Bylaws
May 30, 2023
Table of contents
Article I: Conventions
A) The members of the Department of Mathematics are defined to be the people in the department who are represented by the local bargaining unit of the AAUP-AFT and who have full-time appointments or fractional-time appointments amounting to one-half time or more. The department chairperson (DC) and department associate chairperson are also members.
B) These bylaws are subject to the terms of the AAUP-AFT Agreement and the policies and statutes of the university. Any provision in this document which is found to contradict the AAUP-AFT Agreement and/or the policies and statutes of the university shall automatically become null and void and can be amended by means of the amendment process described in article V, section B.
C) The term "year" throughout these bylaws refers to the university's academic year, which starts in mid-August of one calendar year and ends in mid-August of the following calendar year.
D) Each member shall receive a copy of these bylaws and copies of any subsequent amendments. In particular, these bylaws and amendments shall be posted on the department's website.
Article II: Committee structure of the department
On both elected and appointed committees, the department strives for diversity among members. The major committees of the department are:
Elected:
- Personnel (P)
- Salary (S)
Appointed:
- Graduate (G)
- Undergraduate (U)
A) Membership and general provisions for the major committees
1) Basic membership rules for the major committees
a) Each major committee shall have at least five voting members who are members of the department. In order to facilitate wide representation on the major committees, no one who has served on the same one of committees P, G or S for each of the preceding three years shall be eligible to start a new term of office on that committee, with the exception that a member of G who was not chairperson of G in the preceding year may be appointed to a term as chairperson of G. In addition, no one shall serve simultaneously on more than two of P, G and U.
b) In case of a foreseeable prolonged absence of a major committee member, the DC shall appoint a temporary member for the duration of the absence. Leaves of absence count as part of the term of service for a member of P, G or S.
c) The DC shall appoint the members of G and U in the fall term. Members of G and U other than the chairpersons shall serve one-year terms. Whenever possible, the members of G and U are to be selected so that at least two members of U and at least two members of G will be serving a second consecutive year.
d) The DC shall serve as a voting member of S and as an ex officio non-voting member of P. Further membership requirements for P and S are discussed in sections A.3 and A.4 below.
2) Officers of major committees
The DC shall chair P and S and designate chairpersons for G and U. The chairperson of G shall not serve simultaneously as chairperson of U. The chairpersons of G and U shall be appointed to initial terms of two years. The term of the chairperson of G can be extended by the DC for one additional year if it does not violate the restriction in paragraph l.a above. The term of the chairperson of U can be extended by the DC for at most three additional years.
3) Membership in P
All members of P must be tenured faculty and at least three members of P must be full or associate professors. During the winter term of each academic year, the voting members of the department shall elect three members to P. The two receiving the most points in the final election (see paragraph VI.C.2 for a description of points in formal k-from-n votes) shall serve two-year terms and the third shall serve a one-year term. The period of the election shall not exceed two weeks. P shall consist of exactly five voting members.
4) Membership in S
S must contain at least one member with a renewable or continuing contract from each tenure track professorial rank, as well as at least one professor of teaching. (Note: The term professor of teaching in lowercase refers to the ranks of assistant professor of teaching, associate professor of teaching and professor of teaching.) Moreover, S must contain at least three voting members of P. Typically S will have seven members, including the DC. Members of S who are professors of teaching shall not participate in evaluating the research of tenure track professors unless the rest of the committee votes to allow such participation. An election for S shall be held when the DC is informed of the availability of monies for selective raises. The period of each election shall not exceed two weeks. The members of S shall serve one-year terms.
5) Basic operation of the major committees
a) The chair of each major committee shall decentralize the committee's work so that each member participates (with specific, nontrivial assignments) in the tasks of the committee.
b) When committee assignments overlap or are closely related, the committees concerned shall keep each other informed on matters of mutual interest.
c) It is the responsibility of each major committee to post the time, place and (when possible) agenda of each committee meeting at least forty-eight hours in advance of the meeting.
d) Each major committee shall keep minutes of its meetings and distribute them to the whole department so that department members know in broad terms what the committees are doing.
e) Any department member may attend the opening few minutes of any major committee meeting in order to discuss pertinent business.
B) Primary duties of the major committees
1) P shall act as an executive committee dealing with issues of a personnel or general departmental nature and as an advisory committee for DC at his/her discretion. In particular, P shall make recommendations on tenure and pro motion, acting in accordance with the department's tenure and promotion factors. P shall make recommendations on renewal of faculty appointments and on hiring of new personnel.
2) S shall evaluate the performance of all department members, make recommendations on selective salary increases and advise the DC on faculty workloads.
