CHARTER
Department of Sociology
College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
University of North Texas
Revision, adopted November 13, 2020
Contents
Preamble
Article 1: The Faculty
Article 2: The Department Chair
Article 3: Personnel Affairs Committee: Merit Review
Article 4: Reappointment, Tenure, and Promotion Committee
Article 5: Personnel Affairs Committee: Promotion to Full Professor
Article 6: Graduate Committee
Article 7: Search Committees
Article 8: Appeals
Article 9: Implementation, Amendment, and Bylaws
Preamble
This charter is adopted to govern the structure of the Department of Sociology, which consists of faculty with academic preparation in sociology and social research. This department is designed to offer instruction leading to undergraduate and graduate degrees as authorized by the University of North Texas and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. The provisions of the charter are to be interpreted in accordance with all regulations in Policies of the University of North Texas (https://policy.unt.edu/policy-manual). This charter replaces any that preceded it.
ARTICLE I. THE FACULTY
Section 1. Membership and Voting Rights
The Department Faculty includes all persons who hold tenured and tenure-track academic appointments and full-time Lecturer appointments at the University of North Texas and are assigned to the Department of Sociology for fifty percent or more of their appointment. The aforesaid faculty continue to hold membership during release time from teaching or when on leave of absence.
Item a. Faculty who take on full-time administrative appointments set aside their voting rights until they return to the department with teaching and research responsibilities.
Item b. In reappointment, tenure, and promotion decisions regarding tenure-track faculty, only tenured faculty members are eligible to vote. In promotion-to-Full decisions, only Full Professors may vote.
Item c. Full-time Lecturers do not have voting-rights in hiring decisions for tenure-system faculty. They are also ineligible to serve on the Personnel Affairs Committee and the Reappointment, Tenure, and Promotion Committee. In all other areas of faculty governance, they are entitled to vote.
Section 2. Meetings
Regular meetings shall be scheduled each full month during the regular academic year (excluding summer sessions). Special meetings may be called by the Department Chair or by petition of a majority of the voting members. The schedule for regular meetings will be announced at the beginning of each fall and spring semester. An agenda will be circulated in advance of the meeting and, for special meetings, will include a statement of purpose. A quorum will consist of a majority of the voting members.
Section 3. Officers
The presiding officer at faculty meetings will be the Departmental Chair, the Chair's designated representative, or a member authorized to preside over a special-purpose meeting.
Item a. The Chair of the Personnel Affairs Merit Review Committee will replace the Department Chair as presiding officer over meetings held for the purpose of faculty peer review.
Item b. Summary minutes will be recorded by the designated Secretary or, when the latter cannot attend, an Acting Secretary. The Secretary has the responsibility to distribute summary minutes to all members within ten class days following each meeting.
Section 4. Official Business
Meeting as a committee of the whole, the Department Faculty represents the faculty in all matters except those reserved to the Department Chair; to the Personnel Affairs Merit Review Committee (PAC-MERIT); the Personnel Affairs Promotion-to-Full Committee (PAC-FULL); the Reappointment, Tenure, and Promotion Committee (RTPC); and the Graduate Committee.
Item a. Both the PAC-MERIT and the Department Chair review all faculty annually. The Department Chair will be excluded from the personnel evaluation sessions of the PAC. It is the duty of the PAC Chair to preside over annual merit review meetings to insure procedural conformity with University policy. The unit review committee will serve as a consulting body to the Department Chair who has final authority for assigning merit ("Faculty Affairs," 06.047 in Policies of the University of North Texas).
Item b. The Faculty, meeting as a committee of the whole, is responsible for making curriculum decisions, such as approving new courses, course deletions, and changing degree requirements.
Item c. The Faculty, meeting as a committee of the whole, stands in an advisory capacity to the Departmental Chair in all matters. It may initiate, discuss and pass motions on any matter at the discretion of the majority of its voting members.
Item d. Meeting as a committee of the whole, the faculty must approve the assignment of faculty members to the standing roles of Undergraduate Director, Undergraduate Advisor, Graduate Director, Graduate Adviser, and optional standing roles such as Associate Chair and advisory Executive Committee members.
