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Cornell University

Office of the Dean of Faculty

Connecting & Empowering Faculty

How Meetings Work

Prior to a Meeting

  1. About one week before each Faculty Senate meeting, the University Faculty Committee (UFC) meets to discuss and set the Senate meeting agenda. Send pending matters to the Office of the Dean of Faculty prior to the UFC meeting to be considered for the next agenda.
  2. Senators receive the agenda for the Senate meeting the Friday before the Senate meeting.
  3. Senators are requested to contact the Office of the Dean of Faculty about any motions that they intend to advance at the meeting. This is to insure maximum use of faculty time.
  4. The final agenda is circulated to the entire faculty on the Monday before the meeting.

During the Meeting

  1. Because of issues related to quorum, attendance needs to be taken. Physical sign-up sheets are available at the entrance to the meeting; attendees via zoom sign in via chat. Fifty percent attendance is required for quorum.
  2. There is a speaker who oversee the execution of the agenda; the speaker may choose to have a parliamentarian. An effort is made to follow Roberts Rules. Here is a simplified version, Peter Stein’s version, and a more detailed version.
  3. Any member of the University or RTE faculties is welcome to attend a Senate meeting and speak.  Anyone outside of the Faculty interested in attending a Faculty Senate meeting (either in person or via zoom) should contact the Dean of Faculty Office prior to the meeting to register their attendance.  The Dean of Faculty Office can be reached via email, telephone at 607/255-4843 or in person at 315 Day Hall.
  4. Members are strongly encouraged to send all proposed amendments to the Dean of Faculty office 48 hours prior to the meeting. Non-substantive (i.e., stylistic, grammatical, or clarifying) amendments may be freely introduced at a meeting without prior circulation. The speaker will rule substantive amendments out of order, but the speaker’s ruling can be reversed by majority vote of the body. Members may also move to postpone action to the next meeting if they believe a new approach deserves more timely consideration.
  5. The order of business of every meeting will include a brief “Good of the Order” section, where remarks (but not motions) on any subject of interest to the faculty will be in order. Faculty members must inform the Dean of Faculty of their intention to address the Senate at least prior to the start of the meeting. In the absence of prospective speakers, the Speaker will re-allocate the reserved time to other agenda items.
  6. At the discretion of the Dean of Faculty, a Senate roll call vote can be initiated at any time during a meeting with ballots submitted physically and/or electronically over a period of one or two weeks. For the legislation or action to take effect, the number of votes cast must be at or above the level of quorum. Voting via Qualtrics will take place after the Faculty Senate meeting(s) in which the issue has been presented, discussed and debated.

After the Meeting

  1. The day or two after the Senate meeting, a meeting summary is emailed to each Senator.
  2. Senators and others who did not get a chance to speak can post their comments on the meeting webpage.
  3. A week or so after the Senate meeting, a tentative transcript is posted in the meeting agenda where it can be reviewed for accuracy.
  4. Any resolution that passes in a Qualtrics vote becomes part of the resolution archive.
  5. Pending legislation is posted here.
  6. After the minutes are approved at a subsequent Senate meeting, the tentative transcript that was posted becomes “final.”

How to Attend via Zoom

Faculty Senate meetings are held hybrid. Senators have the option to attend in person or via Zoom. Senators should have basic familiarity with Zoom.

The Zoom URL is sent with the agenda to the Faculty Senators for dissemination to their department faculty.

Zoom Settings
  1. Zoom meetings use Cornell netID authentications; you must log into Zoom before accessing the meeting.
  2. Participants will not be allowed to share screens. The Dean of Faculty office requests to have presenter slides the Tuesday before the meeting.
  3. Senators who join Zoom by phone do not count toward the quorum and will not have their votes counted.
General Zoom Etiquette
  1. Indicate that you would like to speak by raising your virtual hand.
  2. Stay muted until called upon to speak.
  3. State your name and your department/unit .
  4. After speaking return to mute and take down your virtual hand.
  5. When speaking be aware that the Zoom audio is posted soon after the meeting. A transcript of the audio is produced, posted, and subsequently approved as the official minutes of the meeting.
  6. The chat log is posted soon after the meeting.
Discussions
  1. Presenters run their slide shows via verbal commands to the Zoom moderator, e.g., “next slide”, “go back 2 slides”, etc.
  2. Two minutes is the general allocation when speaking or posing a question.
  3. The Senate Speaker will make an effort to call on raised hands. If you contribute a comment on Chat, you are encouraged to raise your hand and read it out loud as time permits.
Voting
  1. If voting takes place in a hybrid meeting, only Senators can vote; those on zoom typically vote via a zoom poll; those in the room raise hands.
  2. Quorum will be determined by taking a vote on consent items (e.g., approval of minutes). It requires at least 65 (= one-half of current Senate membership) votes.
  3. Sense-of-the-Senate votes do not require quorum.
  4. Voting on resolutions is done via Qualtrics surveys after the meeting as specified in section X.D.4 of the Organization and Procedures of the University Faculty.

Legislative Actions

To place a motion on the agenda

To place a motion on the agenda of a Senate meeting, it must be endorsed in one of the following ways:

  • by a Faculty Committee
  • by the UFC (on its own initiative or in response to a request by a Senate member)
  • by any four members of the Senate
  • by any twenty-five members of the University Faculty

Upon the recommendation of the UFC, motions that are for consideration are posted on the pending legislation webpage at least one week in advance of the meeting. Note: It is possible to propose a motion during a Senate meeting.

In general, the vote on a particular resolution never takes place during the meeting at which the resolution is actually presented. This rule also applies to Sense-of-the-Senate resolution.

Resolution Presentation

Some semblance of Roberts Rules will be followed when processing resolutions.

In each of the following situations, a reasonable effort must be made to avoid #1 through pre-meeting consultation with the Dean of Faculty, the University Faculty Committee, and/or the  resolution sponsor. E.g., you think it is premature to discuss or vote  on a resolution, you think the time allocated for discussion in the agenda is insufficient, etc. Amendments to resolutions should be detailed before the meeting so that slides can be produced and voting sequences established beforehand (if possible).

Initiate the Discussion of Resolution

  1. The Speaker/Dean of Faculty will ask if anyone objects to discussing the resolution. If a Senator wishes to postpone debate they must raise their hand and offer such a motion and have it seconded. Vote to postpone is taken.
  2. The Speaker/Dean of Faculty asks for a motion to open discussion on the resolution. “So moved” and  “Seconded” need to be posted to chat before proceeding

Terminate the Discussion of a Resolution

  1. If the allocated time for the discussion runs out, then the Speaker/Dean of Faculty will ask if anyone wishes to extend discussion for a specified period of time. If a Senator wishes to continue discussion they must raise their hand and offer such a motion and have it seconded. A vote to continue discussion taken.
  2. The Speaker/Dean of Faculty asks for a motion to close discussion on the resolution. “So moved” and “Seconded” need to be posted to Chat before closing discussion.

Call for a Vote on a Resolution

  1. The Speaker/Dean of Faculty will ask if anyone wants to postpone the vote. If a Senator wishes to postpone the vote they must raise their hand, offer such a motion, and have it seconded. Vote to postpone is taken.
  2. The Speaker/Dean of Faculty will ask for a motion to vote on the resolution. “So moved” and “Seconded” need to be posted to Chat before a vote on the resolution is taken.

Speaker of the Faculty Senate

Jonathan Ochshorn

The Speaker will serve as an impartial moderator of Senate meetings. The Senate will select the Speaker and may also select an alternate Speaker to serve in the absence of the Speaker.

One or more Parliamentarians may be appointed by the Speaker at their discretion.