Constitution of the Hellenic Society at Georgia Tech

Preamble:

There has been a manifested sentiment on the part of a good number of Georgia Tech students of Hellenic descent for the need of social and educational opportunities and activities that promote Greek culture.

Article I: Name

The name of our organization is Hellenic Society (an official Georgia Tech Student Organization).

Article II: Purpose

The purpose of this organization is to offer a forum for all those sharing an interest in the Greek culture and educate its members and the community about any topics that are relevant to Greece and its culture.

Article III: Members

Section I: Any student, alumni, staff or faculty of Georgia Tech, regardless of nationality can be member of the Hellenic Society.

Section II: Of all the members of the society only students in good academic standing have the right to vote.

Section III: Only students who are members of the Hellenic Society for more than one semester and are in good standing have the right to run for an office and to hold office.

Section IV: All members of the Hellenic Society in order to maintain their status as members must attend at least one meeting per semester (except the summer semester) and meet any other obligations they have to the society.

Failure to do so will result in the immediate removal of the member from the list of members of the society.

Section V: In rare cases the president of the society may decide not to remove a member who failed to comply to section IV.

Article IV: General Assembly

Section I: The general assembly of the members of the Hellenic Society is the supreme body of this society responsible for taking decisions and actions that are of great importance to the society. Every decision and action made for the society and in the name of the society by its members and officers must be in full accordance with the decisions made in the general assembly.

Section II: All members of the society have the right to participate in the meetings of the general assembly and are obliged to be aware of the decisions made in these meetings. It is advised that they personally attend as many meetings as possible.

Section III: It is the duty of the president, the rest of the officers and the person who preside to run the meetings according to this constitution and to the Roberts Rules of order.

Article V: General Regular Assembly.

Section I: It is recommended to have monthly general regular meetings for each of the fall and spring semesters.

Section IV: It is required that there are at least two meetings of the general assembly per semester excluding the summer semester.

Section VI: The president presides over all regular meetings. In case the president is unable to run a meeting, then the vice ­president must take this responsibility. If this is not possible, then the treasurer and the secretary (in this order) must take this responsibility. If there is no board, then one of the members of the society is elected before the meeting to preside the meeting.

Section V: One week before the meeting, the president must send an announcement to all members of the society with the exact day, time and location of the meeting. This announcement must also include the tentative agenda of the meeting.

Section VI: One day before the meeting the president must send a final reminder of the day, time and location of the meeting. Again, the agenda must be included.

Section VII: Between the two announcements, all members of the society can add items in the agenda by sending emails to the mailing list of the organization.

Section VIII: The final agenda must include at least the items announced in the first announcement and the additional items proposed by the members.

Article VI: Special General Assemblies

Section I: Under certain circumstances the board or members of the society may request a meeting of the general assembly to discuss a critical issue for which an immediate decision must be made (a decision that cannot be postponed until the next regular meeting).

Section II: A special meeting can be requested by at least 3/5 of the officers or 1/4 of the members of the society by sending a written request to the secretary and to the president at least ten (10) days before the week they want the meeting to be held. This request must include an agenda of issues that must be discussed.

Section III: The secretary must find a proper day and time in the week requested and arrange the meeting.

Section IV: The secretary must notify all the members of the society about the meeting via email at least one (1) week before the day of the meeting. The announcements must include the agenda as specified by the members requesting the meeting.

Section V: Anyone can propose new items to the agenda by sending email to the members of the society. The secretary is free to reject some or all of them if they are not relevant to the meeting. The items that are rejected must be included in the agenda of the next regular meeting.

Section VI: Special meetings are presided by the vice president. In case he or she is not available then by the president, the treasurer, the secretary or any other member of the board in that order. If no member of the board is available, then a member of the society is elected before the meeting to preside the meeting.

Article VII: Decision making

Section I: All decisions in general meetings are made by simple majority.

Section II: The quorum is 1/3 of voting members.

Section III: The members of the society have the right to abstain from voting.

Section IV: In case of a tie, the voting is repeated. If a second tie occurs, then an open voting in the presence of the members is held in which only officers can vote. If a third tie occurs, then the president decides.

Section V: Decisions made in a general meeting are announced by the secretary at most three days after the meeting and before they are executed.

Section VI: Any member can pose an objection to a decision. The objection must target the way the decision was made, or the way the decision was interpreted in the announcement by the secretary, and not the decision itself.

Section VII: Objections must be sent to the vice ­president and the secretary at most three days after the proceedings were posted by the secretary.

Section VIII: The officers can either accept or reject the objection by simple majority or call another special meeting to discuss the objection.

Section IX: In case of an objection about a decision no action (as decided in the general assembly or by the officers) must be taken until a decision about the fate of the objection is made.

Section X: The president or the secretary must announce the decision about an objection at most three (3) days after the objection is announced.

Article VIII: Expenses.

