The records of the Faculty Senate and Council are arranged into five series: Administrative, Governing Bodies, Committees, Departmental, and Ephemera. The collection relates to all areas of University of Iowa governance, including the state Board of Regents, Board in Control of Athletics, Board of Deans, and AFSCME collective bargaining. Papers include such documents as committee reports, meeting minutes, agendas, correspondence, membership lists, election records, policies, newspaper clippings, speeches and photographs. Patrons may wish to search the same dates in more than one series for completeness. For example, a topic in a 1960 report may correspond to information in the 1960 minutes.

The Faculty Senate and Council papers document the central issues that have shaped administrative policy and the lives of faculty, staff and students since 1948. Examples of matters addressed by this body are:

--the formation of collective bargaining for state of Iowa employees (see Governing Bodies series, Collective Bargaining) --the evolution of a smoking policy on campus (see the Administrative series, within Policies, 1977) --faculty promotion procedures (see the Administrative series, Procedures)

--the history of TIAA/CREF benefits plan (see the Committees series, 1976)

--the reorganization of the Board in Control of Athletics in order to include women?s athletics (see Governing Bodies, Board in Control of Athletics, 1981)

--commissions formed in 1969 and 1975 to address concerns of Black students (see the Departmental series, Reports for those years)

--information about percentages of UI staff by ethnicity and gender in a 1976 report (see the Departmental series, Reports for that year)

--mandatory faculty retirement age (see the Committees series, 1977, for history of UI retirement)

--changing the name of the University (see the Administrative series Minutes dated May 12, 1959, and within the Departmental series, see Reports, 1961)

--correspondence with the University of Tokyo regarding nuclear weapons in 1958 (see the Administrative series, Correspondence, 1958)

--the refusal of a professor to give grades in 1967

--the Selective Service practice of considering student grades in 1966 (see the Administrative series, Procedures, 1966)

Series I, the Administrative records consists of eight sub-series: Correspondence, Minutes, Searches, Committee Members, Member Assignments to Committees, Meeting Announcements and Agenda, Policies, and Procedures. Each sub-series is arranged chronologically. Faculty Senate minutes are inter-filed with Faculty Council minutes. Regular meeting minutes and special meeting minutes are also inter-filed.

Series II, the Governing Bodies records includes the Board of Regents (1972-1975), Board in Control of Athletics (1960-1981), Board of Deans (1955-1979), and AFSCME Collective bargaining (1971-1977). These are organized chronologically within each body.

Series III, the Committees records are organized chronologically and by committee name within each year beginning in 1946. Many committees were ad hoc and therefore produced records intermittently. The Committees series includes advisory councils and boards as well, such as American Association of University Professors (AAUP), the Council on Teaching, the Board of Trustees of Student Publications, and the University Research Council. Some newspaper clippings and magazine articles are dated as early as 1940. Correspondence pertaining to work of the committees is included.

Series IV, the Departmental records consists of five sub-series: Reports Produced by the Senate, Awards Presented by the Senate, Reviews Conducted by the Senate, Speeches, and Studies / Self-Studies. Each of these sub-series is organized chronologically.

Series V, the Ephemera records consists of two sub-series: Newspaper Clippings and Photographs.