SEDS-USA National Bylaws(CSEDS Proposal: March 31, 1993)Students for the Exploration and Development of SpaceUnited States of AmericaSECTION_1 Responsibilities of Executive Board MembersSection 1.1 Chair The Chair presides over the Executive Board and oversees the decision-making and electoral processes. The Chair is responsible for ensuring the continuing communication among Board members, chapter representatives, chapters, advisors, alumni, and outside organizations. The Chair is the chief representative of SEDS at official functions.Section 1.2 Vice-Chair The Vice-Chair acts as the Alumni Liaison and the Board of Advisors Liaison. The Vice-Chair shall coordinate the site selection for the annual National conference. In the event that the Chair resigns or is removed from office, the Vice-Chair will assume the Chair's position, and an "unscheduled" election for a new Vice-Chair shall commence. Section 1.3 Director of Finance The Director of Finance keeps financial records of all SEDS-USA activities, controls all legal, financial, and tax matters, monitors expenditures of the Board Members and notifies the Chair when any chapter becomes delinquent in paying dues. The Director of Finance is also responsible for coordinating the fundraising activities of SEDS-USA. The Director of Finance must make monthly reports to the Executive Board regarding the financial status of SEDS, including a list of all disbursements made and monies received. Section 1.4 Director of Chapter Affairs The Director of Chapter Affairs has the responsibility of working with all of the chapters through their chapter representatives. The Director of Chapter Affairs is in charge of organizing all Council of Chapters votes, including the election of a new Executive Board each year. The Director of Chapter Affairs is also responsible for answering and supporting all requests by individual chapters for information or help. The Director of Chapter Affairs is charged with the task of informing the Executive Board about special concerns brought to his/her attention by the chapters. If feasible, the Director of Chapter Affairs is to contact each chapter twice a year in order to find out how the Executive Board can better serve the needs of the individual chapters. Section 1.5 Director of Chapter Expansion The Director of Chapter Expansion is in charge of recruiting new SEDS chapters. The Director of Chapter Expansion's job shall include, but is not limited to, the following:
The Director of Publications is in charge of deciding the format, layout, length, and theme of the National newsletter. Section 1.7 Director of Educational Outreach The Director of Educational Outreach is in charge of making and compiling educational materials about space. Of special emphasis are materials for high school teachers interested in sponsoring SEDS chapters. Emphasis on educational materials or projects that can be done in a classroom setting is of the highest priority. A special program to help students make their own specialized courses in space studies shall be developed, including help on how to get official accreditation from a school for such a course. The Director of Educational Outreach is in charge of helping teachers or students set up these curricula. The Director of Educational Outreach is also in charge of organizing and maintaining presentation materials to help individual SEDS chapters make presentations at other schools. Section 1.8 Director of Special Projects The Director of Special Projects shall be assigned by the Executive Board any special projects that the Board sees fit and which do not come under the sole auspices of another director. The Director of Special Projects is also strongly encouraged to help out the other directors on the tasks in their areas. Section 1.9 Director of High School Affairs The Director of High School Affairs shall be a high school student and shall work closely with the other directors. Special emphasis shall be placed on helping the other directors with work that directly involves high school chapters or individuals. Regular Voting ProceduresSection 2.1 Candidates will declare their intentions to run by the candidacy declaration deadline, defined below. Candidates may declare their intentions to run for any or all of the directorships.Section 2.2 Within one week of the candidacy declaration deadline, the Director of Chapter Affairs will prepare absentee ballots and distribute them to all Chapter Representatives. Each candidate for each position will be listed, and the ballots will be accompanied by statements of each candidate for each directorship. Section 2.3 The Chapter Representatives, in consultation with the official designates, will complete the absentee ballots in accordance with their chapters' guidelines for this election. For each office, the Representative must assign a preference rank to each candidate, where a "10" represents the greatest preference and a "0" represents the lowest preference. Only integer real preference ranks will be allowed. The ranks need not be assigned consecutively, that is, one candidate may be given "10" and the rest "2," as the Chapter Representative sees fit, with consultation of the chapter. Section 2.4 The absentee ballots will be returned to the Director of Chapter Affairs before the beginning of the conference. The absentee ballots are _not_ to be opened by this Director - they will be turned over to the Election Chair, as defined below. Section 2.5 The Election Committee will be appointed at the beginning of the conference by the Executive Board. The Election Committee will be composed of three non-candidates, and one of the committee members will be designated as Election Chair. Section 2.6 By a time specified by the Election Committee, all official delegates will present to said committee a ballot for all positions being elected. Votes for the offices will be tabulated in the order that the offices are listed in ARTICLE II , Section 3.2a. Any candidate elected to an office is automatically removed from consideration for all other offices. Quorum is defined to have been met automatically. Section 2.7 For each office, the present voting representatives will cast integer real preference ranks just as for the absentee ballots. The total preference ranks for each candidate, from all ballots received, shall be tabulated, and the candidate with the largest sum shall be elected to said office. Section 2.8 In the event of a tie, a run-off election will be held between the candidates with the top sum. This election will be held only among the present representatives. Again, quorum is defined to have been met automatically. Section 2.9 