Bylaws for School of Earth Sciences Graduate Student Club
Article I: Name, Purpose, and Non-Discrimination Policy of the Organization
Section 1: The name of this organization is the School of Earth Sciences Graduate Student Club.
Section 2: The purpose of this organization is to foster a positive and productive School of Earth Sciences (SES) graduate student experience and encourage community and outreach.
Section 3: This organization and its members shall not discriminate against any individual(s) for reasons of age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status.
Article II: Membership – Qualifications and Categories of Membership
Section 1: Only those graduate students currently enrolled in the School of Earth Sciences at The Ohio State University are eligible for membership. To qualify as a member a grad student must be a current SES graduate student and attend at least one SES Grad Club meeting throughout the academic year. All members have equal voting rights. Any member may be an officer if elected as defined by Article III.
Article III: Organization Leadership – Titles, Terms of Office, and Duties of the Leaders.
Section 1: The organization will have three officers: a president, a vice president, and a treasurer.
Section 2: Terms of office are 1-year each for the president, vice president, and treasurer. A member may only be elected for a maximum of 2 terms to any one office.
Section 3a: The President will organize and lead at least two meetings a semester with the School of Earth Sciences graduate student body, with a video link optional for those who are not able to be present in person. The President will organize selection of officers for the following year, and encourage participation in Ohio State Graduate and Professional Student events as defined by Article I, Section 2 and within the duties of officers and committees defined in Article III, Section 4 and Article V.
Section 3b: The Vice President will assist and advise the President in the duties outlined in Article III Section 3a and will also be responsible for taking notes during all organizational meetings, including meetings of the executive committee and/or with the advisor(s), and disseminating those notes to all members of the organization and the advisor(s). Following each meeting, the Vice President will send a summary email to the ses_grad listserv for those who could not attend either in person or via video. The Vice President will also oversee the standing committees and their responsibilities and progress.
Section 3c: The Treasurer will seek out, apply for, and obtain funding from available sources, manage acquired funds in a responsible manner based on budgets established for appropriate expenditures, and work with the president, committees, and members to establish appropriate budgets for expenditures to meet the needs of the organization. During each meeting, the Treasurer will keep track of attendance in order to verify membership for the academic year.
Section 3d: The officers will together run the club social media accounts as well as the club website.
Article IV: Standing Committees – Names, Purposes, and Composition
Section 1: The following committees outlined below will serve to aid in the purpose of the organization as outlined in Article 1, Section 2. The officers are encouraged to participate in the below committees but may not take leadership in more than one throughout each academic year.
Section 2: The New and Prospective Student Committee will consist of at least 3 members and be responsible for planning, coordinating, and running the School of Earth Sciences prospective graduate student weekend. The New and Prospective Student Committee will oversee communication between the Earth Science Department faculty and new students regarding accommodation, event schedule, and refreshments/meals.
Section 3: The Social Committee will consist of at least 2 members and be responsible for communicating (via the ses_grad listserv) School of Earth Sciences graduate student social outings and occasions as well as coordinate social outings for which there is popular demand among organization members, enlisting help from other members as needed. The Social Committee is also responsible for assisting the Officers in planning, coordinating, and running a School of Earth Sciences new graduate student informational event (e.g., Welcome Picnic) to be held early within each fall semester.
Section 4: The School of Earth Sciences Spring Event Committee will consist of at least 2 members and be responsible for coordinating with the SES administrative staff, the SES director, and interested undergraduate SES majors to schedule, plan, and execute the annual School of Earth Sciences Spring Event around or after the Spring Awards Banquet. The duties of the committee will be organizing an event date, location, and catering.
Section 5: The Outreach Committee will consist of at least 2 members and be responsible for planning and coordinating at least two annual outreach events during the academic year. The Outreach Committee will also be responsible for planning and coordinating at least one annual fundraiser sale or event during the academic year.
Article V: Method of Selecting and/or Removing Members
Section 1a: Any graduate student enrolled full time in the School of Earth Sciences at The Ohio State University and in good academic standing may join the organization. There will be no further process for accepting members that meet the criteria outlined in Article II Section 1. Any student that meets these criteria may join the organization at any time.
