Policies

Requests to Address the Board of Trustees

1. Purpose:
The purpose of this policy is to provide a fair and administratively-feasible policy for determining when persons may address the Henderson State University Board of Trustees.

As the chief executive officer of the university, the President is the principal representative of the university to the Board of Trustees. The Faculty Senate, Staff Senate, and Student Government Association and others are expected to work with the President or other administrators to represent their constituencies. All persons who address the Board are expected to first pursue relief through appropriate administrative procedures or avenues.

2. Faculty Senate, Staff Senate, and Student Government Association:
Presidents of the Faculty Senate, Staff Senate, and the Student Government Association will be placed on the agenda for the Board meeting closest in time to the beginning of each fall term (typically August) and closest in time to the end of each spring term (typically May), in order to make a general statement on matters of interest and concern to their constituencies, not exceeding five minutes in length. In addition, any person, including the senate presidents, may request to address the Board at any meeting pursuant to the process set out in Section 3 below.

3. All Other Requests to Speak:
All other requests for permission to appear before the Board of Trustees must

be submitted in writing to the President no later than 15 days prior to the date of
the meeting. It must contain the name(s), address(es) and telephone number(s) of the individuals or members of a group who wish to appear. If the request to appear is from a group, it must list the names of all individuals who wish to speak on the issue.

The request must clearly describe the matter to be discussed before the Board. It must include documentation that relief has been sought through appropriate administrative avenues or procedures on campus.

The President may accept, defer, or decline the request in writing. Reasons for deferral or denial of the request include failure to demonstrate compliance with this policy or other good cause.

The written request and the President’s response will be included in the agenda book, which is generally mailed to Board members 14 days prior to the date of the next meeting.

The Board may either accept the President’s response or vote to take a different action concerning the request.

The Board will not entertain statements under this policy which relate to: personnel actions and decisions; student disciplinary proceedings and actions; or matters relating to grades, course requirements, or other academic matters appropriately to be decided by academic councils and not rising to the level of policy matters of Board concern; except upon request of the President to consider such matters in extraordinary occasions and upon the unanimous agreement of members of the Board present at the meeting when the matter is to be presented.

Persons approved to address the Board under this policy will be notified that they will be limited to five minutes per person. Speakers will be heard in the order determined by the Board.