(Adopted by Action of the Bloomington Faculty Council and Bloomington Faculty: May 6, 1975 and November 14, 1975; Last Amended: April 20, 2009)

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The faculty shall consist of the University President, Bloomington Provost and all professors with tenure-track appointments on the Bloomington campus.

Librarians with tenure-track appointments on the Bloomington campus shall be considered faculty.

Academic appointees who are not tenure-track (i.e., clinical ranks; research scientist/scholar ranks; lecturer ranks) on the Bloomington campus shall be considered faculty. This excludes designations such as acting, part-time, adjunct, visiting, postdoctoral fellow, research associate, and academic specialist.

Emeritus faculty and emeritus librarians on the Bloomington campus shall be considered faculty.

Certification of persons qualifying under the definitions of Sections 1, 2, 3, and 4 shall be made by the Bloomington Provost.

1. The faculty of the campus has legislative and consultative authority regarding:


1. The campus' academic mission.
2. The campus' structure of faculty governance, consistent with the university faculty standards.
3. Policy and allocation of authority for academic matters affecting more than one school on the campus including campus curriculum and General Education.
4. Bloomington academic calendar, with only such deviation from the university calendar made necessary by local circumstances.
5. Creation, reorganization, merger, and elimination of programs and units affecting more than one school on the campus.
6. Appointment, promotion and tenure, compensation, conduct and discipline, and grievances of campus faculty, consistent with university faculty standards.
7. Appointment and review of campus academic officers and administrative officers affecting the academic mission, consistent with university standards.
8. Admission and retention of students to the campus.
9. Standards and systems for the evaluation of student academic performance of the campus.
10. Campus facilities and budgets.
11. Campus student conduct and discipline, consistent with university standards.
12. Intercollegiate and intramural athletics.
13. Academic programs not within the authority of a school faculty. In such cases the campus faculty exercises the same authority as would be vested in a school faculty.
14. Other matters affecting the academic mission of the campus, subject to the legislative authority of the university and school faculties.



2. School faculties (including the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences) have legislative and consultative authority pertaining to the school regarding:
1. The school's academic mission.
2. The school's structure of faculty governance, consistent with university faculty standards.
3. Creation, reorganization, merger, and elimination of academic programs and units within the school.
4. Authority of academic units within the school and the relations between them.
5. Conferring of degrees.
6. School curriculum.
7. Bloomington academic calendar, with only such deviation from university and campus calendars made necessary by special curricular or accreditation requirements.
8. Admission and retention of students in the school.
9. Standards for student academic performance for students majoring in the school.
10. Student conduct and discipline, consistent with university and campus faculty standards.
11. Appointment, promotion and tenure, compensation, conduct and discipline, and grievances of school faculty, consistent with university and campus faculty standards.
12. School facilities and budgets.
13. Appointment and review of school academic officers (except the dean of the school) and administrative officers affecting the school's academic mission, consistent with university and campus faculty standards.
14. Other matters affecting the academic mission of the school, subject to the legislative authority of the university and campus faculties.

1. Campus faculty authority may be exercised in meeting or by paper or electronic ballot but normally shall be delegated to a body of elected representatives, the Bloomington Faculty Council.
2. Faculties of schools or of the college may delegate authority to faculties of departments, divisions, or other academic units. The faculty of any unit to which faculty authority is delegated shall establish democratic means of self-governance, consistent with university, campus, and school/college faculty standards. Appointments of faculty to the unit, or to the chair of the unit, should be made only after consultation with the members of the unit.

The Bloomington Provost shall routinely preside at meetings of the Council. It is recommended that the University President preside for at least on meeting each semester. The Council shall elect from among its elected faculty members a President Pro tempore, a Secretary, a Parliamentarian, and an Agenda Committee. The President Pro Tempore shall preside at meetings of the Faculty Council and at meetings of the Faculty in the absence of the Bloomington Provost or University President and shall be the presiding officer of the Agenda Committee. The Secretary and the Parliamentarian also shall serve as members of the Agenda Committee.

The President Pro Tempore, the Secretary, and the Parliamentarian of the Bloomington Faculty Council shall serve concurrently in these positions.

The faculty shall hold one regular meeting, as early as practicable during the fall semester of each academic year, on a date fixed by the Bloomington Provost. At this meeting the Provost shall report on the state of the Bloomington Campus.

Special meetings of the faculty may be convened by the University President, by the Bloomington Provost, by petition to the President Pro Tempore of 50 faculty members, or by majority vote of the Bloomington Faculty Council.

