Constitution/By-laws
Article 1: Name and Purpose of Our Association
Section 1: This association shall be called the College of Veterinary Medicine Graduate Student Association (CVM GSA)
Section 2: The purpose of this association is to promote professional and social interaction among the graduate students in the three departments of the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Article 2: Membership
Section 1: Membership shall be open to all graduate students in the College of Veterinary Medicine (Departments of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology, Anatomy and Physiology, and Clinical Sciences.) Membership shall also be open to undergraduates looking into going into any field of research in the above departments, and any students who are advised or co-advised by any faculty member in the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Article 3: Officers
Section 1: The officers of the CVM GSA shall consist of 5 elected officers: President, Secretary, Treasurer, Event coordinator, and Technical Officer.
Section 2: Duties of Officers:
President: Shall be responsible for calling and presiding over meetings, is the main representative of the association, can call special meetings, and to keep order within the association.
Secretary: Responsibilities include helping the president in association of the association, maintaining the association’s email address by sending out and receiving the association’s emails, and is in charge of counting votes. In charge of noting suggestions brought to the meetings by members.
Treasurer: Responsibilities include maintaining the association’s budget and spending, allocating funds for projects, and works with the president in obtaining funds from sources such as SGA, private donations, etc.
Event-Coordinator: Responsibilities include obtaining locations for future meetings and events, and planning speakers, fund-raisers, and other events. Works with the president in planning meetings. In charge of instructing members what to bring to events and meetings.
Technical Officer: Responsibilities include construction and maintenance of the website of the association, helping with listservs, and any setup of electronic devices at events and/or meetings.
Section 3: All officer positions will be open for any member to run for. Volunteers will first fill officer positions. If more than one person is willing to run for a position, a vote will occur by silent ballots at the first meeting after the positions are open for election. If no person runs for any one of the five core positions in Section 1, then the newly-elected officers and/or the faculty advisor will collectively appoint members to fill the vacant positions.
Section 4: An officer’s term will expire after one year in office, at the fall semester of each year, unless re-elected for the following year.
Section 5: Issues with Officers: If any member feels that an officer is not fulfilling his obligation to the association for any reason, he may either A) contact any officer, and the officers will discuss the problem and attempt to resolve the issue or B) the member can contact the faculty advisor. Based upon the complaint, the faculty advisor can discuss the problem with the officer in question, all the officers, the entire association, or call for a vote to either remove the officer completely or bring on a new election for the officer in question’s seat. Any vote involved in the removal of an officer shall be by silent ballot.
Article 4: Faculty Advisor
Section 1: Duties of the faculty advisor: 1) Help the officers in the organization of the association. 2) Help resolve conflict between members of the association. 3) Will oversee the elections for the officer positions.
Section 2: The term of the faculty advisor shall be one year. The current advisor upon the recommendation of the current officers can appoint a new faculty advisor for the following year.
Article 5: Meetings
Section 1: Regular meetings will be held once a semester or at the discretion of the officers. Meeting dates and times will be selected to maximize the attendance by members.
Section 2: Special meetings can be called by any of the officers. These meetings could involve just the officers, or all the members.
Section 3: In order for official association business to take place, 6 members and at least 2 officers must be present at the meeting.
Section 4: Meeting shall be had in the following order: First the president will preside over the meeting, and each officer will be given time to discuss any upcoming events, meetings, or other items that pertain to the association. The president or other officers shall present items pertaining to any absent officers’ agenda. After all the present officers have a chance to present, the floor will be open to ideas or comments from any members and their guests. The officers presenting announcements for upcoming events or meetings will mark the end of the meeting.
Article 6: Amendments to constitution/by-laws
Section 1:
Any revisions or additions to the constitution shall be
presented to one of the officers. The officer will discuss it
with the other officers, and the change will be brought to a
vote at the next official meeting. A vote of two-thirds of the
members would be necessary to change the constitution. This vote
can be either by silent ballot or show of hands by the
discretion of the officers.