Boulder Faculty Senate
The University of Colorado Boulder Faculty Senate is part of the CU System Faculty Senate as outlined in Regent Law and defined in the CU Faculty Senate Constitution. While at many universities, the term “faculty senate” is used to describe the elected members of their shared governance body, at CU, this term is used more broadly and encompasses . Enfranchised faculty are defined in the CU faculty senate constitution and titles are detailed in . The titles for faculty senate members have been updated, however the associated changes in the CU faculty senate constitution will not be finalized until fall 2024. Please see The Boulder Faculty Senate: Who Qualifies? for details.
The faculty senate is the body designated to participate in shared governance with administration. The further defines these roles in Article 1.A.2:
The campus faculty senates consist of those members of the Faculty Senate whose appointments are seated at the campus in question and such other members of the general faculty of the university as may be made members of that campus faculty senate by its faculty constitution.
The CU Faculty Senate Constitution Article 4.A requires that the faculty senate of each campus have a constitution.
A. Campus Constitution.
Each campus faculty senate shall establish a campus faculty constitution, through an affirmative vote of not less than two thirds of the campus faculty senate members voting on the constitution. That constitution shall be consistent with this University of Colorado Faculty Senate Constitution, the Laws of the Regents, Regent policies and the laws, regulations and constitutions of the State of Colorado and of the United States. The constitution shall establish a campus faculty assembly as the representative body of campus faculty governance and may make such other provisions as the campus faculty senate shall deem appropriate.
In 1975 a document known as the “Rules of the Boulder Faculty Senate" was created and approved by the Boulder faculty and then further updated in 1983. Portions of the document were used to create the CU Faculty Constitution in 1988. The BFA Bylaws committee undertook the charge of creating a faculty senate constitution in 2020 and a final draft was submitted to the Boulder Faculty Assembly spring 2023. At the May Assembly meeting members approved BFA-R-1-040323 Resolution to Support the Creation of a Boulder Faculty Senate Constitution resolution which endorsed moving the draft constitution forward to the Boulder Faculty Senate for approval during fall semester. A Qualtrics poll was sent to all campus senate members in early November 2023 and the Boulder Faculty Constitution was overwhelmingly approved.
The BFA office coordinates and manages all communications with the Boulder Faculty Senate. If you have any questions, please contact: bfa@colorado.edu.