Constitution and Policies 101

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Constitution and Policies 101

• Oscar Vega
• VP FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

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orIts 1pm do you know where your Constitution
is or what it does?
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Overview

• Definition of a Constitution
• Name of the organization
• Purpose/Objective of the organization
• Membership
• Officers
• Elections
• Amendments
• Policies and/or Policy Manuals

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Disclaimer

• Please note
• This presentation is meant to give an
  introduction to a constitution. In no way is
  this presentation meant to tell members how each
  constitution should look.

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Definition of a Constitution

• A constitution is a system for governmentoften
  codified as a written documentthat establishes
  the rules and principles of an autonomous
  political entity. In the case of countries, this
  term refers specifically to a national
  constitution defining the fundamental political
  principles, and establishing the structure,
  procedures, powers and duties, of a government.
  Most national constitutions also guarantee
  certain rights to the people.

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Name of the organization

• Usually people come together for the purpose of
  forming an organization
• All organizations have a name which they often
  call themselves.
• For the purpose of the presentation, the name of
  the organization is the name that often appears
  in the constitution

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Examples

• The name of the organization is, and shall be,
  The Engineering Student Societies Council of
  Ontario, referred herein as ESSCO ESSCO
  Constitution
• There shall exist an organization with the name,
  The Engineering Society of Queen's University,
  which for the purposes of abbreviation may be
  referred to as EngSoc Queens University
• The name of this organization is and shall be
  "The University of Waterloo Engineering Society,"
  referred to herein as "the Society." University
  of Waterloo

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Purpose/Objective

• What is the Purpose of your Engineering Society?
• Not just for drinking?
• A professional organization?

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What is the purpose of ESSCO?

• To represent undergraduate engineering students
  in the Province of Ontario in matters of common
  interest
• To facilitate centralized communication and
  information interchange between its member
  societies
• To actively participate in, and interact with,
  various sectors of business, government, and
  academia as well as professional and student
  organizations, and
• To encourage the promotion of engineering as an
  exciting, challenging and equitable profession to
  elementary and high school students
• ESSCO shall not align with any partisan
  organizations
• ESSCO shall only involve itself in issues
  directly related to engineering in Ontario

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• To cultivate the spirit of mutual assistance
  among the members of the Society in the practice
  of the engineering profession.
• To serve as a medium of communication between
  members of the Society and the governing bodies
  of the University, the University of Windsor
  Student Alliance, or any other recognized
  Society.
• To promote general interest in the University
• To promote interest and to foster high standards
  in the engineering profession and education
• To supervise all committees, sub-committees,
  clubs and societies which are associated with the
  Society
• University of Windsor

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Membership

• How do you join this awesome society or
  organization?
• Are there any fees involved?
• What are the types of membership?
• Every society has rules on who can be members and
  how to become a member

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ESSCO Full membership

• Full membership
• The full membership in good standing of ESSCO
  shall consist of
• The member societies in good standing who shall
• Each be an Ontario Undergraduate Engineering
  Society that is officially recognized by ESSCO
• Have paid their annual fees on time as outlined
  in Article IV
• Attend at least seventy-five percent (75) of
  regular meetings in the ESSCO mandate year or
  send regrets, and
• Actively pursue a bid for hosting one of the
  following conferences at least every three years
  FYIC, ESSCO PM, ESSCO AGM, PEO-SC
• The President and Vice Presidents of ESSCO who
  shall be the executive officers of ESSCO
• A school that has lost their status as a member
  of good standing can again become a member of
  good standing by a majority council vote

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ESSCO Associate membership

• An associate member society shall be an Ontario
  Undergraduate Engineering Society, which is
  officially recognized by ESSCO and has not paid
  their annual fee as outlined in Section IV
• Associate member societies may be granted full
  membership status by a two-thirds (2/3)-majority
  vote of full members at the ESSCO Annual General
  Meeting, such full membership to be in effect
  until the following Annual General Meeting
• Representatives from associate member societies
  may put forward or second any nominations,
  motions or amendment, or raise any points of
  parliamentary procedure at any ESSCO general
  meeting.

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University of Ottawa

• Membership
• Membership fees shall be paid through the amount
  of money allocated to the Society by the
  Students Federation of the University of Ottawa.
  Thus, once tuition is paid in full, membership is
  automatically renewed
• Honourary
• Honourary membership may be given at the
  discretion of the Student Council. Honourary
  members receive access to all privileges except
  the right to vote or to hold office

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University of Waterloo

• On-Term Undergraduate members
• All undergraduates of the Faculty of Engineering
  of the University of Waterloo who have paid and
  not withdrawn the Engineering Society Fee for the
  given term shall be on-term undergraduate members
  of the Society for the duration of that term,
  including the examination period
• Off-tem Undergraduate members
• All undergraduates of the Faculty of Engineering
  of the University of Waterloo who are not
  currently enrolled as full time students, who
  paid and did not withdraw the Engineering Society
  Fee for their last term, and have shown intent to
  be enrolled in the next academic term as an
  undergraduate student as determined by their
  department, shall be off-term undergraduate
  members of the off-term Society to which those
  fees were paid.
• Life members
• All persons receiving undergraduate degrees from
  the Faculty of Engineering at the University of
  Waterloo shall be life members.
• Honorary members
• Distinguished persons eminent in Engineering or
  related fields or persons who have made
  outstanding contributions to the benefit of the
  society and its membership may be nominated for
  honorary membership by any member of the
  Engineering Society.
• Candidates for honorary membership shall be
  approved by a majority vote of the Joint Council.

