College of Communication Arts and Sciences Bylaws

  1. The Faculty
  2. Students
  3. Academic Governance
  4. Committees and Advisory Council
  5. Grievance and Hearing Procedures
  6. Bylaws

 

View the PDF version here

  1. The Faculty
    1. Composition of the Faculty
      1. The regular faculty of the College of Communication Arts and Sciences (herein, the College or CCAS) shall consist of all persons appointed under the rules of tenure and continuing system academic specialists (Academic Specialist Handbook, Appendix B) at Michigan State University (herein, the University) and holding the rank of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, academic specialist, or senior academic specialist whose principal appointments are within the College. In addition, the principal administrative officer of each of the departments and schools (hereafter, academic units) housed within the College shall be a member of the regular faculty. All members of the regular College faculty shall enjoy the same privileges and responsibilities.
      2. The fixed-term faculty of the College shall consist of all persons holding the rank of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, academic specialist, senior academic specialist, instructor, senior instructor, or assistant instructor but not appointed under the rules of tenure or as continuing system specialists. 
      3. Visiting professors and professors emeriti shall be honorary faculty in the College. 
    2. Voting Faculty
      1. The voting faculty for internal College elections and for College policies, and for representatives to the University Committee on Faculty Affairs, shall be regular faculty engaged in the teaching and research activities of the College. Voting faculty also includes full-time fixed-term faculty who have served at least three consecutive years and full-time academic specialists who have served at least three consecutive years. Voting faculty must be engaged in academic activities of the university. College representation to the University Committee on Faculty Tenure and on the College Reappointment, Promotion and Tenure Committee is reserved to regular faculty in the College.
      2. Voting faculty status pertaining to academic unit policies and decisions may be extended by unit bylaws to include fixed-term faculty who have served less than three consecutive years, honorary faculty, research associates, and adjunct faculty.
      3. Faculty members jointly appointed in two or more academic units within the College may vote only once in College elections and on College policies. In elections including two or more academic units, the faculty member shall vote in the unit that initiates the faculty member’s personnel action forms, or in which the faculty member has 50 percent or more appointment. 
    3. College Meetings
      1. The Dean of the College (herein, the Dean), or one of the assistant/associate deans in event of the Dean’s absence, will preside over meetings of the College.
      2. A secretary of the College shall be elected by the voting members at the first meeting of each academic year (or a staff member designated by the Dean). The secretary will keep minutes of all regular and special meetings and will distribute copies of the minutes to the College. 
      3. Voting members of the College faculty shall meet at least twice each year at a time to be determined by the Dean or one of the assistant/associate deans. Additional meetings may be called at any time by the Dean or at the request of the College Advisory Council. 
      4. The Dean or one of the assistant/associate deans shall notify the faculty of College meetings in writing at least one week in advance of the scheduled meetings. A copy of the planned agenda shall accompany the notice. Special meetings may be called with notice and a copy of the agenda at least twenty-four hours in advance. 
      5. The quorum for a College meeting will be at least one-half of all regular faculty. No official business may be conducted absent a quorum.
      6. College meetings will be conducted according to Robert’s Rules of Order (most recent edition) unless otherwise stipulated in these bylaws or suspended by a majority vote of those present.
      7. Any agenda or agenda item (other than bylaw changes) proposed at a College meeting will be adopted only upon a majority vote of the members present.
      8. An electronic or mail ballot may be required on any item if requested by a vote of one-third of those present.
      9. College faculty meetings shall normally be open. A particular meeting, or portion of a meeting, may be closed. The Dean and College Advisory Council shall have shared responsibility to determine whether a meeting, or portion of a meeting, shall be open or closed; and to determine the list of guests or observers who may be invited to attend. 
        Back to top ^
  2. Students
    1. The Student Constituency of the College
      1. The student body of the College will consist of those students who have declared a major or major preference in an academic program administered by the College, or who have enrolled in any graduate program administered or co-administered by the College. 
    2. Student Participation in Academic Governance
      1. Student participation in academic governance will be the same as faculty participation, except as reserved.
        1. Matters always reserved to the faculty are policy concerning salary, leaves, insurance, retirement, promotion, tenure, dismissal or reprimand of individual faculty members and academic staff. Evidence from students concerning the teaching performance of faculty may be considered in decisions regarding the matters listed.
        2. Matters affecting the professional responsibility of the faculty to establish and maintain the intellectual authority of the University and College are normally reserved to the faculty, including ultimate votes on the content of programs and curricula. 
    3. Student members of the College committees or councils have the right to vote at College committee or council meetings, respectively, on all matters except those reserved to the faculty.
      Back to top ^
