Staff Senate Procedures

1. Bylaws

The Bylaws of the Staff Senate are the primary governing document of the body. The Senate Procedures define action and expectation in upholding the Bylaws and may be updated at any point by the Executive Committee in consultation with the General Body. As such, in the event of a contradiction between the Bylaws and the Senate Procedures, the definition in the Bylaws takes precedence.

The Bylaws include the following sections:

Membership
- Elections
Officers
- Officer Duties
- Officer elections
- Terms
- Chair Resignation
Committees
- Ad Hoc Committees
- University Committees
Meetings
- Quorum
- Floor Privileges
- Vote
- Order of Business
Parliamentary Authority

2. Committees

Each standing committee will elect a chair during the Staff Senate officer elections, held during the June general body meeting. The standing committee chair cannot simultaneously hold a Staff Senate officer or alternate position. Furthermore, the candidate must maintain active status as a Staff Senator throughout their term as a standing committee chair.

The Governance Committee will explain the process to all senators and furnish a template for the Supervisor Approval Letter no later than the May meeting. Standing committee chairs are encouraged to encourage candidates within their committees to run for chair or vice chair before the May meeting.

Any individual considering candidacy for a standing committee chair position must obtain their supervisor’s signature of approval, indicating acknowledgment of the time commitment, before the June general body meeting. The time commitment for senators is expected to be 3 hours per month, and an estimated 5 hours per month for committee chairs, not inclusive of events or optional engagements.

Each standing committee chair is tasked with submitting a comprehensive committee activity/update report, reflecting information presented at both the Staff Senate general body and executive committee meetings, to the Staff Senate secretary within five (5) business days following the respective meeting.

Each standing committee will elect a vice chair. The standing committee chair shall refrain from voting unless a tie occurs, in which case they will cast the deciding vote. First-term senators may assume vice chair roles and are responsible for leading standing committee meetings and overseeing projects/activities in the absence of the standing committee chair, or as delegated by the chair. Additionally, the vice chair will represent the standing committee at Staff Senate executive committee meetings in the event the standing committee chair is unable to attend.

2.1. Governance Committee

Due to the nature of the Governance Committee, in addition to a Chair and Vice Chair, the Secretary of the Staff Senate is an ex-officio member of the committee, and works collaboratively with the Chair to ensure continuity.

2.2. Committee Chair Reporting

Committee chairs are expected to provide updates on the work of the coordinators, liaisons, or working groups that they oversee to the Staff Senate Executive Committee.

If a committee chair cannot attend a Staff Senate Executive Committee meeting to provide an update, the chair is expected to communicate directly to the Senate Chair via email or telephone.
In the event two committee chairs are overseeing the same work, only one chair is required to provide an update on that work.
Committee chairs are expected to ensure that updates on the work of the committees that they oversee are provided to Staff Senate members at monthly Staff Senate meetings. Committee chairs may delegate the role of providing the update to a senator directly involved in the work.
Updates shall be provided to the Staff Senate even if no work has occurred between the previous and current Staff Senate meeting.
Updates are required at Staff Senate meetings to remind the Senate that the work is being completed and provide senators the opportunity to engage on the subject.
The Staff Senate Google Shared Drive is the official repository for all Staff Senate and Staff Senate documents. Committee chairs should ensure any work generated under their purview is documented on Google Drive as needed.

2.3. Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is comprised of the members specified by the Bylaws. The Staff Senate Chair may include other program or ad-hoc committee chairs at their discretion in an ex-officio capacity.

3. Representation

All elected members of the Staff Senate should conduct themselves in the best interests of their respective constituencies. When appropriate, Senators and their Districts are expected to consult with parts or the whole of their constituencies to ensure accurate representation.

This is no universal or formal process for each District to engage their constituencies, but elected Senators are expected to leverage functions within their District in the manner most applicable or effective to their audiences.

Senators are expected to communicate transparently and accurately with their constituencies on applicable matters decided by the Senate. Questions or concerns regarding those decisions should be routed to the Vice Chair via the official Staff Senate email address.

4. Communication

Communication from the Staff Senate to the University community should be infrequent, meaningful, and brief and should be carefully edited to ensure a consistent voice and a clear, well-written message.

External communications from the Staff Senate directed to constituencies and individuals outside of the Staff Senate, such as promotional materials and newsletters, must comply with NC State branding and style guidelines. Additionally, these communications must be accessible to all readers.

