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William H. Bowen School of Law
Bowen Constitution
PART I. PURPOSES AND ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION
Section 1 Purposes. The School of Law shall have as its principal objective the preparation of students for the legal profession. In addition, it shall prepare students for private and public service at local, state and federal levels, and, through faculty and student research and activities, serve the community, state and nation in the improvement of the law and the administration of justice.
Section 2 Accreditation. The School of Law shall be guided by the accreditation standards of the American Bar Association and the membership standards of the Association of American Law Schools.
Section 3 Administrative Unit. The School of Law shall operate as a single administrative unit, without departments, of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Section 4 Office of the Dean. The School of Law shall be headed by a Dean, appointed in accordance with the regulations of the Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas System. Consistent with the regulations of the University of Arkansas System, the regulations of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and this Constitution, the Dean shall exercise general administrative supervision over the educational programs and operations of the School of Law and shall implement decisions of the Faculty on matters of academic policy and practice. The Dean shall have the power to appoint Assistant and Associate Deans, Directors or other administrative officers, and to assign or delegate administrative duties to them. Any authority or responsibility of the Dean may be delegated to individual faculty members or standing or special committees of the School of Law.
Section 5 Administrative Staff. As needs and resources permit, the Dean shall employ clerical, custodial, maintenance and secretarial personnel necessary for the efficient operation of School of Law programs and activities and shall prescribe their duties and responsibilities.
Section 6 Library. The School of Law shall maintain a Law Library containing a collection of legal and related materials sufficient to permit general research, as well as specialized research in areas of particular interest to the School of Law. The Law Library shall be directed by a full-time professional Law Library Director who shall report to the Dean. The staff of the Law Library shall include such other professional and clerical assistants as may be necessary.
PART II. ORGANIZATION OF THE FACULTY
Section 1 Powers and Duties of the Faculty. Subject to regulations of the University of Arkansas System and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the Faculty of the School of Law shall determine academic policy and practice for the School of Law, including but not limited to determination of curricula and the standards for admission to, continuation in and graduation from the School of Law. The Faculty, through the Dean, shall recommend candidates for diplomas, degrees and honors to the Chancellor, President and Board of Trustees.
Section 2. Membership. The Faculty of the School of Law shall consist of:
a. The Dean of the School of Law;
All persons with appointments as Distinguished Professor of Law, Professor of Law, Associate Professor of Law, Assistant Professor of Law, Professor of Legal Writing, Associate Professor of Legal Writing, Assistant Professor of Legal Writing, Professor of Clinical Education, Associate Professor of Clinical Education, Assistant Professor of Clinical Education, or Visiting Professor of Law approved by the Faculty pursuant to Part II, Section 4.b. of this Constitution, except that if any such person holds joint appointment in the School of Law and any other college, school or educational institution, he or she shall have privileges of debate and vote as a member of the School of Law Faculty only if (1) the joint appointee's appointment to the School of Law is for at least 50% of his or her working time and (2) the joint appointee's appointment is to a tenure track position with the School of Law;
All persons with appointments as Visiting Distinguished Professor of Law, Visiting Professor of Law, Visiting Associate Professor of Law, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, Visiting Professor of Legal Writing, Visiting Associate Professor of Legal Writing, Visiting Assistant Professor of Legal Writing, Visiting Professor of Clinical Education, Visiting Associate Professor of Clinical Education, or Visiting Assistant Professor of Clinical Education whose appointments are full-time;
All persons with appointment as Professor of Law Librarianship, Associate Professor of Law Librarianship or Assistant Professor of Law Librarianship whose appointments are full-time within the School of Law Library;
All full-time Instructors of Law; and
f. All full-time Associate and Assistant Deans of the School of Law.
No student employee of the School of Law shall be considered to be a member of the faculty.
Section 3. Faculty Meetings.
a. Scheduling.
