Academic Unit Governance:
Being necessary for the conduct of shared governance, every department, school, college (if without departments), library, and other academic units (hereafter all called “academic units” or “unit”) will establish and maintain a written charter. The charter should address issues that cannot constructively be defined in a university-wide manner, specifically including required policies and practices defined below.
A unit’s charter cannot conflict with University or Senate policies and in cases where this occurs the higher-level governing document has priority and the lower-level document must be brought into compliance. Any language found not to be in agreement will immediately be considered invalid, but this will have no effect on the rest of the charter’s language.
A new unit may approve their provisional charter with a simple majority vote of the academic constituency of that unit. The unit may send representatives to serve as voting members of the University Senate as soon as it begins operating under their provisional charter. Those representatives should be selected by a simple majority of the voting members in the unit, as defined in section 1.a below. These representatives serve while the provisional charter is under review by the administration.
When a new unit creates its first charter or an established unit revises their current charter, the document is registered with the University Senate and advanced, without further discussion or debate, to the administration as a senate proposal. The administration has 90 days to provide a written response to the proposal (as defined in Senate Constitution). If after that time the charter proposal is neither vetoed nor approved by the president, the proposal is considered approved and goes into effect.
A. Required Charter Contents to be Stated in the Following Order:
1. Procedures for updating the charter
a. A procedure for changing and approving the charter, including a definition of the
voting members of a unit and the procedure for changing eligibility.
b. Procedures and responsibilities for updating the charter and keeping it in compliance
with University-wide and Senate policies. Units should propose conflict resolutions
in a timely manner once one has been identified.
2. A clear definition of the duties and responsibilities of the Department Chair, or Director or for Colleges without departments, the Dean.
3. Procedures for recommending promotion, tenure, and reappointment among their members.
Specific areas that must be addressed in the charter are found in Appendix I. (Tenure,
Promotion and Reappointment Procedures): Section 1. (Responsibilities of Each Academic
Unit)
of the Faculty Handbook which implements the Board of Trustees (BOT) Policy on Academic
Tenure and Promotion as decreed in the BOT’s Bylaws and Policies, Chapter 6.4 Academic
Tenure and Promotion.
4. A definition of the role of professional staff and other non tenure/tenure-track members in unit governance.
5. A procedure for obtaining advice from the unit faculty regarding recommendations for sabbatical leaves. (Senate Procedure 706.1.1)
6. A procedure for recommending Emeritus/Emerita status to the President for presentation to the Board of Trustees. This procedure shall include approval by unit faculty and an appeal system and may be initiated by the retiree or their unit. (Senate Policy 703.1)
7. A procedure for unit grievance. (Senate Policy 704.1, Procedure 704.1.1)
8. Units may include other policies or practices to cover unique aspects of their unit.
Revised:
05/27/2025 - Revised to contain the text from former Senate Policy 710.1.
07/29/2022 - Revised to reference Senate Policy 710.1.
12/08/2016 - Annual Review: No changes made to content.
06/03/2015 - To reflect current University titles, "Board of Control" is now "Board
of Trustees" and "Board of Control (BOC)" is now "Board of Trustees (BOT)".
03/30/2015 - Annual Review: To reflect current practice, the email address for questions
is now policy@mtu.edu. No changes made to content.
02/05/2014 - Updated Michigan Tech and Handbook banners, no changes made to content.
03/06/2013 - Annual Review: "Senate Proposal 09-05" was replaced by "Senate Procedure
706.1.1", "Senate Proposal 20-02" was replaced by "Senate Policy 703.1", "Senate Proposal
23-00" was replace by "Senate Policy 704.1", and "Senate Proposal 5-11" was replace
by "Senate Policy 710.1."
07/10/2011 - Annual Review: Senate Proposal 16-92 was replaced by Proposal 5-11, "Required
Charter Contents." To reflect current University titles and practice, MTU is now
Michigan Tech and the email address for questions is now hbwebmaster.
02/27/2007 - Format changes made.