Should a position be left with no candidates, this position will be left vacant and will be filled with an "unscheduled" election in accordance with the constitution. Section 2.10 The term of the newly elected officers begins at the close of business on the day the elections are finalized, at which time the term of the outgoing officers ends. Voting Procedures for Unscheduled ElectionsSection 3.1 The Director of Chapter Affairs shall count the ballots for an unscheduled election. If there is no Director of Chapter Affairs, the Executive Board shall appoint someone to undertake his tasks with regards to electing the replacement board member(s).Section 3.2 All ballots shall be completed in the way prescribed for absentee ballots in the Bylaws, SECTION_2. Section 3.3 Voting continues for three weeks after the ballots have been sent. At the end of this voting period the votes will be counted. Quorum is considered to have been met automatically. Section 3.4 If there is a tie, a vote of the current Executive Board will be taken as the tie-breaker. If this vote is also a tie, then the Chair (or next highest officer) will cast the deciding ballot. All of these board votes will be done by open ballot. Standing RulesSection 4.1 The Executive Board shall keep a record of all policies and procedures that have been voted on, and shall call these the standing rules. These rules remain in effect until repealed by a vote of the Executive Board or by a directive from the Council of Chapters.Section 4.2 All votes by the executive board will be role-call votes. These votes will be recorded and kept on file for the public's perusal. Definitions
Electronic CommunicationSection 1.6 In order to facilitate the exchange of information between chapter and executive board members, SEDS will endeavor to maintain as many commonly used documents as possible in an electronic format.Section 6.2 SEDS shall maintain some type of electronic teleconferencing system for use by the Executive Board, Council of Chapters, and other committees and groups within SEDS. A computer system accessible over the Internet is preferred. Section 6.3 SEDS shall maintain a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) computer site so that groups and individuals inside and outside of SEDS may access information on SEDS and commonly used SEDS documents. Section 6.4 If possible, SEDS shall maintain electronic mail distribution lists over the Internet in order to facilitate the distribution of information. If possible, SEDS should maintain separate distribution list for space news, chapter information or policy debates, and executive board workings. Political ActivitySEDS-USA will never take a position on any political issue or candidate. SEDS-USA will seek to educate its members about all points of view and let each member decide for himself or herself. SEDS-USA and its individual chapters will not spend funds supporting particular candidates, or supporting any particular side of an issue, but may spend money in order to educate the public or its membership on the issues. However, individual SEDS chapters or members are free to organize to support issues or candidates, as long as they do not invoke the SEDS name.Financial Cmte SelectionSection 8.1 The Director of Finances shall set up a Finance Committee to evaluate any reimbursement proposals. This committee shall consist of at least three people. It is recommended, but not required, to include:Director of Finance One other Executive Board member One Board of Advisor member One non-Executive Board student, preferably not from the same school as any of the aboveSECTION_9 Initial Directors BudgetsWithin a month of the elections, each Board member must submit a proposed budget for the activities in his/her area. The Board shall then vote on the tentative allocation of these funds. A minimum of 25% of the SEDS funds must be held in reserve for contingencies.Section 9.2 These funds shall be held in reserve for the activities of that Director, unless that director approves releasing these funds back to the contingency fund for reallocation. Once these funds have been designated to a certain Director, (s)he may not designate these funds for projects outside his/her area. The board cannot force an individual Director to reallocate funds already designated for his activities to be returned to the contingency fund. Section 9.3 If a certain Director encounters more costs than expected, the Director may petition the executive board to allocate addition funds from the contingency area for specific projects. Section 9.4 Each executive board member is required to keep a journal of ALL expenses for which reimbursements are made, including descriptions of what is covered by these expenses. This journal is to be submitted along with receipts for the expense before any reimbursement can be made. These journals will be kept on record for tax purposes, and thus will be considered legal documents. General Investigation ProcedureSection 10.1 Only expenses that are part of a SEDS-USA activities and would not be otherwise done by an individual chapter or person are eligible for reimbursement.Section 10.2 All reimbursements must have approval before the expense is incurred, except in outstanding circumstances. Section 10.3 All planned expenses must be submitted to the Finance Committee at least two weeks before the expenses are incurred. Section 10.4 The Finance Committee is charged with investigating the possible alternatives to the planned expense. The Finance Committee may require the individual requesting the reimbursement approval to provide documented results of his/her research into possible cheaper alternatives to the plan that has been proposed, before the Finance Committee is required to decide on the issue. Section 10.5a The Finance Committee must conclude their investigations within one week, and cast their vote then, or present their findings to the Executive Board. The Executive Board has two weeks to vote on any reimbursement pre-approval or payment. Section 10.5b If the finance cmte requires more information before making a decision, a request for this additional must be sent to the person proposing the expenditure. The investigation will then be considered concluded, and a new investigation will start once this new information is provided. Section 10.5c The finance committee has the right to forward any reimbursement vote for an amount equal to or less than the approval limit to the executive board for them to decide upon. If the committee does this, the committee cannot present a group opinion to the board, but may discuss the matter as individual SEDS members. This is