44 Employee Participative System

Policy Statement (Board Approval Date:  03/22/11)

The MSC Employee Participative System (System) serves to:

1. Provide for full participation of all full-time employees in general college affairs. (Supervisors are strongly encouraged to allow employee participation in the System.)
2. Promote close cooperation of administrative and other MSC staff.
3. Assist the College in achievement of its goals.

Procedure

1. Definitions:
   1. Employee Participative System: A system established for Staff including Administration and Faculty input into the decision-making process.  Hereinafter referred to as the System.
   2. Staff Assembly: An assembly of all exempt and non-exempt employees including Administrators, Executive Directors, and Directors.
   3. Faculty Assembly: An assembly of faculty and coaching faculty only.
   4. President’s Advisory Council (PAC): An advisory group to the President.
2. Employee Assembly:
   1. Membership consists of all full-time employees of MSC.
   2. The Employee Assembly meets as deemed appropriate.
   3. The Chair of the Employee Assembly is the President, and the Secretary is his/her designee.
   4. All full-time and permanent, part-time employees are required to attend Employee Assembly meetings. Any full-time or permanent, part-time employee unable to attend the meetings is required to notify respective supervisor(s) and the President’s Office.  Absent employees will be scheduled by the President’s Office to view a recording of missed meetings.  Absent employees who do not view recordings of missed meetings will not be eligible for any across-the-board salary/benefit increases recommended for the next fiscal year.
3. Staff Assembly:
   1. Membership consists of all full-time employees at MSC including Administrators, Executive Directors, and Directors.
   2. The Staff Assembly meets as deemed appropriate.
   3. The Chair, Vice Chair, and Secretary of the Staff Assembly are elected annually in an April meeting to serve beginning July 1 of the following year.
   4. The Chair presides at Staff Assembly meetings.
   5. The Chair reports to the President and ensures all Minutes of the assembly meetings are submitted to the President’s Office for posting in the Common folder for Standing Committees on the MSC Commons/Standing  Committees.
4. Faculty Assembly:
   1. Membership consists of all full-time faculty employed at MSC.
   2. The Faculty Assembly meets as deemed appropriate.
   3. The Chair, Vice Chair, and Secretary of the Faculty Assembly are elected annually in an April meeting to serve beginning July 1 of the following year. (NOTE: To be qualified for office, the Chair and Vice Chair must have had at least two academic years on the staff prior to taking office.)
   4. The Chair presides at Faculty Assembly meetings.
   5. The Chair reports to the President and ensures all Minutes of the assembly meetings are submitted to the President’s Office for posting in the Common           folder for Standing Committees on the MSC Commons/Standing Committees.
5. Functions of the Employee Participative System:
   1. Provide opportunities for employees to participate through membership on standing and ad hoc committees in the formation and implementation of policy in various areas of collegiate function.
   2. Serve as communicative medium between various campus constituencies.
   3. Provide a forum for discussion and expression of employee views on College matters presented by the administration, standing or ad hoc committees, or by any member.
   4. Provide a medium for the employees to take action on matters within their normal province of concern and to forward for consideration their recommendations to appropriate administrative offices.
   5. Provide for initiation of college studies of a professional nature, designed to provide a base for policy recommendation, and studies of a reportage or informative nature.
   6. Promote professional development and an improved professional climate and working environment within the College.
   7. Significant matters should be routed through the appropriate assembly and subsequently reported to the PAC.
6. Limitation of Authority of the System:
   1. The role of the System in policy development is that of a recommending group.
   2. Nothing in this document is to be interpreted in such a way as to provide for infringement by the System or any member upon the responsibilities of the Board or any duly appointed administrative officer in carrying out assigned duties and responsibilities.
7. Duties of the Officers of the System:
   1. Duties of the Employee Assembly Chair:
      1. This document affirms the responsibilities of the President to perform all duties normally vested in his/her office as an agent of the governing board and to direct the faculty and other staff in the performance of their duties.
      2. The President may at his/her option call special meeting, preside at meetings, present reports, or make proposals to the System or its committees.
      3. The President approves and has final authority to appoint standing and other committees.
      4. The President receives recommendations from the System and its committees.
      5. The President also serves as member and Chairman of the President’s Advisory Council.
   2. Duties of the Secretaries:
      1. The secretaries keep records and minutes of proceedings of the meetings and file and publish these as appropriate.
8. The President’s Advisory Council (PAC):
   1. PAC membership includes by virtue of the President, Faculty Assembly Chair, Professional Assembly Chair, Classified Assembly Chair.
   2. PAC serves as an advisory group to the President. At the request of the President, PAC may formally recommend actions they deem appropriate.  The primary function of PAC is conceived to provide open discussion of College matters about which the President seeks advice and counsel.  In most matters, a consensus rather than a formal action may be sought.  These matters may include recommendations received from the assembly chairs.
   3. Meetings take place weekly or on call of the President.
   4. Minutes of PAC meetings are distributed to all employees and posted on the MSC Commons/Standing Committees.
9. College Standing Committees:
   1. Participation Philosophy:
      1. There is a point of view widely accepted in academic circles that participation through committees constitutes the most suitable and effective manner of employee involvement in relevant areas of College concern. Certainly, this viewpoint has a base in collegiate tradition. This is the prevailing philosophy of the administration of MSC.
      2. The committee structure offers opportunity for employee input into the basics of policy development and changes. Individuals are free to address any standing committee with a communication presenting a need, a problem, a solution, or a recommendation.  If the idea survives the careful scrutiny of peers and attains their endorsement in the original or a revised form, it may progress onward to become College policy.
   2. General Guidelines for Standing Committees:
      1. The President has the responsibility of naming, ratifying, and defining functions of standing committees on an annual basis in such general areas as faculty affairs and personnel policies, student personnel, social affairs, academic standards, assemblies and awards, curriculum, athletics, and other recognized areas of continuous College concern. Ad hoc committees may be appointed as the need arises.
      2. The lines of reporting for standing and ad hoc committees are defined by their charge statements (on file in the President’s Office) and may vary somewhat as to the nature of the matter, thus involving some discretion of the Chairman and the membership. Generally, if a study has been initiated at the request of an administrator, the PAC, or other office or body, the committee will report its recommendations there. If initiated internally, and the matter is of a procedural nature, the recommendation may go jointly to the office that might implement the change and to the Administrative officers of the College.  Other policy recommendations are ordinarily directed to the President who then may act on these, recommend them to the Board, ask the advice of the PAC or refer the matter to the appropriate assembly for discussion and a vote on a recommendation.
      3. Committees may be created, altered, and dissolved by authority of the President.
      4. Standing Committees. Folders are placed on Common on Enterprise in the Standing Committees Folder).  The Chair of any standing committees places an agenda on Common 48 hours prior to the scheduled meeting.  Forty-eight hours after any standing committee meeting, the Chair of the committee places a draft of the minutes taken on Common.  When draft minutes are officially approved by the committee, the Chair replaces the draft minutes on Common.