(1) Regular Meetings. A regular meeting of the Faculty shall be held once each month during each Fall and Spring Semester, unless the Dean determines that no matter of business appropriate for Faculty consideration warrants the convening of a meeting. Not later than the end of the first week of class of each semester in which regularly scheduled classes are held, the Dean shall publish to all persons entitled to attend and participate in faculty meetings a tentative schedule of meeting dates and times for the regular meetings of the Faculty during that semester, which shall be subject to change as conditions require.
(2) Special Meetings. Special meetings of the Faculty may be called on twenty-four hours notice by the Dean or by written call signed by at least one-fourth of the persons entitled to vote on the matter proposed for consideration.
b. Agenda.
(1) Regular Meetings. At least one week prior to any regular meeting of the Faculty, the Dean shall give notice of the place and time of the meeting to all persons entitled to participate in the meeting. Such notice shall be accompanied by a request for submission of items of business to be included in the meeting. Each member of the Faculty and each student representative to the Faculty shall be entitled to have any item of business submitted placed on the agenda for the meeting, provided it is submitted by the deadline specified in the call for agenda items. The Dean shall issue a written agenda for the meeting at least 24 hours prior to the time set for the convening of the meeting.
(2) Special Meetings. Any call for a special meeting of the Faculty shall specify the agenda for the meeting, as well as the time and place of the meeting.
(3) Consideration of Items Not on Agenda. Items not listed on the published agenda for a meeting of the Faculty may be considered only upon the vote of at least two-thirds of the Faculty entitled to vote on such items.
c. Receipt of Notice. Any member of the Faculty or student representative to the Faculty shall be considered to have received any notice called for by this Section when the notice has been delivered in person, delivered to the person's home address or placed in the person's School of Law campus mail box.
d. Quorum. A quorum for transaction of business on any matter at a meeting of the Faculty shall be two-thirds of the persons described in Sections 2.a. and 2.b. of Part II. of this Constitution other than persons on leave or on off campus duty assignment who are not present at the meeting.
e. Votes Necessary for Transaction of Business. Except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, the affirmative vote of a majority of all persons voting shall be necessary for action by the Faculty.
f. Presiding Officer. The Dean or the Dean's delegate shall preside at all regular and special meetings of the Faculty. If neither the Dean nor the Dean's delegate is present at the time and place designated for a meeting, the senior Faculty member (in point of continuous service with the School of Law) present shall preside.
g. Persons Entitled to Participate and Vote at Faculty Meetings.
(1) Each member of the Faculty described in Sections 2.a and 2.b of Part II. of this Constitution and persons holding appointment on February 1, 1999 as full-time Instructors of Law shall be entitled to attend and participate in all Faculty meetings and shall be entitled to vote on any matter of business at a meeting of the Faculty.
(2) Each member of the Faculty described in Section 2.d of Part II. of this Constitution shall be entitled to attend and participate in all Faculty meetings and shall be entitled to vote on the following matters of business otherwise properly considered at a meeting of the Faculty: the employment of a Law Library Director, employee fringe benefits and working conditions, UALR Faculty Senate elections, Law Library policies, policies regarding the use of School of Law facilities, and amendments to this Constitution abridging the matters listed in this subsection g(2), in Part II, Section 4.e, in Part III, Section 1.j, and in Part III, Section 2.b.(5).
(3) Each member of the Faculty described in Sections 2.e and 2.f of Part II. of this Constitution shall be entitled to attend and participate in all Faculty meetings and shall be entitled to vote on the following matters of business otherwise properly considered at a meeting of the Faculty: employee fringe benefits and working conditions, curriculum, by-laws, appeals from the student Honor Council, appeals from the Faculty Committee on Readmissions, UALR Faculty Senate elections, Law Library policies, placement policies, policies regarding the use of School of Law facilities, and amendments to this Constitution abridging the matters listed in this subsection g(3).
(4) The School of Law Registrar and Director of Admissions shall be entitled to attend and participate without vote in all Faculty meetings, including executive sessions in which student matters are considered.