For decisions not within the ordinary course of business, a quorum of 200 of the faculty is required. Unless 800 or more faculty members are present, a paper or electronic ballot of the faculty is required to ratify any action taken. A majority of those voting shall be required for ratification.

The President Pro Tempore shall post notification of a meeting and its agenda to each member of the faculty at least one week in advance of the date of the meeting, except in case of an emergency declared by the University President.

The Chief of Staff shall keep comprehensive minutes of the proceedings and actions of all faculty meetings and make copies available to members of the faculty.

The Agenda Committee shall schedule meetings of the Bloomington Faculty Council on the first and third Tuesdays of the month during the regular school year, to include at least four meetings each semester. Council meetings shall be open to non-members as provided in the bylaws.

All matters appropriate for faculty action under Section 2.1, may be considered by the Bloomington Faculty Council. The Council may act as the representative of the faculty or may refer such matters to the faculty.

The Bloomington Faculty Council shall have administrative powers to carry out its functions, financed from campus funds, and to adopt its own bylaws.

1. The Council promptly shall report its proceedings to the faculty.
2. On votes dealing with substantive matters, the reports shall include an accounting of how the individual Council members, or their alternates, voted. At the request of a majority of the Council members present, any matter must be submitted to the faculty for consideration, either by paper or electronic ballot or at a faculty meeting.

1. Representation of Faculty and Librarian Units.


1. Faculty and Librarian Election Units; Qualifications of Representatives

The following units shall each constitute an election unit: College of Arts and Sciences; School of Business; School of Education; School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation; School of Journalism; School of Law; School of Library and Information Science; School of Music; School of Optometry; School of Public and Environmental Affairs; The Library; and the School of Informatics. However, the College of Arts and Sciences shall be divided into sub-election units in a manner specified by agreement of the College Policy Committee and the Bloomington Faculty Council Nomination Committee. Such division of the College into sub-election units shall be published with the Council's bylaws governing the conduct of elections. Further, any academic units with faculty on the Bloomington campus not included within the above units shall be grouped together to constitute an election unit. Council representatives from election units must be persons qualifying under sections 1.1 or 1.2 of this constitution and shall be nominated and elected by such qualified persons in the represented unit.

2. Basis of Representation

Each faculty and librarian election unit shall have a minimum of one Council representative. The Council's bylaws shall specify a basis for apportioning representatives to election units in accordance with the number of persons in the units qualifying under sections 1.1 or 1.2 of this constitution so that there will be not less than thirty nor more than thirty-five faculty and librarian unit Council representatives. The College of Arts and Sciences, in addition to its representatives of its sub-election units, shall have a representative to represent the College at large.

2. At-Large Campus Representatives

There shall be ten Council representatives elected from the Bloomington campus at large of whom at least two must be untenured. Such representatives must be persons qualifying under section 1.1 or 1.2 of this constitution.

3. Non-Tenure Track Campus Representation

Non-tenure track faculty shall constitute an election unit entitled to three representatives. One Council representative must hold a Research Appointment and qualify under section 1.3 of this Constitution. One Council representative must hold a Clinical Appointment and qualify under section 1.3 of this Constitution. One Council representative must hold a Lecturer Appointment and qualify under section 1.3 of this Constitution.

4. Retired Faculty and Librarians

Retired faculty and librarians with an Indiana address of record in the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs shall constitute an election unit entitled to two Council representatives.

5. Term of Office, Nomination, and Election

The Council representatives specified in sections 5.5.A to D shall hold office for a two-year term. Except as provided below, an elected member shall be eligible to serve two consecutive terms but then shall be ineligible for the next two elections. A person elected President Pro Tempore of the Council shall be eligible for an extension of term of office, as provided in the Council's bylaws, that can result in a maximum of five years of consecutive Council membership. Any member whose term has been so extended shall be ineligible for re-election to the Council for the next two elections following the end of his or her term as president pro tempore. In the conduct of elections, the Council's Nomination Committee shall arrange that half of the unit representatives and half of the at-large representatives will be elected each year. The Council's bylaws shall specify the procedures for nomination and election of unit and at-large representatives.

6. Administrators

The President and Provost and such additional administrative officers as may be designated in the Council's bylaws shall be voting members of the Council.

7. Student Representatives

The voting membership of the Council shall include:

1. The President and a Vice President of the Student Association.
2. Four graduate students selected in accordance with the procedures of the Graduate and Professional Student Organization, of whom at least one shall be an officer of the Graduate and Professional Student Organization and at least two shall be associate instructors.
8. The President of the Professional Council shall be a voting member of the Council.
9. Non-voting Members

The Council's bylaws may provide for non-voting BFC representation of other campus constituencies.