All Staff Senate external communications and promotional materials must undergo vetting and review by the chair of the Communications standing committee. Following this review, the communication will be forwarded to the Staff Senate Chair for approval before distribution.

4.1 Communication Audience

There are several delineations of audiences, and thereby protocols, depending on the breadth of distribution of information.

4.1.1 Executive Committee

Any member of the Executive Committee may share information and notifications to the rest of that committee without restriction. Communication among the full Executive Committee should occur via the Executive Committee Google Group (group-staffsenate-exec@ncsu.edu) which provides a history for members of the Executive.

4.1.2. Senators

The Senate Chair and Secretary may initiate communications to the membership of the Staff Senate for consumption only by those designated individuals, and not for dissemination. In the absence of the Chair, their designee may be the Chair-Elect, Vice Chair, or Communications Chair.

4.1.3 Senators for Districts

The Senate Chair and Secretary may provide communications material to senators with the request to disseminate to their constituents as they see appropriate. In the absence of the Chair, their designee may be the Chair-Elect or Vice Chair. Any material coming from a committee must be approved by the Chair or Vice Chair of the Communications Committee in advance of Chair approval.

4.1.4 All Constituent Staff

Communication from the Staff Senate to the entire constituent body must be approved by the Senate Chair (or their designee in absence) and by the Staff Senate Liaison, the Associate Vice Chancellor for Human Resources (or their designee in absence). Any material coming from a committee must be approved by the Chair or Vice Chair of the Communications Committee in advance of Chair approval.

5. Event Planning

Standing committee members are encouraged to propose events, activities, or speaker ideas during their committee meetings. Subsequently, the standing committee chair will present these proposed initiatives to the executive committee for deliberation and approval. Upon receiving approval from the executive committee, the requesting standing committee is authorized to proceed with planning.

In cases of needed urgency, the Senate Chair can be notified, and when appropriate, provide authorization to proceed. This is expected to be the exception to this process, not the norm.

In the case of invitations extended to members of university leadership, these must be presented by the Staff Senate Chair to the Associate Vice Chancellor for Human Resources before formally being extended.

6. Budgets

The allocated budget of the Staff Senate is to be used at the discretion of the Chair, in consultation when appropriate, or when requested by the Executive Committee. The funding in discretionary accounts should be used for the betterment of the body and should be used, or not used, strategically and with consideration of the needs of future sessions of the Staff Senate.

If a standing committee intends to organize any activities, such as Learn & Lunch sessions or tours, requiring funding from the Staff Senate budget, it must submit a detailed budget in line with the outlined budget process timeline.

The budgeting process will follow the timeline below, subject to potential changes at the discretion of the Staff Senate chair:

July: The Staff Senate chair sends a budget charge memo to standing committee chairs.
August-September: Standing committees discuss projected projects and expenses during their meetings. Each standing committee chair (or designate) submits the committee’s budget before the executive committee meeting. The executive committee reviews, discusses, and approves budget items, communicating approved line items and funding allocations to standing committee chairs.

Budget updates, including expenses and remaining funds, will be provided by the Staff Senate chair at each monthly executive committee meeting to facilitate tracking and planning of potential future activities.

7. Letters, Memos, Resolutions

There are three primary methods by which the Staff Senate may voice a viewpoint on an issue:

Letters/memorandums – Letters/memorandums include a call to action (i.e., requesting a meeting). If the Staff Senate intends to garner a response or action rather than make a statement, it would be better served to deliver its message through a letter or memorandum.
Resolutions – Resolutions are expressions of opinion and/or sentiment.
Program proposals – The Staff Senate can create a proposal or suggest an initiative to address an NC State staff issue by submitting a proposed initiative or program proposal, when appropriate, to university leadership for consideration.

7.1 Process

The introduction and consideration of issuing a letter/memorandum or resolution is to follow Robert’s Rules of Order and proceed as follows:

