College Democrats Mission
Statement
The College Democrats will serve as a source of ideas, organization,
and activism directed towards supporting students at the University
of Oregon who seek to gain experience in campus, local, state,
or national politics through voter education, voter registration,
voter turn-out effort, as well as those who seek to gain experience
by aiding candidates or campaigns aligned with the ideals found
within the platform, heritage, or future directions of the Democratic
Party.
Constitution
- Excepting finals week, the College Democrats shall meet once
a week, barring extreme circumstances; the votes of two co-chairs
or one co-chair and an additional Executive Board member shall
be sufficient to cancel a meeting.
- Quorum for official votes shall be 11 members. Majority is
50% plus one unless otherwise specified. All voters must be
active members; an active member is defined as a member who
has attended at least one official meeting or event in the last
month.
- The Executive Board shall consist of two co-chairs, one secretary,
and one treasurer, all elected Spring Term by a simple majority
on a written ballot. The term of office shall consist of all
of the following school year. A special election shall be held
in the event that an officer shall need to temporarily or permanently
vacate his or her position.
- The incoming Executive Board of each year shall participate
in transition activities (at the discretion of the outgoing
Executive Board) with the outgoing Executive Board from
the time of election. Failure to participate in said transition
activities shall result in a recall vote and/or nullification
of the ballot.
- The two co-chairs shall be responsible for running weekly
meetings as they see fit. They shall also be the media contacts,
excepting for specific events of campaigns chaired by others.
Co-chairs shall be the preferred representatives of the
College Democrats to meetings of the Democratic Party of
Lane County (DPLC) and the Democratic Party of Oregon (DPO),
as well as at the various Associated Students of the University
of Oregon (ASUO), Erb Memorial Union (EMU), and other relevant
meetings at which attendance is required or requested. If
a co-chair has a scheduling conflict, another Executive
Board member may take his or her place. In the event of
a tie vote within the general body, the two co-chairs shall
flip a coin, and the winner shall cast the tie-breaking
vote.
- The treasurer shall be in charge of finances. All money
requests and purchase orders shall be handled by the treasurer,
including postage, copy fees, office supplies, etc.
- The secretary shall maintain the web page (or oversee
someone else's maintenance of the web page) and email list
as well as take the minutes at meetings, including taking
attendance of the Board of Directors and the Executive Board.
The secretary shall also keep an updated list of active
members to be used for voting purposes.
- The Executive Board, as a whole, shall appoint the Directors
to the positions named below by ¾ majority within the Board.
Other positions may be created by the Executive Board as
needed. The Executive Board shall oversee the Board of Directors,
and shall meet once a week outside the general meeting.
Attendance at the general meeting shall be mandatory, barring
unforeseen circumstances. Upon alleged abuse of this policy,
an impeachment vote shall be held.
- A vote to impeach a member of the Executive Board shall
be held by the general body of the College Democrats, requiring
a 2/3 majority. After group discussion, a vote to remove
from office will be held, requiring a 75% majority. Impeachable
offenses include, but are not limited to, misappropriation
of funds, general dereliction of duty, and actions unbecoming
to an officer or actions harmful to the group. Any member
may bring charges against an Executive Board member. Upon
removal from office, a special election shall be held to
fill the vacated position.
- The Board of Directors shall consist of a Director of Publicity,
a Director of Fundraising, and a Director of Recruitment. These
Directors shall be appointed by the Executive Board by the third
week of the year.
- Each Director has discretion in the way in which he or she
serves in the position. A committee can be created if the
Director so desires.
- The Director of Fundraising shall be in charge of scheduling
fundraising events as needed. He or she shall work with the
treasurer to deal with the money resulting from fundraising
events.
- The Director of Publicity shall be in charge of publicizing
the group and our events, as well as making the necessary
informational materials for events; he or she will work with
the Director of Recruitment at events.
- The Director of Recruitment shall work with the Director
of Publicity to prepare for events, in addition to preparing
informational events such as class speeches, flyers, and other
forms of advertising.
- The Directors are welcome at Executive Board meetings, though
their presence is not required; they must, however, keep the
Executive Board informed of their goals, plans, and progress.
There shall be three mandatory meetings with the Executive
Board per term; specific dates will be set each term but these
meetings shall fall at the beginning, middle, and end of the
term. Attendance at the general meeting shall be mandatory,
barring unforeseen circumstances. Alleged abuse of this policy
shall result in discussion and possible removal from the office
by the Executive Board.
- Members of the Board of Directors shall be brought to scrutiny
in the case of offenses including, but not limited to, misappropriation
of funds, dereliction of duty, actions unbecoming of an officer
or actions harmful to the group. Directors shall be removed
from office after a discussion of the problem by the general
body and a 75% majority vote by the Executive Board. Any member
may bring charges against a Director.
- This Constitution is a living document and is open to interpretation
and amendment. Amendments shall be submitted in final written
form to the Executive Board, where, upon a 75% majority vote,
it shall be passed on to the general body for discussion and
ratification by a 75% majority.
First Amendment:
This restricts all members of the Executive Board from working
for any Democratic candidate during a primary in which said
candidate is running against another Democrat.
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