(5) Two student representatives, to be selected as provided in the Student Bar Association Constitution, shall be entitled to attend and participate in all Faculty meetings and shall be entitled to vote on the following matters of business otherwise properly considered at a meeting of the Faculty: curriculum, bylaws, Law Library policies, placement policies, policies regarding the use of School of Law facilities, amendments to this Constitution abridging the matters listed in this subsection g(5), and amendments to Part IV of this Constitution.
(6) One student representative from each student organization meeting the qualifications for organizations entitled to receive funds from the UALR Student Government Association shall be entitled to attend and participate without vote in all Faculty meetings.
h. Absentee and Proxy Voting. Persons on leave or off campus duty assignment may vote at meetings of the Faculty, but absentee and proxy voting shall not be permitted.
i. Form of Ballot. Voting shall be by voice vote or show of hands, except that voting on personnel matters shall be by secret ballot.
j. Rules of Order. Subject to any different rules of order that may be adopted by the Faculty, conduct of business at meetings of the Faculty shall be in accordance with the most recent revision of Robert's Rules of Order.
k. Open and Closed Meetings. All meetings of the Faculty shall be public meetings, except that when meeting in executive session attendance shall be limited to the membership of the Faculty entitled to vote on such matters, persons who are entitled to appear at the executive session, and their counsel.
Section 4. Faculty Selection.
Full-Time Tenure Track Faculty. The Faculty shall recommend to the dean persons to be employed as half-time or greater tenure track Faculty or Instructors of Law, except those persons whose appointments are within the School of Law Library. No person shall be recommended by the Faculty for employment as a full-time tenure track member of the faculty by less than a two-thirds vote of all persons who are present at the meeting at which the matter is considered and are entitled to vote on such matter.
Visiting Faculty. Visiting faculty may be recommended for employment by the Dean only with the advice and consent of the Committee on Faculty Appointments. Visiting faculty appointments shall be submitted for consideration by the Faculty on the same basis as described in paragraph a. of this Section 4 for full-time tenure track faculty if the Committee on Faculty Appointments determines that Faculty approval is desirable.
Adjunct Faculty. Adjunct faculty may be recommended for employment by the Dean only with the advice and consent of the Committee on Faculty Appointments.
Law. Librarians. The Law Library Director, after soliciting input from School of Law faculty members, shall recommend to the Dean persons to be employed as half-time or greater tenure track Law Library faculty. The Law Library Director shall recommend only persons who have been approved by a majority vote of the tenure-track and tenured Law Library faculty who are present at the meeting at which the matter is considered.
Section 5. Delegation of Authority. Any authority or responsibility of the Faculty may be delegated by it to individual faculty members or standing or special committees of the School of Law.
Section 6. Dean Selection. With respect to the selection of a dean for the School of Law, at least two-thirds of the Faculty described in Part II, Sections 2.a and 2.b, voting must vote a candidate "acceptable" for that candidate's name to be forwarded to the Vice Chancellor and Provost and Chancellor as a candidate found acceptable by the Faculty. In addition, the Faculty described in Part II, Sections 2.d, 2.e, and 2.f shall be entitled to vote on the acceptability or unacceptability of any dean candidate, and their votes shall be forwarded to the Vice Chancellor and Provost and Chancellor for consideration.
PART III. COMMITTEES
Section 1. Standing Committees. The following shall be the Standing Committees of the Faculty and their functions and powers:
a. Committee on Admissions:
(1) To study and recommend requirements and criteria for admission of students to the school;
(2) To study and recommend procedures and forms for obtaining information and applying admission criteria with regard to applicants for admission;
(3) To review and take action on applications for first year admission and admission with advanced standing; and
(4) To recommend to the Faculty changes to the Rules Governing Admission of Students.
b. Committee on Curriculum:
(1) To study and make recommendations to the faculty in regard to: all new courses to be offered, whether permanent or temporary; rearrangement and changes of course offerings, time allocations for courses, and related matters, to the end that the law school curriculum will offer the best possible legal training for its students;
(2) To recommend to the Faculty changes to the Academic Rules other than those academic rules assigned to other committees; and
(3) To recommend to the Faculty changes to the rules governing curricular programs.
