Constitution at bangladesh student association

Constitution

BSA Constiution

Approved by the General Members of the BSA November 23, 2002
[download the constitution acrobat file]

Proposed by:
Mahabubur Rahman Bhuyian

Prepared by (Oct 06, 1993):
Mamudul Bari
Mahububur Rahman Bhuyian
Maksura Haque
Raihan Khan
Shumi Majid
Sabah Muktader
Ashik Ur Rahman

Originally typed by:
Shumi Majid

Amendment I (rewrite) proposed by (Nov 23, 2002):
Saud Khan
M Saninur Rahman

Amendment II proposed and prepared by (May 14, 2003):
Mohammad S. Rahim

Go To Article: I / II / III / IV / V / VI / VII / VIII
Go To Amendment: II

Article I: Name

The organization will be known as Bangladesh Student Association at Georgia Tech, hereafter referred to as BSA.

Article II: Purpose

The purpose of the BSA is to:

promote and publicize the cultural aspects of Bangladesh by arranging various festivals and activities.
try and uplift the Bangladeshi/Bengali culture, values and practices in the USA by developing inter-ration ships with other cultural entities.
bring Bengali students, international as well as local, together and help overcome challenges of the Georgia Tech community through active cooperation among its members.
try to help Bangladesh through non-partisan activities.
render humanitarian services to any other society or similar organization in need of assistance.

Article III: Members

Section 1: Who

Any Georgia Tech student, alumni, faculty, or staff and their spouses who believe in the objectives of the organization are eligible to be a member and a beneficiary of this organization.

Section 2: GT Handbook

Georgia Tech student members must be eligible for participation in extra-curricular activities as defined by the Georgia Tech Handbook and SGA policies.

Section 3: Member limit

Total number of members will not exceed 200.

Section 4: Voting member

To become a voting BSA member, the participant needs to be a Georgia Tech student, to sign up on the membership roster and pay the membership dues in full amount prior to the elections. Only GT students can vote or hold office.

Section 5: Eligible officers

To be eligible to hold office, a member should be a student currently enrolled at Georgia Tech, be a current member of the organization and in good academic standing.

Section 6: Meeting attendance

A member is required to attend at least one meeting per semester and help the Promotions Officer in promoting an event on his/her request.

Section 7: Announcements

A voting member is responsible for checking their email/GT PO Box for announcements about meetings/events.

Article IV: Officers

Section 1: Executive Committee

The board of Executive Committee shall consist of:

President
Vice President
General Secretary
Treasurer
Promotions Officer

The Promotions Officer is the only appointed position in the Executive Committee and the other officers are all elected.

Section 2: Duties

Duties and rights of the officers:
(a) President:

will be the executive officer of the organization.
will preside over the meetings and present an overall annual report, including a calendar of possible events, in the first general meeting of the school year.
will represent the BSA at all conferences, conventions and faculty or alumni meetings.
can take any emergency decisions provided that he/she consult with two other members of the executive committee.
must attend a meeting with the advisor at least once a semester and discuss possible events and ideas.
will keep the objectives of the BSA in order.

(b) Vice President:

Will be the junior executive officer of the organization and will assume all of the rights and duties of the President in his/her absence.
Will be responsible for maintaining relations with other student organizations at Georgia Tech.
Is recommended to be a member of Culture Tech.

Will maintain all the records of the BSA and will not disclose any information without consultation with the executive committee.
Execute and follow up all the Executive Committee’s decisions for the BSA.
Decide and call upon meeting dates after consulting with the Executive Committee and will be responsible for informing all members about BSA meetings or activities.
Will attend all meetings, including executive meetings, to record meeting minutes and post it to the web site or mailing list.
Prepare and present the annual report of the BSA at the first general meeting of the school year.

(d) Treasurer:

Will be responsible for maintaining records of all the financial transactions of the organization.
Will consult with the Executive Committee to approve or deny any expenditures of the organization and ensure that generally accepted accounting practices and monetary controls are in place.
Will prepare and annual budget of the organization and present it to the general members before submitting it to JFC. He/she can consult with the advisor about the budget.
Will keep record of the eligible voting members.

(e) Promotions Officer:

Will be responsible for promoting and advertising upcoming activities held by BSA.
Will keep record of all the BSA accounts for web site, mailing list or email.
Will maintain the mailing list and the event calendar.
May possibly maintain the web site

Section 3: Election

Officers will be elected in the following manner:

Elections for the officers of the forth coming year will take place no later than April 1st of each year.
Any student member of the BSA may campaign or be nominated for any position on the Executive Committee (except Promotions Officer). The candidate names will be emailed out to the list to be voted on at the following meeting. Self-nomination is allowed by SGA policies.
The candidate for each office receiving the majority votes at the elections will be considered the victor.
If the elections are done via emails then the election period shall not be longer than two weeks. The votes shall not be posted to the list but send to a pre-appointed person who is not running for an office.

Promotions Officer will be appointed in the following manner:

Any student member of the BSA who is interested for this position will submit a letter to the new Executive Committee two weeks after the elections.
At the end of the period the new Executive Committee will hold a meeting where they will decide which candidate is most suitable for the office. The Advisor of the BSA might be present at this meeting to give his/her opinion.
The victor will be announced on the next general meeting.