ARTICLE II. THE DEPARTMENT CHAIR
The Department Chair is the executive officer of the Department and is responsible for the implementation of this Charter; the orderly administration of academic and fiscal responsibilities within the department; the implementation of plans approved by the Faculty or assigned to the Department by College and University administrators; the development and advancement of departmental goals; and the timely communication of information to the faculty that will impact them. The Chair also serves as presiding officer of the Faculty when it meets as a committee of the whole, except when the faculty acts in its peer review function.
Section 1. Delegation of Roles
The Chair will delegate responsibilities in a manner consistent with Department, College and University policy.
Item a. Assignments of faculty members to standing department service roles are subject to approval by the Faculty, either meeting as a committee of the whole or utilizing an e-ballot distributed by, and returned to, the department's Administrative Coordinator.
Item b. Standing department service roles may include: an Associate Chair, if authorized; undergraduate and graduate directors; student advising posts; ad hoc Appeals Committee Chair; supervisory oversight of funded graduate students; and departmental representation on appointive extra-departmental committees. The Chair retains responsibility for the satisfactory performance of these roles.
Item c. The chair may establish an advisory Executive Committee consisting of no more than five members selected from among those faculty members with standing service roles in the Department provided that at least three hold the rank of Professor or Associate Professor. The Chair's appointments to an Executive Committee must be approved by a majority of the voting faculty.
Section 2. Selection and Terms of Office
The Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences in consultation with the Department Faculty will recommend appointment of the Department Chairperson to a term of no more than five years, with one possible term renewal. It is expected that the Dean will seek approval of the faculty, meeting as a committee of the whole, of the final recommendation to the Provost.
Item a. Upon a sudden vacancy, with the approval of the Dean, a temporary appointment may be made of no more than one year.
Item b. One full semester before the completion of a Department Chair's first term, the Personnel Affairs Committee--Merit Review (PAC-MERIT) will organize a referendum on whether the faculty would like the Chair to serve an additional term. The only exception to holding this referendum is when the Department Chair has announced that s/he does not wish to serve an additional term. All faculty are entitled to participate in the referendum. The PAC Chair will share the results of the referendum with the Dean, who will take the advisory vote into account in determining whether to appoint the Chair to an additional term.
Item c. When possible, one year before the completion of a Chair's final term,
the PAC-MERIT will solicit self-nominations from faculty who would be willing to serve as Chair. Faculty can also nominate colleagues for the Chair position. It will be the responsibility of the PAC Chair to verify if nominated faculty are willing to serve. The PAC Chair will create a secret ballot of all those who have indicated a willingness to serve. The ballots will be distributed to all faculty by the Administrative Coordinator, who will report the final vote tally to the PAC Chair. The PAC Chair will forward the names of up to three candidates to the Dean, who will take the advisory vote into account in deciding who to appoint as Chair.
ARTICLE III. THE PERSONNEL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE--MERIT REVIEW (PAC-MERIT)
Section 1. Membership
The Personal Affairs Committee--Merit Review (PAC-MERIT) is a consulting body to the Department Chair who has final authority for assigning merit, as per UNT Policy 06.007 I A and 06.047 of Policies of the University of North Texas. Exclusive of the Departmental Chair, tenure-system faculty who have successfully completed their midterm review and tenured faculty members who are assigned for at least fifty per cent of their appointments to the Department shall be qualified to serve on the PAC-MERIT. Release time from teaching and leaves of absence will not disqualify a faculty member. However, faculty on leave must step off of the PAC-MERIT if their leave is during the spring semester when the peer review process unfolds. The Department Chair will appoint a temporary replacement, taking into account the various service responsibilities of faculty in the department
Item a. All tenure-system faculty are eligible to serve on the PAC-Merit Committee, with the exception of Assistant Professors who have not yet successfully completed their midterm review. The rationale behind this exception is to maximize the chances for a successful launching of an academic career and to provide a time period for experiencing the annual merit review process at UNT and gaining a familiarity with that process.
Item b. The PAC-MERIT shall consist of five (5) members who are elected annually. Members will be elected by tenure-system faculty through a secret ballot issued by, and returned to, the department's Administrative Coordinator. All tenure-system faculty will be listed on the ballot, along with information on the years of their previous service on the PAC-Merit committee in order for faculty to take into account the university policy requiring regular and reasonable rotation of membership on major department committees.
