By long-standing tradition, at Carleton and in higher education in the United States generally, trustees have delegated formulation of educational policy to the faculty. The Carleton faculty will exercise that responsibility in their monthly meeting, under the direction of their elected President, with the assistance of a standing committee, to be known as the Education and Curriculum Committee (ECC).

Function of ECC

The ECC will function as a hearing and policy formulation committee reporting to the faculty. They are responsible for the articulation of educational policy and will receive occasional reports from those college committees (e.g., Academic Standing Committee) that are primarily concerned with educational or curricular matters. The faculty meeting will be the final voting authority on all matters of educational policy.

Membership of ECC

The Dean of the College will serve as Chair, with the assistance of a faculty co-chair. The faculty will elect five representatives to staggered two-year terms on ECC. There will be at least one representative from each of the four divisions of the curriculum on ECC. The Carleton Student Association Senate will send the chair of its Academic Affairs Committee and four other students to serve on ECC. The Associate Dean of the College who sits on the Academic Standing Committee will serve on ECC ex officio.

Procedure of ECC

The ECC will normally meet weekly during the term, except weeks when the Faculty meets. Their meetings will be public and minutes will be kept and circulated among the campus community. The Dean and faculty co-chair will be responsible for the agenda of the committee, and will normally include matters on the agenda at the suggestion of any member of the committee.

Members of the ECC, including student members, will be invited to attend and participate in those faculty meetings where formal resolutions from ECC are on the agenda. In addition to those five students, other students who have demonstrated ongoing and substantial interest in a resolution to be debated by the faculty may petition the chairs of ECC to be allowed to attend the faculty meeting. Students may participate in discussion during the meeting and remain present for the voting upon ECC resolutions. A majority of faculty present at a meeting may approve ECC resolutions. ECC resolutions will be circulated in writing in advance of the faculty meeting, and the faculty will not approve an ECC resolution at the meeting where it appears on the agenda for the first time. ECC resolutions must, in other words, appear on the agenda of two faculty meetings (they need not be successive meetings) before they may be approved; students may be present and participating in debate at all such meetings. Any ECC resolution amended on the floor of the faculty meeting must be returned to ECC for deliberation before it can be submitted to the faculty meeting for a vote; this procedure need not apply to minor changes in wording accepted by ECC members present at the meeting.