3) G shall establish graduate-level requirements and, in conjunction with U, consider advanced undergraduate courses.
a) G shall determine the graduate course offerings for the next academic year and the assignment of teachers for these courses.
b) G shall fix the dates and approve committees for all graduate-level degree examinations (except that the time of the Ph.D. thesis defense shall be set by the Ph.D. candidate's committee). The general content and level of these examinations shall be determined by G. In particular, G shall approve all Ph.D. written Preliminary and Qualifying Examinations.
c) G shall decide which students have passed graduate-level examinations (with the exception of Ph.D. thesis defenses).
d) G shall decide which students have met appropriate graduate-level require ments.
e) G shall determine the content of courses requisite for graduate degree ex aminations.
f) G shall decide which students should be dropped from the Ph.D. or master's programs.
4) U shall determine suitable lower and upper-division undergraduate courses (the latter in conjunction with G) and develop suitable syllabi for those courses. U shall determine undergraduate requirements for mathematics majors and evaluate the records of undergraduate degree candidates as needed. Undergraduate advising shall be supervised by U.
C) Auxiliary committees and subcommittees
1) The DC shall be empowered to appoint auxiliary committees as the need arises. When the duties of an auxiliary committee overlap or extend the duties of a major committee, the DC shall (when possible) appoint one or more mem bers of that committee to the auxiliary committee. The DC shall designate a chairperson for each auxiliary committee. paragraphs A.5.a and A.5.b of this article shall apply to auxiliary committees.
2) Each major committee shall be empowered to designate subcommittees within itself to accomplish certain specific tasks, provided this is done in accordance with paragraph A.5.a of this article.
3) Auxiliary committees and subcommittees engaged in activities of interest to major segments of the department shall keep minutes and distribute them to the department.
Article III: Department meetings
A) The department shall meet at least once during the fall and the winter terms of each year and shall keep records of its meetings. At least one-third of the members of the department not on leave must be present in order for a meeting to be convened and official business conducted. The DC shall be empowered to call a department meeting whenever the need arises. Upon the request of at least one-third of all department members not on leave, the DC shall call a department meeting within ten working days. The DC (or a department member designated by the DC) shall chair each department meeting.
B) At least once each term, each major and auxiliary committee shall briefly report its activities.
Article IV: Voting procedures
A) Voting privileges
All tenured members of the department shall possess full franchise and may at their discretion extend partial or full franchise to any or all non-tenured members of the department and/or student representatives on committees.
The franchise shall be extended to all members for the election of members of P and S, for amendments to these bylaws and to the tenure and promotion factors of the department and for advisory votes on the selection of candidates for DC to be submitted to the dean of the college. The franchise shall be extended to all members in departmental and committee votes on all routine business matters.
The franchise is not extended to student representatives to major departmental committees.
B) Informal voting
1) An informal vote shall consist of a show of hands, a count of hands or a count of ayes and nays. The first method is appropriate only when a lopsided vote is expected. Whenever this method does not produce decisive results, one of the other methods is to be used. Any member present at a meeting has a right to demand a vote count rather than a mere show of hands. Voice votes must always be counted.
2) Informal voting shall be the method of voting at all committee meetings. It shall be used to decide all routine matters at department meetings except those which involve the simultaneous selection of more than one candidate or procedure.
3) Detailed procedures for informal voting are given in the appendix on voting procedures.
C) Formal voting
1) A formal vote shall consist of a secret ballot, supervised by two members of the department who have been appointed by the DC. In the spirit of article II, paragraph A.5.a, the work of supervising formal votes shall be equitably distributed among the members of the department.
2) Formal voting shall be reserved for important departmental decisions and for votes involving multiple selections of candidates or procedures. In particular, formal voting shall be used to elect members of P and S and to vote on amendments to these bylaws. It shall be the responsibility of the DC to call for formal votes in these instances. The DC shall be empowered to call additional formal votes when it seems advisable. Upon the request of one-third of the department members or by one-third of those members present at a department meeting, the DC shall call a formal vote.
3) A formal vote shall be considered invalid unless at least one-half of the eligible department members participate. Formal votes shall take precedence over informal votes and can be requested (as described in the last sentence of section C.2 above) for the purpose of overturning an informal vote, provided the request is made within two weeks of the informal vote.
4) Detailed procedures for formal voting are given in the appendix on voting procedures.
Article V: Amending the bylaws
A) Regular procedure
A proposed amendment must be submitted in writing at a department meeting by at least four members of the department. It must be read aloud, formally proposed and seconded. The DC must select, within three working days, a committee to write up pro and con arguments. The committee should include a proposer and (if possible) an opposer of the proposed amendment.
The committee must complete its work and distribute copies of the pro and con arguments to all department members within forty-five days of the committee selection. When the copies have been distributed, the DC shall call a department meeting to consider the amendment. This shall be done promptly, but no sooner than two weeks after the arguments have been distributed. Summer sessions and breaks between terms shall not count as part of the above-mentioned time periods.
Adoption of the proposed amendment shall require a two-thirds majority in a formal vote of the members of the department.
B) Abbreviated procedure
The purpose of this procedure is to expedite the elimination of conflicts between these bylaws and the AAUP-AFT Agreement and/or the university policies and statutes. It can also be used to resolve minor problems that arise in the implementation of provisions in these bylaws.