Item c. PAC-MERIT members will, by majority vote, elect their own committee Chair annually. The Chair can serve up to five years consecutively. After the completion of five consecutive years, the Chair must step down and is ineligible to serve as Chair again until a different faculty member has served in that role.
Section 2. Responsibilities
The PAC-MERIT is responsible for the annual review and evaluation of each faculty member on teaching, research, service and, when relevant, administration. The Subcommittee will apply the reappointment, tenure, and promotion guidelines adopted by the department and follow the procedures set forth by in the "Annual Review" section (06.007) of Policies of the University of North Texas (https://policy.unt.edu/policy-manual).
Both the PAC-MERIT and Department Chair will assess faculty performance on teaching, research, and service within the context of a comprehensive 3-year window. PAC-MERIT members will consult the merit scoring guidelines as set forth in the department's document "Faculty Annual Merit Evaluations: Policy and Processes" (updated September 2019).
Section 3. Communications
The PAC-MERIT Chair and members have a special responsibility for timely communication with the Department's individual faculty members, the Department Chair, and the appropriate College and University academic officers.
Item a. Official recommendations should be presented and discussed with faculty candidates before they are transmitted. Every reasonable opportunity must be given to a candidate to correct possible errors that may have entered into the process.
Item b. If the Department Chairperson disagrees with the PAC-MERIT's evaluation processes or decisions, s/he is obligated to communicate the clear points of difference to the committee and to all parties with whom the evaluation was shared. All PAC-MERIT recommendations to the Administration will be forwarded by the Department Chair in their complete form whether or not accompanied by a dissenting or supportive recommendation from the Department Chair.
Item c. All personal documents held by the PAC-MERIT will be open to the scrutiny of the individuals who are their subject but, otherwise, confidentiality will be maintained to the extent that University policy and the law allows.
ARTICLE IV. REAPPOINTMENT, TENURE, AND PROMOTION COMMITTEE (RTPC)
Section 1. Membership
Exclusive of the Departmental Chair, only tenured faculty members at the ranks of Associate Professor or Professor with at least fifty per cent of their appointments assigned to the Department shall be eligible to serve on the RTPC.
Item a. The RTPC should have five (5) members. If the number of tenured faculty members falls below five, for the purpose of tenure and promotion, the Department Chair in consultation with the RTPC Chair and the Dean's Office will add external members from other departments, preferably faculty in departments within the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences who have expertise in the social sciences.
If more than five tenured department faculty are eligible to serve, all tenure-system faculty in the Department will elect five from among those eligible. However, in circumstances where only one or two tenured faculty members are not members of the RTPC and may lack anonymity if required to vote separately from the RTPC, those faculty members will join the RTPC and cast a vote along with the regular members of that committee. When the number of tenured faculty members not serving on the RTPC reaches three, then protection of anonymity is deemed sufficient, and the RTPC will revert back to the preferred membership size of five members.
Item b. RTPC members will serve a term of three years. Whenever there is an excess of faculty eligible to serve on this committee, as delineated in item a., the department will hold an election. The ballot will be distributed by and returned to the department's Administrative Coordinator. All tenured faculty members will be listed on a ballot, along with information on the years of their previous service on the RTPC in order for faculty to take into account the university policy requiring regular and reasonable rotation of membership on major department committees.
Item c. Members of the RTPC will, by majority vote, elect their own committee Chair. The Chair will serve a three-year term and is eligible to serve an additional term if re-elected. However, after the completion of two terms, the Chair must step down and is not eligible to serve as Chair again until another faculty member has served a full three-year term.
Section 2. Responsibilities
The Department's tenure-system faculty will develop written criteria and procedures for reappointment, tenure, and promotion, including criteria for the promotion of non-tenure system faculty. The RTPC is responsible for applying the criteria adopted by the department in matters of reappointment, tenure, and promotion. It also must adhere to the procedures set forth by the University in "Faculty Affairs," 06.004 and "Non-Tenure Track Faculty Reappointment and Promotion," 06.005 of Policies of the University of North Texas (https://policy.unt.edu/policy-manual).
Item a. The candidate bears primary responsibility for preparing the dossier. However, the RTPC Chair and Department Chair should assist in ensuring that the dossier is complete.
