Universität Rostock - Structure - Boards and Elections - Senate - Rules and regulations

- last amendment by the second statutes on amendment of the rules of procedure for the work of the Academic Senate of the University of Rostock dated 4th March 2009 -

(non-official reading version, no bulletin)

Content

§ 1 Elected members
§ 2 Honorary Senators
§ 3 Participants
§ 4 Chairmanship
§ 5 General public
§ 6 Convocation/Meeting dates
§ 7 Agenda/Motions
§ 8 Course of the meeting
§ 9 Procedural motions
§ 10 Quorum
§ 11 Passing of resolutions
§ 12 Minutes
§ 13 Senate commissions
§ 14 Announcement and inception

§ 1 Elected members

(1) Members of the Academic Senate (in the following referred to as „senate“) are the twelve elected lecturers, four academic staff members, four students and two additional staff members. The members of the senate are obliged to participate in its meetings.
(2) In case they are not able to participate, an allocated deputy person acts on behalf of the related member of the senate. The allocation of the deputy members to the members derives from the board election results according to § 33 of the electoral regulations. The procedure has to be clarified by every member her- or himself. 
(3) In case there are not enough deputy persons on the list, one deputy person is allocated to several members. In case such a multiply allocated deputy person has to act on behalf of several persons simultaneously, this deputy person acts in place of only one member; the other members are not deputized.
(4) In case a member cannot participate and a deputy person acts on behalf of him/her, this has to be announced by the member to the senate office. In case an allocated deputy person acts on behalf of a member, this deputy person has the same rights and obligation as the member.

§ 2 Honorary senators

The honorary senators support the work of the senate and are entitled to participate in meetings of the Academic senates with advisory votes.

§ 3 Participation, empowerment to speak and to file requests

(1) Participants in the senate meeting
(a) With empowerment to speak or to propose a motion
- the rector, the vice rectors and the chancellor,
- the deans,
- the equal opportunity commissioner,
- the head of the student’s parliament and the head of the Student's union executive committee,
- the representative of disabled employees
- the head of the university committee,
(b) With entitlement to speak
- the head of the council,
- the head of the overall employee representation
- persons entitled by the senate or the president in individual cases.
(2) The right of all university members to submit applications at the senate according to § 7 para. 1 of the rules of procedure remains unaffected.

§ 4 Chairmanship

(1) The senate elects a president and vice-president from all its members. In case this president cannot participate in a meeting, the vice-president will act on behalf of him/her.
(2) President and vice-president are elected in separate ballots from all senate members for the relevant period of office. Re-elections are possible. Those persons are elected who get a majority of the senate member votes.
(3) The oldest member of the group of professors within the senate will supervise the election.
(4) Department 2.2 fulfils the tasks of a senate office and supports the senate work according to the scope of tasks assigned by these rules of procedure.

§ 5 General public

(1) The council meetings are open to university staff members.
(2) The senate is entitled to exclude the public regarding single agenda items.
(3) Staff matters are negotiated in closed sessions.
(4) Members of the senate and advisory or other participants in the meetings are not allowed to participate in a meeting in so far as the senate decides upon a matter that results into direct advantages or disadvantages for the relevant person. Persons who are not allowed to participate have to leave the meeting room.

§ 6 Convocation/ Meeting dates

(1) The meeting dates are determined by a senate decision for every semester in advance. The senate should meet once a month during semester periods.
(2) In urgent cases, the senate can be convened by the president for extra meetings. It has to be convened if this is demanded by at least eight senate members. The related invitation has to be sent to the senate members at least one week prior to the meeting by stating the subject of discussion.

§ 7 Agenda / Motions

(1) All university members are entitled to submit motions to the senate. The motion has to comprise of: Date, presenter, processor, topic, justification, information on the involvement of the administration, decision phrase. § 2 para 1 of the rules of procedure remains unaffected by this.
(2) Motions have to be submitted at least 10 working days prior to the next senate meeting at the senate office. All motions that are received by the office after expiry of the deadline have to be accepted by two thirds of the present members as agenda item.
 (3) The president checks the acceptance of the submitted motions as agenda item. In case the senate is not in responsible for the relevant matter, the president submits it to the institution in charge and informs mover of the motion and senate accordingly.
 (4) An agenda item „inquiries to the university directors“ has to be planned for every meeting. Members and participants with empowerment to speak and to propose a motion have to submit written inquiries. These have to be submitted at least three working days prior to the meeting date to the president.
(5) On the basis of the submitted motions and matters of discussion, the senate president issues the agenda of the senate meeting. The agenda has to be send to the senate members as enclosure to the invitation within the period determined under §6 para 2 clause 3 of the rules of procedure. It should comprise information on the expected duration of the meeting. The final version of the agenda is determined by the senate in the beginning of every meeting.
(6) In case a faculty’s proposal for appointment has to be discussed, the president will appoint one senate member as rapporteur in accordance with the basic orders.

