Amelia T

Thank you all for your help! You're right, it was really more of a bylaw question than an RR question. Although I still have a curiosity question of whether a motion is really a motion when it doesn't take place at a meeting. After a discussion with the other officers, we decided that for the purposes of our senate being able to conduct business, we're going to allow motions to be distributed electronically. It looks like our next motion will be one to amend the bylaws to allow electronic meetings.

Hi, I'm trying to figure out how our faculty senate can conduct some time sensitive business given that we may be unable to meet again for several months. Our bylaws do not have any provisions for electronic meetings. They do not specifically say that meetings must be in person. My understanding from reading RR on electronic meetings is that unless your bylaws describe electronic meetings, they are not allowed. Our bylaws do say: ``Where possible, voting should take place in the Senate’s regularly held meetings. Under unusual circumstances, votes may take place by electronic ballot, as determined by the [officers committee]. The motion and ballot must be distributed to all voting faculty at least two weeks prior to the close of voting. For purposes of electronic voting, a quorum is reached if a majority of all eligible Senate members have cast a vote by the predetermined deadline. '' In order to have an electronic vote, does the motion still need to occur at an actual meeting? This is the only relevant passage I can find in the bylaws. Obviously we would want to be selective about making use of this, since it wouldn't allow for any debate.