The University Senate of Michigan Technological University
Proposal 2-21
(Voting Units: Full Senate)
SUGGESTED ZOOM PROTOCOL FOR UNIVERSITY SENATE MEETINGS 2020-21
Submitted by: Senator Carlos Amador
Approved: Sam Sweitz, President MTU University Senate
Rationale:
Given the unique challenges of running synchronous remote meetings, the University
Senate suggests these protocols in order to open up the meeting for more participation, and to ensure
speedier meetings wherever possible.
General Meeting Conduct Zoom: Senators—(elect, alternates, at-large)
1. Senators will be recognized according to parliamentary procedure whether on Zoom or in person. Senators attending by Zoom wanting to be recognized by the chair will use the raise hands feature. They may choose to participate via video, voice, or text chat. They will be recognized in chronological order.
Senate Business
2. Proposals occur in two steps:
-
- The first is the informational phase occurring a minimum of two weeks before the proposal vote phase. During the informational phase we ask that Senators limit their presentations to approximately 5 minutes including informational participants, which can include administration, student government, staff, and fellow faculty. Questions during the informational phase should be limited to approximately 4 minutes.
- During the proposal vote phase, the discussion phase (including questions) will be run by the President according to Senate bylaws and parliamentary procedures. Senators attending by Zoom are asked to use the raise hands feature for all modes of participation including chat. The public may be recognized through the use of the Q&A mode in Zoom, according to the Senate bylaws for the conduct of a meeting. Public chat will not be enabled for visitors during this portion of the meeting.
Public Questions
3. Constituents and members of the public are asked to refrain from speaking or asking
questions until the designated Public Comments portion of the meeting. The chat function
will be disabled for visitors and other members of the public until this portion of
the meeting in order to minimize distraction. Remote members of the public will be
asked to use the raise hands function in Zoom in order to be recognized for voice
or video chat.
Visitors who wish to ask questions via text are encouraged to use the Q&A feature.
Those who want to make statements via text will have to chat feature activated after
they are recognized by the President; they may then make statements in the chat.
September 16, 2020