  3. Academic Governance
    1. Academic Administrators
      1. Academic administrators have authority and responsibility delegated by the president and the Board of Trustees for the operations of the College, its academic units and support units. 
      2. Academic Administrators include: the Dean, assistant/associate deans, and the chairpersons or directors of the academic units. 
      3. A department chairperson or school director serves as the chief representative of his or her department or school within the University. He or she is responsible for the unit’s educational, research, and service programs—including the outreach components of all three; budgetary matters, academic facilities, and personnel matters, taking into account the advisory procedures of the unit. The chairperson or director has a special obligation to build a department or school strong in scholarship, teaching capacity, and service. 
    2. Selection Procedures
      1. The faculty of each academic unit will have shared responsibility with the Dean to determine the selection of a chairperson or director to be nominated to the Provost of the University (herein, the Provost). 
      2. The College faculty will have shared responsibility with the Provost to determine procedures for selection of the Dean to be nominated to the Provost. 
      3. The selection of assistant and associate deans to be nominated to the Provost is a delegated authority of the Dean to whom they directly report. 
      4. Faculty and students of College shall advise the Provost in the nomination of the Dean. 
      5. Faculty of each academic unit shall consult with the unit’s students or their representatives in the process of exercising the responsibility they share with the Dean to determine the selection of a chairperson or director to be nominated to the Provost. 
      6. In the event that the Dean, a chairperson or director is unable for medical or emergency reasons to discharge duties, a designated assistant or associate dean shall serve as acting administrator. 
    3. Duties
      1. Academic administrators shall participate in academic governance as part of their administrative duties. 
      2. Academic administrators shall inform faculty and students of administrative policies through the academic governance system and through other channels. 
      3. Academic administrators shall receive the views of faculty and students through the academic governance system and through other appropriate channels in determining policies and advising other administrators in the University. 
      4. Academic administrators shall comply with these bylaws and with the University’s Bylaws for Academic Governance (herein, the Bylaws). 3.3.4.1. In the event of conflict between these bylaws and enacted University policy, University policy shall apply. In the event of conflict between these bylaws and bylaws of the academic units of the College, these bylaws shall apply. 
    4. Review
      1. Academic administrators will be subject to comprehensive review of performance at intervals not to exceed five years. 
      2. The College Advisory Council will have shared responsibility with the Provost to determine procedures for review of the Dean. 
      3. The faculty of each unit will have shared responsibility with the Dean to determine procedures for review of chairpersons or directors. 
      4. Faculty and students of the College shall advise the Provost on the review of the Dean. 
      5. Faculty and students of the College shall advise the Dean on the review of assistant and associate deans. 
      6. Faculty and students of each unit shall advise the Dean in the review of chairpersons or directors. 
      7. There is no limit under these bylaws on the length of time that an individual may be continued as an academic administrator. 
      8. The appointment of an academic administrator may be terminated at any time by resignation or by action of the President of the University (herein, the President) upon the recommendation of the Provost.
        Back to top ^
  4. Committees and Advisory Council
    1. General Rules
      1. Composition
        1. The composition of each committee and the Advisory Council is specified in the description of each. 
        2. The term of office for faculty members shall be two years. 
        3. The term of office for student members shall be one year. 
        4. Terms of office shall begin August 15. 
        5. No individual shall serve more than two consecutive terms on the same committee or Advisory Council. 
        6. Election and appointment shall take place in the spring. 
        7. If for any reason, an individual is unable to serve his/her entire term, a replacement shall be named to serve out the term in a manner compatible with the regular selection of the member unable to serve. 
        8. No academic administrator shall be elected to a standing committee or to the Advisory Council. 
        9. Academic administrators of each unit within the College shall advise the Dean as to the current procedures used by students to elect their representatives to committees. 
      2. 4General Procedures
        1. Committees and the Advisory Council shall select their own chairperson and secretary during the first meeting after August 15. 
        2. The chairperson shall be responsible for preparing a list of prospective agenda items for each meeting. 
        3. Secretaries shall be responsible for distributing the agenda and the minutes. 
        4. Committees and the Advisory Council shall establish their own rules and procedures, other than those specified within the bylaws. 
        5. Subcommittees shall exist at the discretion of the parent committee or the Advisory Council. 
      3. Meetings
        1. Each committee and the Advisory Council shall publish minutes of its meeting. 
        2. Meetings shall ordinarily be open, but procedures may be formulated for closing some meetings for stated reasons. 
        3. Committees and the Advisory Council shall schedule their own meetings at least once per semester. They shall meet on the call of their own chairpersons or the Dean. 
