Constitution of the SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE UNIT GRADUATE STUDENT ORGANIZATION at the University of Massachusetts Amherst

ARTICLE I – Name and Purpose

Section 1 Name of the Organization: The organization will be named SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE UNIT GRADUATE STUDENT ORGANIZATION (SPUGSO).

Section 2 Purpose: The purpose of SPUGSO is to facilitate and support activities that meet the academic, social, cultural, and professional needs of the students within SPUGSO at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

ARTICLE II – Membership, Membership Fees, Non-Discrimination Policy

Section 1 General Definition of Membership: Membership will be open to ALL CURRENT SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GRADUATE STUDENTS at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Section 2 Active Membership: Active members are those who attend one meeting per academic year and support SPUGSO.

Section 3 Non-Discrimination Policy: SPUGSO does not discriminate for any purpose on the basis of race, ethnicity, linguistic abilities, religion, sexual identity, political affiliation, disability status, or marital status.

ARTICLE III – Officers, Duties, and Terms

Section 1 Officers: There will be nine (9) officers for SPUGSO. The nine (9) positions will be as follows:

1. Chair/Faculty Representative
2. Treasurer/Graduate Student Senate (GSS) Representative
3. Secretary
4. Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) Representative
5. Two (2) Undergraduate Studies Committee (USC) Representatives
6. International Studies Council (ISC) Representative
7. Two (2) Graduate Employee Organization (GEO) Stewards
8. Newsletter Administrator

Section 2 Duties: The nine (9) officers will form the Executive Committee of SPUGSO.

1. Chair/Faculty Representative: The Chair will act as the SPUGSO administrative officer of academic affairs and community outreach activities. In addition, the Chair will act as the Faculty Representative of the Spanish and Portuguese (SpanPort) graduate students and will attend all of the SpanPort Faculty meetings so that s/he can inform the rest of the graduate students about important issues related to them. Furthermore, the Chair will call and oversee all general and special meetings as well as preside as the election officer in charge of running the election of the SPUGSO officers for the following academic year. The outgoing Chair is to remain an honorary member of the Executive Committee and will act as a Co-Chair who will serve as an advisor to the incoming Chair.

2. Treasurer/Graduate Student Senate (GSS) Representative: The GSS Representative will attend all GSS meetings and inform fellow SpanPort students about current graduate student activities and matters that directly affect them. In addition, as the treasurer of SPUGSO, s/he will be responsible for all the money received and spent by SPUGSO, subject to prior approval from the Executive Committee. S/he is to stay in good communication with the GSS, to apply for line-item and ad hoc funding from the GSS. In addition, s/he will be responsible for the maintenance of the SPUGSO expenditure and income records and present a status report of the budget to the Executive Committee each semester.

3. Secretary: The Secretary will be responsible in keeping a record of the current list of the members of the Executive Committee. S/he will be in charge of making the agenda for every executive and special meeting as well as writing the minutes for these meetings. In addition, s/he will be responsible with sharing all relevant information (meeting minutes, announcements, etc.) with the active general members of the SPUGSO.

4. Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) Representative: The GSC Representative will participate in the SpanPort GSC meetings that deal with issues in the graduate programs such as course requirements, examinations, independent studies, language requirements, or any other issues that the SpanPort graduate students would like to raise. However, the GSC Representative will not participate in any meetings where personnel, peers, or future peers are considered.

5. Undergraduate Studies Committee (USC) Representatives: The USC Representative will participate in the SpanPort USC meetings that deal with issues regarding the undergraduate program. In addition, they will be in charge of communicating any matters related to the undergraduate students to the Spanish and Portuguese Club and Sociedad Nacional Honoraria Hispánica (National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society) Chapter, Omicro Tau. S/he is responsible for actively promoting a relationship between undergraduate and graduate students within the unit.

6. International Studies Council (ISC) Representative: The ISC Representative will participate in the SpanPort ISC meetings and help promote the Study Abroad Programs offered within the unit. S/he is responsible for contacting each faculty member associated with each Study Abroad Program.

7. Two (2) Graduate Employee Organization (GEO) Stewards: The two (2) GEO stewards will act as liaisons connecting the membership of their academic department to the GEO committees. Primarily through informal, day-to-day communication, they listen to the SpanPort graduate students’ concerns, inform them of their rights and benefits, and encourage them to participate in the union.

