General Studies Lounge

Continued from second Constitution Page

Constitution
Preamble
Article I. Name
Article II. Membership and Duties
Article III. GSSC Authority, Officer Duties and Terms of Office
Article IV. Offices of the GSSC
Article V. Budget of the GSSC
Article VI. Committees
Article VII. Elections, Nominations, and Succession
Article VIII. Impeachment and Resignations
Article IX. Meetings and Voting Procedures
Article X. Supremacy of the Constitution
Article XI. Amendments and Bylaws
Article XII. Ratification
By Laws

Article VI. Committees

1. All non-standing committees shall

• a. Be created by the council and serve at the pleasure of the council.
• b. Be open to all members of the General Studies student body.
• c. Be led by a committee chairperson nominated by any member of council and confirmed by a simple majority of quorum.

• i. The committee chairperson is responsible for submitting a report on the actions of the committee to the council when appropriate.

• d. Develop and execute all pertinent projects under the leadership of the committee chairperson.

2. The Judicial Committee shall be composed of five members appointed as follows:

• a. The GSSC Student Body President, provided that s/he is a Senior and not directly implicated in the matters being brought before the Committee.
• b. The GSSC Senior Class President, provided that s/he is not directly implicated in the matters being brought to the Committee.
• c. The Dean of Students of General Studies, or an appropriate member of the DOS office selected by the Dean of Students.
• d. One Senior General Studies student, nominated by the Student Body President, by the third general meeting and confirmed by a 2/3 vote of quorum of the GSSC.
• e. One Senior General Studies student, nominated by the Senior Class President, and confirmed by a 2/3 vote of quorum of the GSSC in a closed meeting.
• f. The names of the Judicial Committee must be made available to the student body immediately after appointment.

3. Vacancies in the Judicial Committee shall be handled as follows:

• a. In the case that a member of the Committee is directly implicated in the matters being brought before the Committee, s/he is obligated to excuse his or her self from those Committee proceedings, thus creating a vacancy.
• b. In the case that a member of the Committee is indirectly implicated in the matters being brought before the Committee or has a demonstrable conflict of interest, s/he is encouraged though not obligated to excuse his or her self from those Committee proceedings, thus creating a vacancy. If s/he chooses to remain involved in the proceedings, s/he shall have no voting rights on the issue facing the Committee, but shall remain a part of the discussion.
• c. If a Judicial Committee member violates any section of the GSSC Constitution or of its bylaws, s/he will be subject to removal, following a majority vote by the remaining members of the Committee, thus creating a vacancy.
• d. If the vacancy is the Student Body President, or the Senior GS student initially nominated by the Senior Class President, the Senior Class President shall nominate a replacement to be confirmed by a 2/3 vote of quorum of the GSSC.
• e. If the vacancy is the Senior Class President or the Senior GS student initially nominated by the Student Body President, the Student Body President shall nominate a replacement to be confirmed by a 2/3 vote of quorum of the GSSC.
• f. If the vacancy is the DOS representative, the office of the DOS shall appoint a replacement.

4. The Judicial Committee’s duties shall be as follows:

• a. Vote on all bylaw change proposals from the Committee on Elections; such changes will take effect immediately if they are presented before the candidacy declaration deadline of that year’s election and receive a unanimous vote from the Judicial Committee.
• b. Oversee the resolution of election bylaw infractions and election disputes if the decision of the E.C. is appealed, and make these resolutions available to the student body immediately.
• c. Communications with the Judicial Committee must be done via the Chair of the Judicial Committee, to be elected by the Committee members.

Article VII. Elections, Nominations, and Succession

1. The GSSC shall hold annual elections during the spring semester.
2. Members’ terms begin after the commencement ceremonies following the elections and last until the following year’s commencement ceremonies.
3. Any positions, with the exception of the Student Body President, or class presidents, discussed below, left vacant by the spring elections or which become vacant throughout the academic year will be filled by candidates nominated by the Student Body President, and confirmed by a two-thirds majority of quorum at the following meeting.
4. Members may not vote until they have been elected by the student body or confirmed by the council, and may not vote on issues discussed before they were a member of council.
5. Should the Student Body President become unable or ineligible to perform his or her duties, the line of succession to the office of the Student Body President shall be as follows: the Vice President of Policy, the Vice President of Student Life, the Vice President of Finance, the Vice President of Communications.
6. Should a position of Class President become vacant, the Class Vice President shall succeed to the office of the Class President, and assume all of the Class President’s responsibilities. There shall be no nominating procedure, except to fill the newly vacant Class Vice President position.

