Open Forum Guidelines

As of July 2011 Open Forum will migrate to a paperless format in which the Open Forum will become an archive on the Faculty Senate website. The Home Page for the Faculty Senate website will link directly to the Open Forum page that includes the header shown below, that lists the titles for all published essays, and that provides links to the essays themselves. The website will be open to the Clemson Community.

The Open Forum page shall include the following heading:

Open Forum provides a venue for any faculty member to exercise freedom of speech in an effort to uplift and improve Clemson University. All University Faculty are invited to submit essays to be considered for Open Forum. Although all essays have been reviewed by the editors of the Faculty Senate Open Forum, the published essays do not necessarily represent the views of the editors or the Clemson University Faculty Senate.

Contributor Guidelines

All faculty members are encouraged to submit essays on topics of general interest that focus on improving the university. Essays should be sent as email attachments, written in a common word processing format, such as MS Word, to one of the Open Forum editors, and the email subject line should contain the words “Open Forum Submission.”

These essays are subject only to the guidelines listed below:

• Essays should be tightly focused on a single topic and should begin with a very short topical paragraph that summarizes the theme of the essay.
• Essays should reflect professional standards and should not contain factual errors, rumors, name calling, or personal attacks. Essays that do not meet these standards will be rejected.

Credit for editing a submission shall be included in the published text only at the direct request of the author and with the concurrence of the editors.

Authors whose submissions have been rejected shall be notified of their right to appeal by the editors. The rejection of a submission may be appealed onetime by the author to the Executive/Advisory Committee of the Faculty Senate. The Committee may overturn the editors’ decision by a two-thirds vote of members present and voting.

Editor Guidelines

The editors shall promptly acknowledge submissions to the Open Forum and will expeditiously review them with a view for timely electronic publication.

While the editors will review the articles, it is understood that some essays may contain factual errors. Neither the editors nor the Faculty Senate are responsible for any factual errors; these are the responsibility of the author.

While the editors may propose editorial changes, the author is free to request publication without making any or all of the proposed changes.

Prior to actual publication in the Open Forum, the editors shall receive final authorization from the author to publish a submission, including submissions that have been subject to emendations by the editors.

The editors will send an email to all faculty and staff that lists the newly published submissions with links to the essays. This email would be sent out each week that new essays are published.

Election of Dditors and Review of Guidelines

The two editors of the Open Forum shall be elected annually by the Faculty Senate.

These guidelines shall be reviewed annually by the incoming editors of the Open Forum with recommendations for amendments submitted for approval to the Faculty Senate Executive/Advisory Committee.

These guidelines shall be reproduced in the Faculty Senate Handbook.