Five Senate Policy Councils are charge with making policy recommendations and facilitating faculty participation in shared governance in their assigned areas. The Policy Councils are:
Academic Policy Council
Educational policy, including the creation, modification, or deletion of academic programs and units; curriculum; academic standing; relationship of academic units to each other, general policies concerning student instruction; and academic merits of candidates for administrative positions of academic significance.
Budget Council
Budget and fiscal matters as they involve the academic mission of the University, including the recommendation of budget priorities involving academics and research, the fiscal implications of the creation, modification or deletion of the academic programs, the collection and dissemination of information about the University budgeting and plannng; and monitoring whether the allocation of resources is consistent with Faculty Senate actions and the University's long-term and short-term strategic plan.
Infrastructure Council
University's infrastructure supporting the University's academic mission, including the provision of physical facilities and other physical resources; libraries; information technology; the campus master plan; and the availability of adequate computer, classroom, laboratory, and other resources.
Research and Scholarship Council
University policies and procedures relating to research and scholarship, including university-wide research and scholarship initiatives and strategies; research grants and contracts; research infrastructure; and other matters relating to funding or producing scholarship.
Welfare Council
Matters that support, encourage, define, and evaluate the quality of the faculty and retention of faculty members, includin gfaculty rights and academic freedom; faculty support programs, such as fringe benefit packages, faculty diversity; and programs that improve the quality of faculty life.
The councils make recommendations to the Senate, facilitate the implementation of policy, and serve as liaisons between the Senate and the administration within their areas. Each policy council oversees, coordinates and facilitates the work of committees that are assigned to that respective council. However, the councils have no authority to review the decisions of any committee except insofar as such decisions may be the bases of the policy recommendations. The Senate Steering Committee coordinates the referring of matters to, and the receipt of recommendations from, the Senate Policy Councils