School of Medicine

Faculty Assembly

 

 Approved 04/28/2021
 

Version 6


Bylaws of the Faculty Assembly
Louisiana State University School of Medicine
in New Orleans

PREAMBLE

The mission of the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC) School of Medicine in New Orleans is to be a regional and national leader, recognized for its commitment to excellence and its passion for innovation in the field of medicine as defined by medical education, research, patient care, and community outreach. Accordingly, the full-time faculty of the School of Medicine, herein referred to as the faculty unless otherwise specified, seeks to attain that goal through the creation of an environment where academic excellence will flourish. Because the unified efforts of both the faculty and administration are essential in this common endeavor, the members of the faculty have organized a Faculty Assembly composed of elected Delegates to serve as representatives of the faculty. The Faculty Assembly is to be a democratically-elected body designed to represent an active and informed faculty that provides a platform through which opinions from diverse backgrounds can be expressed, developed and communicated with the faculty as a whole and the administration.

The faculty of the LSUHSC School of Medicine in New Orleans (LSUHSC-SOM-NO), within applicable rules and policies of the Dean of LSUHSC-SOM-NO, the Chancellor of the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans (LSUHSC-NO), the President and the Board of Supervisors of the Louisiana State University and A & M College, do hereby effect through these bylaws the Faculty Assembly of the LSUHSC-SOM-NO.

Article I.
Name.

Section 1. This organization shall be known as the Faculty Assembly of the LSUHSC-SOM-NO, herein referred to as the Assembly.

Article II.
Purpose.

Section 1. Delegates of the Assembly shall be duly elected and enfranchised members of the faculty of the LSUHSC-SOM-NO. The Assembly shall serve as a representative voice of the faculty.

Section 2. The Assembly will provide a means of communication between the faculty and the Dean of the LSUHSC-SOM-NO, herein referred to as the Dean. The Assembly shall consider and make recommendations to the Dean concerning all matters of general interest to the School of Medicine. The Assembly shall review and make recommendations on all changes in existing policies, or the establishment of new policies relating to matters of general LSUHSC-SOM-NO interest when these policies are brought to the Assembly for consideration by the Dean, or by a member of the faculty. The Assembly shall consider and make recommendations on any matters referred to it by the Chancellor of LSUHSC-NO.

Any individual within the LSUHSC-SOM-NO community shall possess the privilege of presenting any suggestions to, or raising any problems for consideration by the Assembly. The "LSUHSC-SOM-NO community" shall mean those individuals (as well as those groups all of whose members individually are) eligible for membership in the Assembly.

Section 3. The Assembly will accept and share responsibility with administration and students in all efforts to improve the stature and to accomplish the mission of the LSUHSC-SOM-NO.

Section 4. The Assembly will maintain, through their elected representatives to the Faculty Senate, a liaison with the Chancellor of LSUHSC-NO.

Article III.
Membership of the Assembly

Section 1. The Delegates of the Assembly shall consist of faculty from the basic science and clinical departments of the LSUHSC-SOM-NO elected in accordance with these bylaws (see Article IV).

Section 2. The term "Faculty" shall refer to members of the academic staff of the LSUHSC-SOM-NO having the rank of Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor or Instructor in tenure or non-tenure positions. Faculty at 75% effort or above are considered enfranchised, can have voting privileges and can serve on the Faculty Assembly. The term "Delegate" shall refer to the members of the faculty elected to the Assembly.

Section 3. A faculty member's designation as basic science faculty or clinical faculty shall be based on his or her primary academic appointment in a basic science or clinical department.

Section 4. Except for meetings of the Executive Board (see Article VII) and closed sessions of the Assembly, all meetings of the Assembly, are open to all faculty including part-time and gratis faculty. Only Delegates are eligible to vote at sessions of the Assembly.

Article IV.
Election of the Delegates of the Assembly

Section 1. The Assembly shall be made up of no more than thirty-eight elected Delegates. Twelve Delegates shall be faculty from Basic Science Departments and twenty-six Delegates shall be faculty from Clinical Departments. Of the twenty-six Clinical Delegates at least one shall be from the Baton Rouge Clinical Faculty and at least one shall be from the Lafayette Clinical Faculty.

Section 2. Each year one-third of the Delegates of the Assembly shall be elected.

Section 3. All faculty shall be eligible for election as Delegates, with the exception of administration level classification, which include, but is not limited to the Dean, the Associate Deans, the Assistant Deans, Department Heads, Departmental Chairpersons, co-Chairpersons, Vice-Chairpersons, Center Directors,  Section Chiefs, Division Directors, Chief of Staff, Assistant Vice Chancellors, Associate Vice Chancellors, and the Vice Chancellor. Eligibility for election shall be determined as of the date of election. If there is a change in a Delegate's status as delineated above during their 3-year term, that Delegate must resign their position as a Delegate.