The new officers will take office at the last meeting of the semester, which have to be held on the Saturday before dead week of Spring semester.

Section 4: Removal

Officers shall be removed in this manner:

If an officer fails to maintain Institute requirements for holding office (good standing, for example), he/she shall resign immediately. And election or appointment of the new officer will be held according to Article IV Section 3.
If it is believed that an officer is not fulfilling his/her constitutional duties or is found to be in substantial disagreement with the principles, then a petition requesting his/her removal must be signed by at least half of the voting membership and presented at a general meeting. Then, upon verification of the validity of the petition, by the advisor and at least two weeks but no more than four weeks from the date of submission, another meeting shall be held at which the grievance will be presented, with both sides having the opportunity to present a case.
The Faculty Advisor, if appropriate, shall preside over the removal hearing. After all arguments have been heard, a secret-ballot vote shall be held. If at least two-thirds of the voting members present vote for removal, the officer shall be removed immediately.
If the President is removed or resigns, the Vice-President will take his/her place in the interim. All other officers will be nominated by the membership and voted on in accordance to Article IV Section 3.

Article V: Advisor

Section 1: Qualification

A full-time GT faculty or staff member will serve as the advisor to the organization.

Section 2: Nominations

Nominations for advisor will take place within the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee will chose the advisor and invite him/her to serve as advisor for the next academic year.

Section 3: Elections

During Officer Elections, the organization will vote on whether to continue the Advisor appointment or not. The vote must be two-third majority of those voting in order to retain the Advisor for the next academic year.

Section 4: Duties

The duties of the Advisor include:

Meeting with organization officers.
Reviewing the yearly budget.
Signing all required paperwork.
Advising on issues of risk management, organization leadership and Georgia Tech policy.

Section 5: Removal

The Advisor can be removed for not carrying out the duties and expectations as defined in this document. Any member can bring concerns to the Executive Committee, who will then meet with the Advisor to discuss the concerns. After this meeting, the Executive Committee will vote on whether to remove the Advisor. If there is a majority vote, then the Advisor will be removed.

Section 6: Re-appointment

If an Advisor steps down, or is removed, the Executive Committee will follow the process stated in Article V Section 2.

Article VI: Dues

Section 1: Adjustment

The Executive Committee will adjust the amount of Dues in the beginning of Fall semester.

Section 2: Amount

Dues shall be no less than $8 a semester or $15 a year for each member. Dues for alumni, staff, faculty and their spouses will be 1.5 times that of a student member. Dues for the Summer semester will be half that of a regular semester and will be covered by the annual dues.

Section 3: Due date

Dues are to be paid by the third week of the semester or by the second week of membership. Annual dues must be paid off by the fourth week of the Fall semester.

Article VII: Parliamentary Procedure

Section 1: General meetings

The general meetings will be the highest decision making forum of the organization.

Section 2: Accompanying event

The general meetings will be considered as a gathering of all the interested members of the BSA and, therefore, can be accompanied by an event organized for the members only.

Section 3: Robert’s Rules of Order

All business meetings shall be governed by the Procedure contained in Robert’s Rules of Order.

Article VIII: Constitutional Amendments

Section 1: Submission

Amendment(s) to the constitution can be submitted to the Executive Committee in writing for consideration. The Executive Committee can call a special general meeting to vote on the proposed amendment(s). A reading or email of the proposed amendment(s) will be required prior to submitting the amendment(s) to a vote.

Section 2: Notification

Written notification of the proposed amendment(s) to all voting members must be made by mail or email, at least two weeks in advance of any proposed change in the constitution.

Section 3: Voting

The amendment(s) will be adopted upon receiving a two-third vote from the general members present in the special meeting.

Section 4: SGA approval

All amendments are subject to the written approval of SGA and the Student Activities Committee.

Amendment II: Library Amendment

Section 1: Name

As of May 15, 2003 BSA will maintain the BSA Library, which will be referred to as the Library here forth.

Section 2: Purpose

The purpose of the Library would be to provide BSA members with a cheaper option than having to buy expensive textbooks. It could also help other Georgia Tech Students with similar facilities.

Section 3: Library Materials

The Library will carry old and new textbooks and other material of many current and old classes held at Georgia Tech. These materials could be donated to the Library, or they could be purchased by BSA for the Library. They will be considered properties of the Library. They can only be sold from the Library the President’s consent.

Section 4: Library Usage

BSA members will be allowed to borrow the textbooks for no longer than one semester at a time. To borrow expensive books they may be asked for a deposit no greater than 15% of the book price, which will be returned to the member on the return of the book to the Library in a reasonably good condition. Library material could be rented out to other Georgia Tech Students at a reasonable price determined by the executive board.

Section 5: Librarian

The Library books will be kept under the control of the BSA Librarian, here forth referred to as the Librarian. Unless assigned to someone else, the Promotions Officer can act as the Librarian. The Librarian will keep track of the lending and the renting out of the materials of the Library.

bangladesh student association