Item b. For non-tenure system faculty, such as Lecturers, RTPC members need to follow the promotion protocol set forth in "Non-Tenure Track Faculty Reappointment and Promotion," 06.005 of Policies of the University of North Texas. The department adheres to the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences requirement that a lecturer must serve four (4) years in rank before promotion to Senior Lecturer and an additional four (4) years at the senior lecturer rank before eligibility for promotion to Principal Lecturer.
Item c. Reappointment reviews will include written evaluation on teaching, research, and service, specifically addressing progress toward tenure. Per University policy, the review must evaluate the quality of achievements, not simply enumerate accomplishments. The midterm reappointment review is a more extensive and intensive review that includes the Department, College, and Provost, but without external review letters. In addition to the RTPC vote, each eligible tenured faculty member in the Department will vote whether to recommend the probationary faculty member for reappointment in the midterm review year and each year thereafter. In the midterm review and all subsequent reviews of probationary faculty, votes must be by secret ballot.
Item d. For tenure cases, the RTPC Chair and the Department Chair will coordinate the effort to solicit the university-mandated minimum of five (5) letters from external reviewers. To minimize the chances of an insufficient number of reviewers, six external reviewers will be chosen. External reviewers must hold the rank at or above the rank to which the candidate aspires. The candidate will provide a list of six names to the RTPC Chair and Department Chair who in collaboration will select no more than three (3) of the external reviewers from the candidate's list. Then in consultation with the Department faculty, the RTPC members and Department Chair will identify additional names, selecting three from this list to serve as the remaining external reviewers.
Section 3. Communications
The RTPC Chair and members bear a special responsibility for timely communication with individual faculty members and the Department Chair as faculty work their way toward tenure.
Item a. Official tenure recommendations should be presented to faculty candidates before they are transmitted. Every reasonable opportunity must be given to a candidate to correct possible errors that may have entered into the process. University policy dictates that if the unit review committee is considering a negative recommendation, it must notify the candidate, who has the right to request a meeting with the committee within five (5) business days of the notification (06.004 of Policies of the University of North Texas).
Item b. The RTPC will be mindful of the University's "Academic Freedom and Academic Responsibility" policy (06.035 of Policies of the University of North Texas).
Item c. If the Department Chair disagrees with the RTPC recommendations or actions, s/he is obligated to communicate the clear points of difference to all other parties to whom the recommendation is addressed. All RTPC recommendations to the Administration will be forwarded by the Department Chair in their complete form whether or not accompanied by a dissenting recommendation from the Department Chair.
ARTICLE V. PERSONNEL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE--PROMOTION TO FULL PROFESSOR (PAC-FULL)
Section 1. Membership
The Personnel Affairs Committee--Promotion to Full Professor (PAC-FULL) forms only when tenured faculty at the rank of Associate Professor inform the Department Chair that they intend to apply for promotion to Full Professor.
Item a. Only Full Professors may serve on the PAC-FULL. University policy mandates that promotion committees must have at least five (5) members. If the number of Full Professors who can serve falls below five, the Department Chair in consultation with the PAC-FULL Chair and the Dean's Office will add external members from other departments, preferably faculty in departments within the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences who have expertise in the social sciences.
Item b. If there are more than five Full Professors in the department, tenure-system faculty will vote to determine which of the Full Professors will comprise the PAC-FULL. All department faculty holding the rank of Full Professor will be listed on the ballot. The ballot will be distributed by and returned to the department's Administrative Coordinator. However, in circumstances where there are one or two Full Professors who are not part of the Committee and would lack anonymity if required to vote separately from the PAC-FULL, those faculty members will join the PAC-Full and cast a vote along with the regular members of that committee. When there are at least three Full Professors not serving on the PAC-FULL, then protection of anonymity is deemed sufficient, and the PAC-FULL will adhere to the preferred membership size of five members.
Item c. The PAC-FULL members will, by a majority vote and by secret ballot, elect their own Chair.
Section 2. Responsibilities
The PAC-FULL is responsible for carefully and objectively applying the criteria adopted by the department for promotion from Associate to Full Professor. It also must adhere to the procedures set forth by the University in "Faculty Affairs," 06.004 of Policies of the University of North Texas (https://policy.unt.edu/policy-manual).
Item a. Although the candidate bears primary responsibility for preparing the dossier, the PAC-FULL Chair and Department Chair must keep the dossier current throughout the process and submit the completed dossier by the deadline.
