4.4 Miscellaneous Polices Related to Faculty Responsibilities
4.4.1 Campus Calendar and Room Use
A computer program maintained by the Office of Conferences and Campus Events provides the college with a unified calendar for scheduling the use of its various facilities. The Registrar's classroom assignments will be the standard against which all other reservation requests will be checked for conflicts.
The Registrar prepares a room schedule for all classes before each semester. No instructor should change the location assigned to a class without first clearing it through the Registrar. The Registrar, in turn, will consult with the Office of Conferences and Campus Events, which maintains the master schedule and calendar for all space usage on campus.
If individuals wish to reserve a room(s) for other than regular teaching purposes, they must first contact the Office of Conferences and Campus Events directly. No room should ever be appropriated without first consulting that office in order to make certain the room has not previously been assigned to someone else. Total cooperation in this matter is essential if conflicts are to be avoided.
4.4.2 Academic Procession and Dress
The faculty appears in academic procession at Opening Convocation, Honors Convocation, Commencement, and on other special occasions. All full-time and reduced-load faculty are expected to participate, in appropriate academic dress. Faculty members are placed in academic procession according to:
Rank - Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Instructor. Administrators with faculty status but without faculty rank will be given assimilated rank based on the guidelines for placement in rank for purpose of the procession.
Length of Service - This is to be defined in terms of official appointment to the faculty in any of the ranks of Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, or Instructor. It does not include provisional, conditional, part-time, or deferred appointments to the staff.
Order in Alphabet - Rank and years of service begin equal, members of the staff shall be listed alphabetically.
The policy on provision of regalia for these events is as follows:
- Caps, tassels, and black gowns appropriate to the degree are furnished by the institution (Office of Conferences and Campus Events). Although these are placed in the custody of the individual faculty members, they remain the property of the institution and must be returned at such time as the holder severs his or her connection as a faculty member or receives other academic apparel because of a change in academic degree.
- Each faculty member must provide his or her own academic hood. The college will retain an inventory of hoods from which a faculty member may borrow for a given occasion, but the college will not be obligated to provide a hood which reflects the institution and degree held by the faculty member.
- Faculty members who wish to have an academic robe that is specific to the institution attended and the degree held by the faculty member may do so at his or her own expense.
- Faculty members in need of academic dress for a given occasion should consult with the Office of Conferences and Campus Events. This should be done prior to the beginning of the academic year.
- Commencement is held on the Saturday following the last examination in the spring semester. The Commencement speaker is selected by the President of the college. Suggestions for a Commencement speaker are welcomed and should be submitted to the President early in the academic year.
4.4.3 Office and Space Assignment
Faculty offices are assigned by the provost or the provost's designee. All requests pertaining to offices should be directed to the provost through the department chair. Space assignments are made by the Vice President for Administration and Finance in consultation with the provost.
4.4.4 Budget Requests
Each staff member is given opportunity in the fall of the year to make budget requests through the department chair. The chair consolidates these requests into a departmental budget proposal.
4.4.5 Purchasing Supplies and Equipment
All supplies and equipment not available through the campus bookstore must be purchased in accordance with college policy, which is available from the Office of Administration and Finance. A web version is available from the Financial Services web page.
4.4.6 Access Control Devices
Responsibility for overseeing all campus-related access control devices (keys, cards, locks, codes - hereafter referred to as ACDs) and maintaining access control records is assigned to Campus Safety. Complete copies of the Access Control Policy are available from Campus Safety.
A request for ACD issuance to employees must be submitted in writing by a dean, director, department head, or division head to Campus Safety for approval. ACDs for different doors may be issued to the same person if there is work-related need. No person will be issued more than one ACD for the same door. Initially ACDs will be issued without charge to the responsible campus member with the expectation that the user will return the ACD at the end of the time of need. If the ACD is lost or stolen, an appropriate fee will be charged for the replacement. Lost or stolen ACDs must be promptly reported to Campus Safety.