Section 1b: Graduate students that do not meet the requirements outlined in Article II Section 1 may be accepted into the organization after review by the officers. The officers must use their best discretion to ensure that any member accepted through this process will act in the best interest of The School of Earth Sciences at The Ohio State University and the organization in accordance with Article I Section 2. The decision of the standing officers will then be subject to confirmation by a vote from all members not holding office. Prior to the vote, the standing officers will make formal statements explaining their decision.
Voting will occur over a 24 hour period beginning at the start of the meeting in which the voting takes place. Those that cannot attend the meeting have 24 hours after the beginning of the meeting in which the voting is taking place to cast their ballot by communicating their votes to any officer via any line of communication. Any member who wishes to vote in this way will have to take their own measures to ensure their ballot is anonymous if they wish it to remain so.
If 51% or more of the voters agree with the decision of the officers, then that action will be followed. If 50% or more of the voters disagree with the decision then the officers must take at least 7 but no more than 14 calendar days to review their original decision and uphold it or change it to agree with the results of the vote. If 95% or more of eligible voters have voted and 90% or more of those votes disagree with the original decision of the standing officers, then the original decision will be overturned. The process outlined in Article VI Section 1b may only happen twice a year, if necessary: at the end of the fall semester and at the end of the spring semester. Any individual wishing to seek membership in this way must contact the officers directly to be formally considered.
Section 1c: If a member is no longer currently enrolled full-time as a graduate student in the School of Earth Sciences at The Ohio State University, and/or is facing disciplinary action from the School of Earth Sciences or The Ohio State University, then the individual’s status as a member will be reviewed by the officer board who will make the decision to expel or not expel the member under review.
Article VI: Method of Selecting and/or Removing Officers
Section 1: Elections for officers will proceed according to the following guidelines. Any current member (defined in Article II Section 1) is eligible to be an officer for the following year provided they do not graduate before the following year is completed.
Section 2a: A member may run for multiple offices but may not hold both positions during the same term.
Section 2c: The election procedure will begin with nominations which will be held two weeks before the last day of classes in the spring semester each year for the new officers to take office at the beginning of the subsequent fall semester. Nominations will be sent out via a google form although they can be made via any line of communication to any officer. The nominations will remain open for five business days. Any member may nominate any member for any officer position. An active member must receive at least two nominations (seconded) for it to be considered valid. Upon the close of nominations, the current officers will inform the candidates of their nominations within 24 hours of the close of the nomination period.
Section 2d: To run for a position, a candidate must accept a nomination and communicate that acceptance to the officers within three business days of being informed.
Section 2e: Prior to the election, candidates will be allowed to make statements outlining their purpose in running for office and their intentions if elected. It is the responsibility of the candidate to disseminate any such statement, whether verbal or written to the voters. The officers must allow time for this statement to be disseminated at the meeting in which the election takes place or via the ses_grad listserv.
Section 3a: An election will be conducted either by paper ballot during a meeting of the graduate club (see Section 3b), or online in the case that no election meeting takes place (see Section 3c). Members (defined by Article II Section 1) will be notified a week ahead of time whether the election will take place in-person or online.
Section 3b: The election will be held over a 24-hour period beginning at the start of the meeting in which the election takes place. Members that cannot attend the meeting have 24 hours after the beginning of the meeting in which the election is taking place to cast their ballot by communicating their votes to any officer via any line of communication. Any member who wishes to cast a ballot in this way will have to take their own measures to ensure their ballot is anonymous if they wish it to remain so.
For each position up for election, each voting member will choose one nominee for each position and submit the list to any officer. The officers will collect all ballots and keep track of who has voted but not keep track of who has cast which ballot. Once the officers have received a ballot for every member, or the 24 hours have elapsed, the ballots are to be counted by the officers or appointed alternates.
Section 3c: If the election is held over email or a virtual meeting, voting, as defined in Section 3a, will take place via a Qualtrics survey format. For each position up for election, each voting member will choose one nominee for each position. The officers will review all ballots after the survey closes, which must provide a list of the voters’ choices, but not who has cast which ballot. Once the officers have received a ballot for every member, or the 24 hours have elapsed, the ballots are to be counted by the officers within 24 hours.