to be done only in the cases where the vote cannot be passed or failed outright within the committee (i.e. over half of the committee present abstains from voting). Section 10.7a For the approval of expenditures less than or equal to the approval limit, the Finance Committee shall meet to discuss the issue, and then vote on an amount to approve for this project. Provided that quorum has been met, a majority of the committee present at the meeting is required to approve this amount. This amount does not have to be the same amount as the originally proposed amount, if the committee believes that another amount better reflects the costs to be incurred. Section 10.7b For expenditures less than or equal to the approval limit, if prepayment of funds is requested and the Finance Committee finds that this is necessary, an amount up to $20 less than the projected total expenditures (for the project) may be paid to the individual running the project. This falls under the guidelines set by the Executive Board for independent action by the Finance Committee, and does not require Executive Board approval. The person receiving these funds will be responsible for submitting receipts to account for how the funds are spent. Section 10.8a For the approval of expenditures greater than the approval limit, the Finance Committee shall meet to discuss this issue. As with proposals equal to or less than the approval limit, the committee shall vote on an amount to approve. Section 10.8b If prepayment of funds is requested for a project whose total expenditures exceed the approval limit, a separate feasibility study will be conducted on just the prepayment request, and the Finance Committee shall vote on an amount to be prepaid. Section 10.8c The approval amount and the prepayment amount (if any) will then be presented to the executive board, in the form of a single yes/no proposal. The Executive Board must then vote to approve (by a majority decision) or reject this proposal. Section 10.9a If a request for a supplementary expenditure to a previously approved expenditure causes the total expenditure to exceed the approval limit, then the procedure described in Section 10.8 is used when considering this request. Otherwise, the procedure described in Section 10.7 is to be used. Section 10.9b Any appeals for reimbursement for expenses exceeding the preapproved amount (after expenses have occurred) shall be considered a request for a supplemental expenditure. Miscellaneous ExpendituresSection 11.1 Each voting executive board member may receive up to $30 per year in reimbursements for miscellaneous expenses that CANNOT be covered under specific projects. The types of miscellaneous expenses include photocopying expenses, faxes, mail, and phone calls.Section 11.2 Each officially designated non-voting board member may receive up to $10 for these same types of miscellaneous expenses. ReimbursementSection 12.1 In order to receive a reimbursement, the individual requesting the reimbursement must present a completed expense report, including receipts. Reimbursement will be for the preapproved amount or the actual expenses incurred, whichever is less.Section 12.2 The finance committee may disallow specific expenditures if there are not complete records and receipts provided for them. The finance committee may also disallow expenditures if it is shown that the expense was not incurred in directly performing SEDS USA work. Section 12.3 The Director of Finances will enact reimbursement within two weeks of final approval of said reimbursement. Limits on Finance Cmte. PowersSection 13.1 Any three chapter representatives or a single Executive Board member may challenge the decision of the Finance Committee. If this is done, the entire Executive Board is forced to vote on the reimbursement in question.Section 13.2 The Council of Chapters may dictate or override a Executive Board financial decision by the method outlined in Article II of the Constitution. IDM Bylaws v3.1 passed 5/9/94SECTION_14Individual Membership ProgramSection 14.1 Description of the Individual Membership Program The purpose of the Individual Membership (hereafter abbreviated IDM) program is to reach individuals who are unable to join or form SEDS chapters. The goals of the IDM program are as follows:
Section 14.3a IDM members are eligible to receive benefits according to their membership level, provided an annual fee is paid. Membership benefits vary according to membership level. Membership benefits will be set by the Executive Board, based on the recommendation of the administrator of the IDM program. Section 14.3b Individual members who are not members of a chapter are barred from the following actions:
Section 14.4 Program Administration Section 14.4a The Director of Chapter Affairs is responsible for the administration of the IDM program. He/she will create a committee of at least three (3) members, including him/herself and at least one other member of the Exective Board, to assist in the administration of the program. Individual SEDS members are eligible to serve on this committee. Section 14.4b This committee will handle the administrative and logistical details of the program, including but not limited to:
Section 14.4d The Director of Chapter Affairs is charged with reporting on the status of the IDM program to the rest of the Executive Board on a monthly basis. The IDM committee may submit recommendations on IDM issues that are decided by the Executive Board. Section 14.5 Upgrading from Individual Member to Chapter Section 14.5a Should the individuals members at a school without a SEDS chapter create a new SEDS chapter, the unused portion of their IDM dues shall be applied to chapter dues. Should the combined unused portions exceed the annual chapter dues payment, the excess will be applied to dues payments in future years. Section 14.5b An individual member who joins a current SEDS chapter may request a refund of the prorated difference between student non-chapter member dues and student chapter member dues. Section 14.6 Powers Retained by SEDS-USA and its Designates Section 14.6a The Executive Board retains the following powers with respect to the IDM program:
Section 14.6b Any member of the Executive Board may challenge the decision of the IDM committee within seventy-two (72) hours of the announcement of the decision. Should this occur, the full Executive Board is to vote on the issue in question. Section 14.6c The Council of Chapters may dictate or override an Executive Board IDM decision by the method outlined in Article II of the Constitution. |
Last modified on January 29, 2000 by Samidh. Send any questions to seds@seds.org