CHAPTER 4: Organization and Resources

Participatory Governance

Decision making at the University of Colorado at Boulder is influenced strongly by a system of shared governance. The Laws of the Regents specifically call for collaborative decision making by the administration and faculty. In addition, student representative government is given wide latitude in the appropriation of funds collected as student fees. Opinions from student representatives are sought out at many levels of university governance.

Faculty Governance

The faculty, under administrative supervision and in accordance with the Laws of the Regents and the laws of the State of Colorado, has the principal responsibility for originating policy in the areas of: academic affairs (including initial authorization and direction of all courses, curricula, and degrees), scholastic requirements (including scholastic standards for admission, grading, continuation, graduation, and honors), and academic ethics (including development of policies and procedures).

The faculty acts jointly with the administration to make recommendations to the Board of Regents in the areas of: establishment of policies and procedures for faculty appointment, tenure review, and promotion and establishment of policy and procedures for the appeal of decisions on faculty appointment, tenure, and promotion. The faculty also participates in decisions affecting policies on regulation of academic honesty, budgetary review, selection of academic administrators, determination of candidates for degrees, and the general academic welfare of the university.

Boulder Faculty Assembly. On the Boulder campus, the Boulder Faculty Assembly (BFA) is the officially sanctioned representative faculty body. BFA is comprised of 49 elected members, each of whom serves a three-year term. The organization currently has seven standing committees and eight sub-committees: Academic Affairs; Academic Technology and Administrative Services; Budget and Planning; Committee on Women; Communications; Diversity; Executive Committee; Faculty Affairs; Faculty Compensation and Benefits; Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Affairs; Infrastructure; Intercollegiate Athletics; Library; Minority Affairs; and Student Affairs.

The Executive Committee includes the BFA chair, vice chair, and secretary, as well as the chairs of all the standing committees and subcommittees, and two at-large representatives from the full BFA. The BFA Executive Committee meets weekly and the assembly as a whole meets monthly.

Each of the BFA committees meets regularly with appropriate administrators to discuss policy matters pertaining to their particular responsibilities. In addition, the BFA chair serves on a number of campus-level policy committees, including the Chancellor’s Executive Committee, the Campus Budget Advisory Committee, and the Council of Deans. The BFA Budget and Planning Committee serves as the core of the Academic Affairs Budget Advisory Committee, and the committee chair sits on the Campus Budget Advisory Committee.

In recent years, the relationship between the BFA and CU-Boulder administration has been characterized by mutual respect and collaborative effort. Both groups have expressed support for the value of shared governance in moving the university forward. More information on the BFA is available at www.colorado.edu/FacultyGovernance.

Faculty Senate and Faculty Council. The Faculty Senate, which derives its authority from the Board of Regents, consists of all faculty and full-time instructors from the four campuses. The systemwide Faculty Council, the representative governing body of the Faculty Senate, consists of members elected according to the "Rules of the Senate." Advice and recommendations are directed to the Board of Regents, the systemwide Council of Academic Deans, or appropriate administrative officials on matters related to educational policy, internal operations, and external operations of the university. The senate has a number of standing committees that work closely with the various administrative officers and branches of faculty government. Minutes of faculty council meetings and information about its members may be found at the following web site: www.colorado.edu/FacultyCouncil.

Student Governance

University of Colorado Student Union. The University of Colorado Student Union (UCSU) oversees the spending of student fees and acts as a liaison to the University of Colorado at Boulder administration. Composed of three branches—executive, legislative, and judicial—UCSU administers a wide array of student services, including all of the UCSU cost centers. The executive branch is headed by the "tri-executives," who together act as the student body presidents and appoint student administrators, directors, and chairmen as appropriate.

The legislative branch consists of the UCSU Legislative Council, which is comprised of two houses: the Representative Council, made up of nine representatives-at-large elected by the student body, and the Council of Colleges and Schools, which is comprised of representatives appointed by the deans or student governance organizations of the respective units. The UCSU Appellate Court represents the judicial branch, which is comprised of seven justices who are appointed by the tri-executives and ratified by the Legislative Council. The justices serve for the duration of their academic careers (or until they resign).

The largest autonomous student government in the nation, UCSU oversees a budget of more than $24 million, funded by self-generated revenues and a student fee paid by all CU-Boulder students. One of UCSU’s major responsibilities is the oversight of the UCSU cost centers, including Recreation Services, the Wardenburg Health Center, the Student Organizations Finance Office, the University Memorial Center, Off-Campus Student Services, the Women's Resource Center, the Volunteer Clearing House, the Environmental Center, Program Council, KVCU Radio, and the Cultural Events Board.

United Government of Graduate Students. The United Government of Graduate Students (UGGS) represents graduate and professional students at the University of Colorado at Boulder. UGGS addresses issues of concern to graduate and professional students, including financial aid, graduate student employment, and personal matters such as health and child care.

In addition to campuswide organizations, representative student governance bodies exist within individual schools and colleges at CU-Boulder. Such groups provide advice and feedback on important academic issues within the units.

Staff Governance

Boulder Campus Staff Council. Staff participation in shared governance at the campus level is achieved through the University of Colorado at Boulder Staff Council (BCSC). BCSC was established in June 1972 by the president of the university and approved by the Board of Regents. Its purpose is to recommend to the university administration proposals designed to improve the status of staff employees. Currently, 33 classified and professional-exempt staff members are elected by their peers or appointed by the council to serve rotating three-year terms (if elected) or one-year terms (if appointed). The council meets monthly to discuss concerns of staff such as personnel policies, legislation, work environment, and business processes. BCSC officers, elected annually by the council members, include a chair or co-chairs, vice chair, secretary, and treasurer. The chair (or a co-chair) serves on the Campus Executive Committee. The council's Executive Board is composed of officers, committee chairs, and the past chair(s). BCSC welcomes participation of non-Staff Council staff on many of its committees in such areas as awards, blood drive, diversity, employee events, information access, legislative affairs, and outreach. Through its committees, BCSC sponsors various events designed to inform, educate, and recognize staff. The council regularly is asked to appoint or nominate individuals to participate on campus committees, such as the Boulder Campus Planning Commission (BCPC) and the Wellness Committee. BCSC is an increasing presence on campus search committees, such as those for the chancellor and vice chancellor for student affairs. See www.colorado.edu/StaffCouncil for additional information.

University of Colorado Staff Council. At the system level, the University of Colorado Staff Council (UCSC) is the governance group through which classified staff communicate with the university system administration and the Board of Regents. UCSC is composed of classified staff representatives from each of the four campuses and meets monthly to discuss issues affecting all University of Colorado classified staff. See www.cusys.edu/StaffCouncil for more information about UCSC.

Statewide Liaison Council of Higher Education Classified Staff. At the state level, BCSC elects three delegates to serve on the Statewide Liaison Council of Higher Education Classified Staff (SLC). SLC was organized to provide a forum to facilitate communication among the classified staff of higher education institutions in Colorado and to facilitate information exchange between the classified staff of these institutions and the Colorado General Assembly. For more information, see stripe.colorado.edu/~ocken.

Law Students Excel on Bar Examinations

Graduates of the CU Law School continue to excel in passing the Colorado bar examination. Over the past four years, the CU passage rate for first-time takers of the examination has averaged 91 percent, compared with the statewide rate of 82 percent. Passage rates for CU graduates who take bar examinations in other states have been similarly high. For example, CU's average rate for the past three years on the California bar is 84.5 percent, while the average for all first-time takers is 72.3 percent.