Office of the Provost and Dean of the Faculty 20. Committees

1. Committees of the Faculty

Faculty Committee Membership. The right to serve on the Committee of Six and the right to vote for members of that Committee are limited to professors, associate professors, and assistant professors appointed to regular full-time or part-time tenured or tenure-track positions. The President of the College serves as Chair of the Committee, ex officio, and the Dean of the Faculty serves ex officio as Secretary of the Committee, each without vote (Voted by the Faculty, May 1990). The Faculty members of the Committee of Educational Policy, the College Council, the Committee on Priorities and Resources and the Committee on Adjudication are elected by the Faculty after nomination by the Committee of Six or after nomination from the floor. Faculty members of other regular committees of the Faculty are appointed by the Committee of Six, usually for two- or three-year terms. Faculty members of College committees and/or of ad hoc committees may be appointed by the President of the College, with the advice of the Committee of Six, or may be elected by the Faculty following the balloting system used for the Committee of Six.

a. The Committee of Six. The Executive Committee of the Faculty, called the Committee of Six, is composed of six members who serve two-year terms. The President of the College serves as chair of the Committee, ex officio, and the Dean of the Faculty serves ex officio as secretary of the Committee, each without vote.

Members of the Committee of Six are elected to represent the interests of the entire Faculty, not those of special groups. They are elected without restrictions of rank, tenure status, age or departmental affiliation. In the discharge of their duties, the various members participate equally in all parts of the deliberations of the Committee and in all votes taken by it, except that when a candidate for tenure is from the same department as a member of the Committee, that member shall, though remaining present, neither participate in the Committee's discussion of, nor vote in, the case. Abstentions because of conflict of interest or other conscientious reason are always acceptable.

The election procedure of the Committee of Six is designed to select members who will exercise their individual judgments as impartially as possible in the general interests of the Faculty and of the College. It is important that members of the Committee of Six not feel any particular indebtedness to individuals or groups for support in the election process. The Faculty has therefore declared that campaigning, caucusing and slating are inappropriate in Committee of Six elections. Faculty, and in particular new Faculty, seeking information about names appearing on the ballot may, however, discuss them informally with other Faculty.

At least three of the members of the Committee of Six are elected in the Spring of each year by direct Faculty ballot. The first list circulated to the Faculty consists of all those members of the Faculty eligible for election to the Committee of Six. Each faculty member voting must vote for the exact number of vacancies to be filled. On the second ballot, the number of names is four times the number of positions remaining to be filled. On each succeeding ballot, the number of names presented on the ballot is twice the number of positions remaining to be filled. To be elected, a faculty member must receive a majority of the votes cast on a particular ballot. Balloting continues until all the positions to be filled have been filled by faculty members who have received a majority of the votes cast.

All professors, associate professors, and assistant professors appointed to regular, part-time or part-time tenure-track positions are eligible to serve on the Committee of Six, except: 1) the President and the Dean of the Faculty; 2) those newly appointed during their first year at Amherst; 3) those who will not be at Amherst for one or both semesters of the year following the election; 4) members of the Committee on Educational Policy; 5) members of the College Council; 6) retiring members of the Committee on Educational Policy and the College Council (who are also ineligible for one year for election or re-election to either of these committees); 7) retiring members of the Committee of Six and those who retired from it in the previous three years (i.e., retiring members cannot be reelected for four years); 8) those who have served three or more terms on the Committee of Six and then exercise the option of taking their names off the ballot each year by contacting the Dean of the Faculty's Office before the election begins; 9) and under extraordinary personal circumstances, after petitioning the President or the Dean of the Faculty, those individuals for whom service on the Committee would be a particular hardship.

The Committee of Six acts in a general advisory capacity to the President, and to the Faculty as a whole, on all matters of College policy; considers matters of tenure and promotion, and in certain cases, of appointment and retirement; nominates or appoints members of other committees; prepares the agenda for Faculty meetings; reviews recommendations of the Committee on Educational Policy and other committees; and, reviews exceptions to degree requirements.

