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-           Table of ContentS     -

 

 

 

Preamble

 

Article I: Name

 

Article II: Mission

            Section1: Purpose

            Section2: Objectives

            Section3: Affiliation

 

Article III: Members

            Section1: Eligibility

            Section2: Non-discrimination poliCy

            Section3: Recruitment

            Section4: Dues

 

Article IV: Officers

            Section1: Titles

            Section2: length OF TERM

            Section3: President

            Section4: Vice-President

            Section5: Treasurer

            Section6: Secretary

            Section7: EXECUTIVE BOARD

 

Article V: SPECIAL COMMITTEES

 

Article VI: Meetings

            Section1: Regular meetings

            Section2: General Assembly

            Section3: Executive Board meetings

 

Article VII: ELECTIONS

            Section1: Procedure

            Section2: Voting

            SECTION3: EMERGENCY ELECTIONS

 

Article VIII: Constitution

            Section1: Amendments

            Section2: ratification

            SECTION3: DISSOLUTION

 

 

 

 

PREAMBLE

We, the members of the European Society at the University of Virginia, in order to realize our purpose to its fullest extent, form a more permanent organization, and promote general culture amongst ourselves, hereby, establish this referred constitution for our government.

 

 

ARTICLE I : NAME

The name of this organization shall be the European Society at the University of Virginia. In this constitution and for all organizational purposes, it shall be, hereafter, referred to as the European Society and abbreviated as ES.

 

 

ARTICLE II : MISSION

 

Section 1 – Purpose

Purpose of European Society is to develop, foster, and maintain communication between students from Europe and bond them with the members of the university community whom are affiliated, interested, or involved in matters relating to Europe. As united, we hope to we cultivate the understanding towards European culture, history, politics as well as to escalate the awareness towards existence of the European Students at the campus.

 

Section 2 – Objectives

For our purpose to be fulfilled, European Society is committed to certain objectives. European Society shall coordinate services and activities for its members and the community at large. Such services and activities shall include but shall not be limited to

A) sponsoring educational programs to present European culture, history, and news at the university and surrounding area such as;

·         Organizing seminars, forums, lectures

·         Inviting guest speakers

·         Providing personal interviews, contacts, experience

B) assisting university students on their needs regarding to Europe such as;

·         Tutoring in 100/200 level French, Italian, and German classes

·         Sending a native speaker to aforementioned language classes

·         Counseling students who wish to study abroad in Europe

·         Establishing contacts for those who wish to visit Europe

C) organizing events to foster unity among our members

·         Coordinating picnics, nights, parties, fests

·         Attending intramural sporting events

·         Assigning peer advisors to admitted and providing information to prospective European students

·         Arranging field trips to various European cities

 

Section 3 – Affiliation

European Society as a Contracted Independent Organization at the University of Virginia aims to be the most persistent platform at the university as well as the local community in providing information, resources, and intelligence regarding to Europe. We shall collaborate with the office of international admissions, CIO’s and/or any other organization as long as it complies with our mission.

 

 

ARTICLE III : MEMBERS

 

Section 1 – Eligibility

European Society shall consist of two forms of membership, active and associate. Active membership is open to every registered student at the University of Virginia.  To become an active member one must pay the dues to the treasurer, attend meetings and activities regularly, and abide by the mission at the ES. Active members shall compose the general body of the Society. Associate membership is open to every student, faculty, staff as well as off-campus community participants who wish to join the activities of ES with the exception of voting and holding office (since these specific functions are restricted to active members.) While ES welcomes a diverse variety of members, one must fully comprehend and support the mission and abide by the rules. Demonstration of opposite behavior may result in termination of membership eligibility.  Members who do not pay dues will not be allowed to participate in ES functions.

 

Section 2 – Non-discrimination Policy

European Society shall not discriminate on the basis of race, citizenship, color, disabilities, gender, race, religion, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, or as a disable veteran or veteran at the Vietnam era, in accepting members.