Item b. The PAC-FULL Chair and the Department Chair will coordinate the effort to solicit the university-mandated minimum of five (5) letters from external reviewers. To minimize the chances of an insufficient number of reviewers, six external reviewers will be chosen. The process of securing external reviewer letters is the same as described for the tenure process in Article IV, 2d.
Item c. All votes of the PAC-FULL committee must be by secret ballot, distributed by and returned to the department's Administrative Coordinator.
Section 3. Communications
The PAC-FULL Chair must communicate in a timely manner with individual faculty members and the Department Chair as the promotion dossier is being created. It is essential that the official recommendations of the PAC-FULL are communicated to the Department Chair and to the candidate seeking promotion in accordance with the timeline set by the Dean's Office.
Item a. Official recommendations should be presented and discussed with faculty candidates before they are transmitted. Every reasonable opportunity must be given to a candidate to correct possible errors that may have entered into the process. University policy dictates that if the unit review committee is considering a negative recommendation, it must notify the candidate, who has the right to request a meeting with the committee within five (5) business days of the notification. The PAC-FULL must take this 5-day response period into account when forming its timeline for submitting a completed dossier to the administration.
Item b. The PAC-FULL will be mindful of the University's "Academic Freedom and Academic Responsibility" policy (06.035 of Policies of the University of North Texas).
Item c. If the Department Chair disagrees with the PAC-FULL recommendations or actions, s/he is obligated to communicate the clear points of difference to the committee and to all other parties with whom the recommendation was shared. All PAC-FULL recommendations to the Administration will be forwarded by the Department Chair in their complete form whether or not accompanied by a dissenting or different recommendation from the Department Chair.
ARTICLE VI. THE GRADUATE COMMITTEE
Section 1. Membership
The Graduate Committee comprises three to five members from the ranks of those holding Senior Lecturer, Principal Lecturer, tenure-track and tenured academic appointments.
The Director of Graduate Studies, who is appointed by the Department Chair, serves as Chair of the Graduate Committee. The Graduate Committee Chair, in consultation with the Department Chair, appoints the other committee members.
Section 2. Responsibilities
The Graduate Committee is responsible for making admissions decisions for applicants to the Department's graduate programs, including the terminal MA/MS program, the pass-through program, and PhD-only program. In the summer, when nine-month faculty are often not as readily available for service responsibilities, the Graduate Director and Department Chair are authorized to make admission decisions. However, graduate applicant files will be shared with members of the Graduate Committee in case they wish to weigh-in on the decision.
Periodically, it may also be asked to engage in graduate curriculum review. It does not hold responsibility for administering admissions through the Grad-Track 5-year program in which students begin to take graduate courses during their senior year as an undergraduate.
Section 3. Communications
Graduate admission decisions of the Graduate Committee are available to the full faculty through admissions records kept in the Graduate Program file on the department's shared computer drive.
Item a. Major changes to the graduate program's admission policies or to the graduate curriculum will be voted upon by the faculty as a whole.
Item b. When the Graduate Committee engages in graduate curriculum review, its recommendations will be presented during faculty meetings held during the regular academic year. All major curricular changes will be voted upon by the faculty as a whole.
ARTICLE VII. SEARCH COMMITTEES
Section 1. Membership
All tenure-system faculty are eligible to serve on search committees for new tenure-track faculty. Lecturers are not eligible to serve on search committees for tenure-system faculty, although they are eligible to serve on committees to hire lecturers or adjunct faculty.
The process for creating search committees for Lecturers is the same as for tenure-system faculty searches, with the exceptions that Lecturers are eligible and encouraged to fully participate in the search process and a graduate student representative on the committee is not required.
Item a. The Department Chair will ask faculty to self-nominate for service on search committees. If more than five faculty agree to serve, the tenure-system faculty will vote on who should serve via a secret ballot, distributed by and returned to the department's Administrative Coordinator. The five nominees who receive the most votes will comprise the sociology faculty members of the Search Committee.
Item b. The College strongly encourages departments to include an external member on search committees. The Search Committee Chair in consultation with the Department Chair will select the external member, with a preference for a faculty member in a cognate discipline with knowledge of the subject area in which the department is seeking to hire. The external member on the search committee has full participation and voting rights on screening processes through the decision of whom to bring in for campus interviews. However, the external committee member does not have voting rights on the final decision of whom to hire.
