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Policy and Procedure Statements

UPPS 01.01.05 - Committees

Committees

UPPS No. 01.01.05
Issue No. 3
Effective Date: 2/07/2025
Next Review Date: 8/01/2035 (E10Y)
Sr. Reviewer: Vice President and Chief of Staff

POLICY STATEMENT

Texas State University is dedicated to establishing and maintaining committees that promote effective governance, collaborative decision-making, and support for the university’s mission, goals, and strategic priorities.

  1. SCOPE

    1. Texas State University employs a system of committees to provide advice and counsel regarding policies, procedures, and activities of the university.

    2. This policy establishes procedures for university-level committees and for opening meetings of university committees to members of the press and public.

  2. DEFINITIONS

    1. Committees – offer advice and guidance on specific areas of responsibility or recurring needs. Members are appointed based on their expertise, to distinguish between presidential, divisional, or other, or to represent specific constituencies at the university. While members may change (usually on an annual basis), the committee’s purpose, functions, and duties typically remain constant. Dissolution may occur if responsibilities shift, or the need is resolved or no longer exists.

    2. Roster of Presidential Committees – The Roster of Presidential Committees is updated each summer to identify the president-appointed committees that will operate in the coming year. The Roster is posted on the Texas State website to provide a convenient source of membership and function of these groups.

    3. As used in this policy, “public” means all people who are not members of the committee involved.

  3. GOVERNING AUTHORITY

    1. Each committee at Texas State is constituted under general authority granted by The Texas State University System (TSUS) Board of Regents in a resolution adopted by the Board on August 13, 1976.

    2. The TSUS Rules and Regulations list as one of the duties and responsibilities delegated to the president, responsibility for: “Appointing campus committees, councils, and teams, and appointing or establishing procedures for the appointment of faculty and staff. The authority of these bodies is limited to reviewing, offering suggestions, and making recommendations on matters related to their purpose. They will submit their reviews, recommendations, and suggestions through channels to the president, who has responsibility and authority for making decisions, subject to the final authority of the Chancellor and the Board of Regents.”

  4. ROSTER OF PRESIDENTIAL COMMITTEES

    1. The Roster provides a summary of the standing committees established by the Office of the President. For committees established by a vice president, the rosters will be maintained and published on the respective department’s website.

    2. The executive assistant in the Office of the Executive Vice President for Operations and Chief Financial Officer will coordinate an annual review of the online Roster. This review will be scheduled so that faculty and staff membership updates to the Roster can be completed prior to the beginning of the fall semester, with student member names added as soon as possible after the semester begins. The executive assistant will also post additional interim updates as information is received.

    3. The president, or designee, responsible for establishing these presidential committees will have an opportunity to review and update the called function on the website of the committee, to revise membership lists, and to add new standing committees during the annual review of the Roster.

  5. GENERAL OPERATING PROCEDURES FOR PRESIDENTIAL COMMITTEES

    1. The presidential committees identified in the Roster are part of the formal governance structure at Texas State. For this reason, meetings of these groups are usually held during normal business hours and participation in meetings of these groups by university employee members is considered part of their normal job responsibilities.

    2. In some cases, operating procedures for a committee may be described in a specific university policy or through other guidance provided by the establishing authority. Where no such guidance exists, operating procedures may be established by the chair or the entire committee.

    3. Although committees are established to promote the exchange of a wide variety of viewpoints, the meetings of these groups do not constitute a public forum.

    4. Unless otherwise established via the procedures described above, meeting schedules for committees are subject to the discretion of the chair.

  6. OPENING MEETINGS OF UNIVERSITY COMMITTEES TO MEMBERS OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC

    1. Identification of Applicable Law

      1. The Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code, Chapter 551, requires a government body to open its meetings to the public, with certain exceptions. The Act defines the word “meeting” as “a deliberation between a quorum of a governmental body or between a quorum of a governmental body and another person, during which public business or public policy over which the governmental body has supervision or control is discussed or considered or during which the governmental body takes formal Action…”

      2. The authority of councils, committees, and teams is limited to reviewing, offering suggestions, and making recommendations on matters related to their purpose, as provided in the TSUS Rules and Regulations Chapter IV, Section 2.2(10).

