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Article VII. Implementing Provisions and Amendments
1. Promulgation
The provisions of this Constitution shall be put into effect
in the academic year following approval by the Board of Regents. Incumbent
officers, constituent organs, and committees of the Graduate School shall
continue to discharge their functions until their successors shall have
been chosen under the terms of the Constitution. By the end of the Fall
semester of the first academic year in which this Constitution is in effect,
graduate programs must submit a list of their graduate faculty indicating
the membership status of each. Faculty members who hold graduate faculty
membership under the provisions of the previous Constitution shall be
eligible to vote on graduate faculty membership status in the program(s)
in which they hold membership. Faculty members who hold graduate faculty
membership under the provisions of the previous Constitution as of the
Fall semester in which this Constitution takes effect shall be permitted
to complete outstanding examining committee and advising assignments on
file with the Graduate School at the end of that Fall semester. Termination
or modification of a membership status in the graduate faculty by the
Dean of the Graduate School during the Fall semester in which this Constitution
takes effect shall rest on evidence that the faculty member has not met
performance expectations as established in the bylaws, or on evidence
that the faculty member's contributions in the areas of teaching and examining
committee service, and, if appropriate, advising students, fall below
the program's normal expectations for such contributions.
2. Amendments
Amendments to this Constitution may be initiated by the Dean,
by a majority vote in any one of the Policy and review Councils, or by
petition of at least 100 members of the graduate faculty. Normally, faculty
and graduate students would initiate the process in the appropriate Policy
and Review Council. Such proposals shall be communicated for discussion
to all graduate faculties through the Directors of Graduate Studies. After
at least thirty days following the date of initiation, but in not more
than forty-five, a Constitutional Assembly shall be convened for the sole
purpose of considering such proposed amendments. The voting membership
of the Assembly shall consist of the members of the Policy and Review
Councils. The Dean shall preside over the Assembly.
A majority vote of the Assembly shall be required for approval
and transmittal of any amendment to the President and the Board of Regents.
The Dean may submit a separate recommendation of his or her own, or of
a minority of the Assembly.
3. Bylaws
After consultation with the Executive Committee, the Dean of
the Graduate School may promulgate bylaws consistent with this Constitution,
if they have first been approved by a majority vote of the entire membership
of the Policy and Review Councils.
4. Interpretation
After consultation with the Policy and Review Councils and
the Executive Committee, the Dean of the Graduate School shall resolve
uncertainties and differences of opinion about the proper construction
or application of a provision of this Constitution. The Dean may then
issue an official interpretation of the provision in question.
Approved by the Graduate School Constitutional Assembly,
March 26, 2002
Approved by the Executive Vice President and Provost,
May 13, 2002
[The Constitution was originally approved by the Graduate
School on June 12, 1975, and ratified by the Board of Regents on October
10, 1975. It was amended in a Constitutional Assembly on June 9, 1978,
to recognize a Graduate Faculty Committee at Duluth. The Board of Regents
approved this amendment to the Constitution on July 7, 1978.]
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