There shall be a Trinity Faculty Conference.

1: Membership, Election, Tenure

1.1: Membership in the Trinity Faculty Conference shall be limited to those listed in the Trinity College Bulletin as Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, or Instructor and who do not hold a concurrent appointment listed under Administration in the Trinity College Bulletin.

1.2: The Trinity Faculty Conference shall have at least one member from each of the ranks of Professor, Associate Professor, and Assistant Professor. (Passed February 12, 1991)

1.3: The Trinity Faculty Conference shall consist of eight members, seven of whom shall be elected by the Faculty as defined in 1.1 above for two years by secret ballot. The eighth member shall be the Secretary of the Faculty who shall also be the Chair of the Trinity Faculty Conference.

1.4: If any of the seven members elected directly to the Trinity Faculty Conference is unable to complete his or her term, the position shall be filled by the Trinity Faculty Conference itself, for the duration of the unexpired term.

1.5: Elections to the Trinity Faculty Conference shall be conducted in April of each year. The terms of office shall commence on the first day of the following Fall Term.

2: Jurisdiction, Obligations, Procedures

2.1: The Trinity Faculty Conference shall ensure that major proposals are placed before the appropriate Faculty committee, or in the absence of such committee, shall study, evaluate, and make recommendations on such proposals. The Trinity Faculty Conference may call Faculty caucuses for discussion about any matter of interest to the Faculty. (Revised April 8, 2003)

2.2: The Trinity Faculty Conference shall, at its discretion, act as an adjudicator when, in the process of faculty governance, doubt or differences of opinion arise concerning the interpretation of language in the Faculty Manual. Upon receiving and accepting a request from a committee, the Dean of Faculty, or the Ombudsperson to adjudicate such a matter, the Faculty Conference shall confer with the Parliamentarian and gather such information as it needs to make its decision and, whenever confidential information is required, shall proceed under the rules of confidentiality specific to the issue at hand. The Faculty Conference may, at its discretion, direct the request to the appropriate committee with a recommendation that it propose new Manual language through a motion to the faculty. In all cases, the Faculty Conference shall report its decision promptly to the Faculty, who remain the final authority on the interpretation of the Faculty Manual and of resolutions adopted by the Faculty. (Passed May 2, 2006)

2.3: The Trinity Faculty Conference shall examine, evaluate and bring to the attention of the President, Dean of the Faculty and other appropriate offices of the College concerns of a non-personal nature relating to policies, procedures, or the implementation thereof, as they relate to teaching, advising, scholarly or creative work. The Faculty Conference shall seek responses to such issues and report back to the Faculty. (Passed April 8, 2003)

2.4: The Trinity Faculty Conference shall not possess legislative functions, provisional or otherwise.

2.5: There shall be an evaluation of the Dean of the Faculty every three years. The evaluation shall be conducted by a five-member committee selected by the Faculty Conference, on the basis of criteria specified by the Faculty Conference. Before embarking on the evaluation, the committee will meet with the President to set clear and explicit standards for evaluation, based on the Dean’s job description. The results of the evaluation shall be conveyed confidentially to the Dean and presented confidentially to the President during a meeting with the committee. Past evaluations of an incumbent Dean of the Faculty shall be made available to subsequent evaluation committees. (Passed March 17, 1987; Revised September 24, 1991; December 12, 2006)

2.6: The Trinity Faculty Conference shall in no way replace the Faculty meeting; it shall not conflict with nor interfere with the regular Faculty committee structure, but shall serve to strengthen the meeting and the committee structure by facilitating Faculty discussion, informal or otherwise, in order to obtain the sense of the Faculty and representative opinions and observations.

2.7: The Trinity Faculty Conference shall each year, at an appropriate time, solicit from the Faculty nominations for a recipient of an honorary degree. The Conference shall then select a name or names from among those suggested, and the name or names, together with supporting information, shall be sent via the President to the Trustees for their consideration and action. (Passed January 19, 1982)

(Passed March 5, 1968)