THE UMASS AMHERST PHENOM COUNCIL aims to be the organization that reaches out to University students, staff and faculty as individuals and brings together leaders and members of major campus organizations to pursue issues of equity, funding, access, and democracy at the university. It would like to be the place where joint campaigns and other collaborations are discussed and planned, and where information is shared. It will participate in PHENOM's statewide planning, providing feedback to the steering committee through at least one elected representative and will implement PHENOM's statewide strategy on our campus and in our community.

The Amherst council recognizes the challenges of bringing together such diverse groups and balancing needs of different members and organizations. The Amherst Council will be innovative and diligent in providing a structure and process that will

nurture an inclusive and effective coalition.

The Council takes PHENOM's 5 principles as the foundation for its own work, and that work and public face will always include students, staff, and faculty. We expect that part of the Council's energy will most likely go toward statewide PHENOM campaigns. But equally importantly, the Council will initiate its own campaigns on campus as determined by the Council.

1. Participation at meetings is open to any member of the UMass Amherst community (faculty, staff, and student).

2. Voting at meetings is restricted to people who have attended at least 2 previous meetings in the past year.

3. Decisions will be made in the following manner:

       A.        Policy decisions will be made by consent.

               A policy decision governs a set of future operational decisions by settingaims, standards, and limits. It may                        allocate resources, including people, clarify values, establish plans, or specify general procedures for repetitive                processes.

               Deciding by consent means that all voting members review the proposal and the proposal moves forward as long                as no one has a reasoned, paramount objection to the proposal. A reasoned, paramount objection is an                        argument that if the proposal goes forward as is, some aspect of the group's objective cannot be achieved. The                proposal is revie wed and modified as appropriate until there is no paramount objection remaining. (more                        information about consent decision -making will be circulated)

       B.        Operational decisions may be made by other methods but that method must be chosen by consent initially.

               An operational decision flows from or executes specific or implied policy decisions in the day to day functioning of                an organization. It may determine daily job assignments, and handling correspondence, the delivery of specific                services, et cetera.

       C.        Proposals will be circulated electronically at the least two days prior to the meeting where policy decisions will be                made. If people cannot make the meeting during which a policy decision is planned to be made and that person                has a paramount concern, they should communicate via e-mail to the group about the concern. It will be taken                into consideration at the meeting. Anyone needing clarification on a proposal can ask for more information                        before the meetings via e-mail as well.

4. The major roles of the Group are:

       Facilitator : Initially a 2 month term (the length to be revisited when everyone is back in the Fall)

       A.        Work with Note taker, Operational Leader and Group Representative to solicit input and create ag endas for                        Council meetings and monitor the work of the group between meetings

       B.         Facilitate the Council meetings in a manner designed to

                       i) maximize all participants' understanding, comfort levels and participation, and

                       ii ) respect the value of participants' time

       Note taker/Secretary : Initially a 2 month term (the length to be revisited when everyone is back in the Fall)

       A.        Make sure that minutes are taken and distributed

       B.         Make sure there is an up-to -date email list for distribution of agendas, proposals, etc., and make sure that                        ideas and proposals are widely circulated

       C.        Make sure that attendance is tracked and that who has voting rights is clear at each meeting

       D.         Monitors what decisions/policies are coming up for review and works with the Facilitator to add them into                         agenda.

       Operational Leader : Initially a 2 month term (the length to be revisited when everyone is back in the Fall)

       A.         Represents the Statewide PHENOM organization agenda at the group m eetings and is a member of the                        Steering Committee.

       B.         Makes sure that statewide PHENOM issues/campaigns are brought to the Council

       C.         Consulting as needed with the Facilitator, Note taker and Group Representative, makes day-to -day operational                decisions within the scope and limits identified by the overall group.

       Group Representative : Initially a 2 month term (the length to be revisited when everyone is back in the Fall)

       A.        Represents the group and makes sure that the groups' issues are brought to the statewide Steering Committee

       B.         Make sure outreach is done to constituencies that are u nderrepresented at Council meetings.

As is consistent with the organization's overall goals and aims, t hese roles should be filled equitably between students, staff and faculty.

5. All decisions and roles are made with a specific time limit after which the entire group will evaluate the efficacy of the  decision/need for continued work. At that time any necessary changes will be made, another consent decision will be made , and the process begins again.