Organizational and legal texts
Circular No. 28 Conducting Elections for Unit, Branch, and Department Councils

As the term of office for members of unit, branch, and department councils is nearing its end,

Deans of university units are requested to call for elections of representatives of the teaching staff, heads of academic departments, and academic department councils during the period between September 15 and October 15, 2019, in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 66 dated March 4, 2009 (Organization of Academic Councils at the Lebanese University), provided that the following procedures are followed:

 

First: Conditions for Candidacy

 

1- Candidacy for the presidency of an academic department:

 

Candidates for the presidency of a department must:

a- A member of the Lebanese University faculty or a full-time employee in one of its colleges, holding one of the two highest ranks in the department or meeting the requirements of one of the two ranks, and having spent at least ten years teaching at the Lebanese University after obtaining a doctorate degree, in accordance with the approved quota for calculating years of university experience.

- In the absence of candidates from the faculty or full-time contractors, one of the hourly contractors from the parallel categories, i.e., the first or second category (professor or assistant professor), may be elected with a teaching quota of no less than 200 hours in each of the academic years 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, and who has taught at the Lebanese University for at least ten years after obtaining his doctorate, nine of which are in accordance with the approved quota for calculating years of university experience.

b- He/she has one of the main specializations of the department.

The main specialization of the department is determined in accordance with Article 39 of Law 75/67.

c- If he teaches in more than one branch or unit, his nomination shall be where he has the highest quota. If his quota is equal to that of another department, he shall be nominated in the unit or branch closest to his specialization according to his degree.

 

2- Nomination for membership of the Academic Department Council:

 

Candidates for membership of the Academic Department Council must:

a- Be on the staff of the Lebanese University or be full-time at one of its faculties, and have spent at least five years teaching at the Lebanese University after obtaining their doctorate, in accordance with the approved quota for calculating years of university experience.

b- In the absence of candidates from the faculty or full-time staff, one of the hourly contractors from the parallel categories, i.e., the first or second category, may be elected, with a university teaching quota of no less than 200 hours in each of the academic years 2018-2019 and 2019-2020. and has been teaching at the Lebanese University for at least five years after obtaining his doctorate, four of which are in accordance with the approved quota for calculating years of university experience.

c- He has one of the main specializations in the department.

d- If he teaches in more than one branch or unit, he must be nominated where he has the highest quota. If his quota is equal to that of another department, he shall be nominated in the unit or branch closest to his specialization according to his degree.

 

3. Nomination to represent members of the teaching staff:

 

Candidates for representing the teaching staff in the branch council or in the council of a unit that has no branches must:

a- Be on the staff of the Lebanese University or be full-time at one of its faculties or institutes.

b- If there are no candidates from the staff or full-time employees, one of the hourly contractors may be elected, provided that:

- Their teaching load is not less than 200 hours in each of the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 academic years.

- They have been teaching at the Lebanese University for at least five years after obtaining their doctorate, four of which are in accordance with the approved quota for calculating years of university experience.

c- They have general expertise in the department or unit for which they are running.

d- If they teach in more than one department or unit, they must run where they have the highest teaching load. If the teaching loads are equal, they must run for the unit or department closest to their expertise according to their degree.

 

Second: Nomination Procedures

 

The following mechanism shall be adopted for the nomination of members of the teaching staff to represent them and to chair or be members of the academic department:

1- Nomination requests shall be registered with the branch secretariat during official working hours and within the deadlines set for the submission of nomination requests and the conduct of elections.

2- The nomination application shall be accompanied by a statement including: the candidate's status (tenured, full-time, or hourly contract), rank, length of service at the university after obtaining a doctorate, annual teaching load, and the position for which they are running. Candidates may only run for one position.

3- On the last day of accepting nominations, the applications shall be submitted to the dean of the unit in a sealed envelope, accompanied by a list of candidates.

4- The dean announces the accepted names.

 

Third: Special cases

 

In the event of special cases, these cases shall be submitted to the president of the university through the administrative chain to take the appropriate decision in accordance with the authorization issued by the University Council pursuant to Decision No. 1825/36/M.J. dated 6/12/2017.

 

Fourth: Term of office

 

The term of office of the chair and members of the academic department councils and the faculty representative is two years, renewable once. Therefore, candidates must have more than two years of service to reach the legal age after the specified election date.

 

Fifth: Election

 

1- Elections shall be held at the place and time determined by the dean of the unit and under his supervision.

2- The election process shall be supervised by a committee formed by decision of the dean of the unit.

3- Members of the teaching staff shall participate in the election process, in accordance with the following provisions:

a- Members of the teaching staff who are permanent employees, full-time contractors, and hourly contractors shall participate in the election process if they have a teaching load of at least 200 hours during the 2018-2019 academic year.

b-The professor with the highest teaching load shall be elected. If the teaching load is equal between two units, branches, or departments, the vote shall be cast in the unit, branch, or department closest to his or her field of expertise according to his or her degree.

c- Any voter who votes twice after having their name included on more than one electoral list shall be subject to disciplinary action, and the violation shall be referred to the university president for appropriate measures to be taken.

d- The dean of the unit shall draw up a list of voters in each electoral district.

e- The dean of the unit shall announce the election results immediately after the counting and collection of votes. If the dean does not announce the results, the counting report shall be considered an announcement of the results.

f- The candidate who receives the highest number of votes shall be considered the winner. In the event of a tie, the candidate with the highest rank shall be considered the winner, followed by the candidate with the highest degree, and then the oldest candidate.

g- The election results may be appealed before the University Council within three days of their announcement. The Council shall decide on the appeal within a maximum of ten days.

h- A copy of the election results shall be kept by the University Secretariat.

 

Sixth

 

Candidates from the Faculty of Fine Arts and Architecture are exempt from the requirement of having a doctorate degree if there are no other candidates who meet this requirement.

 

Beirut, 5 September 2019

President of the Lebanese University

Fouad Ayoub

 

Circular

 
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