 

Section 3 – Recruitment

European Society shall participate in the university activities fair as dated by the student council during the fall and spring semester.  The public relations committee (see Article V) will be responsible for the major recruitment activities that will take place at the beginning of the year; such methods of recruitment include, but are not limited to, flyering, going to language classes, making announcements in the Cav Daily, and going to language houses.

 

Section 4 – Dues

Active members shall pay dues to the treasurer as determined by the executive committee in the beginning of the term.  The dues shall be $10 per semester, unless the executive board decides to increase them.  Since becoming an active member requires having paid one’s dues, all interested members of the ES will have three weeks to pay their dues. After three weeks, dues will be increased to $15.  If the ES sponsors any activities using dues, members who have not paid should not be allowed to participate, in order to be fair to all paying members.  The executive committee shall be responsible for establishing the importance and necessity of paying dues at the beginning of each semester, in order to avoid problems later on.

 

 

ARTICLE IV : OFFICERS

 

Section 1 – Titles

Officers of the European society shall be the president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer, as well as Public Relations Chair, Social Chair, Sports Chair and Cultural Chair. These officers of the society shall compose the executive board.

 

Section 2 – Length of Term

Length of term for office for president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer shall be two consecutive academic semesters, starting from first week of the fall semester. Length of term for Public Relations Chair, Social Chair, Sports Chair and Cultural Chair shall be one semester, starting the week after they are elected.

 

Section 3 – President

President, as the chief executive officer shall be the primary representative figure within the organization. President shall, preside and supervise at all meetings, oversee work of all officers and committees, make sure that everything is in accord with the constitution, serve as the official spokesman, maintain the order and decorum in any activity, provide an annual plan, organize elections, be an ex-officio member of all committees of the Society, delegate responsibilities among committee members and officers, meet the demands of the group.  President must fulfill his duties and meet the expectancies of the executive board and general body.  If not, the president’s term can be terminated through impeachment (see article…)

 

Section 4 – Vice President

Vice-president shall be the secondary representative figure within the organization. Vice-president shall assist the president in all of his duties, occupy president’s position in his absence, be an ex-officio member of all committees of the Society, perform tasks president assigns.  If the president either resigns or is impeached, the Vice President shall take the role of president, and emergency elections shall be held to fill the vice president slot. (see article…) This goes for all officers of the executive committee.

 

Section 5 – Treasurer

Treasurer shall be the responsible for funds and financial matters within the organization. Treasurer shall, keep book of the incurred expanses, collect dues, provide a budget, request student activity fund (SAF), account of all receipts and disbursements, present all financial documents to the executive board.

 

Section 6 – Secretary

Secretary shall be the responsible for gathering and distributing information about the organization. Secretary shall record the proceedings of formal meetings, preserve all the documents including letters, notices, memos, etc… announce time and date of each meeting to the members, keep time of the meetings, prepare a roster with each member’s information, and distribute updates about ES progress after each meeting.  The Secretary shall keep all records until the end of his/her term, at which point they will transfer these records to the next secretary.

 

Section 7 – Executive Board

Executive board shall consist of president, vice-present, secretary and treasurer, as well as Public Relations Chair, Social Chair, Sports Chair and Cultural Chair, who unanimously shall, maintain favorable relations, prepare a calendar of events, meet weekly, act upon immediate needs of organization, encourage attendance to the meetings, determine the amount of dues, appoint a webmaster.  The Executive board also has the power to impeach the president, or suggest the termination of any officer.  They should first address the issues at the executive board meetings, but if problems persist they may present a wish to appeal to the general body. At that point, both parties with present their case, and if the majority of members agree with the impeachment as proposed by the executive board, the term of that officer will be ended.

 

 

ARTICLE V : SPECIAL COMMITTEES

 

There will be four special committees that will cover the objectives of the ES: the public relation committee, the social committee, the sports committee and the cultural committee.  Each committee will be responsible for certain activities and functions.  The Public Relations committee is responsible for: recruitment of members, advertisement for events, all contacts made between the ES and speakers, professors or the community. The Social committee shall be responsible for organizing, planning and preparing all social functions of the ES, such as BBQs, parties, picnics, outings, and any joint events with other cultural organization.  The Sports committee shall be responsible to organize sporting competitions for ES members to participate in or events to watch European matches. The Cultural committee shall be responsible for activities that aim to foster our cultures amongst the community.  These activities shall include but not be limited to, Culture Fest, First Friday, going to language classes, organizing tutor or advisor programs. The chair of each committee shall be responsible for operation of his committee and is expected to collaborate with other members of the organization.

