An agenda, developed by the Senate Steering Committee, will be emailed to each Senate member by the Tuesday before each scheduled meeting. To get an item on the agenda, please contact the Senate Steering Committee, which generally meets the first and third Mondays each month.
The Senate primarily receives Updates and Reports, and deliberates and votes on Motions.
Updates generally inform the Senate about the ongoing work of a committee or university unit. It will not include any recommendations for the Senate to act on. The Steering Committee requests that updates be limited to 5 minutes; any additional material can be distributed with handout attached to agenda/minutes.
Reports also include information about the committee’s work. In addition, they include a resolution or recommendation for the Senate to consider.
Motions are formal proposals by a member or Senate committee that the group take certain action. Main motions should be submitted in writing. Before the motion is considered by the Senate, it must be seconded. At this point, the motion is pending and open to debate. The maker of the motion will generally be given the floor first. Unless the Senate decides otherwise for a particular debate, each Senator may speak in debate twice on any debatable motion on the same day; each time, the Senator may speak for up to ten minutes. By tradition, Central Faculty Senators raise hands to gain recognition and then stand to speak. The Senate President will designate to speak the person who raises a hand first after the previous speaker has finished and sat down.
Motions can be amended by: adding words, removing words, a combination of adding and removing words, adding a paragraph, removing a paragraph, or substituting a paragraph. In general, rather than 60 Senators trying to rewrite a motion, the Senate will vote on whether to refer the motion to a committee, usually the committee bringing it to the Senate.