        4. Committees and the Advisory Council shall determine their own agenda. They shall be responsive to suggestions or agenda items from administrators, faculty and students. 
        5. Administrators or their designees, being advised by a committee or the Advisory Council, shall be present at meetings except when otherwise stipulated by mutual agreement. 
      4. General Functions
        1. Committees and the Advisory Council shall respond to reasonable requests for consultation or advice by administrators who initiate requests for such participation on matters within the purview of the committee or Advisory Council. 
        2. The jurisdiction of each committee and the Advisory Council shall include matters within the jurisdiction of University-level governance as specified in the Bylaws’ description of functions for University-level standing committees, provided that the matters are within the administrative authority of the College. 
        3. Committee and Advisory Council members shall represent the interest of the entire College. 
      5. Support
        1. Academic administrators shall render necessary support and clerical assistance to committees and the Advisory Council. 
        2. Academic administrators shall recognize faculty participation in academic governance as an important part of the individual’s workload. Teaching schedules or other work assignments should be made consistent with regular committee meetings insofar as is reasonably possible.
          Back to top ^
    2. College Advisory Council
      1. The Advisory Council shall serve as an open channel of communication between faculty and students and the Dean. It shall advise the Dean in the discharge of his/her responsibilities which bear upon teaching, research and service programs of the College. It shall receive and consider proposals, complaints and inquiries from the faculty and students and render advice to the Dean on these matters. It shall take under consideration and advise the Dean on all matters which s/he submits to the council. It shall serve as a steering committee in preparation of the agenda for all College meetings. 
      2. Where appropriate, it may refer items brought to it to the College Undergraduate Committee or the College Graduate Committee. For membership see 4.2.3. 
      3. The Advisory Council shall be composed of two members of the regular faculty, or full-time fixed-term faculty who have served at least three consecutive years, elected from each academic unit by the voting faculty of that unit. One faculty member from each unit shall serve as a member of the College Undergraduate Committee and one faculty member from each unit shall serve on the College Graduate Committee. One undergraduate student and two graduate students from the College will be preferentially elected by their peers or in the alternative, selected by the department, to serve on the Advisory Council, pursuant to the bylaws of Associated Students of MSU (ASMSU) and the Council of Graduate Students (COGS), respectively. Responsibility for identifying undergraduate and graduate student representatives will rotate among the units yearly. Students’ unit will reflect the unit to which they were admitted. The undergraduate student representative and the graduate student representatives may be consulted by the College Undergraduate Committee or the College Graduate Committee at the discretion of the committee. 
      4. Half of the faculty members of the Advisory Council shall be elected each year (one from each unit). 
      5. The Advisory Council shall meet at least twice each year. The Advisory Council shall read and discuss these bylaws at its first or second meeting of each new academic year in order to assist and ensure consistency of process with these bylaws for the remainder of the year. 
      6. The Advisory Council shall select from among the College representatives to the University Council one person to sit as an ex officio member without vote on the Advisory Council. This person shall serve as liaison with the University Council and Faculty Senate. 
      7. TheAdvisory Council has designated authority to supervise the election of faculty representatives to University Council. Nomination procedures are detailed in 4.2.7.1 through 4.2.7.3.
        1. Upon receiving instructions from the Secretary for Academic Governance concerning spring elections for University-level committees, the College Advisory Council meets to review the elections.
        2. Nomination forms are sent to each unit’s academic administrators for distribution to each faculty member. In instances where each unit is required to nominate at least one faculty member, instructions for doing so are included on the nomination forms. 
        3. The nomination forms are distributed one week prior to the deadline for nominations and include instructions for returning them to the CollegeAdvisory Council. 
    3. College Undergraduate and Graduate Committees
      1. Membership
        1. Voting membership shall be as determined in 4.2.3.
        2. TheCollege representative to the University Curriculum Committee shall be an ex officio member of the College Undergraduate Committee.
        3. The College representative to the University Curriculum Committee and the College representative to the University Committee on Graduate Studies shall be ex officio members of the College Graduate Committee.
      2. The committees shall advise the College, theDean, chairpersons and departmental curriculum committees on all course and curriculum matters. Requests to introduce new courses and to drop or change present courses or programs, including requirements for graduation, must be referred by the departments involved to these committees for recommendation prior to submitting them to the University Curriculum Committee. Recommendations of the committees shall be reported to the CAC for further deliberation, the results of which will be forwarded to the Dean and to the department or departments concerned. 
    4. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee
      1. The committee shall be composed of at least one faculty or staff designee from each unit of the College, who will preferentially be identified by vote. WKAR, the Dean’s Office, and the Academic and Student Affairs Office are also eligible to send at least one representative. Students will be encouraged to participate. 
      2. The committee shall meet at least three times per semester. 
      3. The committee’s responsibility shall be to promote diversity, equal opportunity, equity, and inclusion in such fields as recruitment, admission, education, and treatment of students; and the hiring, promotion, retention and assignment of faculty. Items may be referred to it by the College Advisory Council, the Dean, staff, and/or the faculty. The committee shall make its recommendations on such matters to the body that referred the item to it, unless otherwise indicated. 
    5. College Reappointment, Promotion and Tenure Committee (CRPTC)
      1. CRPTC advises the Dean on all reappointment, tenure, and promotion recommendations made by academic units. 
      2. Reappointment, tenure, and promotion reviews shall comply with the College CRPTC guidelines. 
      3. A sub-committee appointed by the College Advisory Council will review the CRPTC guidelines at least every five years. The College Advisory Council will vote upon recommended revisions to these guidelines for approval.
        1. The appointed sub-committee need not be drawn exclusively from, but must have at least one member from, the College Advisory Council. The sub-committee selects (elects or appoints) its own chair. 
        2. The sub-committee must have at least one member from each rank (assistant, associate and full professor). At least one member of the committee should be drawn from each unit. 
    6. College Fixed-Term Promotion Committee (CFTPC)
      1. CFTPC advises the Dean on recommendations for promotion of fixed-term faculty made by academic units. 
      2. Fixed-term faculty promotion reviews shall comply with the College CFTPC guidelines. 
      3. A sub-committee appointed by the College Advisory Council will review the CFTPC guidelines at least every five years. The College Advisory Council will vote upon recommended revisions to these guidelines for approval.
        1. The appointed sub-committee need not be drawn exclusively from, but must have at least one member from, the College Advisory Council. The sub-committee selects (elects or appoints) its own chair. 
        2. The sub-committee must be drawn from the fixed-term faculty. Each unit that has fixed-term faculty should have at least one member on the committee. 
    7. Special Committees
      1. Special committees may be established by the Dean, the College Advisory Council, or by majority vote of the faculty. 
      2. The terms of these committees shall be not more than one year, although they may be renewed more than once. 
      3. Except for committees dealing exclusively with faculty affairs, students shall be adequately represented on special committees where appropriate and practical.
        Back to top ^
  5. Grievance and Hearing Procedures
    1. Faculty
      1. Any College faculty member with the rank of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, instructor or specialist may initiate a grievance alleging violation of existing policies or established practices by an academic administrator by filing a complaint with the Faculty Grievance Official (FGO) pursuant to procedures set forth in the Faculty Grievance Policy (FGP).
      2. Any College faculty member or academic employee with the rank of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, instructor, or specialist may initiate a complaint against a student, alleging a violation of academic integrity, violation of professional standards, or falsification of admission or academic records, in a manner consistent with Student Rights and Responsibilities at Michigan State University (SRR) and Graduate Student Rights and Responsibilities (GSRR). 
    2. Staff
      1. Any staff member wishing to initiate a grievance will follow the grievance procedures outlined in the applicable collective bargaining agreement. 
    3. Students
      1. Students wishing to initiate an academic grievance or complaint will follow the procedures established by the College in a manner consistent with the SRR or the GSRR. (See articles 6 and 7 of the SRR and Article 5 of the GSRR.)
        1. As of August 16, 2015, undergraduate students will request grievance hearings before the University Academic Integrity Hearing Board. 
        2. Graduate students wishing to initiate an academic grievance or complaint will follow the procedures referenced in the Graduate Student Academic Grievance Hearing Procedures for the College or for the department therein.
          Back to top ^
  6. Bylaws
    1. Approval of these bylaws is a shared responsibility of the regular College faculty and the Dean. A majority of the ballots returned from regular faculty is required for adoption. 
    2. The College Advisory Council shall be the authority with regard to interpretation of these bylaws. In the case of infraction of these bylaws, the College Advisory Council is responsible for initiating appropriate action. 
    3. Amendments to these bylaws may be adopted by a two-thirds vote of those voting in a mailed or electronic ballot following a College meeting at which the matter was addressed, or by a two-thirds vote at a regular College meeting following the meeting at which it was discussed. 
    4. These bylaws shall be reviewed by the University Committee on Academic Governance at intervals not to exceed five years. Decisions of the committee may be appealed to the University Council. 

Back to top ^

 

Approved by the CCAS faculty May 1998 

Technical amendments approved December 1998 

Amendment Graduate Judiciary approved May 2003 

Revised bylaws approved by CCAS faculty April 30, 2010 

Revised bylaws approved by CCAS faculty May 15, 2015 

Revised bylaws approved by CCAS faculty November 6, 2015 

Revised bylaws approved by CCAS faculty November 15, 2016 

Revised bylaws approved by CCAS faculty May 10, 2019 

Revised bylaws approved by CCAS faculty May 13, 2022 

Revised bylaws approved by CCAS faculty May 31, 2023