The General University Faculty Advisory Board and Bylaws

  1. The General University Faculty Advisory Board

    The General University Faculty Advisory Board, comprising both the Full-time Faculty and other members as defined below, is the senior faculty advisory body at Northeastern University, and is properly concerned with all matters affecting the welfare of the University. It makes available its aid and counsel to the President and Board of Trustees. Under ordinary circumstances, the faculty expresses its opinion through the various College faculties or through the Faculty Senate. There may be occasions, however, when it is necessary to convene a meeting of the Full-time Faculty or the General University Faculty Advisory Board to deal with matters that cannot effectively be delegated to a smaller group. Bylaws governing such meetings are given below.

  2. Bylaws Defining the General University Faculty Advisory Board

    1. Membership
      The members of the General University Faculty Advisory Board comprise two voting groups, the Full-time Faculty and the Other Voting Members. There is also one non-voting group, the Nonvoting Members. These three groups are defined as follows:

      1. The Full-time Faculty  consist of:
        1. Tenure-track and Tenured Faculty – Full-time faculty with the academic ranks of:
          1. Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, or Professor;
          2. Academic Deans of the Colleges;
          3. Associate Deans and other administrators who hold academic appointments with the tenured/tenure-track ranks of Assistant Professor through Professor in the Deans’ offices of the Colleges.
        2. Non Tenure-track Faculty1 – Full-time faculty with the academic ranks of:
          1. Research Assistant Professor, Research Associate Professor, or Research Professor;
          2. Clinical Instructor, Assistant Clinical Professor, Associate Clinical Professor, or Clinical Professor;
          3. Assistant Academic Specialist, Associate Academic Specialist, or Senior Academic Specialist;
          4. Assistant Teaching Professor, Associate Teaching Professor, or Teaching Professor;
          5. Assistant Co-op Coordinator, Associate Co-op Coordinator, or Senior Co-op Coordinator;
          6. Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, or Principal Lecturer
          7. Professor of the Practice or Distinguished Professor of the Practice;
          8. Associate Deans and other administrators who hold academic appointments with a full-time non-tenure track faculty rank.
      2. Other Voting Faculty consist of:
        1. The President, the Provost, Vice Provosts, and Associate Provosts;
        2. Presidents Emeriti, and Vice Presidents (not included under II.A.1 above);
        3. Academic administrators (not included under II.A.1 above)
        4. Directors, Associate and Assistant Directors, Coordinators and Managers of principal administrative offices and departments;
        5. Academic Advisors, Coaches and full-time professional-level staff of academic units and of academic support departments;
        6. University Registrar, Associate and Assistant Registrars and the Director of Scheduling (not included in II.A.1 above);
        7. Academic program directors (not included under II.a.1 above)
        8. The Chair of the Department of Military Science;
        9. Research Institute or Center Directors, Associate Directors, and Assistant Directors (not included under II.A.1 above);
      3. Nonvoting Faculty consist of:
        1. Members of the Department of Military Science, with or without professional rank, and Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Staff, consisting of commissioned and noncommissioned officers of the Department of Military Science loaned to the University by the Department of the Army; or other Military Services, whose primary responsibilities are at Northeastern.
        2. Temporary faculty (faculty with appointments for less than 39 weeks of the year);
        3. Persons who are appointed to carry less than a full load in teaching, research, or administration, whether for part or all of the academic year
        4. Affiliate Faculty.
        5. Graduate students at Northeastern University who hold regular appointments as Stipended Graduate Assistants.

      The body comprising the Full-time Faculty and the other voting members shall be referred to as the General University Faculty Advisory Board voting members. Titles may be added to the list of other voting members upon the concurrence of the President, the Provost and the Senate Agenda Committee. Titles may be added to, or deleted from, the list of nonvoting members at the discretion of the President.

    2. Conduct of Meetings
      1. Convening a Meeting
        A meeting of either the Full-time Faculty or the General University Faculty Advisory Board may be called at the initiative of:

        1. The President or the Provost;
        2. Fifty percent of the membership of the Faculty Senate; or
        3. Twenty-five percent of the members of the relevant body through a signed petition in which the proposed agenda has been specified.

        A meeting called under option a) will be convened and chaired by the caller of the meeting. A meeting called under either of the other two options will be convened and chaired by the Chair of the Senate Agenda Committee.

      2. Agenda
        The agenda for a meeting will be established by the party who called the meeting. Once a meeting has been convened, the agenda may be modified by a two-thirds vote of the voting members of the appropriate body who are present. The agenda and related documents will be distributed to the members at least two weeks prior to the meeting, unless emergency circumstances make this impossible. In any event, the announcement of a meeting will be accompanied by the agenda of the meeting.
      3. Quorum
        A quorum to conduct business will consist of 50 percent of the voting members of the appropriate body. In the absence of a quorum, one-third of the voting membership may recess by majority vote in order to seek a quorum. If a quorum is not present after two consecutive recesses, the meeting will be considered adjourned.
      4. Conduct
        Robert’s Rules of Order (Revised or Newly Revised) will be the parliamentary guide, unless it conflicts with these bylaws. The Chair will appoint a parliamentarian for the meeting.
      5. Attendance and Participation

        Any member of the General University Faculty Advisory Board may attend meetings of either the Full-time Faculty or the General University Faculty Advisory Board. In order to facilitate the conduct of the meeting, those who will not vote at the meeting will be asked to sit in a designated area. Further, nonvoting members may be afforded the right to speak at a meeting by recognition from a voting member.

        This right may be withdrawn by majority vote of the voting members. A motion to confer or withdraw speaking privileges will be subject to limited debate with no more than three people speaking for the motion and no more than three speaking against the motion. These procedural motions shall always be in order. When the participation privilege has been voted, the floor may be granted to a nonvoting member by the Chair or by a voting member who yields his or her position.

        The voting members of the appropriate body at any meeting may go into, or out of, executive session at any time by a majority vote of the voting members present. When in the executive session, only voting members of the appropriate body and persons invited by the Chair may be present. A motion to move into executive session is always in order, and is nondebatable.

        Motions at a meeting may be initiated only by voting members of the appropriate body.

      6. Visitors

        A visitor is anyone who is not a member of the General University Faculty Advisory Board. Visitors are not normally permitted to attend or to participate in meetings. However, designated groups of visitors may be admitted to a particular meeting, as spectators, by a two-thirds vote of the voting members present.

        Visitors, once present, may be asked to leave by a majority vote of the voting members present. A motion to admit or expel visitors will be subject to limited debate, with no more than two members arguing for, and two members against, the motion. The Chair may invite persons required by the business of the meeting. Such persons might be invited because of their expertise (e.g., a parliamentarian or a lawyer), or because of the service they will render (e.g., a recorder), nor will the proceedings be broadcast outside of the meeting room.

      7. Identification of Speakers
        Each speaker will identify himself or herself by name and title.
      8. Minutes
        Minutes will be kept by a secretary appointed by the Chair, and will be distributed to all members of the appropriate body within seven calendar days.
    3. Revisions to Bylaws

      Proposed changes to the bylaws may originate in the Faculty Senate by a vote of 60 percent of its membership, or by petition of 25 percent of the General University Faculty Advisory Board voting members. Proposed changes must be distributed to the voting members of the General University Faculty Advisory Board at least two weeks before they are to be acted upon.

      Revisions of the bylaws will be ratified by approval of two-thirds of those voting members of the General University Faculty Advisory Board casting ballots in a balloting process supervised by the Faculty Senate.

1. Full-time Non-tenure track faculty list of titles found on the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs website.