Structure
Shared governance at College of DuPage is a communication and collaboration process designed to ensure that institutionally important topics are broadly approached by engaging the appropriate people from each employee group and the student body. It provides opportunities to strategically plan, employ checks and balances, and provide feedback in response to committee recommendations and/or College decisions.
The College’s Shared Governance Council honors existing contractual agreements and/or other agreements with employee groups. Recommendations made by Shared Governance Council will take place within the context of all employee contracts or guidebooks and shall not interfere with operating entities of the College in the execution of assigned duties and responsibilities.
Shared Governance Council will serve an advisory role to those who make decisions at the College. It will also serve as a repository for campus wide committees as a means to prevent redundancy among work completed and actions taken at the College.
College of DuPage affirms the collegial values upon which shared governance is based and is dedicated to ensuring process integrity by:
- Fostering the free and open expression of ideas and perspectives among all participants;
- Discussing topics that are both all-encompassing with regard to all stakeholders and are integral to the function of decision-making at College of DuPage;
- Maintaining a campus environment that actively engenders and emphasizes mutual trust, honesty, understanding and respect, even in the midst of disagreement;
- Ensuring that the decision-making process is not hindered or held back by discussions;
- Requiring collaboration among process participants so that final recommendations to the President have broad-based support based in a fully informed discourse.
Schedule
SGC shall meet every other week during the academic year (September to May) and once per month or as needed during the summer (June, July, August).
Meeting Quorum
Meetings require a quorum of physically present voting members, defined as 50% or more of currently named voting members. Discussion of individual agenda items may be postponed (in advance or during the meeting) at the discretion of the Chair if key voting members and/or invited guests are not present.
Communication
Communication remains at the center of the functionality of Shared Governance Council, which serves as the voice of the constituents at College of DuPage, and is in place to ensure that internal community members from all constituencies have their concerns heard for the benefit of a collaborative work environment. Members of the Council bring with them their own training and experiences to represent their constituencies, with whom they maintain an active dialogue.
Communication tactics that vary by constituency are utilized to share the message of Shared Governance Council’s role within the College, strive to prevent internal communication lapses, and inform the College community about policy and operations. Shared Governance Council serves as the bridge between departments, allowing fulfillment of the College’s mission and a collaborative culture.
Website
Shared Governance Council will maintain a webpage located on College of DuPage’s external website to publicly share the philosophy of governance that has been adopted by the College. Council members will be listed for ease of contact by respective constituency members and additional links to departmental contacts shall be included for those issues not involving Shared Governance Council.
Formation
Committees responsible for outcomes that affect the direction of the institution inform Shared Governance Council of their new charter, determined objectives and ongoing accomplishments. Ad hoc committees and/or task forces may be created as Shared Governance Council deems necessary. Items for discussion can be brought to Shared Governance Council by the College President or any constituency group through the respective council member(s).
Functions
- Act as a clearinghouse for institutional issues while fully exploring them from both a professional skills perspective and as the liaison of constituency groups;
- Prepare a formal recommendation to the President to influence decision-making;
- Receive feedback regarding action taken based on recommendations, or in contradiction of recommendations;
- Act as a repository of committee work that affects the institution’s direction;
- Produce an annual outcomes report proving the need for shared governance within the decision-making process.
Subcommittees
Shared Governance Council may form ad hoc committees and/or task forces to analyze specific issues. Ad hoc committees are temporary and dissolve at the discretion of Shared Governance Council. A task force maintains a focused objective and may or may not remain long term.
Both ad hoc committees and task forces may include members who do not sit on Shared Governance Council or other established committees. Rather, they may be selected through constituency group protocols. The call for subcommittees from Shared Governance Council should reflect the expertise needed for the subcommittee in question.
Membership
Membership to Shared Governance Council will be comprised of student representatives and selected individuals from each of the College’s employee groups based on their own established processes.
