7.1
Guidelines for Review and Appeals Board Elections

[As amended through December 10, 2002]

  1. Members of the Review and Appeals Board shall normally be elected before April first of the academic year preceding the beginning of their term of service.

  2. The following shall be exempt from service on the Review and Appeals Board: Current members of the Advisory Committee; Academic Council members with administrative appointments (i.e., the Vice-President for Academic Affairs, the Vice-President and Secretary of the University; the Academic Deans of Divisions I, II, and III); the Chair of the Faculty; and Council members on sabbatical and/or leave for both semesters of the academic year when their term of service would be scheduled to begin. All other tenured members of the Academic Council are eligible for election. Service by those elected is regarded as a collegial obligation.

  3. The electoral process shall proceed in two stages. In the first, members elected by their respective Divisions shall be chosen; in the second, the electorate shall be the tenured membership of the Academic Council at large. The names of members elected in the first stage shall be dropped from the list of eligibles in the second stage. In the event that two members of a single Department were elected in Stage I, the names of all members of that Department shall be scratched from the list of eligibles in Stage II. Similarly, if a Department already has its quota of two faculty members who will continue to serve on the Board in the following semester or year, members of the Department who would otherwise be eligible shall not be listed on the ballot.

  4. The procedures of the approval balloting system (now standard in faculty elections) shall be observed. Approval by 40 percent of those voting shall be necessary for election. Run-offs shall be mounted until the number of candidates crossing this threshold matches the number of vacancies to be filled. In the event of ties, the successful candidate shall be determined by lot. Should the balloting qualify for election more than two members of a single Department, the Department’s representation would be capped at two and remaining vacancies shall be filled by faculty members from the same Division who received the next highest number of votes.

  5. In the Spring Term, 2001-02, ten members shall be elected to three- year terms (with each Division having a maximum of four representatives and a minimum of three representatives) to replace the ten members then serving one-year terms. A similar procedure shall be followed in subsequent years. Divisions replacing three members in the Spring Term, 2001-02 shall elect two members on a Divisional basis and one member shall be selected by the tenured membership of the Academic Council. This procedure shall be reversed in the subsequent year. The Division replacing four members shall select two members through each electoral process.

  6. Because the Academic Council By-Laws stipulate that no member of the Review and Appeals Board can serve for more than three years out of six, charter members of the Board serving a minimum of a full year shall not be eligible to succeed themselves.

  7. Pursuant to Sec. 206 of the “By-Laws of the Academic Council,” the continuing and newly elected members of the Review and Appeals Board shall elect a chair in the spring semester preceding his or her term from a list of its membership who are full Professors and who will be on duty both semesters of the coming academic year. The Academic Secretary shall conduct the election by electronic ballot and approval voting. Approval by a minimum of 40% of all ballots cast is necessary for election. The ballot shall distinguish between the continuing and incoming members.

  8. The runner-up in the approval balloting (excluding members of the newly elected chair’s department) will automatically become vice chair. The vice-chair will serve a one-year term. The vice-chair shall be acting chair in the chair’s absence. The vice-chair will also replace the chair during the review of a personnel recommendation from the chair’s department.