Section 4. The procedures for the nomination and election of Delegates shall be administered by the Executive Board.

Section 5. The nomination of Delegates shall be held each year in April. Faculty shall receive a nominating ballot electronically. Each member of the faculty is requested to self-nominate and/or ask that another faculty member self-nominate for one of the respective Basic Science or Clinical Science positions open for that academic year (July 1 to June 30). The deadline for the return of the nominating ballot shall be stated on the ballot and shall not be more than two weeks after sending the electronic nomination ballot. Nominations returned after the deadline shall be invalid.

Section 6. The election of Delegates shall be held each year in May. Each member of the faculty shall receive an election ballot electronically. The ballot shall list, in alphabetical order in separate groups, the names of the candidate from the Basic Science departments and the names of the candidates from the Clinical departments. The deadline for the return of the election ballot shall be stated on the ballot and shall not be more than two weeks after receiving the ballots. Ballots returned after this time shall be invalid.

Section 7. Each faculty member may vote for one candidate for each open delegate seat. Based on the number of open Delegate positions the candidates from the Basic Science departments or Clinical departments who receive the most votes shall be Basic Sciences or Clinical Delegates to the Assembly. Ties shall be decided by lot.

Section 8. The Delegates shall serve for three years and their terms of office shall begin on July 1.

Section 9. A Delegate desiring to resign shall submit his/her resignation in writing to the Secretary-Treasurer of the Assembly, who shall present it to the Executive Board.

Section 10. A Delegate may forfeit his/her elected office as a Delegate if that Delegate is absent from at least fifty percent of regularly scheduled meetings of the Assembly within a 12 month period. The Executive Board may request a vote of the Delegates to dismiss a Delegate because of absences; a simple majority determines dismissal.  

Section 11. Basic Sciences candidates not being elected shall be placed on a Basic Science Alternate Delegate list in order of the number of votes received. In a like manner, Clinical Faculty candidates not being elected shall be placed on one of three Clinical Alternate Delegate list (New Orleans, Baton Rouge or Lafayette). These lists will be maintained by the Executive Board and will be used to replace delegates as needed until the next Delegate election. Should a Delegate be unable to complete their 3 year term the next candidate on the appropriate list shall be asked to complete that Delegate's term of office. Ties shall be decided by lot.

Article V.
Election of Officers

Section 1. At the first meeting of the Assembly, Delegates shall elect a President-elect and Secretary-Treasurer from among the 30 Delegates. They shall also elect Delegates to serve as Basic Science and Clinical Science Representatives to the Administrative Council of the School of Medicine.

Section 2. After the election of new Delegates, the President shall: 1) distribute a complete list of Delegates for the following academic year to the Delegates and 2) shall solicit nominations for President-elect, Secretary-Treasurer and the two representatives to the Administrative Council. The nominator must ensure that the nominee is willing to serve in the capacity for which he or she is nominated. The two persons receiving the most nominations for each office will be placed on the ballot. The President shall strongly encourage that at least 2 nominations for each office are on the ballot. If a delegate in the third year of their current term is elected to the office of President-elect, then the term of that delegate shall be extended to include a fourth year during which they, as President, will serve as member-at-large. When the President becomes a member at large, his/her original delegate seat will become vacant, at which time the faculty will elect a new delegate to serve a 3-year term as stipulated in the Bylaws. These officers shall perform the duties prescribed by these bylaws and by the parliamentary authority adopted by the Assembly. Additional officers may be elected if necessary.

Section 3. The officers elected by ballot will serve for one year or until their successors are elected, and their term of office shall begin at the close of the meeting at which they are elected. When a Delegate has served a full term as President-elect that Delegate shall automatically become the President for the next term.

Section 4. No Delegates shall hold more than one office at a time, and no Delegate shall be eligible to serve more than two consecutive terms in the same office. The President may not be elected President-elect for the succeeding term.

Section 5. If the President's office becomes vacant, the President-elect shall fill the vacancy and shall continue his/her own term as President. Vacancies in the office of the President-elect or Secretary-Treasurer shall be filled by a vote of the Delegation. Nominations and elections shall be consistent with Article V, Section 2.

Section 6. Among the duties of the Basic and Clinical Science Representatives to the Administrative Council is the responsibility to attend the meetings of the Medical School Administrative Council and to report pertinent information to the delegation.

Article VI.
Meetings of the Assembly

Section 1. Meetings of the Assembly shall be attended by all Delegates and shall be open to all faculty. The regular meetings of the Delegates shall be held once each month unless otherwise ordered by the President, the Executive Board, or by a majority of the Delegates.