Section I: Decisions that have to do with spending more than $100 of money (except for operational expenses or for donations) are made only by the general assembly.

Section II: The board of officers is free to decide for any other expenses (less than $100 or for operational expenses) by majority.

Section III: All of the decisions of the second kind must be announced by the treasurer to the members with an email three days at the latest after the decision is made and before it is executed.

Section IV: Objections may be raised by the members of the society for these decisions by following the rules in article VI.

Article IX: Elections

Section I: Elections are held during the first meeting of the fall semester.

Section II: As stated in Article III Section IV only student members of the society in good standing can vote and among them only those who are members of the society for more than one semester are allowed to run for office.

Section III: The board of the society is composed of a president, a vice ­president, a secretary, a treasurer and additional members, whose number and role is determined in the day of the elections. All of them can stay in office for up to one year.

Section IV: The elections are part of a regular meeting. Thus, the president has to announce the meeting as in Article V Section V. The only difference is that the agenda can hold only one item which is the elections. It is not possible to add other items in the agenda.

Section V: Nominees are advised to announce their intention to run for an office via email to the members of the society before the day of the elections. They are also advised to announce the office they are running for.

Section VI: It is possible to have new nominees on the day of the elections.

Section VII: After the elections the old board must inform the new officers about all the pending activities of the society.

Section VIII: The old and new board share the responsibility of informing the Georgia Tech administration of the new officers.

Section IX: The old board must pass to the new board all banking, computer and other accounts and files which have been opened and obtained in the name of the society.

Section X: The tasks in sections VII, VIII and IX must be completed in at most three weeks after the elections.

Section XI: After the elections, the new board can immediately call a general assembly of the society and propose an agenda.

Section XII: The same person can not be president for more than two terms.

Article X: Officers

Section I: The President of the board of the Hellenic Society is responsible for the following:
· Preside over general regular meetings or find a replacement.
· Represent the society at all required meetings or find a replacement.
· Prepare the agenda for general regular meetings.
· Keep advisor informed about all activities and decisions taken by the society.
· Be responsible for the activities of the society.
· Any other responsibility mentioned directly or indirectly in this constitution applies.

Section II: The Vice­ President of the board of the Hellenic Society has the following responsibilities:
· Replace president if president is absent.
· Be the contact for new incoming students who want to become members of the Hellenic Society.
· Share responsibility with the president for the activities and decisions taken by the society.
· Any other responsibility mentioned directly or indirectly in this constitution applies.

Section III:The Social Chair of the board of the Hellenic Society has the following responsibilities:
· Coordinating with other student organizations.
· Organizing and presiding over functions of the organization at the request of the President.
· Any other responsibility mentioned directly or indirectly in this constitution applies.

Section IV:The Secretary of the board of the Hellenic Society has the following responsibilities:
· Keep a record of the days/times/places of each meeting.
· Keep a record of the names of members present in each meeting.
· Keep a record of all the decisions made in each meeting.
· Keep a record of all voting at each meeting and the results.
· If a member wishes to comment on his/her vote then the secretary must add the comments in the log with the name of this member (anonymous comments cannot be in the proceedings of the meeting).
· Any other responsibility mentioned directly or indirectly in this constitution applies.

Section V:The treasurer of the board of the Hellenic Society has the following responsibilities:
· Be responsible for the financial matters of the society.
· Be responsible of maintaining the bank accounts.
· Be responsible of meeting any payment deadlines.
· Report in each general assembly the financial status of the society.
· Collect member dues.
· Any other responsibility mentioned directly or indirectly in this constitution applies.

Section VI:The responsibilities of the other members of the board of the Hellenic Society are assigned by the general assembly and the rest of the board during the elections.

Section VII:All the officers share the following responsibilities:
· Check mail box.
· Meet due dates for the organization.
· Maintain email ­list of members (which must be announced to the other members of the society and only to them).
· Maintain web page.
· Organize events.
· Publicize group events
· Update active member list at the beginning of each semester.

Section VIII: Any officer can delegate responsibilities to other officers/members as long as he or she is still responsible for them and after informing the rest of the board and getting verbal permission by the president (who must announce this decision formally to the rest of the board).

Section IX: If any member of the board looses their good standing they immediately loose office.

Section X: If the president looses his/her position, then he/she is immediately replaced by the vice ­president and must hand over the files of the society and any documents, bank accounts, password which has as president of the society in at most one week after loosing the office.

Section XI: In all other cases, the president replaces temporarily the member and can delegate the responsibilities of that member to any other member of the board or of the society (given of course that he or she has the permission of that member).

Section XII: In this case the active president and the rest of the board must call immediately a special general assembly which will decide for a replacement. In the case that the president looses his/her position it is the vice­ president who becomes president and a new member must be elected as the vice ­president.

Section XIII: The meeting which will decide for a replacement must be held at most 3 weeks (5 weeks if the person lost his good standing at most two weeks after the previous meeting).