A constituent submits an idea/issue to the Staff Senate for review through one of the following communication channels:
1. Constituents can submit ideas/issues to the Staff Senate by email to the Staff Senate email address, staffsenate@ncsu.edu, through an inquiry form on the Staff Senate website, or directly to a staff senator.
2. If it is a department-specific human resources-related issue, the issue is to be addressed by the constituent’s departmental human resources.
3. If it is of general concern to university staff or of concern to all university staff, then the idea/issue is processed by the staff senator who received the information and/or the Staff Senate Vice Chair.
Ideas/issues submitted will be directed as follows:
1. If it is university HR-related, the Staff Senate Vice Chair will send the email to the Associate Vice Chancellor for Human Resources.
2. If it is an idea/issue for which the Staff Senate Vice Chair is informed of the correct answer, the Staff Senate Vice Chair may directly respond to the constituent, providing a copy to the Staff Senate officers and/or the constituent’s district senator as appropriate.
3. For all other ideas/issues, the Staff Senate Vice Chair will direct the idea/issue to the appropriate Staff Senate standing committee to review and gather details from the constituent if necessary.
4. For highly sensitive or urgent matters, the normal process may be bypassed at the discretion of the Staff Senate Chair, and the idea/issue will be routed by the Staff Senate Vice Chair directly to the Staff Senate Chair, who will present it to the Executive Committee as expeditiously as needed for discussion and review when appropriate. The Executive Committee will initiate the following action steps:
  1. Draft a letter/memorandum or resolution as appropriate;
  2. The draft of the document will be presented to the AVC for HR for advisory review and feedback by the Senate Chair. Feedback will be applied at the discretion of the Executive Committee. Any feedback, and the action or inaction of the Executive Committee, must be documented and shared with the general body.
  3. The Executive Committee should discuss, and vote if they would like to move the document forward to the full Staff Senate body. If the majority of the Executive Committee is in favor of proceeding, the standing committee chair will present the document at the Staff Senate general body meeting. If the Executive Committee declines to move forward, that decision and any supporting information should be presented to the general body, where that body, upon a motion, may override the Executive Committee with a ⅔ majority vote.
  4. If applicable, Senators will present the document to their constituents for feedback.
  5. Staff Senate members will be allowed to propose and vote upon edits or amendments. In the event of substantive changes to the content or direction of the draft, the process must revert to step “ii” for advisory review by the AVC for Human Resources. The Staff Senate body will vote on approval of the resolution or letter. If approved, the Staff Senate chair will distribute to the appropriate parties and follow up as necessary regarding any action items.
Standing Committee Review Process:
1. The appropriate standing committee chair will present the idea/issue to their committee for discussion. The standing committee may decide to invite the constituent to the committee meeting to discuss the idea/issue or gather information via phone or email. The standing committee will decide if the idea/issue should be brought before the Staff Senate Executive Committee for further review.
2. The standing committee will also be responsible for conducting any additional preliminary background research for the purposes of better understanding the issue and deciding the next steps. If this research involves communicating outside of the Staff Senate with the university or external parties (besides the constituent who brought the issue), then members of the standing committee should make it clear that they are gathering information for research purposes only, and that no call to action, resolution or project proposal has yet been approved by the Staff Senate to carry out. The standing committee chair will notify the Staff Senate chair by email with the following content:
  1. Project highlights
  2. Intended partners and/or research entities
3. When the research phase is complete, the standing committee chair will notify the Staff Senate Chair if the standing committee decides to move the idea/issue forward for Executive Committee review at the next Executive Committee meeting. The standing committee chair will present whatever background information surrounding the idea/issue the standing committee possesses to the Staff Senate Chair for distribution to the Executive Committee at least ten (10) days before the next scheduled Executive Committee meeting.
Executive Committee Review Process:
1. Following discussion, the Executive Committee will vote to present the idea/issue before the full Staff Senate body.
  1. If the majority is in agreement to proceed, the standing committee chair–who presented the idea/issue–will draft the agreed-upon document (a letter/memorandum with a call to action or a resolution making a statement or celebration of a person/event); this may be done with or without the assistance of other standing committee members.
  2. The Staff Senate Chair will notify the standing committee of the following:
    1. Approval of the idea/issue to be presented to the Staff Senate body;
    2. Request for more information to be submitted for the Executive Committee’s further review and consideration; or
    3. The Executive Committee has made the decision to not proceed with the idea/issue that was presented.
Process for Approved Ideas/Issues:
1. The standing committee chair will send the drafted document to the Executive Committee for courtesy review.
2. The Staff Senate Chair, on behalf of the Staff Senate, will present the draft document to the AVC for Human Resources for their advisory review and feedback.
3. The Staff Senate Chair will provide the final draft to the Secretary for presentation to, and discussion by, the Staff Senate general body.
4. The Staff Senate Secretary will send the document to staff senators for their review in preparation for discussion of the document at the Staff Senate general body meeting. The staff senators should receive the document at least five (5) business days before the general body meeting at which the document will be discussed.
5. Discussion should occur during the Staff Senate general body meeting and a vote taken on how to proceed with the idea/issue, with a majority vote ruling.
6. The standing committee chair will incorporate any agreed-upon changes and submit the final draft to the Staff Senate Chair. In the event of substantive changes to the content or direction of the draft, the process must revert to step “b” for advisory review by the AVC for Human Resources.
Distribution of Letters/Memorandums or Resolutions:
1. Letters/Memorandums:
  1. Once the letter/memorandum has been finalized it should include the name of the Staff Senate Chair, specified as representing the voice of the Staff Senate in the signature.
  2. All letters and memoranda should be included on the public Staff Senate website.
2. Resolutions:
  1. Resolutions will be signed by the Staff Senate Chair and presented to the Chancellor, specified as representing the voice of the Staff Senate in the signature.
  2. If applicable, there should be a ⅔ vote of the Executive Committee for the resolution.
3. The approved letter/memorandum or resolution will be sent by the Staff Senate Chair to the intended recipient and distributed to the Staff Senate body.