§ 8 Course of the meeting

(1) The president opens, chairs and closes the meetings.
(2) Speakers are called by the president, in principle in the chronological order the requests to speak were announced.
(3) For short direct responses, the president may even give the word to a person not listed as speaker.
(4) The president is entitled to interrupt a speaker to remind him/her to talk about the relevant subject or to call him/her to business or to order or to initiate a resolution on speaking time limitation.

§ 9 Procedural motions

(1) Requests to speak related to the rules of procedure interrupt the speakers list. Requests to speak related to the rules of procedure precede other requests to speak.
(2) Procedural motions can be signified orally by raising both hands.
(3) Procedural motions are in particular motions on:
- Postponement or interruption of meetings,
- Avoidance or postponement of an agenda item,
- Transfer to a committee
- Finalisation of the meeting
- Finalisation of the speakers list or
- Limitation of the speaking time.
(4) Votes on procedural motions have to be carried out immediately.
(5) Infringements against the rule of procedure can only be reprimanded during the relevant meeting. In case objections are raised, the senate has to decide upon.

§ 10 Quorums

(1) The senate is competent to pass a resolution if all members were invited in appropriate manner and more than fifty percent of all members attend the meeting.
(2) An attendance list is kept. Senate members who appear after the meeting was opened or leave the meeting before it finalisation, the time of attendance has to be recorded.

§ 11 Passing of resolutions

(1) Regulations are passed with a majority of votes. Abstentions and invalid votes count as not delivered votes. Were votes are tied, the motion shall be deemed as rejected. Resolutions directly related to research or the appointment of lecturers require not only a majority of the senate members but also a majority of the lecturers who belong to the senate. The decision on the university development plan requires a majority of the senate members.
(2) Prior to passing the resolution, the exact wording of the motion is presented by the president. The question relevant to the voting has to be posed in a way that allows to answer it with Yes or No.
(3) The president ascertains the result of the vote. In case the result is doubted, a cross-check has to be carried out.
(4) The voting is done by raising hands. At the request of a member, the senate may pass a ballot vote or a roll-call vote. In case of a roll-call vote, one senate member after the other is called to vote. The voting has to be recorded.
(5) Any resolutions on human resources has to be made as ballot votes. Human resource affairs are all matters that touch the privacy of a university member and all procedural steps related to the employment or appointment of a university member.
(6) In case no resolution can be made even after the second voting procedure regarding resolutions that are directly related to the research or the appointment of lecturers, a resolution based on the majority of the lecturers who belong to the board is sufficient.
(7) Decisions that have a direct effect on research, education or the appointment of lecturers are made by a voting of the university members who belong to the board, excluding the group of other employees provided that there are no deviating regulations concerning the other employees in the basic order.
(8) In case senate decisions related to studies organisation, student self-administration and social issues of students are made with a majority of the senate but not with a majority of the present student members of the senate, they become subject of a second reading for final debate in the senate.

§ 12 Minutes

(1) The minutes are kept by a staff member of the office (secretary).
(2) Minutes of every meeting have to be taken and signed by the chairman/chairwoman and the secretary.
(3) The minutes have to comprise information on:
1. Date, place, start and end of the meeting,
2. Name(s) of the chairman/chairwoman/chairmen/chairwomen,
3. Attendance list, separated into members, advisory participants and invited guests,
4. Topics of the meeting, submitted motions included,
5. Made decisions and
6. The result of the election.
(4) As a rule, procedural motions shall not be included into the minutes.
(5) Every member of the senate is entitled to demand that his/her statements on agenda items or the course of the meeting are included into the minutes. The statements have to be submitted to the chairman/chairwoman of the senate on the third working day after the meeting latest in writing.
(6) As a rule, the minutes are presented to the senate for approval during the next meeting, latest the meeting after the next. Objections to the minutes can be filed during the relevant meeting. In case no objections are filed, the minutes are considered as approved. The aforementioned regulations do not apply for the minutes of the final senate meeting within the period of office.
(7) The senate members and the participants with advisory vote receive a copy of the minutes. The content of the minutes of the senate are published on the web pages of the senate.

§ 13 Senate commissions

(1) The senate is, according to the basic order regulations, entitled to appoint and suspend senate commissions.
(2) Commission members are senators and professionally competent university members. Persons mentioned in § 3 para. 1 of the rules on procedure may participate in meetings with empowerment to file motions and empowerment to speak.
(3) Every commission is directed by a president. The president is elected by the senate on the suggestion of the commission. The groups and faculties should be adequately represented in the committees.
(4) The heads of the commissions have to report to the senate in regular intervals. The minutes of the commission meetings have to be submitted to the president of the senate.

§ 14 Announcement and coming into effect

(1) The rules on procedure have to be announced in the „Bulletin of the University of Rostock“.
(2) It comes into effect by adoption by the senate and remains valid until new rules of procedure come into effect.

The rector of the University of Rostock
Prof. Dr. Gerhard Maeß