At Michigan Technological University, the faculty, staff, students, and administration participate cooperatively in developing policies for academic governance. This approach is stated as an objective in the University's strategic plan, requiring both trust and shared responsibility. The Faculty Senate became the University Senate in 1995 with an expanded representation of professional staff. Senate and University task forces and committees have become a regular mechanism to address significant issues. Providing a voice in University governance for all faculty, researchers, and non-bargaining unit staff, the Senate's role is to review or recommend policy, in most instances as part of a process in which final authority rests with the Board of Control. The University Senate is also the principal forum for discussion of matters of general interest to the University community. While representation for faculty and researchers is organized around academic departments, Michigan Tech staff are grouped into nine non-academic units. Constituents from each unit elect a senator and an alternate to three-year terms. By rule, the president and secretary of the University Senate must be tenured faculty members; the vice president must be a member of the non-bargaining unit staff. Every senator and alternate serves on a Senate committee. Committees generally consider any proposal or recommendation before they are considered by the organization as a whole.