Article VIII. Impeachment and Resignations

1. The vote of two-thirds majority of quorum in favor of impeachment shall be sufficient to remove an officer from the GSSC.

2.  In the event that an officer of the GSSC wishes to resign from his or her position, he or she should do so according to the following procedure:

• a. The officer in question must submit a written letter of intent to resign to the Student Body President, with copies sent to the other members of the e-board, the office of the Dean of Students, and a voting member of the Policy Committee appointed by the VP of Policy. Note that if the VP of Policy is the resigning officer, the Student Body President shall appoint this member.

• b. The letter of intent to resign must contain the officer’s official name and position, must be written in clear language to prevent any confusion, and must contain a clause stating that the resignation is voluntary.

• c. The executive board, in consultation with an appointed member of the policy committee, shall review the letter of intent to resign and choose to accept or refuse the letter of intent. Reasons for refusal can include but are not limited to: not adhering to the constitutional guidelines for resignation, and suspicion of coercion. It should be noted that except in these or other rare cases, refusing a letter of intent can lead to complications and refusals should be used sparingly.

3. Because the University Senator and the Academic Affairs and Committee on Instruction Representative each serve two governing bodies, either of these officers may continue to serve their term on the University Senate or the COI upon impeachment by the GSSC. However, based upon the reasons for their impeachment, the Dean of Students Office reserves the right to ask the Senator or COI representative to resign from his or her office.

4. In the event of an impeachment, the GSSC will vote on whether to open the space on council to the public or to fill the space by appointment.

Article IX. Meetings and Voting Procedures

1. A quorum must be present to hold any vote.

• a. Quorum shall be defined as two-thirds of all eligible voting members of the GSSC.
• b. GSSC officers may vote yea or nay, or may choose to abstain from a vote.
• c. If an officer chooses to abstain from a vote, they are still counted toward quorum.
• d. A majority vote is defined as the agreement of one more than half of present members, given that quorum has been established.
• e. A two-thirds majority vote is defined as the agreement of two-thirds of quorum.

2. A GSSC officer who is on the executive board of a club or organization affected by the governance of the GSSC must abstain from any GSSC vote concerning:

• a. GSSC financial allocations to that club or organization.
• b. New rules and regulations which pertain to GSSC interaction with that club or organization.

3. The GSSC shall have the authority to adopt rules governing meeting procedures in accordance with the needs and circumstances of each administration, unless adopted rules contradict the constitution, wherein a two-thirds majority vote is needed to implement rules.
4. If necessary, the Student Body President may call for a vote by email. The Student Body President may consider an online vote approved or disapproved once one more than half of all eligible voting members of the GSSC approved or disapproved the motion, even if not all council members replied to the e-mail.
5. If the council is voting on the confirmation of a new officer, the GSSC meeting must be temporarily closed. Otherwise, all meetings of the GSSC shall be open to the public. The Student Body President retains the right to initiate any other closed discussion or vote within the course of a meeting; however s/he may be overruled by a majority vote of the council.
6. The GSSC shall meet at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays while Fall and Spring Semester classes are in session, unless a different time is approved by a two-thirds majority of council.
7. Items for the agenda are set during the weekly e-board meeting (or by a weekly time determined by the e-board), however, any six members of council who wish to put an item onto the agenda may do so. If the item is voted down, then six different members of council must support it to bring it back onto the agenda.

Article X. Supremacy of the Constitution

1. This Constitution shall be the highest authority of the GSSC.
2. All bodies outlined in this Constitution shall derive their authority from this Constitution and its accompanying By-Laws.
3. The GSSC may temporarily suspend any article of the constitution with a two-thirds majority vote of quorum.
4. In the event that any GSSC officer finds himself or herself in conflict with the prevailing interpretation of the GSSC constitution, s/he may seek advisement with the GSSC Executive Board.

Article XI. Amendments and Bylaws

1. Any amendment including changes, additions and deletions to this constitution shall require a two-thirds majority of quorum.
2. This constitution shall be reviewed as needed by a Constitutional Committee, and shall by updated only through amendments and bylaws.
3. The addition of a bylaw to this constitution shall require the vote of a simple majority of quorum.

• a. Bylaws shall be numbered by the last two digits of the year in which they are created, followed by a hyphen, followed by a number, in sequence.

Article XII. Ratification

1. Any revision or amendment of this constitution shall require two-thirds majority of quorum.
2. The GSSC shall hold a constitutional convention every other year, starting from 2003-2004. The GSSC, based on the recommendations of the convention, shall express its will on the state of the constitution before the end of its term.

(Continue to By Laws)