One of the signature features of the University of California is its robust system of shared governance, which ensures that the Regents, the administration, and the faculty are jointly responsible for the operation of the UC system and each of the campuses. The UC Santa Cruz Division of the Academic Senate operates as a legislative body and as a system of committees run by and for the faculty. The University of California has a dual-track system of authority and responsibility which presumes that faculty are best qualified to chart the University’s educational course, while the administrators are most competent to direct its finances and organization. In practice, these domains overlap and are interdependent. To function successfully, faculty and administrators depend on a high level of consultation, trust, mutual respect and a tradition of collegial collaboration.
Faculty participation in shared governance occurs through the Academic Senate and takes several forms: strict purview, delegated authority, and advisory. The Academic Senate has strict purview over curriculum and the granting of degrees and delegated authority (from the Regents) for admissions. In all other cases, the Senate functions in an advisory capacity to the administration, opining on proposed policies and policy changes and offering faculty perspectives and guidance to principal officers. In this context and at the highest levels of governance, the Chair and Vice Chair of the systemwide Academic Senate serve as faculty representatives to the Regents and have the right to attend all meetings, including Regents-only meetings.
The Senate operates through a federated model based on a structure that integrates the systemwide Senate and the campus (divisional) Senates. At the systemwide level, the Senate is comprised of approximately two dozen standing committees with leadership provided by the Academic Council, whose membership includes the Chair and Vice Chair of the systemwide Senate, the ten divisional Chairs, and the Chairs of University Committee on Academic Personnel (CAP), University Committee on Affirmative Action, Diversity, and Equity (UCAADE), Board on Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS), University Committee on Educational Policy (UCEP), University Committee on Faculty Welfare (UCFW), Coordinating Committee on Graduate Affairs (CCGA), University Committee on Planning and Budget (UCPB), and the University Committee on Research Policy (UCORP). This committee structure is reproduced locally on each campus, and each division sends a representative, usually the chair of the campus committee, to its respective systemwide committee.
The Santa Cruz Division of the Academic Senate operates as a Senate of the whole, unlike many other divisional Senates that operate on a representative basis. The UCSC Senate is led by the Senate Executive Committee, comprised of the divisional Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Assembly Representative, and the Chairs of approximately half of the standing committees. Standing committees are committees for which the bylaws provide a description of the committee charge, dictate membership, and (for those committees with strict purview) outline areas of authority. For advisory committees, the Bylaws describe the areas for which the committee provides guidance and advice to the campus in addition to its charge and membership. In addition to Standing Committees, the Senate may at times also have special committees, which are constituted for a limited and often temporary purpose; they are not included in the Divisional Bylaws.