Corporate body

South Dakota State University. Administrative Council

The Administrative Council was the new name given to the Council of Deans in 1942. The Committee of Deans, in existence from 1923, had been made up of the deans of the various areas on campus, including the colleges and the Deans of Men and Women. The Council made decisions on such things as campus rules, students' requests to expand their course load, student absences and disciplinary actions. Also discussed at meetings were administrative matters such as the institution of a vocational course and changing credits for certain courses. The Council approved candidates for degrees and the college calendar. It is not clear whether the president was always included in these meetings, although his name often appears on the minutes. / The name change to Administrative Council did not signify any major changes within the focus of the group. Throughout its lifespan, the nature of the material discussed and decisions made at these meetings remained the same as previous. By the mid 1950's, however, the Council had expanded to include faculty representatives from the Faculty Association. / By 1955, when the council is first mentioned in the Faculty Handbook, the group met weekly with the president to discuss questions of administration or policy brought forth by the president, or to discuss any other questions brought up the any council member. There is no indication of whether this was a decision-making group, but as no other campus group fulfilled the decision making and policy making duties performed by the Council, it can be assumed that they continued to perform these functions. At this time, the president served as the chairman of the Administrative Council. This brief description remains in the Faculty Handbook until the 1970 edition, when first mention is made of the Academic Senate, which did take over the decision-making and policy-making roles outlined above.