Committee Recommendations

*Note: Recommendaitons 3 and 4 have been deleted per VP IEQA and will no loner be considered.The Council of Chairs is now looking at the following recomendations for possible adoption into committees.

Recommendation 1: Committees should elect their vice chair with the understanding the vice chair will automatically become the chair the following year.

Recommendation 2: Committees must hold elections at the same time of the year to prevent disruption to Council of Chairs.

Recommendation 5: Conduct ongoing training for committee chairs on how to conduct effective meetings, maintain civil discourse, and strategies for engaging all participants.

Recommendation 7: Enhance communications between standing committees by ensuring Council of Chairs is meeting regularly and receiving administrative support.

Recommendation 8: Committees should offer open meetings, allowing and encouraging guests to attend, with permission.

Recommendation 9: Allow committees continued flexibility in the modification of the Terms of Reference so as not to stifle innovation and approaches that work best for a given committee at a given time. However, changes must go through the secretariat to ensure continuity in protocols and to avoid generation of additional problems through such innovations that might occur due to loss of historical knowledge and lacking awareness of the broader potential ramifications of such changes.

Recommendation 10: The ALO should serve as the secretariat to the committees.

Recommendation 11: Strive to increase feelings of committee engagement for staff members who are not currently able to serve on a committee. Ensure offices are meeting to share what is happening in committees in order to solicit the collective recommendations from constituents. Encourage supervisors to rotate staff members who serve every couple of years.

Recommendation 12: Increase awareness that the role of committees is to form recommendations towards continuous improvement, not to make the final decision. Ensure members understand the administration takes the final decision as the administration is held accountable, not the committee. Committee input must be considered in genuine earnest by the administration; and, the administration must provide timely feedback, including the rationale for final decisions. Such rationale should include a clearly articulated reflection of the committee’s decision, when the committee’s recommendation cannot be upheld (either in person or as a guest for a committee meeting).

Recommendation 13: Increase faculty supervisor awareness that it is their responsibility to ensure they are not scheduling faculty for classes and for service on a committee that has a time conflict.

Recommendation 14: Supervisors should allow faculty and staff to serve on their committee of interest to increase motivation for service, where possible.

Recommendation 15: Supervisors need to meet regularly with their faculty/staff to ensure accountability for meeting attendance and to make clear the import role faculty/staff have towards representing the unit’s consensus at committee meetings. Regularly meetings will also ensure faculty/staff are aware of what is occurring on all standing committees through reporting and information sharing with one another.

Recommendation 16: Encourage off-island officers rather than restricting leadership opportunities to those who can be present in person, and for no other good reason.

Recommendation 17: Take an inventory of all committee communications and streamline these so that we are not overwhelming people with too much information.

Recommendation 18: Include committee updates and highlights at the all campus meetings.

Recommendation 19:Generate newsfeed summaries of committee updates and highlights monthly.

Recommendation 20: When committees are making decisions that directly impact students, actively seek student input rather than speculating on the potential impact and student preferences. Actively seeking student input must evolve beyond opening meetings to students and expecting students to attend. Serious attempts to engage and dialogue with students should be made and documented.

Recommendation 21: Reduce faculty overloads to ensure they have adequate time available to serve committees effectively.

Recommendation 22: Plan an event similar to the summit where exemplary committee members are brought in from all campuses to convene for a week around a focused theme, as well as individual meetings.

Recommendation 23: Though there are benefits to continuity in committee membership from year to year, members should be encouraged to participate on a different committee after three-five years of continuous serve.