GUIDELINES FOR SENATE COMMITTEE CHAIRS AND SPEAKERS
BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY FACULTY SENATE FOR
ORAL INFORMATIONAL REPORTS

A Senate committee may on occasion sponsor a speaker to give an oral presentation to the Senate. The following guidelines should be followed.

When a sponsoring committee wishes to sponsor a speaker, it should establish why the Senate needs the information that the speaker will present. What issues or consequences or controversies are involved? (If this report is purely descriptive, with no evident Faculty Senate issues entailed, it should be conveyed to the University community by some means other than Faculty Senate presentation.) The length of an oral presentation will vary according to the nature of the issue(s) involved; however, since Senate Agendas tend to be long, brevity is usually desired. The anticipated length of a report will be determined in advance of its presentation to Senate Council, in consultation between the speaker, the chair of the sponsoring committee, and the Senate Chair.

After the preliminary invitation has been extended by the Senate committee and accepted, the following timetable should be followed:

  1. One month before the Senate meeting at which the presentation is to be made, a brief, substantive, written report should be submitted to the Senate Office through the sponsoring committee chair so that it can be included in the Senate Council Agenda. The report must begin with a statement from the committee chair that the presentation is coming to the Senate under the auspices of that committee.

  2. Two weeks before the Senate meeting, the chair of the sponsoring committee will appear at Senate Council, the agenda-setting body of the Senate. If desirable, the proposed speaker may be invited as well. Both will receive a copy of the Council Agenda at least one week before the Council meeting. The committee chair will indicate why the speaker was invited an briefly inform the Council about the content, form, and length of the presentation. Most important is the Council's understanding of why the Senate needs to hear the report.


Speakers before the Faculty Senate are also asked to note the following:

  1. When a presentation is made to the Senate, it is a public forum. Not only will representatives of the faculty be in attendance, but student and administrative representatives, as well as members of the press will be there.

  2. It is preferable to include all data in your written report, but if necessary, a "DOOR HANDOUT" may be used for this purpose. The Senate Office will duplicate and hand out any materials.

  3. Speakers should assume that Senators have read the accompanying written report and should therefore amplify and explain the information provided, rather than simply reading the resort.

  4. 112 Kern Building (where the Senate meets) is a large auditorium. We are also recording the presentation. Therefore, please speak to the microphone even when using audio-visuals.

  5. All speakers should be prepared to answer questions about their presentations.

  6. Procedures at the Senate meeting:

    a. The Senate Chair will introduce the committee chair;

    b. The committee chair will introduce the speaker;

    c. Speakers are expected to observe strictly the time guidelines agreed upon with the committee chairperson and Senate Chair and confirmed by Council;

    d. At the conclusion of the presentation and discussion, the Senate Chair will thank the speaker, thus closing that part of the Agenda.