The NC State Staff Senate should always be seen as the professional voice of the staff and represent staff and NC State in a positive way.

8. Senator Status

8.1 District Changes

A senator may be elected by one district unit but then, through a University reorganization effort or a job change, be moved to a different district – one in which they were not elected. In this case,

As senators serve the greater good of all staff, the senator will become an ex-officio representative of the Senate and will retain voting rights.
the senator will still be able to fully participate in the work of the Senate, including holding a position on the Executive Committee.
if a seat becomes available in the district in which they have moved, the ex-officio representative will be invited to run for the seat. The ex-officio representative will not lose their ex-officio standing if they run for the seat and do not win. In this case, the ex-officio member will continue to serve the remainder of their term.
If a senator in that district vacates mid-year, the ex-officio senator should be appointed for the remainder of the term.

8.2 Removals

For non-compliance with attendance policies as outlined in the Staff Senate bylaws, the Staff Senate Secretary shall use the Staff Senate attendance report to notify the Executive Committee during its monthly meeting of any senator who is in violation of the attendance policy. The Executive Committee will discuss each situation and resultant actions.

Each senator is required to serve on one Staff Senate committee and attend all regularly scheduled committee meetings. If a senator fails to attend committee meetings–whether excused or unexcused–and is not contributing to the committee’s efforts, the committee chair will bring forth the senator’s name at the Executive Committee meeting to discuss the situation and possible resultant actions.

In any situation where the Executive Committee deems the senator is at risk of losing membership, the Staff Senate Chair will notify the senator in writing and proceed as outlined in the Staff Senate Bylaws.

9. Surveys

Any survey conducted on behalf of the Staff Senate should be reviewed and approved by the executive committee and must follow the university’s Regulation on Surveys.

10. Training

All incoming committee chairs must participate in an orientation training, to be held at the outset of the term.

In that Staff Senators represent NC State University, Staff Senators should be familiar with NC State branding guidelines. Staff Senators should attend a senate-specific or regularly scheduled overview of the NC State branding guidelines from University Marketing and Communications.

All members of the Communications Committee must receive branding and style training by an employee from University Marketing and Communications, and be familiar with ADA Accessibility Guidelines for communication.

11. Senate Chair Assignments

University Committees

The chair serves on the following committees:

University Council
University Budget Advisory Committee
Committee on Committees
Packapalooza Planning Committee
Executive Search Committees (as assigned)
Watauga Medal Selection Committee
Holladay Medal Administrative Advisory Committee
O. Max Gardner Award Administrative Advisory Committee

The chair serves on or appoints Staff Senators as appropriate to the following committees:

Council on the Status of Women
Feed the Pack Advisory Committee
Information Security Advisory Group
University Standing Committees (both Staff Senate and staff representatives)

11.1. Meetings

The Staff Senate chair attends the following university meetings, in addition to those of the above committees:

Administrative Leadership Meeting
Board of Trustees (and presents twice annually)
Board of Trustees University Affairs Committee (and presents twice annually)
Board of Visitors
UNC System Staff Assembly Chairs’ Meeting
Provost Executive Briefing
Monthly Chancellor Meeting (with Chair of the Faculty)
Monthly Associate Vice Chancellor HR meeting
Faculty Senate Meetings (as appropriate)
Student Senate Meetings (as appropriate)

12. Procedure Updates

These procedures may be subject to change at the discretion of the Staff Senate Executive Committee in consultation with the Staff Senate. It is recommended that this document be reviewed every two years for consistency with university procedures.

Approved by the NC State Staff Senate on Nov. 4, 2020
Amended: August 30, 2024