Changes are in store for the Faculty Senate constitution and bylaws.

The new constitution is already circulating among the general faculty, whose approval is required for the constitution, while the bylaws require only Faculty Senate approval, said Senate President Dean Ulrichson.

“Although the document has been extensively rewritten and re-organized, the changes are primarily to clean up our procedures,” he said.

Warren Dolphin, faculty senator, said the senate was formed 10 years ago, and necessary changes have been discovered since then.

“We needed to change the constitution to get it more representative,” he said.

Each college must have representatives on each of the five councils, as well as representatives on committees within those councils, Dolphin said. Since some colleges, such as Education and Design, are smaller, there are fewer representatives to serve on those councils.

“These people ended up serving on several committees and councils, which was a burden,” he said. “It’s a matter of adding one or two members to lessen the burden.”

Ulrichson said the main change to the bylaws was the addition of a new council: Resource Policies and Allocations. He said the council, which was created almost a year ago to make recommendations to the university regarding salary, policies and procedure, required modification of the constitution before it could be implemented.

Other changes to the bylaws include the way elections are handled, the voting rights of councils and committee chairs and the language of the bylaws, which Ulrichson said is a little confusing.

“The new version tries to streamline that language,” he said. “I think it makes it easier to understand.”

The Faculty Senate will also vote on the salary policy recommendation at tonight’s meeting.

“The wording in the faculty handbook is not consistent with the wording in the promotion and tenure document,” Ulrichson said.

Dolphin said he believes the ongoing debate with ISU Provost Rollin Richmond over the “scholarship of teaching versus scholarship and teaching” will be a long-term issue.

“I think that discussion will go on for at least a year,” he said.

Richmond said the faculty has spent a lot of time working on definitions of promotion and tenure that would recognize quality teaching.

Since Richmond is relatively new to Iowa State, as he became provost last semester, Dolphin said he was not able to take part in those discussions.

“I think there has to be a little give and take, back and forth, as we work out the definitions,” he said.

The meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. in Rooms 260-262 of the Scheman Building. The following will be discussed:

Old Business

* Senators will discuss amendments to the bylaws of the constitution.

* Representatives of the Calendar Committee will give a report on the academic calendar.

* The senate will vote on whether to continue allocating money to the Wellness Program.

* The senate will vote on a salary policy recommendation.

New Business

* Senators will submit nominations for council chairs and secretary.