The Council's bylaws shall provide for ways in which the work of the Council and faculty and librarian unit governance may be coordinated. To that end, a Council representative from each faculty and librarian unit elected pursuant to section 5.5.A shall serve as a Council liaison to the policy committee, or equivalent, of the unit. In the case of the College of Arts and Sciences, this representative shall be the representative elected from the College at large. For other units with more than one Council representative, the Council's bylaws shall adopt a means of specifying which of its representatives shall serve in the policy committee liaison role.

Authority on matters falling under the jurisdiction of the University Faculty Council shall be exercised by Bloomington faculty representatives selected in a manner specified in the Bloomington Faculty Council bylaws Section 4.E

The review functions of the faculty at Bloomington shall be exercised by a Bloomington Faculty Board of Review. This board shall consider complaints concerning academic freedom, reappointment, tenure, promotion, salary adjustment, and the nature or conditions of work. Any member of the faculty on the Bloomington campus, with the exception of associate instructors, desiring a review of administrative action in these stated areas may request in writing a hearing by this Board of Review.

The elected faculty representatives of the Bloomington Faculty Council shall select five members of the faculty as the Bloomington Faculty Board of Review. The members of the Board shall select their own presiding officer. The members shall hold office from the first day of May for staggered terms of two years. Alternates shall be selected by the Bloomington Faculty Council to replace temporarily those members of the Board absent from campus. Members and alternates shall complete the review of any case which they have begun to consider. At least two years shall elapse between terms of office. In offering nominations for election to the Faculty Board of Review, consideration should be given to representation across academic ranks, among divisions of the University, and between tenured and non-tenured faculty.

The procedures governing the operation of the Bloomington Faculty Board of Review shall be established by the Bloomington Faculty Council.

A motion to amend this constitution may be presented to and discussed by the Bloomington Faculty Council. If the Council votes to recommend that the general faculty consider the amendment, the President Pro Tempore shall circulate the document to the voting members of the faculty. If within fifteen class days the faculty have not scheduled a meeting to consider the amendment, the President Pro Tempore shall proceed according to Section 8.3.

A motion to amend this constitution may be presented to and discussed at a meeting of the faculty. If the meeting votes in favor of the amendment, the President Pro Tempore shall proceed according to Section 8.3.

If a proposed amendment has been approved by the Bloomington Faculty Council and considered by a meeting of the faculty or if fifteen class days have elapsed after Council approval without a call for a faculty meeting or if a proposed amendment has been approved by a duly convened faculty meeting, the President Pro Tempore shall circulate a ballot to the faculty. The paper or electronic ballot shall be accompanied by a summary of arguments presented during any general faculty meeting at which the amendment was considered. The Chief of Staff of the faculty Council Office will receive the ballots and present the outcome for review to the President Pro Tempore. A majority of those voting shall be necessary for adoption of the amendment.

Approved by the Bloomington Faculty Council: May 6, 1975
Ratified by the Bloomington Faculty: November 14, 1975
Amended by the Bloomington Faculty Council: February 5, 1980
Ratified by the Bloomington Faculty: May 2, 1980
Amended by the Bloomington Faculty Council: February 15, 1983
Ratified by the Bloomington Faculty: April 15, 1983
Amended by the Bloomington Faculty Council: February 4, 1992
Ratified by the Bloomington Faculty: March 9, 1992
Amended by the Bloomington Faculty Council: February 16, 1993
Ratified by the Bloomington Faculty: June 25, 1993
Amended by the Bloomington Faculty Council: April 19, 1994
Ratified by the Bloomington Faculty: September 2, 1994
Approved by the Bloomington Faculty Council: November 18, 1997
Ratified by the Bloomington Faculty: December 15, 1997
Approved by the Bloomington Faculty Council: April 20, 1999
Ratified by the Bloomington Faculty: November 12, 1999
Approved by the Bloomington Faculty Council: October 19, 2004
Ratified by the Bloomington Faculty: November 3, 2004
Approved by the Bloomington Faculty Council: April 18, 2006
Approved by the Bloomington Faculty Council: April 3, 2007
Ratified by the Bloomington Faculty: November 13, 2007
Approved by the Bloomington Faculty Council: March 29, 2009
Ratified by the Bloomington Faculty Council: April 20, 2009