c. Committee on Faculty Appointments:
(1) To study needs for additional faculty and to make recommendations for appropriate budgetary provisions;
(2) To oversee the recruiting of full-time tenure track faculty, including presenting candidates to the Faculty for employment as full-time tenure track faculty; and
(3) To advise the Dean concerning appointment of visiting and part-time faculty and pursuant to Section 4, paragraphs b. and c., Part II of this Constitution to approve the Dean's recommendations of persons to those positions.
d. Committee on Promotion and Tenure:
(1) To approve policies on tenure and promotion of faculty members, except those persons described in section 2.d. of Part II. of this Constitution;
(2) To act pursuant to the School of Law's policies on promotion and tenure and peer review in regard to review of all faculty described in sections 2.a., 2.b., 2.c., 2.e., and 2.f. of Part II. of this Constitution;
(3) To direct the chair of the committee to advise and counsel faculty reviewed pursuant to the School of Law's policies on promotion and tenure and peer review; and
(4) To recommend to the Dean the rank at which a candidate for a full-time tenure track faculty position shall be employed, except for those persons described in section 2.d. of Part II. of this Constitution.
e. Committee on Publications:
(1) To work with and provide guidance to the board of student editors of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review to insure high quality and progress of the Law Review;
(2) To recommend to the Faculty changes to the Law Review handbook; and
(3) To recommend the award of scholarships to members of the Law Review.
f. Committee on Readmissions:
(1) To study and make recommendations regarding readmission standards and procedure;
(2) To recommend to the Faculty changes to Academic Rule 3 in regard to readmissions; and
(3) To hear and decide readmission petitions under the academic rules of the School of Law.
g. Committee on Faculty Development:
(1) To recommend to the Dean and Faculty ways to improve the research and teaching effectiveness of faculty members;
(2) To organize faculty development seminars and programs; and
(3) To annually advise each untenured faculty member of resources available for constructive review of and assistance with teaching and scholarship and to make arrangements for that review and assistance. To assist faculty members in improving teaching and scholarship.
h. Committee on Strategic Planning:
(1) To study and recommend future programs and directions for the school in areas not covered by the mandates of existing committees.
(2) To submit an annual report to the Dean and faculty evaluating the school's progress on its strategic plan and recommending changes in the strategic plan, if necessary.
(3) To cooperate with the Dean in setting agendas and otherwise preparing for general meetings, including faculty retreats, concerning issues of legal education and the future of the school.
i. Committee on Academic Technology:
(1) To study and make recommendations to the Dean or the Faculty in regard to the selection, implementation, or uses of academic technology;
(2) To study and recommend to the Faculty adoption of or changes to policies governing student use of computers in the classroom; and
(3) To periodically organize seminars and presentations for the Faculty concerning uses of academic technology and web course utility products.
j. Law Library Committee on Promotion and Tenure:
(1) To approve policies on tenure and promotion of faculty members described in section 2.d., Part II. of this Constitution;
(2) To act pursuant to the Law Library policies on promotion and tenure and peer review in regard to review of all faculty described in section 2.d., Part II. of this Constitution;
(3) To direct the chair of the committee to advise and counsel faculty reviewed pursuant to the Law Library policies on promotion and tenure and peer review;
(4) To recommend to the Director the rank at which a candidate for a full-time tenure track faculty position described in section 2.d., Part II. of this Constitution shall be employed; and
(5) To solicit input from School of Law faculty members as part of the peer review process.
Section 2. Composition of Standing Committees.
Prior to the first day of classes for each academic year the Dean shall appoint the members and designate a chair of each standing committee. The Dean shall be an ex officio member, without vote, of each standing committee.