The Committee of Six is charged by the Faculty with responsibility for the review of recommendations made by departments or programs for degrees, summa cum laude. The Committee of Six will review the qualities of academic work judged excellent by individual departments to try to ensure comparability across the College and will record its judgment on the merits of the recommendation. In cases where the Committee of Six has questions, it will raise them with the department involved, come to a point of view, and report its discussion and conclusion to the Faculty.

The Committee of Six normally meets every week during the academic year. Minutes of its meetings are normally circulated to the Faculty in Advance of regular Faculty meetings. In case the Committee of Six should meet without the President and the Dean, the senior faculty member of the Committee of Six will preside.

b. The Committee on Academic Standing and Special Majors. This committee is co-chaired by the Dean of Students and a member of the Faculty appointed by the Committee of Six. Two additional members of the Faculty are appointed by the Committee of Six for two-year terms. The three members of the Faculty shall preferable include one each from the Humanities, the Social Sciences, and the Natural Sciences. The committee acts on cases involving the dismissal and readmission of students who have failed to perform academically according to the standards of the College. It also administers the programs of Interdisciplinary Study, Independent Study, and Field Study. When the committee meets to consider matters of academic standing, the Dean of Students serves as chair; when the committee meets to consider student proposals for special majors the designated faculty member serves as chair.

Proposals for special majors are considered by a subcommittee consisting of the three faculty members and the Dean of Students, ex officio. On matters of academic standing, the committee consists of three faculty members, the Dean of Students, the other class deans, and the Dean of Financial Aid, with the Registrar serving as secretary of the committee, ex officio.

For matters of academic standing, the charge to the committee is as follows:

(1) The Committee shall consider the standing of students in serious academic difficulty at the middle and end of each semester, and shall decide which students will be placed on or removed from academic probation.

(2) The Committee shall decide which students shall be dismissed for reasons of unsatisfactory academic performance and what conditions need be met by such students to be readmitted to the College.

(3) The Committee shall pass on all cases of readmission of students who were dismissed for unsatisfactory academic performance.

Students in good academic standing who take educational leave from the College temporarily to pursue a course of study at another institution need not apply for readmission. Their cases will be reviewed only if exceptional or unusual circumstances have led to academic failure during the period of educational leave.

Students in good academic standing who voluntarily take a leave of absence will normally not need to apply for readmission.

Students who have been dismissed or who have withdrawn for solely disciplinary reasons will be considered for readmission by members of the Dean of Student's Office.

c. The Committee on Adjudication. The Committee of Adjudication consists of eight members of the faculty, serving three year terms, staggered to ensure continuity. Nominations are made by the Committee of Six, but additional nominations may be made from the floor during the faculty meeting at which the members of this committee are elected by a majority of those present and voting. The Committee on Adjudication annually chooses its own chair.

The Committee on Adjudication has several duties.
1. It provides the Hearing Board in cases involving dismissal, suspension from service for a stated period, demotion in rank, or deprivation of pay, for cause.
2. It serves as the Faculty Grievance Committee. 
3. It provides faculty members of the Hearing Board and the Appeal Board in cases of student grievance against members of the faculty.

(1) The Committee of Six will select from the membership of the Committee on Adjudication a three member Hearing Board in cases of dismissal, suspension, demotion in rank, or deprivation of pay for cause brought by the Dean.

(2) Where a member of the faculty has failed to resolve a grievance informally, the faculty member may then file a complaint with the chair of the Committee on Adjudication. The committee's procedure for determining whether to hear the complaint and for establishing a Hearing Board are described in the Handbook section on Grievance Procedures for Members of the Faculty.

(3) In cases of student grievance against a faculty member, the chair of the committee shall appoint three faculty from among its members to a Hearing Board. Should it be necessary, the chair of the committee shall, with one other member appointed by him or her, serve as the faculty members of an Appeal Board. The procedures therefore are described in the Handbook section on Resolution of Student Grievances with Members of the Faculty.