Item c. The graduate students will have a representative on faculty search committees. The Graduate Representative does not have voting rights. The primary function of the representative is to facilitate communication between the Search Committee and the graduate students. The graduate students will be asked to nominate or self-nominate to serve as the graduate representative. The faculty will vote on who will serve in this role from a list of the top three nominees.
Section 2. Responsibilities
Lecturer search committees have the responsibility of ensuring that a successful applicant has demonstrated effectiveness or promise in teaching Sociology. Lecturers must at minimum hold ABD status in a doctoral program in Sociology. While the search committee may choose to conduct campus interviews, they not required.
Faculty search committees have the responsibility to review the material submitted by all applicants and to narrow the search down to semi-finalists with whom to conduct screening interviews. Following those interviews, it is the responsibility of the committee members to select the top candidates to bring to campus for a more detailed interview process.
Section 3. Communication
The Search Committee Chair bears a special responsibility for timely communication with faculty about the search process.
Item a. The Chair of faculty search committees has the responsibility of informing the faculty after the completion of the preliminary screening interviews about who has been selected for campus interviews. The files of the finalists will be available in advance of the campus visit so that faculty and interested graduate students will have an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the files.
Item b. In consultation with the Department Chair, the Chair of faculty search committees will create a campus visit itinerary for each finalist that provides an opportunity for each faculty member to meet with the candidates. There should be a meeting time reserved for graduate students to interact with each of the finalists. The campus visit should also include a talk to which all faculty and graduate students are invited.
Item c. The graduate-student representative on faculty search committees has the responsibility of briefing the graduate students on who has been selected to come for a campus interviews. After the campus interviews have been completed, the representative will report to the Search Committee on the graduate students' perspectives on the strengths and limitations of each of the finalists.
ARTICLE VIII. APPEALS
Section 1. The Right of Appeal
Ordinarily, when means of remedy are available, grievances and complaints can be resolved best by those most immediately concerned. Complaints involving students and instructors and among faculty colleagues can often be worked out with the assistance of the Chair or other faculty. However, there must be an opportunity at the departmental level for appeal hearings with the elements of due process in cases when parties to a perceived grievance remain unsatisfied. Department-level hearings, however, do not preclude further appeal to higher levels of authority when grievances are unresolved.
Section 2. Grade Appeals & Ad hoc Hearing Committees
The Department Chair shall select a member of the tenured faculty to coordinate grade appeals procedures and to ensure a timely appeals process. Per University Policy, grades are subject to appeal through a department-level process only when a grade is alleged to be the result of inequitable treatment resulting from an instructor's departure from stated course policies set forth in the syllabus or a decision based on an error in fact. The "Grade Appeals" section of the Policies of the University of North Texas (06.040) provides procedural guidelines.
Formal hearings for grievances unrelated to grades will be conducted by an ad hoc committee consisting of one department faculty member chosen by each of the principle contending parties in the case and an Ad Hoc Hearing Committee Chair appointed by the Department Chair. The hearing will be conducted to the fullest extent possible in accordance with the principle of equal treatment.
Any complainant may appeal beyond the Department level once the Departmental appeal process has concluded. The committee Chair is responsible for promptly forwarding all documents related to the case to the higher appellate body.
ARTICLE IX. IMPLEMENTATION, AMENDMENT AND BYLAWS
Section 1. Adoption and Implementation
This Charter must be approved by two-thirds of the voting faculty of the Department. Prior to the vote, the proposed Charter must be circulated in written form for at least five class days before discussion in a faculty meeting during the regular academic year. Following its presentation, a vote will be taken through an e-ballot submitted to the department's Academic Coordinator. The Charter shall go into effect at such time as it has been approved by two-thirds of the voting faculty of the Department and is accepted by the appropriate University authorities.
Section 2. Amendment
Amendments to the Charter may be adopted by two-thirds of the voting faculty of the Department. All proposed Amendments will be circulated in written form no less than five class days before presentation for discussion at a faculty meeting during the regular academic year. Voting on the proposed Amendments will be done through an e-ballot submitted to the department's Academic Coordinator.
Section 3. By-laws
The department faculty or Department Chair may further specify departmental structures and procedures through by-laws as long as they are not contrary to the provisions of the Charter. By-laws must be approved by a majority of the voting faculty during the regular academic year when the University is not in recess.