Roosevelt University
PA-3: Governance

(1) RU Student Government Association The Roosevelt University Student Government Association is a service and governance body for all students at Roosevelt University. Composed of two main branches, the executive board and the student senate, the SGA is the students' main governing board at the university. Making up the executive board, the President, Vice-President, and Treasurer are each elected to a term of one academic year by the student body. The student trustee, representing the Chicago campus, who is nominated by the student senate and confirmed by the Board of Trustees, also serves on the executive board. The executive board, following an application process open to all registered students in good academic and disciplinary standing, votes upon membership in the student senate. Senators serve on at least one internal committee (academics, campus life, communications, or political affairs) and one external university-wide advisory committee (bookstore, financial aid, library, etc.) All registered students are considered general members of student government. http://www.roosevelt.edu/CSI/SGA.aspx (2) Roosevelt University Senate RU's Senate is the university faculty's main governing body, consisting of primarily faculty, but also including administrators, staff, and students. One student per campus (total of 2) are elected as Senators by the RU Student Government Association. (3) RU Board of Trustees Roosevelt's top-level governing Board of Trustees also has mandated student representation. The BoT has ultimate oversight over the university's operations, mission, and governance, is responsible for hiring and evaluating the President of the university, etc.

According to the official By-Laws of the university, the Board of Trustees has two students among its membership. The following is from Article IV, Section 3a of the By-Laws: "Effective in AY 2009/10, Student Trustees will be elected for terms of two years. In order to implement an alternating election cycle, in 2009/10, the Schaumburg Student Trustee shall be elected for a one year term (2009/10), and the Chicago Student Trustee shall be elected for a two-year term (2009/11). Election shall take place as follows: prior to the spring meeting, the Chicago Campus Student Government Association or the Robin [Schaumburg] Campus Student Government Association, as appropriate, shall submit two nominees to the Committee on Trusteeship for possible selection as Student members of the Board. To be eligible for election, these students are required to have a grade point average of at least 3.0 and have at least two more years remaining before graduation. The Committee on Trusteeship will recommend to the Board one of these students for election by the Board of Trustees." Link to By-Laws: http://www.roosevelt.edu/Provost/Faculty.aspx

ESTABLISHING ORGANIZATIONAL MISSION, VALUES, AND/OR GOALS; NEW POLICIES, PROGRAMS, OR INITIATIVES: This ability extends beyond the student government to the various student organizations. Students can and have lobby(ied) for open forums with the president to present proposals for changes, which are then seriously considered and regularly implemented as policy. As indicated above, students also have elected voice in the university's two most powerful governing bodies: the Board of Trustees and the University Senate. STRATEGIC AND LONG TERM PLANNING: Students are involved in every university-wide assessment and strategic planning process, including the most recent Institutional Strategic Plan in 2013. Students were primary drivers of and played key leadership roles in the Strategic Sustainability Planning process in 2014-15. PRIORITIZATION OF PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS: The SGA routinely reaches out to the student body for feedback and participation in these areas.

The Administrative Assembly provides a forum for discussions that impact staff, support the exchange of information to ensure efficient and effective operations of the University utilizing best practices, and deliver timely communications that will improve services to students, faculty, visitors and administrators alike.

Election of Officers: Election of offices for the following academic year shall occur at the April meeting by simple majority via open or secret ballot to be determined by the Assembly. The following officers shall be elected: four (4) co-chairs, representing the Administrative Staff of Roosevelt University. This includes one (1) co-chair from each of the university's four locations: the Auditorium Building, the Gage building, the Wabash building, and the Schaumburg Campus. The co-chairs are responsible for planning and organizing Administrative Assembly meetings. On a revolving basis, one of the co-chairs will assume the role of "moderator" to run each meeting, and one co-chair will assume the role of "secretary" to record the minutes for each meeting, as determined by the co-chairs prior to the meetings. The co-chairs will be elected for a three-year term, on a rotation schedule agreed upon by the co-chairs that allows for one new co-chair to be elected each year. Co-chairs are expected to attend all meetings of the Administrative Assembly.

Staff are included in the periodic strategic planning processes engaged by the University, including overall planning (last completed in 2012-13) and sustainability-focused planning (2014-15). Staff also have a significant voice stemming from the Administrative Assembly governance organization, noted above.

(1) College Councils Each of the six colleges at Roosevelt has a College Council. The voting members will be the college deans,the University Faculty of that college, and one adjunct faculty member, as well as voting ex-officio members, the President, EVP/University Provost, and Schaumburg Campus Provost. Other college staff members may participate in council meetings, but they will not have the right to vote. Each College Council determines policies with regard to college academic matters, including the objectives and content of particular curricula, the improvement of instruction, requirements for degrees and certificates, and other issues that affect the quality and community of the college that are not in contradiction with the Constitution of the University Faculty or with University policies. Each college council will elect a chair, vice chair, and secretary for a two-year term during the spring semester of even numbered years. Each two-year term begins the fall semester following the spring election. (2) University Senate The main governing body of the university faculty is the Senate. The University Senate is the principal legislative and deliberative body of the University as well as the primary instrument for shared governance of the institution. It is also an important body for sharing information among the various constituent groups of the University. The University Senate is directly responsible for academic and curricular policies including, but not limited to, the Constitution of the Roosevelt University Faculty, subject to the approval of the president and Board of Trustees, and the Handbook of the University Faculty, subject to the approval of the president.

Representatives to University Senate are elected to two-year terms in the spring semester preceding a new two-year appointment cycle. Each College Council determines the election process for the college.

The traditions and official policy of the university hold that faculty have defined roles at all level of university governance, from departmental committees to the Board of Trustees. Roosevelt is a "shared governance" institution. The website noted below, part of the RU Provost's website, contains links to the university's official governance documents, which specify the role faculty have in their College Councils, in the University Senate, and on the Board of Trustees.