TO: Sonoma State Staff and Managers
FR: Staff Council Executive Committee
Last summer the Staff Council celebrated its 5th year serving as a recognized body within shared governance. As stated in the 2022-2023 Annual Report, this five year milestone necessitates a review of our constitution and bylaws. We recognize that the space we inhabit has changed greatly since the Staff Council was established in 2019. As such, we have made updates to the Constitution & Bylaws to accurately reflect the work we do here at Sonoma State today, while keeping the document broad enough to accommodate changes in the future.
Following is a summary of the substantive updates, with all other changes being small (i.e. spelling errors, etc.):
- Under “Purpose” we added “The Staff Council may appoint or elect at-large staff representatives to Sonoma State shared governance committees, working groups, and advisory councils.”
- We added “Article IV: Subcommittees” in order to delineate a structure for adding subcommittees to the Staff Council. These subcommittees may handle special event planning, or other tasks of that nature, and will function within the charge given by the Staff Council Executive Committee.
- Occasionally, Staff Council executive committee members have acted as a proxy for various committees on campus. We added language regarding this to “Article III.”
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Items were added under “Article V: Meetings” to clarify the setting of the agenda, access to the agenda, and frequency of meetings.
Attached are copies of the version approved in 2019, as well as the updated version including those changes highlighted above. After reviewing, please do not hesitate to reach out to the Staff Council by email at council@sonoma.edu or through our comments form with any questions or suggestions. The Constitution and Bylaws changes will be finalized at the April 2nd Staff Council meeting.
