The role of faculty committees in the governance of colleges and universities is deeply rooted in tradition. For Kalamazoo College this is codified broadly in the Faculty Bylaws and occurs in part through elected, standing, and special or ad hoc committees and in faculty meetings. The elected committees include the Faculty Executive Committee (named the Executive Committee of the Faculty in the bylaws) and the Faculty Personnel Committee (named the Personnel Committee of the Faculty in the bylaws). The Faculty Bylaws delegate oversight of these committees to the Faculty Executive Committee. For standing committees this involves assigning faculty members to these committees, approving or setting the agendas of standing committees in consultation with those committees, assisting committees in achieving their goals, and periodically reviewing their charges and compositions. In addition, there are special committees established by administrators or others that call upon the services of faculty colleagues. Membership on faculty committees may include administrators or students in addition to faculty members.

What follows is a statement from the Faculty Executive Committee on faculty committee service that results from the work of restructuring faculty committees over the past several years. The goal of this statement is to clarify faculty committee function with regard to responsibilities of and protections for faculty members; administrator and student membership; general committee operation; and committee chair duties.