If a member of the committee is disqualified for any reason from such service, he or she will be replaced by another member of the Committee on Adjudication. In exceptional cases where no alternative member of the committee is available, the Committee of Six will appoint a substitute from the faculty at large.

d. The Committee on Admission and Financial Aid. The Committee on Admission and Financial Aid consists of four members of the Faculty appointed by the Committee of Six for three-year terms, four students serving two-year terms to be chosen as described below and, as members ex officio, the Dean of Admission and Financial Aid (Secretary of the Committee), the Director of Admission, the Director of Financial Aid, and the Dean of Students. One of the faculty members is appointed by the Committee of Six as chair, normally after a year of service. It is hoped that different areas of the curriculum will be represented by the faculty members on the Committee. The President will meet with the Committee either at its invitation or on his initiative.

A College Committee on Admission and Financial Aid will convene under the chairmanship of the Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at least four times in each academic year. It will consist of the Dean of the Faculty, ex officio, and eight voting members: Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, the Director of Admission, the Director of Financial Aid, the Dean of Students and the four faculty members on the Committee on Admission and Financial Aid. At a meeting early in the Fall of each year, the College Committee on Admission and Financial Aid will review the composition and diversity of the first-year class, paying attention to such issues as the distribution of students by curricular and extracurricular strengths. The Committee will re-convene in advance of the release of notifications of admission to early decision candidates (normally in December) and prior to the release of notifications of admission to regular round candidates (normally in March) to consider such information as it deems necessary to insure that the College's stated policies are being implemented. At the end of each of these meetings the Committee will vote on the admission actions recommended by the Dean of Admission and Financial Aid. The Committee will hold a final meeting at the end of the academic year to review the outcome of the completed admission process (Voted by the Faculty, December, 1999).

Two students shall be elected by the student body for a two-year term to the Committee on Admission and Financial Aid. Following the election, the Dean of Admission and Financial Aid in consultation with the Committee on Admission and Financial Aid will appoint two additional student members for two-year terms. The four student positions are to be filled in staggered order, with one appointed and one elected position to be filled annually.

Because of Amherst College's commitment to equal opportunity and the role of the admission process in meeting an important part of this commitment, the presence on the Committee of students from different minority and racial groups is especially valuable. In general, student members of the Committee can provide particular advice on policy discussions about recruitment.

The Primary function of the Committee is to enhance communication between the Faculty and appropriate administrative offices and in so doing to aid the Faculty in carrying out its responsibility to formulate standards and policy for admission and financial aid. To these ends, the Committee should review on a regular basis, through observation and quantitative studies, how adequately policy and practice are meeting stated goals, should develop and maintain mechanisms for communicating faculty opinion on the quality of our students to the staff, and should report annually to the Faculty on the Committee's work. Members of the Committee should be sufficiently engaged in the admission process to enable them to carry out their responsibilities effectively (Voted by the Faculty, September 1984).

e. The College Council. The College Council is composed of three members of the Faculty, two or three members of the Administration, and five students. The Faculty members of the College Council are nominated by the Committee of Six and elected at large by the Faculty. They serve for two-year terms. Two members of the College Council will normally be elected each year, so that the terms will overlap. The Dean of Students serves on the Council ex officio without vote. One or two other members of the Dean of Students' Office are appointed annually by the President. Of the five students, three are members-at-large from the freshman, sophomore and junior class elected each spring to serve throughout the following academic year. The President of the Student Government serves ex officio without vote during the academic year. At the end of the first semester, the freshman class elects a representative to serve during the following two semesters.

The Chair of the College Council is one of the three faculty members nominated for that post by the Committee of Six and elected specifically as chair by the Faculty for a one-year term.

Subject to the reserved powers of the President and the Board of Trustees, the College Council is the body to approve and determine policy in three areas: extracurricular Faculty-student relations, the review of recommendations involving the Statement of Intellectual Responsibility, and social regulations for student residential and social life.

In addition, the College Council possesses power to make recommendations concerning a wide range of subjects that touch the joint interests of students, Faculty and Administration.