Section 2. Special meetings of the Delegates may be called by the President or by the Executive Board and shall be called by the President upon the request of a majority of Delegates.

Section 3. The presence of greater than 50% of the Delegates or their proxy shall constitute a quorum.

Section 4. A delegate may designate a proxy from the faculty to include Delegates for a specific meeting and the proxy will have voting privileges. The delegate must submit the name of the proxy to the Secretary-Treasurer prior to the scheduled meeting time. A faculty member to include Delegates may only serve as proxy for a single Delegate.

Section 5. Faculty and guests invited by the President or by the Executive Board shall be eligible to speak to the Delegates.

Section 6. Upon majority vote of the Delegates, the Assembly may go into closed session if sensitive or personal items are to be discussed.

Section 7. The Assembly shall regularly post minutes of meetings and other summaries of their activities.

Section 8. The President of the Assembly shall present a report and other items to the faculty at least twice a year at a General Faculty meeting called by the Dean or by the President of the Assembly. The agenda of those meetings shall be determined by the President of the Assembly. If the President of the Assembly calls for a vote at a General Faculty meeting, then all members of the faculty are eligible to vote.

Section 9. A spring meeting of the General Faculty shall be known as the Annual Meeting and shall be for the purpose of presenting a formal report to the faculty summarizing the actions and recommendations of the Assembly since the last annual meeting.

Article VII.
Executive Board

Section 1. The President, President-elect, immediate Past- President and Secretary-Treasurer plus the two Faculty Representatives to the Administrative Council shall constitute the Executive Board.

Section 2. The Executive Board shall have general supervision of the affairs of the Assembly between meetings, fix the time and place of meetings, make recommendations to the Assembly, and shall perform such other duties as are specified in these bylaws. The Executive Board shall be subject to the orders of the Assembly, and none of its acts shall conflict with actions taken by the Assembly.

Section 3. Unless otherwise ordered by the Executive Board, regular meetings of the Executive Board shall be held once each month prior to the regular meeting of the Assembly. Special meetings of the Executive Board may be called by the President and shall be called upon the written request of three members of the Board.

Article VIII.
Committees

Section 1. The Executive Board shall at its discretion recommend membership to committees of the School of Medicine.

Section 2. The Executive Board shall appoint committees as they deem necessary to carry on the business of the Assembly. These committees shall report to the Assembly.

Article IX.
Parliamentary Authority

Section 1. The rules contained in the current edition of Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised shall govern the Assembly in all cases to which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with these bylaws and any special rules of order the Assembly shall adopt.

Section 2. The President-elect shall serve as parliamentarian. The parliamentarian shall be prepared to advise the Assembly on points of order in accordance with the current edition of Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised in all cases to which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with these bylaws and any special rules of order the Assembly shall adopt.

Article X.
Amendment of Bylaws

Section 1. These bylaws may be amended by a majority vote of the faculty at a General Faculty meeting called by the Dean or the President of the Assembly.

Section 2. Before a final vote of the faculty, a proposed amendment must be approved by a 2/3 vote of the Delegates present at a meeting of the Assembly. In addition, the proposed change must be announced and made available to the faculty electronically or through the Assembly website for comment at least three weeks prior to the general faculty meeting.

Article XI.
Election of Representatives to the LSU Health Sciences Center Faculty Senate

Section 1. The Assembly is to elect Senators to the LSUHSC-NO Faculty Senate. Senators must be full time Clinical or Basic Science faculty holding the rank of Instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor or Professor. The election of Senators shall be held each year by no later than the August meeting of the Senate by the Assembly. Any faculty member eligible to be a Delegate of the Assembly including Delegates can be elected as Senator. Delegates must elect five Senators whose primary academic appointment is in a clinical department and three Senators whose primary appointment is in the basic sciences. The rights and duties of the Senators are outlined in the constitution and bylaws of the LSUHSC-NO Faculty Senate.

Section 2. Senators serve for three year terms. Senators can be elected to a second term, but can only serve 2 consecutive terms.

Article XII. Voting Procedures

Section 1. Voting shall be by show of hands or without objection at all in-person meetings. A roll call vote is required when requested by any Delegate. A secret ballot requires a majority vote of the Assembly. If the Executive Board of the Assembly unanimously identifies that an issue requires immediate action, a proposal may be introduced at an Assembly meeting, and drafted, discussed, and voted upon electronically between Assembly meetings. At least five business days must be allowed for voting following circulation of such a proposal, and passage requires a vote in favor by a majority of all Delegates. In addition, any Delegate may defer a vote on the proposal until the next Assembly meeting.