 

 

ARTICLE VI : MEETINGS

 

Section 1 – Regular Meetings

European Society shall meet weekly unless the general body wants to meet biweekly. Date and time of the regular meetings shall be announced by the executive board and approved by the general body. Regular meetings shall cover but will not be limited to; progress of the organization, statues of our services/activities, discussing our upcoming events, thoughts or feedback regarding to the organization, committee work, and discussions, debates, or other programs. European Society shall not meet during the finals week.

 

Section 2 – General Assembly

All the active members with the call of the executive board must meet twice a year for the general assembly. First general assembly meeting shall be in beginning of the term. It shall cover but shall not be limited to; introducing members, presentation of annual plan, establishing committees. Second meeting shall be at the end of the term, to be held the last week before finals. It shall cover but shall not be limited to reporting by the president, progress of the executive board, thoughts of general body, announcing officers for next term, and presentation of awards, if applicable.

 

Section 3 – Executive Board Meetings

President should call for executive board meeting weekly to evaluate progress of the annual plan, prepare the regular meetings of each week, and evaluate the work of all officers. Conflicts revolving the performance of officers is to be resolved at these meetings as well, of the executive board may exercise its ability to impeach whom necessary (see article…)  All the officers must attend the executive board meeting.   

 

 

ARTICLE VII : Elections

 

Section 1 – Procedure

Active (dues-paying) members of the European Society shall elect officers. There shall be two separate kinds of elections; one for the president, vice-president, treasurer and secretary and another for the Public Relations Chair, Social Chair, Sports Chair and Cultural Chair. The elections for president, vice-president, treasurer and secretary shall be held during the second to last meeting before finals of the spring semester (the week before the final general assembly meeting) and the newly elected officials shall hold the position throughout the following school year. The chairs’ election shall be held at the beginning of every semester and shall hold their position only for the one semester during which they were elected. Thus, three separate elections shall be held every school year. The purpose of the frequent chair elections is to allow members who studied abroad in the previous semester to partake in executive decisions upon their return and also to continuously foster new ideas within the board. The president shall specify exact date and time of elections the week prior. Nominations shall be submitted one week before elections, and all nominees should be ready to present their speeches at elections.  The President shall oversee the procedures, which consists of listening to nominee speeches, voting by secret ballot, and determining who received majority vote, for each officer in the elections. Officers may be eligible to get elected again.

 

Section 2 – Voting

Voting shall be take place at the last regular meeting date, time and location before the general assembly meeting (that is, two weeks before finals), and shall specially be announced as the election meeting in advance. Voting must be by simple majority of the active members with anonymous ballot. President and vice president shall count the votes and verify with the executive board. Nominees that receive the most number of votes shall serve the office for the next term.

 

Section 3 – Emergency Elections

If, during the course of the semester, an officer of the executive board resigns, emergency elections will be held to fill in their position; if the president resigns, then the vice president shall become president and elections will be held for the position of vice president.  These elections may also be called if the role of an officer is terminated by impeachment. 

                                                       

ARTICLE VIII : CONSTITUTION

 

Section 1 – Amendments

A petition of 15 percent of the active members may propose to amend this constitution. All the amendments must be submitted to president in writing. Within 21 days, amendment must be read to the general body that is present at the regular meeting.

 

Section 2 – Ratification

In order to amend the constitution, ratification shall require a quorum of 1/3 of active members and 2/3 votes favoring the proposal. Amendments shall be proposed at regular meetings.

 

Section 3 – Dissolution 

If, for any reason, European Society must terminate its existence as a Contracted Independent Organization, it must be approved by 95 percent of the active members favoring the termination. President shall write a letter of notification to the Student Council and every person affiliated with the organization.