The College Council will not act as a review board to make decisions or recommendations in individual cases involving academic requirements and standards for granting degrees or involving the implementation of such academic requirements and standards. The College Council will not discuss and will not make recommendations to any group on particular personnel decisions in the Faculty or Administration.

f. College Housing Committee. The College Housing Committee advises the Administration on the general principles and rules of equity governing the housing program of the College. The Committee consists of four members of the Faculty serving two-year terms, the Treasurer, ex officio, without vote; the Director of Human Resources, ex officio, without vote; and the Director of Rental Property, ex officio, without vote. In making appointments to the Housing Committee, the Committee of Six tries to ensure that various faculty interests are represented: married-single; younger-older; home owners and those in College housing.

g. The Committee on Discipline. For complete details of the Student Code of Conduct, please consult the Student Handbook. The Committee will consist of four elected student members, two men and two women; four members of the Faculty; and the Dean of Students, who serves as non-voting chair and as record keeper. The Committee will elect one of these faculty members to serve as Head of Appeals; normally this will be someone in the third year of service on the Committee.

Each case will normally be heard by two faculty members and three student members, although in exceptional cases a quorum may consist of one faculty member and two student members. The Head of Appeals will not hear any of the cases that come before the Committee on Discipline, but will serve only on the Appeal Board. On a rotating basis one other faculty member and one student member will remain off the Committee for each hearing so that they may be available to constitute part of the membership of the Appeal Board, if an appeal is made.

When any faculty member of the Committee disqualifies himself or herself from hearing a case, or is disqualified, for a conflict of interest, he or she will be replaced by a substitute appointed by the Committee of Six, if a substitution is required to maintain the quorum. Normally student substitutes will be appointed by the College Council, but under special circumstances may be appointed by the chair of the College Council.

The faculty members will be elected by the faculty after nomination by the Committee of Six or after nomination from the floor. They will normally serve three years, their terms, when possible, staggered so as to maintain continuity from year to year.

Students will be elected to the committee in an election conducted by the middle of the second semester of each year. The Committee on Discipline will oversee the following procedures:

An informational meeting or meetings will be held, to be attended by all potential candidates .

Each candidate will submit a petition signed by no fewer than ten students and a statement specifying his or her interest and qualifications for the position. These statements should be distributed to all students.

The election will be conducted according to the procedures outlined in the code of elections. The two men and the two women candidates who receive the highest number of votes are elected. The College Council will appoint an alternate of the same sex if one of the elected students resigns or is unavailable.

If this procedure cannot be followed because of an insufficient number of candidates, then the College Council will appoint a student to any position unfilled by election.

Student members begin their one year term of July 1 of the year of their election. At the beginning of each academic year the Dean of Students, with the assistance of the Affirmative Action Officer, will schedule a session for all members of the Committee to become acquainted with the special complexities involved in cases of sexual or racial harassment and in other kinds of cases involving a violation of respect for persons. In consultation with the Committee, the Dean of Students may, from time to time, schedule other such sessions to assist the committee in considering issues raised by other categories of cases which have, or may, come before it (Voted by the Faculty September, 1987).

h. The Doshisha Committee (Voted by the Faculty December 1994). The Doshisha Committee shall coordinate all formal relations between Amherst College and Doshisha University, including the selection of participants in the faculty exchange (the Amherst-Doshisha Professorship), and the selection of the Amherst-Doshisha Fellow. The Committee shall also coordinate the selection of the Neesima and Uchimura Scholars with Doshisha University and the Amherst Admission Office.

The Committee consists of three members of the faculty serving two-year terms. Members of the committee are selected by the Committee of Six.

i. The Committee on Educational Policy. (Voted by the Faculty, December 2006) The Committee on Educational Policy (CEP) is composed of five faculty members, each serving a three-year term; the Dean of the Faculty, ex officio, without vote; and three student members, each serving a two-year term. The Humanities, the Social Sciences and the Natural Sciences must be represented on the committee, by both faculty members and student members. Each year the committee chooses its own chair and secretary from among its five faculty members. A researcher appointed by the Dean of the Faculty informs and supports the work of the CEP and serves as committee secretary. The chair sets the committee's agenda. Nominations of the faculty members for the Committee on Educational Policy are made by the Committee of Six and reported to the Faculty in advance of the Faculty meeting at which they are to be elected.