Constituency Representation
- Adjunct Faculty—two members from CODAA
- Administrators—two members
- Classified—two members from Classified Personnel Committee
- Full-time Faculty—two members from CODFA
- Grounds, Maintenance, Painters and Carpenters—one member from CSA-GMPC
- Managerial—two members
- Operating Engineers—one member
- Police Department—one member from FOP
- President or President’s designee
- Students—two members from Student Leadership Council
Should any additional employee groups be defined, membership representation will be added.
Officers
The Chair and Vice Chair will be determined by the schedule the follows. If a constituency group has two representatives on the Council, the constituency group will determine which member will serve. In the event the Chair is unable to fulfill the length of his/her term, the Council will elect a replacement for the remainder of the term. The Chair will facilitate the meetings, including agenda creation, collaborate with the Vice Chair to establish the agenda and prepare the Vice Chair to serve as Chair. The Vice Chair will fill the role of the Chair when the Chair is absent. Officers will serve one academic term per role.
Officer Schedule
- FOP Chair, CODAA Vice Chair - Spring 2024
- CODAA Chair, Administrators Vice Chair - Fall 2024
- Administrators Chair, CODFA Vice Chair - Spring 2025
- CODFA Chair, Operating Engineers Vice Chair - Fall 2025
- Operating Engineers Vice Chair, CSA-GMPC Vice Chair - Spring 2026
- CSA-GMPC Chair, SLC Vice Chair - Fall 2026
- SLC Chair, Managerial Vice Chair - Spring 2027
The schedule may be adjusted to accommodate times when a specific constituency group does not have representation.
Support Staff
A recording secretary will be provided by the College for Shared Governance Council meetings to produce and distribute meeting agendas and supporting documents (if the Chair so desires), notate meeting minutes, maintain the external webpage, upload files to the internal team site, and maintain records of Shared Governance Council files and accomplishments.
Process of Review
Items to be considered through Shared Governance Council can originate from constituency group members, current work of established committees, the President and/or in conjunction with the College planning processes.
Requests for Shared Governance Council review should go through constituency representatives using the Shared Governance Council Review Form.
All representatives should discuss the issue with their constituent and help determine if it falls within the scope of Shared Governance Council’s role. If they feel it meets the criteria listed below, then the representative will send the request to the Chair to be included on the following meeting’s agenda. If the issue does not meet the criteria, the Shared Governance Council Member should assist the constituent in getting answers in other appropriate ways.
- No contractual issues
- No single constituency group issue
- No duplication of process
- No individual personnel issues
- Clearinghouse roundtable to determine if item brought forth is questionable
Shared Governance Council will determine by consensus if an item is appropriate for consideration. Items deemed not appropriate will be referred to the proper operational unit or individual for consideration. Factors to be considered include:
- Cross-function/institutional implications;
- Policy/procedure implications;
- Funding implications;
- Significant student, employee or community impact.
Following education and discourse regarding an item of concern presented to Shared Governance Council, and if a meeting quorum exists, the Council shall vote to make a recommendation or not, affirmed by 2/3 of those voting. Votes made by Shared Governance Council Members are for recommendation purposes only and not meant as a decision-making action. Recommendations that are endorsed by Shared Governance Council are forwarded to the President by the Chair for consideration and action.
Proxy designation is permitted, for voting purposes, if a meeting quorum exists. It is not necessary for proxy designations to remain within the same constituency group. Each voting member may only hold one proxy designation at a time. Proxy designation must be submitted in writing to the Chair prior to the start of the meeting.
Upon receipt of the recommendation, action is taken by the President in one of three ways:
- Recommendation affirmed;
- Recommendation returned to Shared Governance Council for further study;
- Recommendation not affirmed.
Should a recommendation be returned for further study or is not affirmed, the basis for the decision will be provided.
Affirmed recommendations are forwarded by the President to appropriate College personnel for implementation and outcomes will be published through Shared Governance Council webpage, or similar medium, for communication.
All items presented to Shared Governance Council that reach recommendation status are closed for further review for a period of one year following a recommendation one way or another.