Normally, business items to be brought before the Academic Senate are reviewed by the Senate Executive Committee before becoming Senate agenda items. Business items may also be introduced at the Senate from the floor. This page is a guide to preparing documents for the Executive Committee or the Senate, and to the standards the Executive Committee uses to determine readiness for the Senate. All documents should be shared in PDF format to ensure that documents are not inadvertently edited or modified after they have been finalized by the originating committee. 

Any items to be agendized by the Executive Committee or the Senate should be shared with the Senate chair no later than the Friday of the week prior to the meeting to ensure they can be included in the agenda packet, and that appropriate time is given to members for review.

Resolutions

Prepare resolutions with your resolved clauses first, followed by a rationale. Laudatory resolutions may still include Whereas clauses. Be advised that according to Robert's Rules, the resolved clauses are discussed and potentially amended first. The Senate will have to also vote to include the rationale in the document they are considering. This aspect of Robert's Rules encourages you to write strong resolved clauses that may not be dependent on a rationale.

If resolutions have passed through other committees, the names of those committees and the legislative history of the resolution should be provided in a cover sheet to the actual resolution itself. If the resolution is from a committee other than a Senate committee, a list of committee members is also desired.

The Senate has prepared guidelines for Writing Effective Resolutions that can be found on the Senate website.

New Curricular Programs or Program revisions

New curricular programs and program revisions must go through the Educational Policies Committee, and have their own standards for readiness and completeness New curricular program proposals should provide a clear rationale for the creation of the program, details of the curriculum, and impact on the department or departments in terms of faculty workload, fiscal resources and current curriculum.

Revisions of programs should provide a cover sheet to the actual curricular changes describing the rationale for the changes and any impacts as described above. Also, the old program and new program should be compared to clarify the change(s).

More information about curricular revision can be found in the Curriculum Guide. All curricular forms are on the Curriculum Guide website.

Policies

Policies, whether revisions of existing policies or new policies, should include a cover letter clearly stating the problem or issue being addressed by the policy and the rationale for how the policy addresses the issue. The cover letter should also indicate who was consulted in the process of crafting the policy, including other committees that reviewed the policy, and how the policy might be implemented. Cover letters for policy revisions should also include a summary of the changes and any known history of the policy. 

If the policy is a revision of an existing policy, the proposed version should come to the Senate showing the proposed changes with strikeouts for deletions and a larger font for additions. A clean version of the revised policy may be included to facilitate reading. 

If there was significant disagreement within the committee, or there is likely to be significant debate in the Senate, it may be useful to include information describing how decisions were reached and why alternative options were not included. 

The Executive Committee will consider whether shared governance was part of the consultation process, whether those who will be involved in possible implementation were consulted, and whether enough information is provided to clearly understand the rationale and possible outcomes of the policy. 

If significant revisions to a policy are being proposed from the Senate floor, the Senate may choose to send the policy back to committee or to its originator with a determination that the item is not ready for the Senate.

Special Written Reports

Written reports to the Senate should have an executive summary as a cover sheet to the report, noting the significant items or findings of the report.

Other items

Items that are not resolutions, policies or related to programs should clearly state what is being asked of the Senate and should include any items cited above that are pertinent to the document.