Additional nominations may be made from the floor at the meeting. Candidates must receive the approval of a majority of the eligible voting members of the Faculty present at the meeting in order to be elected. Ideally, two members of the Committee on Educational Policy should be elected in two out of three years, and one member elected in the third. In this way, overlapping terms will create a continuity of membership. The student members of the committee are elected for two-year terms, two members being elected in one year, and a third in the other, alternately.

All members of the Faculty are eligible to serve on the Committee on Educational Policy, with the same exceptions as govern eligibility for the Committee of Six.

The Committee on Educational policy is expected to review and evaluate, and to report to the Faculty on, the general educational policy of the college; to consider suggestions from departments or from individual faculty members or students relating to changes in educational policy, including proposals for new courses, new programs, and altered major programs or honors requirements; and to make recommendations to the Committee of Six and the Faculty. The Committee on Educational Policy advises the President and the Dean of the Faculty about the allocation of faculty positions to departments. In making recommendations for such allocations, the committee considers, inter alia, the curricular needs of individual departments and the commitment of departments to offer courses that meet identified college-wide priorities and curricular needs.

j. The Faculty Computer Committee. The Faculty Computer Committee consists of three faculty members appointed by the Committee of Six for two-year terms and one student member elected by the student government. In addition, the Director of Information Technology (IT), the Director of Academic Technology Services (ATS), and the Librarian of the College are ex officio members without vote. One of the faculty members serves as chair. The committee advises the Director of IT and the Director of ATS on topics related to the use of computer technology in support of research and instruction and on other IT issues affecting the academic life of the College. One member of the committee serves as a faculty representative to the College's Internet Strategy Group. (Voted by the Faculty, November 2007)

k. Committee on Health Professions. The Committee on Health Professions is composed of four faculty members appointed by the Committee of Six, including at least one each from Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, and the Health Professions Adviser. Faculty members normally serve for three years, and one serves as Chair.

The Health Professions Committee recommends policies affecting students planning for careers in medicine and other health professions, provides academic advising and support for those students, and prepares recommendation materials for students and graduates applying to health professions schools.

l. The Committee on Health and Safety. This committee is chaired by the Dean of Students and includes three members of the Faculty appointed by the Committee of Six for two-year terms. Other members of the committee are: the Director of the Health Service, the Director of the Counseling Center, the Director of Health Education, the Director of Facilities Planning and Management, the Director of Public Safety, the Director of Human Resources, a Religious Advisor, and two students elected by the student body. The committee is concerned with matters relating to the health and safety of students, faculty and staff. It reviews and gives advice on safety measures such as campus lighting and the locking of dormitories and other buildings. It considers issues of occupational safety for faculty and staff. And it makes recommendations on arrangements for the provision of medical services and psychological counseling to students. 

m.  The Committee on International Education. The Committee on International Education is composed of three members of the Faculty (each from a different department), one of whom will serve as chair, and the Director of International Experience and Registrar, ex officio.  The term for the faculty members of the committee is three years.  Members of the committee and the committee’s chair are appointed by the Committee of Six.  The committee shapes policies and procedures for evaluating and approving study-abroad programs for Amherst students.  The members maintain and review a list of College-approved study-abroad programs, review student petitions for study-abroad programs that are not already on the College-approved list, review student evaluations of all international educational programs, facilitate communication between the Faculty and the Director of International Experience to aid in advising, and consult with the Director to identify new opportunities for international experiences and to facilitate student participation in them. 

n. The Faculty Lecture Committee. The Faculty Lecture Committee is composed of three members, each serving initially for two years. The Chair is typically chosen from among the returning members of the Committee and serves for a third year. This committee arranges the program of College lectures, including those provided by specially endowed lecture funds.

o. The Library Committee. The Library Committee is composed of three members of the Faculty, one chosen annually by the Committee of Six, serving for three-year terms, two students, and the Librarian of the College, ex officio. The Committee chooses its chair and secretary each year. Its membership should include one representative each from the Humanities, the Social Sciences and the Natural Sciences. One of the three faculty members is appointed by the Committee of Six to serve also as the faculty member on the Archives Committee.