It is the responsibility of each department member to notify the DC when possible conflicts in these bylaws are discovered.
If the DC feels that only minor changes in the bylaws are needed, the DC shall recommend appropriate changes to the department, either in writing or at a department meeting and shall then call for a formal vote on the proposed amendment. A two-thirds majority is required for adoption.
If the DC feels that substantive changes in the bylaws are required, the DC shall appoint a committee to study the matter and recommend needed changes. The committee shall distribute copies of its recommendations to all department members within forty-five days of the committee selection. From this point on, the regular procedure for amendments shall be followed. If the amendment fails, the committee or another similar committee must prepare new recommendations for departmental consideration within 30 days. This process must be repeated until the conflicts are resolved. The committee may petition the DC for extensions beyond the specified limits to consider complex issues.
Article VI: Appendix on voting procedures
A) Definitions
- A "primary" is a vote preliminary to another vote. Its purpose is to select a slate of voting choices from among a larger collection of choices.
- A "regular" vote is any vote other than a primary. When a voting process does not involve a primary, the adjective "regular" is dropped.
- A "k-from-n" vote is a vote with n choices (such as candidates, issues or procedures) from which k selections are to be made. The selections may be required to satisfy one or more restrictions of the form "At least t selections must be of type T." A one-from n vote is also called an "n-way" vote. A slate of choices for a k-from-n vote is said to be "feasible" when it is possible to satisfy all restrictions simultaneously by making suitable selections from the slate. When there are no restrictions, any slate is feasible.
B) Informal voting
Also see section B of article IV.
Two-way votes shall be decided by a simple majority of voters present with the exception of certain votes taken by P. The exceptional votes in P concern decisions
on tenure and/or promotion in which a two-thirds majority of the eligible voters of the committee shall be required. In case of a tie, there shall be a second vote. In case of a second tie, a vote on an issue shall be decided by the chairperson and a vote between candidates shall be decided by lot.
In a three-way vote, each voter shall make one choice and the lowest vote-getter shall be eliminated. A tie shall be decided by the method described for two-way votes. The decision between the remaining two choices shall be accomplished by means of a two-way vote.
In an n-way vote for n greater than three, there shall be an informal primary in which each voter votes for one of the choices. The three choices receiving the highest number of votes shall form the slate in a regular three-way vote. Ties in the primary are to be decided by lot.
Regular k-from-n votes with k greater than one will always be decided by formal voting, as specified in sections B.2 and C.2 of article IV.
C) Formal voting
Also see section C of article IV.
1) Two-way votes shall be decided by a simple majority, with the exception that amendments to the bylaws shall require a two-thirds majority for adoption. In case of a tie, there shall be a second formal vote. In case of a second tie, a vote on an issue shall be decided by the DC and a vote between candidates shall be decided by lot.
2) Formal k-from-n votes with n exceeding two shall be preference votes conducted by means of the process described in paragraphs a and b below. The process aims to give strong consideration to voter preferences and to decide the vote efficiently and unambiguously. The process can be subdivided by means of a preliminary informal vote to split the k-from-n vote into an m-from-n vote followed by a k-from-m vote where k is less than m and m is less than n.
a) When n exceeds k + 4, there shall be a formal primary in which each voter makes at most k + 4 selections from the n choices. The slate for a regular vote shall be formed from the top m vote-getters, where m is the smallest number which is (i) at least as large as k + 4 and (ii) large enough for the slate to be feasible and to include all choices tied with the m-th highest vote-getter. The regular k-from-n vote shall proceed as described in paragraph b below.
b) When n does not exceed k + 4, the voters shall receive ballots with room for five numbered entries. Each voter shall fill in at most five selections, in descending order of preference. The votes shall then be tallied as follows: A voter's first choice shall be worth three points, while the second and third choices shall be worth two points and one point respectively. When all the ballots have been tallied, the lowest point-getter (among those choices whose removal leaves a feasible slate) shall be eliminated. That choice shall henceforth be ignored on each ballot that contains it and all the choices below it shall increase in rank accordingly. The votes shall be retallied (by recording changes in point totals caused by elimination of choices) until only k choices remain. Tied choices shall be ranked by point totals resulting from first and second-place votes. Any remaining tied choices shall be ranked by numbers of first place votes. If that too fails to eliminate all ties, then the remaining ties shall be decided by the DC for a vote on an issue and by lot for a vote among candidates.
Technical notes
A) Ballots on which blanks appear between choices are to be handled as follows. In the tallying of points, blanks occupy rank but do not contribute points to any choice. When a choice is eliminated any blanks immediately following it are ignored, but all other choices below it (including any remaining blanks) advance in rank.
B) In extremely exceptional circumstances, it could happen that the total number of choices listed on voters' ballots is less than k. In this case, all choices listed are to be considered as having been selected. Another vote must then be called to determine the balance of the desired k selections.