Faculty involvement in NIU operations and procedures got a boost last week with the forming of a new academic organization.

NIU’s Faculty Senate held its first meeting Wednesday. For the first time in NIU history, every faculty division will be represented in an official manner, said Faculty Senate President J. Carroll Moody.

Officials decided about three years ago that a faculty senate was needed to support the University Council, Moody said.

“One of the reasons was that the faculty representatives were elected by the college. A number of departments had no representation on the UC,” Moody said.

No major decisions were made at the first meeting, which served as an organizational meeting. Members approved a set of interim bylaws for the organizations and set up committees.

The first meeting also included a number of elections to determine faculty representatives.

One member of the Faculty Senate is elected from and by the faculty of each academic department or school. Two representatives are elected from each department of more than 50 faculty members. One faculty member each from the College of Law and the University Libraries also are elected, according to the bylaws of the Faculty Senate.

The Faculty Senate will deal with a broad range of issues, but when important issues come up, it will be taken up with the UC.

“If we deal with an issue that may change the university bylaws, we take it to the UC Constitution and any changes will be submitted,” he said.

“We were recognized by the Chancellor (Roderick Groves), the Board of Regents (NIU’s governing body) and the President,” Moody said. “It was rather a historic meeting.”