The purpose of the committee is to discuss and to recommend policies concerning the Library's collections and services.

p. The Orientation Committee. The Orientation Committee consists of three members of the Dean of Students' Office, two members of the faculty, and three students. The student members are drawn from the resident counselors and the freshman class. The Dean of New Students is chair. The function of the Committee is to plan, administer and evaluate early orientation, freshman orientation and on-going orientation programs.

q. The Committee on Education and Athletics. (Voted by the Faculty, 2004) This committee is composed of the Chair of the Department of Physical Education, two representatives selected by the Department of Physical Education, three members of the Faculty chosen by the Committee of Six, two students (one man and one woman) elected by their peers from a slate consisting of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and a third appointed by the Student Government (Voted by the Faculty, May 2007) and the Dean of Students, ex officio. A member of the Faculty chairs the committee. The President and the Dean of the Faculty may meet with the Committee. The purpose of this committee is to advise the college on the role and place of athletics in the educational enterprise of the College.

r. Committee on Priorities and Resources. (Voted by the Faculty, November 2005) The Committee on Priorities and Resources (CPR) is a committee of faculty and students (with a faculty member as chair), with officers of the administration (the President, the Dean of the Faculty, the Treasurer, the Director of the Budget, and the Director of Human Resources) present ex officio. The three faculty members, one each from the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences, normally serve for a term of three years, and their terms of office are generally staggered so that each year only one new member of the committee and the chair are nominated by the Committee of Six and elected by the faculty. To assure continuity of membership on the CPR, the Committee of Six will endeavor to nominate members of the faculty whose service on the committee will not be interrupted for two or three years.

The three student members are elected from the student senate by that body and serve for terms of two years. Two members are elected in one year, and a third in the other, alternately. A special election conducted from within the senate is used to select replacements for students unable to complete their terms of office.

The purpose of the CPR is to bring a range of faculty and student opinion to bear upon (1) the process of annually budgeting the resources of the college, and (2) the long-term allocation of resources. To ensure the CPR's involvement in the annual budget process, the administration will bring the budget currently being formulated before the CPR while there is still ample time to affect it. The administration will also present its sense of the priorities among competing claims on the college's resources. The CPR will present to the Board of Trustees the committee's views on the annual budget as it is being prepared and on long-term financial concerns. In the spring term, the CPR will also receive and respond to new large capital requests and review the ongoing list of capital priorities and deferred maintenance projects. To discharge its responsibility to assess the continuing ability of the college's financial resources to support its educational mission, the CPR will periodically review the long-term financial impact of such things as the relationship between resources and programs, the level of compensation and benefits, the level and rate of change of the comprehensive fee, and other pertinent matters. To that end, the committee will query other offices and committees about proposals that have financial implications.

Particular responsibilities of the faculty members of the CPR are to represent to the administration the views of the faculty concerning the budget and to report to the Faculty each year concerning the status of faculty salaries and compensation.

The committee may request that the Committee of Six include CPR reports or recommendations on the agenda of meetings of the faculty.

s. The Faculty Committee on Student Fellowships. The Faculty Committee on Student Fellowships is composed of six members: the Dean of Financial Aid, secretary, ex officio; and five members of the faculty, one of whom is chair. The faculty members of this committee are recommended to the Board of Trustees by the Committee of Six and serve for two-year terms.

The purpose of the Committee is to review applications of students and/or recent graduates who wish to receive graduate and undergraduate fellowships and scholarships and to make recommendations on behalf of the College to the groups or foundations that award the fellowships and scholarships. Two categories of fellowships and scholarships are principally involved: a) national or international fellowships and scholarships to which the College can nominate a limited or selected number of applicants (Churchill, Fulbright, Goldwater, Marshall, Mitchell, Rhodes, Truman, and Watson are examples). For national fellowships and scholarships, the Committee reviews applications, interviews applicants, and writes the letters of recommendation for nominated candidates. b) Amherst College Fellowships, for which the committee reviews applications for fellowships for graduate study, which are awarded by the Trustees or Faculty of Amherst College as described in detail in the Amherst College Catalog.