All issued ACDs must be returned to Campus Safety upon separation, termination, or retirement from the college. Human Resources will verify the ACDs have been returned to Campus Safety before processing the separation, termination, or retirement of an employee. Exceptions to the above will require the approval of Campus Safety and the Human Resources Office.
4.4.7 Parking
Limited reserved parking is available for the faculty and staff near each building. Adequate unreserved parking is available. The faculty members are required to register their automobiles with the Security Office, display the parking sticker, and observe the parking regulations.
4.4.8 Chapel Attendance
Chapel meets daily at 10:00 AM. Faculty are requested to attend chapel services regularly.
4.4.9 Civil Defense and Severe Weather Warning
In the event of fire, bomb threat, or noxious gases, the warning will consist of a series of intermittent peals of the fire alarm. All classes should be dismissed at once. Students should be instructed to leave the building at the nearest exit. In the event of a Civil Defense Alert, warning of severe weather, or enemy attack, the Civil Defense siren will sound a wavering tone. All personnel must immediately seek cover in shelter (basement) areas. The "all clear" will be sounded by a steady tone of the Civil Defense siren.
In cases of severe winter weather, as a general policy, Calvin College does not close normal operations. Exceptions are made only when it is clear that the college facilities cannot be used due to heating, electrical or other mechanical failure, or when public and campus roadways are completely impassable.
In the context of this "no close" policy, however, the college does not expect students or faculty to take unreasonable risks in coming to the campus during times of severe weather or hazardous driving conditions. Students and faculty will not be penalized for deciding that such conditions, on the basis of their own individual good judgment, are too treacherous to come to the campus. Furthermore, when such weather conditions prevail, faculty will do everything possible to facilitate the students' efforts to obtain any information missed due to weather conditions.
In those rare circumstances when the campus must be closed, all local radio and TV stations will be so notified for regular reporting to the public.
In cases of severe weather such as tornadoes, the president has the responsibility for determining when to close or terminate college activities. The Security Director or a designee will inform the Office of the President of weather conditions as gained from the National Weather Service, the Office of Civil Defense, and from observers on campus. In the absence of the president, the responsibility for determining when to close goes to the provost, Vice President for Administration and Finance, Vice President for Student Affairs, Vice President for External Relations, Vice President for Information Services, or the Security Director in that order listed. When a decision to close college offices is made, the person making the decision will initiate a process for informing the campus community, the Security Office will advise those requesting information about the decision that was made.
4.4.10 Fire Alarm Procedures
The fire alarm is a continuous or pulsed blast of the fire horn (except in the Spoelhof Center where fire alarm bells sound). NEVER ASSUME IT IS A DRILL.
- ALL CLASSES SHOULD BE DISMISSED AT ONCE.
- It is the responsibility of the instructor to prepare procedures to dismiss the class safely and leave the work area in a safe condition. Examples would be: labs where experiments are in progress or gas jets are in use, rooms where equipment is in operation, etc.
- The instructor is normally the last one to leave the room.
- Faculty and staff in offices or other rooms of the building must leave immediately also.
- ALL DOORS AND WINDOWS SHOULD BE SHUT. LEAVE BY THE NEAREST EXIT TO THE OUTSIDE.
- In some buildings the nearest exit is an "emergency exit only" door. These doors ARE to be used in a fire or in a fire drill. An example of this would be in the Library. Since our buildings are comparatively fireproof, no panic conditions need result in case of fire.
- MOVE AWAY FROM THE EXIT TO A PLACE 100 FEET FROM THE BUILDING.
- Faculty and staff should assist in moving students away from the exits and away from the building. The exits MUST NOT BE BLOCKED as others may still be exiting.
- REMAIN OUTSIDE AWAY FROM THE BUILDING UNTIL NOTIFIED TO RETURN.
- Normally Security personnel or the building manager will make this notification. If the fire department is called to the scene, fire department personnel are in charge and will make the notification when it is safe to enter the building.
4.4.11 Telephone Usage
All off-campus telephone calls, including local calls, cost the college money. The individual making local, off-campus calls is not charged for these calls; however, he or she is asked to keep in mind that there is a charge to Calvin for each call. Long-distance calls which are made for personal reasons should be charged to the caller.
