Constitution of the Alliance for Women’s Awareness Rights and Equality

February 2003

 

Preamble

 

We the members of the Alliance for Women’s Awareness, Rights, and Equality, are committed to spreading knowledge of women’s issues and accomplishments among the student body and the community.  We are dedicated to creating a group of women and men who can come together in a comfortable atmosphere to have positive discussions and create educational and social activities.

 

Article I:

Name

 

The name of this organization shall be the Alliance for Women’s Awareness, Rights, and Equality here in after referred to as AWARE.

 

Article II:

Purpose

 

The purpose of this organization shall be to raise awareness of women’s issues and accomplishments.  AWARE is a group dedicated to bettering the general knowledge of people on campus and in the community about women’s issues in general, such as women’s accomplishments, women’s interests, women’s health issues, etc.  Our group is in pursuit of gaining and sharing a collection passion for women and their role in the world.

 

Article III:

Membership

 

Section 1: Eligibility: AWARE will not discriminate in its membership regardless of sex, race, nation origin, sexual orientation, handicap, or disability.  AWARE membership is open to any student attending Plymouth State University.

 

Section 2: Active membership: In order to be an active member a person must attend at least two meetings a month.  The officers of AWARE will keep track of attendance at meetings in order to keep track of active members.  People who attend two meetings a month will be allowed to vote.

 

Section 3:  Inactive Membership:  An inactive member may be a person who attends meetings simply for the information given or the discussion held.  No one is required to sign in if they choose not to; therefore, people may attend as little as possible and be considered inactive members.

 

Artile IV:

Officers

 

Section 1: Any active member can nominate themselves for a position as officer for the group AWARE.  The five officers of AWARE will be the President, Vice President, Secretary, Finance Officer, and Fifth member.  Voting for new members will be held at the second to last meeting in May.  Active members will cast their votes in written form collected at the beginning of the meeting and votes will be counted by the President and announced in the duration of this meeting.

 

Section 2: Duties of the Officers:

A.     The President shall:

1.      Call and preside over all meetings of AWARE.

2.      Act as a spokesperson for AWARE.

3.      Represent AWARE at various functions, meetings and conferences.

4.      Monitor elections.

5.      Act as a liaison between faculty, administration, and student government as well as to other organizations.

6.      Ultimately responsible for recruitment of new membership.

 

B.     The Vice President shall:

1.      Preside over meetings of AWARE in the absence of the President

2.      Be responsible for consistent membership through out the year.

3.      Be responsible for recruitment events.

 

C.     The Secretary shall:

1.      Take minutes on the proceedings of each meeting.

2.      Ensure the distribution of minutes to active members and keep a record of minutes from every meeting.

3.      Maintain records on active and inactive membership.

 

D.     The Finance Officer shall:

1.      Keep accurate records of the AWARE accounts.

2.      Submit budget proposals.

3.      Plan fundraisers.

4.      Report to the group on the status of accounts.

 

E.      The Publicity and Event/Fifth Member Officer shall:

1.      Assume the role of an absent officer excluding that of the President.

2.      Coordinate the advertisement and publicity of events to ensure the visibility of the group on campus.

3.      Work with the Vice President on recruitment events.

4.      Organize discussion groups.

 

Section 3.  Term of office:  Officers will be allowed to serve as many terms as they are elected for.  Officers may be elected for the same position they have held before or they may be elected for a different position if they so choose.

 

Section 4: Impeachment of Officers: Officers may be impeached by a member majority vote if the officer is found to be neglecting their duties to AWARE and to their position.

 

Article V:

Committees

 

Section 1: Standing Committees: There will be two separate sub committees of the AWARE group.  One will be the Activity Committee and the other will be the Discussion Committee.  Both committees will function as separate groups and as joined groups.  Members of each group can attend one or both of the groups if they so choose.

 

Section 2: Duties of Standing Committees:

A.     The Activities Committee shall:

1.      Be involved in active recruitment of new members.

2.      Work on event coordination with AWARE, campus, and community.

3.      Work on the production of the newsletter.

 

B.     The Discussion Committee shall:

1.      Choose and agree upon a topic for discussion for each meeting at the meeting prior.

2.      Discuss topic and take down notes of discussion in order to submit to the newsletter

 

Section 3:  Officers will act as a liaison between the two committees.

 

Article VI:

Advisor

 

Section 1: Number and Term of Office: AWARE will have at least one and no more than three advisors at all times.  The advisor(s) will be able to serve for an unlimited amount of terms or as many as the current members of AWARE require.

 

Section 2: Method of Appointment: The organization AWARE will nominate a person for the position of advisor.  The group will then formally ask the nominee for their acceptance or refusal of the position.

 

Section 3:  Duties: The advisor will be invited to participate or observe group meetings, activities, discussions, etc. if they are able and choose to do so.

 

Article VII:

Meetings

 

Section 1: Regular Meetings:  Regular meeting times will be scheduled at the first meeting of the semester to ensure that as many people as possible will be able to attend.  Regular meetings should be held approximately once a week or biweekly, excluding special and emergency meetings, dependent on members’ availability.

 

Section 2: Special Meetings:  The President will notify the secretary in the event of a special or emergency meeting time.  The secretary will then contact and inform the active members and other officers of the emergency/special meeting by email or phone.  Any other active member of AWARE who desires to call an emergency/special meeting must contact the President first.  The President will, in turn, inform the secretary.

 

Article VIII:

Amendments

 

Section 1: Procedure for Amendment: Any proposed amendments are to be submitted to the President in writing to be added to the agenda.  The amendment will be read at two meetings before a vote is taken.

 

Section 2: Ratification: All active members will be allowed to vote against or for the amendment.  A three-fourths vote from active members is necessary to ratify the amendment.