Ad Hoc Committees

Ad hoc committees are generally appointed by the President of the College, with the advice of the Committee of Six, to study and make reports on special problems or to serve as search committees for certain Faculty or Administrative appointments. Usually Faculty are appointed to such committees by the President after consultation with the Committee of Six. In unusual circumstances, the Faculty members serving on ad hoc committees may be elected by the Faculty, following the method of balloting used for elections to the Committee of Six.

Departmental Committees. The Faculty voted in May, 1969 to establish within each department clearly understood procedures whereby both faculty and student views can be mutually and seriously weighed in determination of departmental policy, including: departmental requirements for majors; the range of course offerings; the growth and development of the department within the College; possibilities for academically valuable cooperation with parallel departments at the neighboring four colleges. Individual departments may deem it appropriate to include also the nature of new teaching appointments within the department and the assessment of the teaching effectiveness of those teachers within the department who are being considered for tenure.

The nature of different subjects, the composition of the Faculty and of the majors within different departments, and the conditions necessary to ensure both freedom of teaching and freedom of learning within different departments may call for somewhat diverse procedures to accomplish these goals.

2. Committees of the Board of Trustees

There are two committees, advisory to the Board of Trustees, on which Faculty Serve.

a. The Advisory Committee to the Committee on Trusteeship. The Board of Trustees has declared its intent to elect as Term Trustees only those who have been considered by an Advisory Committee consisting of two members of the Faculty and two students. At its meeting of October 10, 1972, the Faculty established a procedure to elect its representatives to the Advisory Committee.

Two faculty members are elected for two-year terms. The election procedure follows that of the Committee of Six, requiring that a person to be elected must receive a majority of the votes cast. All regular tenured and tenure-track members of the Faculty except those on leave during the spring semester of the academic year, in which the election takes place and/or those on leave during one or both semesters of the academic year following the election, and those newly appointed during their first year at Amherst, are eligible to serve on the Advisory Committee. Although part-time faculty may choose not to be included on the ballot, Faculty whose terms expire are again eligible in the following year.

b. The Advisory Committee on Honorary Degrees. The two faculty members elected to the Advisory Committee to the Committee on Trusteeship serve also as the faculty members on the Advisory Committee on Honorary Degrees. This committee, which also includes three students elected by the senior class, meets with the Honorary Degrees Committee of the Board of Trustees to discuss candidates for honorary degrees and to make recommendations to the Board. The Board has indicated that not candidate will be voted an honorary degree whose candidacy has not been discussed with the Advisory Committee on Honorary Degrees.

3. Committees of the College

There are several advisory committees composed of members of the Faculty, Administration, Staff and student body, appointed by the President or other members of the Administration to communicate with different constituencies of the College and to formulate recommendations about policies and procedures to the President and other members of the Administration.

a. Diversity and Inclusion. The Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee performs advisory functions for the College Administration. Its purpose is to bring to the attention of the College a range of opinions and suggestions regarding the provisions of the College's Diversity and Inclusion Program, which provisions reflect the laws and guidelines published by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and subsequent Federal and State regulations. In carrying out its purpose it has authority to issue reports to the College community.

The Committee is composed of five Faculty members, seven Trustee appointees, seven Staff appointees, six students, and such other persons as the President chooses to include in order to provide diversity of perspective and to meet the needs of those groups covered by Affirmative Action legislation. The Director of Human Resources or his or her representative and the Special Assistant to the President for Diversity shall serve ex officio. All members are regular employees of the College. The President, to whom the Committee reports at least once a year, appoints all members to the Committee. Appointments are for two years. The Committee elects its chair and secretary.

b. The Archives Committee. The Archives Committee is composed of a member of the Faculty appointed by the Committee of Six from those faculty members serving on the Library Committee, the Librarian of the College ex officio, and the Archivist of the College ex officio, who serves as the chair. The committee reports to the President.

The Committee reviews policy issues relating to the Archives and makes decisions concerning retention of and access to institutional records of permanent historical value.

4. Five College Committees

From time to time Amherst Faculty members may be appointed by the President or the Dean of the Faculty, with the advice of the Committee of Six, to serve as representatives on Five College Faculty Committees to consider questions of academic policy of joint interest to two or more of the Colleges.