majority vote
3. conflict with those of any superior authority

   or

4. extend the power or authority of the unit making the bylaws, e.g., unit bylaws may not place restrictions on the authority granted to chairs or deans by the president of the university.

Bylaws generally follow this format:

Article I, Name; Article II, Objective or Purpose; Article III, Membership; Article IV, Officers; Article V, Meetings; Article VI, Nominations and Elections; Article VII, Advisory or Executive Board; Article VIII, Standing Committees; Article IX, Procedure for Amending Bylaws; Article X, Parliamentary Authority

Sources

Recommended sources for establishing ASU unit bylaws are:

Pantzer, Kurt F., and Richard E. Deer. The Drafting of Corporate Charters and Bylaws. Philadelphia: Joint Committee on Continuing Legal Education of the American Law Institute and the American Bar Association, 1968.

Riddick, Floyd M., and Miriam H. Butcher. Riddick’s Rules of Procedure: A Modern Guide to Faster and More Efficient Meetings. New York: Scribner, 1985.

Sturgis, Alice F. Sturgis Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1988.