Section 3c: At least 25% of active members must vote for the election process to be considered valid. The ballot counting process should be conducted by the officers together. If the current officers are a candidate in the election being counted, they must recuse themselves from the counting and appoint an alternative member that is not a candidate. For each ballot, votes will be tallied by the officers or their appointed alternative member. Each candidate that has obtained at least 51% of the votes will secure the position for the upcoming academic year. Once a candidate is selected to a position, they are eliminated from consideration during counting for the election of candidates to subsequent positions. The above process is repeated for each position until all ballots are counted and the positions assigned. The officers will inform the members of the results within 24 hours.
Section 3d: A complete record of all ballots cast and list of who voted must be produced by the now former officers within 1 week of the announcement of election results. This record is to be maintained for the duration of the term of each candidate who was elected and stored on the google drive. Any details within this record that link a member’s identity to a ballot are to be erased prior to the publication of this record. The record is to be maintained by and accessible to the officers and it should be possible for a copy of this record to be made available to any member of the club within 2 business days upon request.
Section 4a: An officer must resign if the individual is unable to perform the duties outlined in Article III Sections 3a, b, and c.
Section 4b: If, at any point, a member feels an officer cannot perform according to Article III Sections 3a, b, and c then that member may call for a vote on the matter at a meeting. This call for a vote must be supported by two other members which must occur within a period of three business days or less.
Voting will happen over a 24 hour period and within 5 business days of the final supported call to vote. More than 90% of the membership must vote in order for the ruling to be official. If fewer than 90% of the members vote, then a second vote may be called for within 7 days. If fewer than 90% of the members vote in this second election, no more votes will be held in that academic semester and the individual will remain in office.
If more than 90% of members vote, then at least 75% of voting members must vote to remove the president or treasurer in order for that individual to be removed. If an officer is voted out of office, then nominations and an election must occur within 5 business days according to Article VI. The officer voted out of office may not be a candidate in any such election.
Article VII: Advisor(s) or Advisory Board – Qualification Criteria.
Section 1: Any faculty or staff member within the School of Earth Sciences at The Ohio State University may be the advisor to the organization. The officers are responsible for seeking out qualified individuals and asking for their service in advising the organization. If the officers deem it necessary to have more than one advisor then they may seek out multiple faculty or staff members within the School of Earth Sciences at The Ohio State University to serve as advisors.
Section 2: The responsibilities of the advisor(s) are to act in the best interest of the organization in accordance with Article I Section 2 and to ensure that the organization is not in violation of the constitution. However, the advisor(s) may not participate directly in the organization. The advisor(s) may attend any meetings of the organization but is not required. The advisor(s) are required to meet with the officers at least twice a year: during the fall semester before October 15th to ensure the new officers are transitioning well and during the spring semester after April 1st to understand the state of the organization over the past academic year. If the advisor(s) would like to meet more frequently with the officers, then it is the responsibility of the advisor(s) to reach out and organize with the officers.
Section 3: If the advisor(s) feels the organization is in violation of the constitution, then the advisor(s) must schedule a meeting with the entire organization to outline the observed breaches in the constitution. If this happens more than once during a term, then the advisor(s) may enforce a recall election to replace the officer(s). The recall election will happen according to Article VI and will exclude the officer(s) in violation should they wish to run.
Article VIII: Meetings of the Organization – Required meetings and their frequency.
Section 1: The organization will meet twice during the fall semester and twice during the spring semester excluding any meeting called by the advisor(s) as outlined in Article VII Sections 2 and 3, to hold elections as outlined in Article VI, or to decide on membership as outlined in Article V. The officers may also choose to call more frequent meetings as it deems necessary.
Article IX: Method of Amending Constitution.
Section 1: Proposals to amend the constitution will be brought to the attention of the officers either via email or in a meeting. The officers shall meet in person or virtually to consider and vote upon the proposal. All of the officers must vote in favor of the proposal in order for it to become an amendment. The organization must be informed of any amendments to the constitution either via email to all the members or in a meeting.
Article X: Method of Dissolution of Organization.
Section 1: The organization may not be dissolved unless there are fewer than 4 active members. If there are fewer than 4 active members, then the organization may face dissolution if no other members join within the academic term. If the organization has fewer than 4 members for the duration of an academic term, then it must dissolve itself.
Section 2: If the organization must be dissolved, then the assets and debts will be managed as follows. Upon dissolution, any assets must be liquidated and donated to the undergraduate Geology Club. Any debts must be settled by the remaining members through any means.