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By Laws of the Spurlock Museum

1. Article I: Name:

   The name of the Museum is The William R. and Clarice V. Spurlock Museum. The Spurlock Museum is a unit of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Illinois, located on the Urbana-Champaign campus.

2. Article II: Mission:

   The Spurlock Museum celebrates our shared humanity by collecting, preserving, documenting, exhibiting, and studying objects of cultural heritage. The Museum's primary function is education in service to students, scholarly communities, and the general public, interpreting the diversity of cultures through time and across the globe. Its collections constitute a public trust to be responsibly maintained for future generations as a permanent record of the cultural world.

3. Article III: Organization

   1. Section 1. The Director

      The Director, who serves as head of the unit, administers the Spurlock Museum. The Director exercises overall responsibility for the Museum's functions, including planning, budgeting, staffing, research, conservation, exhibition, education, and development. The Director works in conjunction with the University of Illinois Foundation to implement development initiatives. The Director is the primary liaison between the Museum and other units of the University. The Director reports to the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and to the Provost on matters related to the Spurlock Museum. The Director consults the Dean and Provost on major policy changes and furnishes them with a report of activities at the end of each academic year. The Director meets regularly with Museum staff and Section Heads (see below) to review the goals and progress of the Spurlock Museum.

   2. Section 2. The Staff

      The Spurlock Museum internal staff is organized into six sections: Administration; Collections Management; Education; Information Technology; Registration; and Security. Each Section is directed by a Section Head: Business Manager, Collections Manager, Director of Education, Director of Information Technology, Registrar, and Head of Security, respectively. Section Heads report to the Director and supervise full-time and part-time non-student staff, part-time undergraduate and graduate student staff, and volunteers working within their section. Section Heads are responsible for all matters relevant to their Section and position. Section Heads are consulted on any issues relating to their Section. Section Heads meet to coordinate projects between Sections and to address Museum-wide issues as needed.

      The Dean, upon the recommendation of the Director, appoints the Spurlock Museum curatorial staff. Curators are University faculty with tenure-track appointments in an academic department and a minimum of a 50% appointment within the University. Such curators have a 0% appointment in the Museum with rank commensurate to their faculty standing (Professor/Curator, Assistant Professor/Assistant Curator, Associate Professor/Associate Curator, Visiting Professor/Visiting Curator). Retired University faculty with the title of Professor Emeritus may also be appointed as Curator Emeritus. Adjunct Curators are University affiliates who do not hold a tenured or tenure track position at the University or do not hold an official 0% appointment with the Museum but who have volunteered to assist the Museum in a curatorial capacity. Curatorial staff work with Museum staff to develop exhibits, provide curatorial input in their area of expertise relating to acquisitions, loans and deaccessions, and to address other curatorial matters as needed.

   3. Section 3. Committees

      1. The Museum Advisory Committee.

         The Museum Advisory Committee is comprised of faculty Curators and the Museum Director. The Museum Advisory Committee is appointed by the Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences and as such performs for the Museum the same functions as the College Advisory Committee does towards a Department as described in the University Statutes, Article IV, Section 3, (http://www.uillinois.edu/trustees/statutes.html#sec25). In general the Museum Advisory Committee provides the Museum Director and the Dean/Provost with advice concerning policies, programmatic opportunities, and potential directions for the Museum. The Museum Advisory Committee provides a channel of communication between the Museum and other academic departments and campus units that may wish to use the Museum. The Museum Advisory Committee reviews matters of policy brought to it by the Dean, Provost, Director, or other Committee members. The Director, the Dean, or any Committee member may call meetings of the Committee. The Committee is made up of a minimum of five members, including the Director. Additional members can be appointed as needs dictate. A quorum is 50% of the Committee membership.

      2. Acquisitions Committee.

         The Acquisition Committee is responsible for reviewing potential acquisitions, outgoing loans, incoming loans, and deaccessions, and ensuring such proposals meet the criteria and guidelines as listed in the Spurlock Museum Collections Management Policy. The Committee consists of the Director, Registrar, Collections Manager, Director of Education, and Director of Information Technology. The Director may assign other staff members to the Committee as appropriate.

         The Registrar is responsible for presenting relevant information in written form to the Acquisition Committee for review. The information is to include all relevant information required for the Committee to make an informed decision including, but not limited to, basic descriptive and catalogue information on objects, acquisition and provenance information, images of the objects, staff and curator recommendations, etc.

         The Acquisition Committee reviews the information presented and critically evaluates whether the objects meet the Museum's criteria and guidelines. The Committee may also recommend that additional research be done if needed to reach a decision. The Committee agrees by consensus.

         All recommendations by the Acquisitions Committee are presented in a document circulated to the Committee and to all interested staff for review and feedback. The Registrar is responsible for responding to any issues raised by the staff and re-submitting any issue to the Committee for reconsideration if needed. The Committee reviews and approves the final form of the Committee's recommendations.

         The Director is ultimately responsible for all acquisitions, loans, and deaccessions and must give final approval before the Acquisition Committee's recommendations are implemented. The Director may also bypass the Acquisition Committee review process described above and accept gifts, or approve loans or deaccessions, at his/her own discretion. The Registrar is responsible for documenting and implementing the Acquisition Committee decisions according to Museum and University policy and procedures as described in the Spurlock Museum Collections Management Policy.