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Officers

• You are a member, now what happens?
• Who are the organizers and those in charge of the
  organization?
• How many officers are there and what are there
  roles in the organization?
• What is the term in their positions?
• How can you become an officer of the
  organization?
• Elections

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ESSCO elections

• H) General Elections
• 1) Elections for all of the elected executive
  positions must be held at the ESSCO AGM
• 2) Candidates must be nominated and seconded by
  full member societies
• 3) Elections shall be run in two stages the
  Presidential election shall take place before the
  election for Vice Presidents
• 4) Any candidate who runs unsuccessfully in the
  Presidential election is automatically eligible
  to run in the Vice Presidential election
• 5) In the event that there is only one person
  running for election in any of the five offices,
  then there shall be a yes/no vote held for that
  position in order to affirm the candidate
• 6) These elections shall be administered by the
  Chief Returning Officer (CRO) who will be
  appointed by the outgoing Vice President Finance
  and Administration and,
• 7) The CRO must be non-voting, be a member of a
  full member society, and ensure that the
  nominations and voting procedures are in
  accordance with the Constitution.

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Voting

• 1) Each full member society of ESSCO that has
  delegates to represent their society at a regular
  meeting of the ESSCO Council is entitled to one
  (1) vote.
• 2) The ESSCO executive Officers are entitled to
  cast one (1) vote as a whole. Should the entire
  executive not concur on the how they should vote,
  their vote shall count as an abstention. For the
  purposes of elections voting, this vote will be
  cast in the form of a candidate ranking, prior to
  the counting of member society votes. This vote
  will not be counted unless the event of a tie
  vote in member societies ballots occurs.
• 3) It is the outgoing ESSCO Executive that has
  voting rights at the AGM. Incoming Executive
  shall be granted a single seat and speaking
  rights at the AGM.
• 4) A full member society may proxy its vote to
  another full member society, provided the Society
  relinquishing its vote informs the Vice President
  Finance and Administration, in writing, prior to
  the start of the meeting.
• 5) No member society may have more than two votes
  at a time.

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• Election rules like everything, varies from
  school to school
• Each constitution will state the roles of the
  executives
• Executives usually have a list of duties that
  they must accomplish during their mandates

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• A) List of Officers
• There shall be five elected executive officers of
  ESSCO the President the VicePresident
  Communication the Vice President Services the
  Vice President Development and the Vice
  President Finance and Administration.
• B) Term of Office
• The term of office for all elected executive
  officers shall be from the end of the Annual
  General Meeting in which they are ratified, up to
  and including the following years Annual General
  Meeting, at which time a new executive shall be
  elected.
• C) Qualifications
• An elected Executive Officer must be a member of
  a full member society in ESSCO, as outlined in
  Article III A)

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ESSCO

• Executive Officers Roles and Responsibilities
• Executive Officers are responsible for, but not
  limited to, the items outlined below, as well as
  any Council mandated responsibilities. Further
  items of executive responsibility are outlined in
  the ESSCO Policy Manual, section B.

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ESSCO VP Finance and Administration

• The Vice President Finance and Administration
  shall
• i) receive all moneys of ESSCO and produce
  receipts to member schools for their paid ESSCO
  membership fees
• ii) be responsible for the complete transparency
  and fiscal responsibility of ESSCO's funds
• iii) be responsible, on approval of the
  Executive, for authorizing all disbursements of
  ESSCO funds and
• iv) be responsible for the recording, filing, and
  distribution of the minutes of all regular and
  executive meetings and all motions passed at
  regular meetings
• v) keep a current copy of the Constitution and
  Policy Manual, be responsible for the
  publications of documentation revisions, and
  ensure that a copy of these documents are sent
  to all delegates prior to the Annual General
  Meeting

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Amendments

• Would you like to add something to the
  constitution?
• Would you like to take something out of the
  constitution because it could be old?
• What happens if there is a spelling or grammar
  mistake?
• Amendments are changes to a constitution

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Amendments

• A) Amending the Constitution
• 1) The Constitution may be amended by a
  two-thirds (2/3)-majority vote of Council at
  either the ESSCO AGM, or any two consecutive
  regular meetings.
• B) Interpretation
• 1) The President shall resolve any dispute
  involving the interpretation of the Constitution.
• 2) The decision of the President in such matters
  may be appealed to the member societies of ESSCO,
  which may overturn the Presidents decision, by
  majority vote. The appeal shall take the form of
  a vote at a regular meeting of ESSCO, or via
  written correspondence with the presidents of all
  member societies of ESSCO.
• C) Maintenance
• The full and current text of the Constitution
  shall be kept by the Vice President Finance and
  Administration. The Vice President
  Communications, shall make those texts available
  to all member schools as referred to in the
  Policy Manual.

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Policies and Policy Manual

• A) Council may enact and amend Procedures and
  Policies, by means of mandates put forth in
  motions and passed at the AGM, which will be
  binding on the elected Executive Officers of
  ESSCO
• B) No Policy or Procedure may be enacted which
  contradicts, in any way, the Constitution and
  Bylaws of ESSCO and,
• C) The full and current text of all ESSCO
  Procedures and Policies shall be kept and updated
  by the Vice President Finance and
  Administration,. The Vice President
  Communications shall make those texts available
  to the full and associate membership of ESSCO
  and,
• D) The ESSCO Policy Manual will be used in
  conjunction with the Constitution, but in no way
  supersedes the Constitution.
• E) If any spelling, grammatical, or
  reference-based errors are found in the policy
  manual, the Vice-President Finance and
  Administration may fix these errors without
  Councils approval, provided that council is
  apprised of all changes at the next scheduled
  meeting.

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THANK YOU

• QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?