The Bloomington Faculty Council began meeting 7 October 1969. Formerly part of the Faculty Council, the Bloomington Faculty Council was created as part of a major University reorganization initiated under University President Elvis J. Stahr. The goal of the University reorganization was to divide the University into three autonomous units: Bloomington, Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis, and the remaining regional campuses. In January 1969 the proposed amendments to the Faculty Council Constitution were presented. The Faculty Constitution, which had provided the guidelines for University-wide faculty, would become exclusively the constitution of the Bloomington Faculty. Other faculties were given the option of creating their own faculty constitutions.
The authority of the Bloomington campus faculty is expressed by the Bloomington Faculty Council and its thirty members elected at-large. Through this body the faculty has authority over the academic mission of the University, the academic calendar, faculty tenure policies, the conferring of degrees, etc. The council works with the Chancellor and the Deans of the schools of: Arts and Sciences, Business, Education, Graduate, Health, Physical Education and Recreation, Law, Library and Music, to effect change within the Bloomington campus. The President and Vice-President of the Student Body were given ex officio voting member seats in the council as well.
Thus, the Bloomington Faculty Council’s primary functions are to create and regulate policies regarding the faculty and student body within the university, to consult with members of the administration on terms of policy, to initiate proposals for the council’s own, as well as the general faculty’s, consideration, to elect committees for the discharge of the council’s functions, to fill vacated offices within the council, and to make a continuing study of the effects of past legislation.
In 2002 the Bloomington Faculty Council is led by the Chancellor of the University, but also a President Pro Tempore, Parliamentarian and Secretary. It is composed of seventeen standing committees: Affirmative Action, Agenda, Associate Instructor Affairs, Budgetary Affairs, Constitution and Rules, Distributed Education, Educational Policies, Election Supervisor, External Relations, Faculty Affairs, Foundation Relations, Fringe Benefits, Library, Long-Range Planning, Nomination, Student Affairs, and Technology. The BFC generally meets the first and third Tuesday of each month, with a minimum of four meetings per semester.
From the guide to the Bloomington Faculty Council records, 1969-2012, (Indiana University Office of University Archives and Records Management http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives)
