[Uosenateexec] Notice of motion for By-Laws Amendments?

[Jay Butler]

I will not be supporting this merely on the grounds that we as Senate Exec did not have time to discuss this. It seems the SRC went to Elliot and now Elliot wants Senate Exec to sign off on something we had no discussion about. With only a day before the meeting it is going to be proposed at. That isn’t enough time and it sounds like the ball was dropped on transparency and communication. Again. So, while I may or may not agree that to change by-laws, it makes sense to change to a 2/3 majority, the way this was handled, I cannot support.
Regards,

Jay Butler
Business Affairs Office, Payroll
UO Senate, Classified Senator
UO Senate, Senate Executive Committee
VPFA Diversity Committee
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University of Oregon
jbutler7 at uoregon.edu<mailto:jbutler7 at uoregon.edu>
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From: uosenateexec-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu <uosenateexec-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu> On Behalf Of senatepres at uoregon.edu
Sent: Tuesday, December 1, 2020 10:41 AM
To: uosenateexec at lists.uoregon.edu
Subject: [Uosenateexec] Notice of motion for By-Laws Amendments?

Hello Senate Exec,

I wanted to request your endorsement on a package of motions that the Senate Rules Committee would like to put forward. Last year, President Skowron charged the Senate Rules Committee with reviewing the Senate By-Laws to identify any changes we might want to make for consistency, streamlining, and various other procedural improvements. For instance, unlike other legislative bodies and in contrast to the procedures in Robert’s Rules, we require only a simply majority vote to amend our by-laws (instead of 2/3 majority). You can see all the proposed changes in the attached redlined document.

In any case, the Senate Rules Committee has suggested a number of proposed revisions to the By-Laws. We’ve decided the best way to proceed is for a series of motions to come forward from the Senate Exec (at the suggestion of the SBC) to make the changes. The first of which is simply to increase the majority required to amend the by-laws from half plus one to 2/3. I’d like to give notice of this motion at Wednesday.

Why is this coming from the Senate Exec and not the SRC? Well…it’s procedural! The charge of the SRC is not to sponsor motions but rather to work with sponsors to review motions and assure that they meet standards, etc. We thought the Senate Executive was the appropriate body to put forward motions involving changes to the By-Laws.

I would like to give notice of the forthcoming motions in Wednesday’s Senate meeting. I plan to give an overview of the whole package of changes, but only notice the first motion to change the majority requirement for by-laws changes, which would be voted on in the January meeting.

My assumption is that most of you will be fine with this plan, so please let me know before 3pm on Wednesday if you vote against this notice of motion. Thank you,

- Ell

Elliot Berkman
Senate President
Professor, Department of Psychology & Center for Translational Neuroscience
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