         The University of Illinois Foundation may also present potential gifts to the Director for approval. If a gift is of significant value, as determined by the University of Illinois Foundation, the gift may be accepted and processed by the University of Illinois Foundation on behalf of the Spurlock Museum. The Director may bring such gifts to the attention of the Acquisition Committee for review or may give immediate direct approval.

      3. The Director may appoint ad hoc committees as needed.

   4. Section 4. Museum Affiliates and Affiliate Organizations

      The Spurlock Museum Guild is a volunteer and fund-raising organization that serves as an affiliated Museum organization.

      The Champaign County Cultural Consortium is a network of nearly forty cultural resource providers and educational organizations that collaborate in the creation, coordination, and promotion of cultural resource programs for Champaign County schools. The Consortium is sponsored by the Champaign Park District and the Illinois Arts Council. The Museum is affiliated with this organization.

      The Museums at the Crossroads Consortium is a network of Museums in Champaign County who collaborate on educational projects and programs. The Museum is affiliated with the Consortium.

      Curators Emeritus, Adjunct Curators, Directors Emeritus, Research Associates, and others who support the Museum through donations or services are recognized as Museum affiliates.

   5. Section 5. The Spurlock Museum Volunteers

      The Volunteers (Code on Campus Affairs, chapter 1, see on 4a-h) constitute a service organization. Volunteers work under the direction of the Museum Volunteer Coordinator and are supervised by Museum staff that, together with the Coordinator, define the role of each volunteer and assign various projects.

   6. Section 6. The Spurlock Museum Board

      The Spurlock Museum Board is composed of members who advise the Director on administrative priorities and issues such as programming, fund-raising, and public relations, as they relate to the community at large, and, in general, on the Museum's service and educational relationship with the community at large. The Board serves the role of developing and promoting Museum opportunities for the community and good community relationships.

   7. Section 7. Grievance Procedures

      For grievances, staff should first attempt to resolve the matter with their immediate supervisor. If resolution is not obtained or the grievance is with the immediate supervisor, the staff member should bring the matter to the attention of the Director, in writing, with a copy to his/her immediate supervisor. If resolution is still not obtained or in those situations of unresolved grievances where the Director is also the immediate supervisor, the Director or staff member should follow the appropriate recourse based on the nature of the grievance and the grievant's employment status as described below.

      1. Grievance Procedures for Discrimination Charges

         The University is committed to providing prompt and effective resolution of incidents of discrimination or harassment for all campus employees. Individuals who believe they have been discriminated against or harassed are urged to seek informal resolution of complaints as close to the source as possible. If it is not possible to reach a satisfactory informal resolution, individuals may use the Policy and Procedures for Addressing Discrimination and Harassment outlined in Section IX - Personnel Polices of the Campus Administrative Manual. See http://www.fs.uiuc.edu/cam/CAM/ix/ix-b/ix-b-3.html (external link). Grievances by University of Illinois employees regarding discrimination that violate the University of Illinois Nondiscrimination Statement may also be addressed to the Office of Equal Opportunity and Access. See University of Illinois Statutes, Nondiscrimination Statement http://www.uillinois.edu/trustees/statutes.html#nondis (external link), 8/10/2006.

         For all other grievances, staff should seek to follow procedure based on their employment status.

      2. Grievance Procedures for Academic Professionals

         According to University of Illinois Statutes, grievances for professional academic staff should follow the grievance policies and procedures of the Council of Academic Professionals, previously called the Professional Advisory Committee. See, University of Illinois Statutes, Article 2, Section 5, http://www.uillinois.edu/trustees/statutes.html#sec14 (external link), 8/10/2006 and the Council of Academic Professional Grievance Procedures and Guidelines for Potential Academic Professional Grievants, http://www.cap.uiuc.edu/pages/griev.html (external link), 8/3/2006. These procedures are also listed in Chapter 3 of the Academic Staff Handbook, http://www.ahr.uiuc.edu/ahrhandbook/chap3/Default.htm (external link).

      3. Grievance Procedures for Faculty

         Curators and other Museum staff who are faculty within another Department should address grievances within their relevant college. Specific grievance procedures can be found in Chapter 3 of the Academic Staff Handbook. See http://www.ahr.uiuc.edu/ahrhandbook/chap3/Default.htm (external link).

      4. Grievance Procedures for Civil Service Staff

         Specific grievance procedures can be found in Policy 17 - Grievances within Policy and Rules for Civil Service Staff. See https://nessie.uihr.uillinois.edu/pdf/policy/rules/pr17chap.pdf (external link) or the relevant collective bargaining agreement.

4. Article IV: Acceptance and Amendments of By-laws

   1. These By-laws shall become effective when approved by two-thirds of Section Heads and by the Director and Dean or Provost.

   2. The Director, Dean, Staff or Curators of the Museum may propose amendments to these By-laws. Amendments become effective when approved by two-thirds of the Section Heads, and by the Director, and ratified by the Dean.

   3. By-laws are to be re-evaluated by the staff every five years, or upon the appointment of a new Director.