Except for the Law Library Promotion and Tenure Committee, each standing committee shall be composed of not less than three members of the Faculty described in Part II, Sections 2.a and 2.b of this Constitution. In addition:
(1) The Committee on Promotion and Tenure shall be composed of all tenured members of the Faculty described in Part II, Sections 2.a and 2.b;
(2) The memberships of the Committees on Curriculum and Publications shall include two students on each committee, to be selected by the Dean after consultation with the President of the Student Bar Association;
(3) At least one member of the Curriculum Committee shall be a faculty member teaching a legal writing course;
(4) At least two alternate members of the Committee on Readmissions shall be appointed;
The Law Library Committee on Promotion and Tenure shall be composed of all tenured members of the Faculty described in Part II, Section 2.d. and, if necessary in order to have three members, other tenured law faculty or UALR main library faculty as appointed by the Dean; and
(6) Other faculty and persons who are not members of the Faculty may be appointed to committees as members with or without vote.
Section 3. Other Committees. As the need arises, the Faculty or the Dean may create special or ad hoc committees, specifying their duration, to consider matters not within the jurisdiction of a standing committee, or to consider particular matters within the jurisdiction of a standing committee with the consent of a majority of that committee. The Dean shall appoint the members and designate a chair of special or ad hoc committees.
Section 4. General Provisions.
A majority of the faculty members of a committee shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of committee business except that three-fourths of the members of the Committee on Promotion and Tenure shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of the business of that committee.
Committee meetings may be called by the chair or any two members of the committee upon reasonable notice to each other committee member.
Each committee shall be charged with the duty of reporting to the Faculty the results of its deliberations on matters within its jurisdiction which the committee recommends to the Faculty for disposition. A favorable committee recommendation shall be considered a seconded motion in favor of such recommendation at any faculty meeting at which such committee action is considered.
In the event of overlapping jurisdiction in regard to a matter, the Faculty by vote shall determine the committee which should consider the matter.
Any action by a committee which the Dean determines is related to the functions and powers of another committee may, in the discretion of the Dean, be referred to the second committee for consideration before consideration by the Faculty.
The chair of any committee may create and name members of the committee to an ad hoc subcommittee of the committee.
Committee action may be taken only upon a majority vote of all committee members who are present at a meeting and are entitled to vote on the matter under consideration. However, any action which may be taken by a committee may be taken without a meeting if consent in writing, setting forth the action so taken, is signed by all members of the committee entitled to vote with respect to such action.
The chair of a committee may vote on any matter considered by the committee.
PART IV. STUDENTS
Section 1. Code of Student Conduct. Examinations and other aspects of student behavior in the School of Law shall be governed by the Code of Student Conduct. The Code, promulgated by the Faculty, shall be published to all students at the beginning of the Fall Semester of each year, and in the event of any change in its provisions occurring during a school year, the change shall be published to all students prior to its effective date. An orientation program for new students on the Code shall be conducted at the beginning of each Fall Semester. Alleged violations of the Code shall be handled in accordance with the procedures prescribed in the Code.
Section 2. Student Government. The students of the School of Law may adopt a system of self-government provided that the system of self-government adopted shall not be inconsistent with this Constitution or the Code of Student Conduct and that democratic procedures are employed for adoption and amendment which afford all students enrolled as degree candidates a fair opportunity for participation. Student government regulations shall not be binding upon the Faculty, administrative officers or the clerical and secretarial personnel of the School of Law.
PART V. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Section 1. Amendment. The provisions of this Constitution describing the functions and powers of the standing committees established under Part III, Section 1. may be amended at any meeting of the Faculty by a vote of a majority of all persons present who are entitled to vote on the amendment, provided that notice of the proposed amendment has been given with the notice of the meeting. All other provisions of this Constitution may be amended at any meeting of the Faculty by a vote of two-thirds of all persons present who are entitled to vote on the amendment, provided that notice of the proposed amendment has been given with the notice of the meeting.
Section 2. Effective Date. This Constitution shall become effective upon approval by a two-thirds vote of all persons who are entitled to vote on the question of the adoption of this Constitution.
Adopted: July 1, 1991
Amended and Restated: November 19, 1991
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