Section XIV: A member of the board can loose his/her position if all the other members of the board decide that he or she is unable to fulfill the requirements of the position because of a serious reason and after they put the decision in a voting in the general assembly which will decide that either that member is capable of performing his/her duties or elect a replacement.

Section XV: The same procedure as in Section XIII must be followed if 1/4 of the members of the society request a meeting to discuss the removal of a member of the board. In their request they must mention which members of the board must be replaced and why. They must send an email to the mailing list and it is the secretary or the president or the vice ­president or the treasurer or any other member of the board who must respond to this email (in this order).

Section XV: Not more that 1 meeting per two months for replacement a member of the board can happen.

Section XVI: No formal procedure for replacing all the members of the board is possible.

Article XI: Advisor

Section I: A full time Georgia Tech faculty or staff member will serve as Advisor to the organization.

Section II: The length of term of the Advisor is one year and is renewed or terminated during elections for the Executive Board.

Section III: In the event of a vacancy in the advisor position, the Executive Board shall nominate one or more candidates to the General Assembly. Each candidate must be approved by a majority vote in the Executive Board. Candidates shall be elected by a majority vote of the General Assembly.

Section IV: During elections for the Executive Board, the General Assembly will vote whether to continue the Advisor appointment. In order to maintain the advisor for the academic year, the majority of voting members present are required to vote in favor.

Section V: The Advisor duties include signing required paperwork, and meeting with officers to advise on issues of risk management, organization leadership, and Georgia Tech policy.

Section VI: The Advisor can be removed by a majority vote in the General Assembly, only after nomination for removal by the Executive Board. A 4/5 majority in the Executive Board is required to nominate the Advisor to the General Assembly for removal.

Article XII: Committees.

Section I: Committees consist of a small number of members of the society and their goal is to handle special events.

Section II: The formation of a committee is decided by the general assembly and its members are elected by the general assembly.

Section III: Each member of a committee has an equal vote in the committee and equal responsibility. The only exception is the head of the committee who has responsibilities which are mentioned in section IV.

Section IV: Each committee must have a head who is selected by the members of the committee and the members of the board and has the responsibility to:
· Announce the committee and its objectives via email at most 5 days after the general assembly.
· Report to the assembly and/or to the board via email about the progress of the committee.
· To coordinate all the details of the activities of the committee.
· Can propose the removal or the addition of members to the committee. In this case the general assembly must decide by voting whether to remove a member of the committee or to add one and must elect the new member.
· Can request a special general assembly by sending a written notification to the board. It is the board that must decide whether a new meeting is needed or not.

Section V: It is the vice ­president who has the overall responsibility of monitoring the progress of all committees and fixing conflicts between them.

Article XIII: Dues.

Section I: The dues are decided to be $10 per semester per member.

Section II: The treasurer is in charge to collect the money, and notify the members about the due deadlines.

Section III: The treasurer with the president must decide to which bank and which accounts to deposit the money.

Section IV: The treasurer must announce to the general assembly how the money is invested.

Article XIV: Communication.

Section I: The organization is required to have an official policy for electronic communication, voted in place by a majority of the General Assembly.

Article XV: Amendments.

Section I: Changes to the constitution are allowed only once per year.

Section II: Only one meeting of the general assembly with item in the agenda a change in the constitution is allowed per year.

Section III: The president has the responsibility to announce a regular meeting where changes in the constitution will be proposed and he or she must include in the announcement a sketch of the proposed changes and the reasoning behind them.

Section IV: Any member can propose changes by sending an email to the mailing list before the meeting, where he/she must describe the changes and the reasons behind them.

Section V: No additions on the day of the meeting are allowed. Only modifications and adaptations of the items proposed by the president and the other members are allowed.

Section VI: A meeting that can decide about changes in the constitution must have at least 3/4 of the voting ­members of the society.

Section VII: For each of the changes in the constitution at least 3/4 of the voting­ members present in the meeting must have a positive opinion.

Section VIII: The changes must be announced by the president to the mailing list at most 3 days after the meeting and to Georgia Tech authorities at most 10 days after the meeting.

Section IX: If the Georgia Tech authorities require changes in the constitution, then a subsequent meeting must be held to decide upon the changes. In these meetings a simple majority is enough to change the details of a decision and not the decision itself.

Section X: Meetings for discussing minor changes must be held at least 2 weeks and at most 4 weeks after the reply from the Georgia Tech authorities. It is the president who must decide about the day/time/place of these meetings and announce them to the members of the society.

Section XI: The president and the rest of the board must decide whether the proposed modifications are minor or major changes from the original version. In the second case the new proposal must be dropped. Section XII: Articles I, II, III, and XIII can change only with a majority of 9/10 of all the members of the society. In this case the right to vote is held by all members and not only those who have the right to vote under Article III Section II.

Section XIII: Section I of Article IV and Section XIII of Article XV cannot change.