1
Status and Role

(a) The Contract Academic Staff Committee shall be a Standing Committee of Council.

(b) The Committee shall make recommendations to Council and the Executive Committee on policies and activities in relation to contract academic staff.

2
Composition

(a) The Committee shall be composed of at least eight members (including the Person Chairing). All members shall have demonstrated experience with Contract Academic Staff issues.

(b) Members shall normally serve for three-year terms, with the possibility of one renewal. The terms of the members shall overlap in such a way that approximately one-third of the membership changes annually. If the normal term needs to be altered in order to ensure the continuation of this changeover pattern, the Committee shall make suitable recommendations to Council at its Spring meeting.

(c) The term of the Person Chairing the Committee shall normally be two years.

(d) The President shall be an ex-officio member of the Committee. The Executive Director shall be a non-voting member of the Committee. The Executive Director shall designate staff to provide support to the Committee.

3
Functions

(a) To advise the CAUT Council and Executive Committee concerning policies of CAUT in relation to contract academic staff.

(b) To review and comment upon policy proposed from other CAUT committees/ groups.

4
Selection of committee members

(a)  Vacancies on the Contract Academic Staff Committee shall be advertised in the CAUT Bulletin and by direct mailing to local and provincial associations/unions by November 30. The President, Vice-President, Past-President and Executive Director will follow-up the direct mailing with member associations to gather as complete a list of potential committee members as possible.

(b) The President, Vice-President, Past-President and Executive Director will review the entire list of potential committee members  and will recommend potential members to the Executive Committee so that the Committee will have the requisite expertise required to fulfill its functions (See Article 3) and will reflect the diversity of CAUT in so far as possible along geographic, size of institution, linguistic, disciplinary, gender and equity lines. The rationale for the selection of members will be presented to the Executive along with the names. The members approved by the Executive will be approached to serve and will be advised that their selection will be dependent on the ratification of the CAUT Council. When someone declines, the Executive will be asked to name a replacement who will then be approached.

(c) The approved committee members will be presented to the Spring Council for ratification. Should Council refuse to ratify the candidates, the matter will be referred back to the Executive who will bring a revised list to the same Council meeting.

(d) When a casual vacancy occurs on the Committee, the Executive will select a replacement after consultation with member associations and recommend the replacement for ratification at the next meeting of Council. The replacement will serve the remainder of the vacant term.

(e) The person to chair the Committee shall normally have served at least one year on the Committee. The Chair shall serve for the term indicated in section 2(c).

(f) The Chair of the Committee shall be elected by CAUT Council. The deadline for nomination shall be March 1 of the year that the incumbent's term expires. Any vacancy, howsoever occurring in the position of Chair, shall be filled by Council electing a successor. Any person, so elected, shall hold office for the balance of the term of the office involved.

(g) The election of a person to chair shall be conducted prior to the Council’s ratification of the members of the Committee.

(h)  When a casual vacancy in the position of Person Chairing occurs, the meeting shall be convened by the President. The first item of business shall be the election of an interim person to chair from among the members present, and the President shall chair the meeting for this item only.

5
Mode of Operation

(a) The Committee shall normally meet two times a year. There shall be provision for additional meetings by telephone or video conference call or in person, as the need determines.

(b) A quorum for meetings of the Committee is 50% of the voting members.

(c) The Committee may at its discretion delegate special tasks to its Chair. The Committee may also delegate to individual members the responsibility to form ad hoc sub-committees of volunteers, who shall report back to the Committee for ratification of any policies or reports produced, before they are put before the Council or otherwise disseminated.

(d)  The Committee shall be conscious of and sensitive to the issues of conflict of interest and apprehension of bias. A Committee member who perceives an issue of possible conflict of interest or apprehension of bias of their own, or on the part of another member, whether it arises from personal involvement or through the involvement of the member's local or provincial association, shall raise it. The matter shall be discussed and then resolved by the remaining members of the Committee who may direct the member to absent himself/herself, impose specified limitation on the member's involvement, or conclude that no action needs to be taken. 

6
Reporting

(a) The Committee shall report regularly to the Executive and to Council through its Chair.

(b) The Committee shall prepare a written report for presentation at the Spring Meeting of the Council.

7
Status of Academic Administrators on CAUT Standing Committees

Whenever a member of a Standing Committee accepts an appointment (whether temporary or continuing) to a senior administrative position (for example, President, Vice-President, Counsel or Advisor to the President, Dean, Associate Dean, Assistant Dean) or, in the case of an academic staff association which has entered into a collective agreement, to any administrative position which excludes its occupant from membership in the bargaining unit, the member shall notify the Elections and Resolutions Committee. After consulting with the member's faculty association and the Standing Committee to which the member belongs, the Elections and Resolutions Committee shall report to the Council which shall determine whether the individual shall be replaced (using the usual procedure for choosing members to Standing Committees).

Approved by Council, November 2012.
Approved by Council, November 2024.