| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 70.76 |
| Liaison | Richard Johnson |
| Submission Date | Oct. 13, 2017 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
Rice University
PA-3: Participatory Governance
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.25 / 3.00 |
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indicates that no data was submitted for this field
Part 1
Yes
Do the institution’s students have an elected representative on the institution’s highest governing body?:
No
If yes to either of the above, provide:
Through the Rice Student Association, one member of the student body is elected president. All students at Rice University are eligible to run for SA president. The president directly interfaces with the university president's office as well as the provost, the vice-provost and the faculty senate. Many recommendations and legislative documents that are passed in the student association are passed on to the governing board. However, there are no student elected representatives on the Board of Trustees.
The Rice University Student Association has an executive cabinet comprised of a president, internal vice-president, external vice-president, treasurer, secretary and parliamentarian. There are eleven senators; one from each of the residential colleges. Each residential college also elects four new student representatives for a grand total of 44.
Rice UCourt is the judicial branch which has an executive body comprised of a chairman, a vice-chairman, a secretary and a treasurer. Each residential college also has a representative for a total of eleven. Candidates must apply to run before being placed on the ballot.
Do the institution’s staff members have a representative body through which they can participate in governance (e.g. a staff council)?:
Yes
Do the institution’s non-supervisory staff members have an elected representative on the institution’s highest governing body?:
No
If yes to either of the above, provide:
Fifteen full-time university staff members are appointed to serve on the Staff Advisory Committee (SAC) of Rice University to fulfill its primary mission: making work at Rice more enjoyable and productive. Composed of three subcommittees, SAC aims to provide personal growth and development. The SAC facilitates open lines of communication between the university's administration and staff by providing a forum for hearing and reviewing staff concerns and interests, Proposing ways to improve university staff relations, including ideas that originate from within the staff, and by Acting, in general, to help make Rice University’s education community an efficient, fulfilling, and supportive environment for employment (http://sac.rice.edu/).
Though it is not an elected position, Rice's non-supervisory staff members also have the opportunity to serve on the Staff Advisory Committee (SAC).
Policies are developed in committees which are formed of a wide variety of staff members. Those staff members are frequently called upon to create institutional policies based on their areas of expertise. Long-term master planning occurs through the university architect who is staff member within the facilities department. He frequently draws upon other staff members for input and advice in decision making.
Physical resources including grounds, buildings and other resources come out of the facilities department and housing and dining.
Staff members are frequently consulted in committees on budgeting, staffing and financial planning as well as communications processes and transparency practices. For example, housing and dining as well as facilities engineering and planning manage social media campaigns.
Staff are frequently consulted in the development of programs and projects. They help the administration determine which projects have the highest budgeting priorities. This applies especially in large scale construction and building projects.
Do the institution’s teaching and research faculty have a representative body through which they can participate in governance (e.g. a faculty senate)?:
Yes
Do the institution’s teaching and research faculty have an elected representative on the institution’s highest governing body? :
No
If yes to either of the above, provide:
The faculty senate is responsible for many of the major decisions on campus. The head of the senate consults directly with the deans, the provost and vice-provost, as well as the president.
For all areas relating to academics, the faculty senate has direct impact in all of the above areas barring communications processes and transparency projects. They are responsible the academic missions, visions and goals. The faculty senate ultimately creates policies and programs regarding academic topics. The long-term planning for each department is approved through the faculty senate and the deans of each department have a major say in the prospective physical resources. They also help approve tenure for associate professors and prioritize both programs and projects.
While there are faculty members who sit on Committees of the Board of Trustees - such as the Dean of the School of Architecture, who sites on the Buildings and Grounds Committee of the Board of Trustees - they are appointed rather than elected.
Part 2
Yes
A copy of the written policies and procedures:
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The policies and procedures:
Rice has no written policies that meet this criteria. However, Rice does have procedures whereby the Public Affairs department engages our external community extensively on a regular basis, especially when construction is contemplated (including even construction that takes place entirely on Rice's own campus).
Does the institution have formal participatory or shared governance bodies through which community members representing the interests of the following stakeholder groups can regularly participate in institutional governance?:
| Yes or No | |
| Local government and/or educational organizations | Yes |
| Private sector organizations | Yes |
| Civil society (e.g. NGOs, NPOs) | Yes |
If yes to one or more of the above, provide:
For 25 years, Rice’s Public Affairs group has hosted a quarterly community luncheon with about 30 representatives of neighborhood groups, non-profits, vendors, elected officials, and other key stakeholders in the area immediately surrounding the university to share information, discuss issues, and otherwise engage with community leaders. This group is regularly used as a sounding board for Rice issues that could have a community impact.
Optional Fields
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Staff Advisory Council: http://sac.rice.edu/
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.