SC009 Assembly Procedures

The Shimer Assembly procedure laid out guidelines for how Shimer Assemblies were conducted. The procedure of the Assembly was “drawn from three sources: the Constitution of the Assembly, tradition and precedent, and the rules of the United States Congress as codified by Henry Robert in Robert’s Rules of Order.” Assemblies operated on a system of motions and resolutions, and although they were conducted by a Speaker of the Assembly, each student or faculty member present had equal voting rights on motions. Different types of motions had different procedures for how they were resolved, for instance how many more votes they would need to pass, as detailed in the Assembly Procedures.

The Assembly would continue functioning as such until Shimer College became the Shimer Great Books School at North Central College in 2017. After this merger, Shimer would lose its internal self-governance and integrate into the governance style of North Central. However, it would still hold meetings where students could voice their opinions on matters regarding the college.