8. Newsletter Administrator: The Newsletter Administrator will have to collect, by email, and put together all SpanPort faculty graduate students’ latest achievement and awards, conference participations, invited talks, future course offerings, future workshop offerings, and planned future events such as the film festivals on our unit newsletter in consultation with Barbara Zecchi. It is also the responsibility of the said graduate student to solicit brief description/summary of the work/event and photos from the faculty and the graduate student population.

Section 3 Terms: Each officer will serve one (1) academic year term (i.e. from May until April of the following year).

ARTICLE IV – Election and Appointment Procedures

Section 1 Election Schedule: The election for all positions will be concurrent with our  current Graduate Student Representative elections and will be held at the end of April each year. The date of the election will be announced immediately prior to the general meeting of each Spring semester.

Section 2 Nomination Schedule: Ten (10) days before the election, a notice will be thoroughly distributed by the Secretary to announce the election and to invite nominations for each position.

Section 3 Nomination Eligibility: Any active member that has completed one academic semester may be nominated for any position. Any active member may nominate any active member who has completed one academic semester, including herself/himself.

Section 4 Nomination Acceptance: Eight (8) days before the election, each nominee will be given one day to accept or decline the nomination of her/his name.

Section 5 Campaigning Period: Beginning seven (7) days before the election, each nominee will be permitted to forward a statement to the secretary to be posted on a webpage devoted to nominees’ statements.

Section 6 Election Period: SPUGSO active members will vote using an electronic secret ballot and each position will be filled by the person with the greatest number of votes.

Section 7 Votes Counting: Votes will be counted by the Chair/Co-Chair, the Secretary, and the GSS Representative.

Section 8 Determinations: The winner will be the one receiving the majority of votes. In the event of a tie, the leading candidates sharing the tie will participate in a runoff election following the general procedures in sections 5 through 7.

Section 9 Appointment Procedures: In the event of a sudden or continued vacancy in an executive position, the Chair may choose to appoint an active member to the position in a temporary manner until an election can be held for the position.

ARTICLE V – Meetings

Section 1 General Meetings: General Meetings will be held at least once a semester. The presence of at least five (5) active members constitutes a quorum with the power to make binding decisions.

Section 2 Special Meetings: Additional and/or Special Meetings can be called by a petition request of the Executive Committee, or by 50 percent or more of the members.

Section 3 Notification: Notification of all meetings will be made known to the active general members by the Secretary at least seven (7) days in advance of the meeting.

Section 4 Rules of Conduct and Speech: The Chair reserves the right to introduce the general guidelines for conduct and speech during any meeting. At the end of every General and Special Meeting, a 30-minute open forum will be given so that active general members can present new issues.

Section 5 Voting: With the exception of amendments to the constitution, a vote of a plurality is required on any matter requiring such a vote. Any binding decision is subject to a vote legitimated by the presence of quorum, which will be defined as a minimum of  three SPUGSO active members.

ARTICLE VI – Rights and Privileges of Members

Section 1 General Rights of Members: All active general members may attend General and Special Meetings and open Executive Committee Meetings.

Section 2 Voting Rights of Active Members: All active members may vote in the elections and bring up any resolutions in any General and Special meetings.

Section 3 Other Rights of Active Members: Active general members who annually (academic year) contribute $10.00 to SPUGSO are eligible to benefit from the sociocultural and financial gains that may result from organization activities, as voted within Executive Committee Meetings.

ARTICLE VII – Committees

Section 1: The Executive Committee is formed by the nine (9) SPUGSO officers. The executive committee will authorize the creation of any standing or ad hoc committees as they deem necessary.

ARTICLE VIII – Amendments to the Constitution

Section 1 Proposal: A member may propose an amendment by distributing it in written format and reading it aloud in a meeting. Voting of a proposal may not take place in the same meeting as that in which the proposal was made. Following the meeting, the proposal will be made known to all members of SPUGSO.

Section 2 Approval: During the next general meeting, and only after a thorough discussion to the satisfaction of all members present for the voting of a proposal, a vote will be taken on its approval provided that quorum is available. The amendment must secure two thirds of the votes available during the meeting.

Section 3 Recording: Any successful amendment will be recorded and copies of the new constitution will be presented on the SPUGSO website and made available in paper format. Two paper copies will be stored for record-keeping purposes.