      3. The attorney general of Texas has held that university committees that do not exercise supervision or control over public business or policy are not subject to the requirements of the Texas Open Meetings Act (Texas Attorney General Letter Opinion No. 93-64).

    2. Open or Closed Meetings

      1. The university recognizes that people should have access to meetings at which business or policy affecting the university is discussed. Although not required by law, it is the policy of the university that people are, unless otherwise expressly prohibited by university policy or by decision resulting from implementation of that policy, entitled to attend meetings of university committees. Therefore, except as otherwise provided in this policy, the presiding officer will open all university committee meetings to the public unless, after consultation with other members, they decides to close the meeting.

      2. Although the committee’s presiding officer must consult with the other committee members before deciding to close the meeting, the presiding officer will make the final decision, regardless of the opinions of other committee members.

      3. The presiding officer of a university committee may exclude any witness from a hearing during examination of another witness in a matter being investigated.

      4. A person attending a university committee public meeting may record any part of the meeting by any means of audio or video reproduction unless the presiding officer directs otherwise. The presiding officer must ascertain: 1) whether attendees may record during the meeting, and 2) whether the attendees include a member of the press.

        In either event, the presiding officer will announce such fact to the other members. Surreptitious use of a recording device is a violation of university policy and subjects the user to expulsion from the meeting. In addition, university employees and students who use recording devices surreptitiously under these circumstances are subject to disciplinary sanctions.

      5. A presiding officer who has any question regarding the legality of opening or closing a meeting to the public may seek advice from the TSUS Office of General Counsel.

    3. Exceptions to Open Meetings

      1. The committee will close consultations with an attorney.

      2. The university president may close to the public all or any portion of any university council, committee, or recognized student, faculty, or staff organization meeting.

      3. The university will exclude the public from a meeting during which the attendees discuss the purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property, contract negotiations, or prospective gifts or donations to the university, when the discussion would have a detrimental effect on the university’s negotiating position.

      4. This policy does not require committees to hold meetings open to the public in cases involving the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal of a university faculty member or staff employee or student, or to hear complaints or charges against a student or employee of the university. If an employee requests an open meeting in writing, the presiding officer may, at their sole discretion, open the meeting to the public. Student disciplinary hearings are always closed.

      5. This policy does not require university committees to deliberate in open meetings regarding the deployment or implementation of security strategies, personnel, plans, or devices.

      6. The presiding officer will close committee meetings at which information (other than directory information) contained in students’ education records is revealed unless the students’ written consent for the release of such information is obtained.

    4. Procedures for Dealing with Unauthorized Disclosure of Confidential Data By Committee Members

      1. If a university committee, in a closed meeting, discusses matters deemed confidential by the presiding officer, the presiding officer shall have the responsibility of informing the committee members of the confidential nature of the business discussed.

      2. If the information disclosed also meets the definition of “confidential information,” as defined by the Texas Administrative Code 202.1(7), the disclosure should be reported to the Chief Information Security Officer to determine if additional mitigating actions, reporting, or notification is required.

      3. If thereafter, the presiding officer or a committee member discloses that confidential information to the news media or public, that member is solely responsible for that release.

  7. REVIEWERS OF THIS UPPS

    1. Reviewers of this UPPS include the following:

      PositionDate
      Vice President and Chief of StaffAug 1 E10Y
      Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic AffairsAug 1 E10Y
      Executive Vice President for Operations and Chief Financial OfficerAug 1 E10Y
      Chair, Faculty SenateAug 1 E10Y
      Chair, Staff CouncilAug 1 E10Y
      TSUS Associate General CounselAug 1 E10Y

  8. CERTIFICATION STATEMENT

    This UPPS has been approved by the following individuals in their official capacities and represents Texas State policy and procedures from the date of this document until superseded.

    Vice President and Chief of Staff; senior reviewer of this UPPS

    President