A monthly statement of itemized long-distance calls and the total local calls is sent to each faculty member. This statement should be verified by the faculty member and submitted to the department chair. Please pay for personal calls at the counter in the Financial Services Office.
4.4.12 Health Services
The primary purpose of Health Services is to serve Calvin College students. Employee and emeriti use of the Health Services is limited to immunizations for off-campus programs, TB skin tests required to perform academic responsibilities or mentoring (e.g., SLC, education, nursing, etc.), and any other services judged necessary to support instructional and/or research needs. This excludes allergy injections, blood pressure checks, at-work illness, and other minor personal needs for which some have requested care in the past. For proper continuity of health care, all employees and emeriti should maintain regular contact with a local primary care physician and visit his/her office when ill or in need of health care.
In cases of emergency, the college switchboard operator should be notified by calling "3333." It is each person's responsibility to review periodically and to know the campus emergency procedures as outlined in the first page of the campus directory.
4.4.13 Library Loan Policies
Faculty members may check out books for twenty-six weeks. After a faculty member has had a book for twenty-six weeks, the library sends an overdue notice. The book may be renewed by returning the notice to the library with instructions to renew it for an additional twenty-six weeks. (A book can be renewed a second time only by physically returning it to the library to complete the transaction.)
The total number of books signed out should not exceed fifty. The Library Director may contact faculty members who exceed this limit. Faculty members are urged to return unneeded books promptly in order to serve better the needs of students and other faculty members.
If another person requires a book held by a faculty member, the circulation staff will recall the book if it has been checked out for longer than two weeks. As a courtesy to the person requesting the book, recalled books should be returned as soon as possible.
Faculty members are permitted to charge out for their own use most back issues of periodicals for a maximum period of one week. No more than five bound volumes should be charged out at any time. These volumes are subject to recall if needed by other patrons. Current periodicals may be charged out from the Periodical Workroom for overnight and weekend use only. It is understood that faculty loan privileges are not to devolve upon students or other patrons.
A faculty member may request an exemption from the guest user's fee for a spouse and dependent children by sending a written request to the Head of Circulation or Library Director. Calvin alumni are already exempt.
4.4.14 Media Relations Policy - News and Official Reports
All press announcements and reports officially involving the college or the college program should be released through the Director of Media Relations, who has been delegated this responsibility. An exception is the report of the semi-annual meetings of the Board by the secretary to the Christian Reformed constituency via the church papers.
4.4.15 Mentors of Student Organizations
Every organization must have a faculty mentor appointed by the President in consultation with the faculty Committee on Governance. All policies and procedures of the organization must have the mentor's approval. The Dean of Student Development will supply information regarding procedures for appointment of mentors.
- Students may request a faculty member or an administrator as a mentor but the final selection and appointment is made by Faculty Senate, with the advice of the Student Life Committee.
- The mentor is appointed for a one-year term. Reappointments may be made. Each mentor is to receive an annual letter of appointment or reappointment from the president, to whom he or she is ultimately accountable.
- The President's Office informs the organizational head of the mentor appointment.
- The mentor, along with the officers or leadership group of the student organization, review the constitution each September to assure that it is being followed.
- The mentor assures that all officers meet college eligibility requirements (cf. Student Handbook). The Registrar's office can supply appropriate student data. The Dean of Student Development assists in special cases.
- The mentor advises in the budget formation of the organization prior to the budget submission to a governing board or to the Student Senate Finance Committee, whichever is applicable.
- The mentor approves in advance all campus-wide or public programs.
4.4.16 Fund Raising Policy
Fundraising projects must be approved by the president. Proposals for fundraising for special projects shall be submitted for approval to the President and the Vice President of Development prior to solicitation of said gifts.
College personnel shall not solicit gifts for or in the name of Calvin College or any part of Calvin College. Solicitation for special projects must be coordinated with the overall fundraising efforts and priorities of the college.
