Constitution

1. Name

  1. There shall be a Computing Student Association (CSA), hereafter known as the Association.

2. Purpose

  1. To further the cause of Association members within UFV
  2. To promote special and educational activities for Association members, and UFV students in general.
  3. To spread information of concern or interest to the members of the Association.

3. Membership

  1. All students of UFV shall be eligible for membership of the Association so long as they are in good standing with the Association and with UFV SUS.
  2. Membership shall be granted to students based on the following:
    • A student who has declared a major or minor in either Computer Information Systems or Computer Science shall be granted full membership only.
    • A student who is enrolled in any Computer Information Systems or Computer Science program, including diploma programs, degree programs, or certificate courses for a given semester, shall be granted full membership only.
    • A student who is enrolled in any Computer Information Systems or Computer Science course, but not granted full membership by Articles 3.2.1 or 3.2.2, shall be granted full membership for the given semester.
    • A student who is not granted a membership status by articles 3.2.1, 3.2.2, or 3.2.3 shall be granted associative membership at the student's request, with the approval of the Executive.
    • A member of the UFV Alumni who may or may not be either currently or historically enrolled in any Computer Information Systems or Computer Science program or course shall be granted associative membership at the alumni member’s request.
  3. Membership Types: There are three types of membership within the Association that expand the abilities of a given member to participate.
    • All members of the Association are able to attend meetings and voice their opinion on present matters. In addition, members gain full access to the resources of the Association within the limitations set by the Executive, which are outlined in the Association’s Regulations document.
    • A full membership includes the ability to vote in non-executive decisions, as well as the ability to suggest equipment purchases to the Executive to be considered for the use of other Association members. Furthermore, a full member is able to stand for election to any position on the Elective, aside from the Alumni Representative.
    • An associative member is able to hold the named position of Alumni Representative, as well as give their opinion on matters about to be voted on in meetings.
  4. Membership Dismissal
    • Members may only be dismissed in the event that they violate the Constitution or Regulation of the Association, abuse association funds, or represent the Association in any way that conflicts with the decisions of the Association Executive. In order to dismiss a member of the Association, 75% of the Executive must be in favour at an executive meeting.
    • If a member of the Association graduates, they cease to be a full member of the Association upon receiving their parchments (graduation documents).

4. Executive

  1. The affairs of the Association shall be managed by an Executive comprised of:
    • Signing Executive
      • President
      • Vice President
      • Secretary
      • Finance Officer
    • General Executive
      • Active members of the Association
      • An active member of the association is a member who regularly contributes to the Association in some way. For the purpose of voting at executive meetings, any member in good standing who attends the meeting is considered an active member of the Association.
  2. The Executive shall meet at least twice a month during the fall and winter semesters, the time and place to be determined by the Executive.
  3. The Executive shall meet at least once a month during the summer semester, the time and place to be determined by the Executive.
  4. A Special Executive meeting may be convened at any time by the President, or by the Vice President in his or her absence.
  5. The Executive shall have the power to make Regulation as it deems necessary, provided that Regulation does not conflict with the Constitution. Changes to Regulation must follow the rules set forth within Regulation, except where the changes are brought to a vote at either an annual general meeting, or an extraordinary general meeting, in which case the procedure for constitutional amendments is followed.
  6. A member of the Executive shall cease to be a member of the Executive upon any occurrences of the following:
    • The member submits, in writing, their resignation to the Secretary.
      • In the absence of the Secretary, or in the case of the Secretary’s resignation, the resignation must be submitted to the President.
    • A member loses full membership status within the Association.

5. Duties of the Executive

  1. Duties of all Executives shall include:
    • Upholding the Constitution and Regulation.
    • Upholding any duties for a named position detailed in a Knowledge Base, stored in a method agreed upon by the Executive.
  2. Duties of Signing Executives shall include:
    • Attending all executive meetings.
    • Attending and coordinating the Annual General Meeting, and any Extraordinary General Meeting(s).
    • Keeping the membership informed about events and issues presented at Executive Meetings.
    • Actively fulfilling the roles of any named positions that are not held by an individual in a given semester, as outlined in Regulation.
    • Attending SUS meetings in an official capacity.
      • At least one Signing Executive should attend each SUS meeting where possible, however more than one signing executive or any general executive members are also encouraged to attend.
    • Maintaining the Association’s good reputation with the Abbotsford, Mission, Chilliwack, Agassiz, and Hope communities.
  3. Duties of the President shall include:
    • Maintaining the Association’s good reputation through co-operative involvement with UFV’s Administration, the Computer Information Systems Department, faculty, staff, and students.
    • Maintaining the Association’s good reputation with the Student Union Society through actively participating in activities and events held by the Student Union Society, as well as sharing concerns and thoughts with SUS’s Professional Studies' Representative.
    • Ensuring that all Executive members uphold their duties as described in the Constitution, and take proper action, in accordance to current policy, when Executive members are in default of said duties.
  4. Duties of the Vice-President shall include:
    • Assuming all responsibilities of the President in their absence.
    • Coordinate and assist in all duties carried out by the President.
  5. Duties of the Secretary shall include:
    • Prepare agendas and minutes for all Association meetings, and distributing them to members as following:
      • Agendas for Executive and General Meetings are to be made available to any member who requests a copy by e-mail.
      • Minutes for all meetings are to be made accessible to all members in a form agreed upon by the Executive, as outlined in Regulation.
    • Preparing and posting all required notices for General Meetings, Executive Meetings, and other information for designated bulletin boards.
    • Issuing and receiving correspondence on behalf of the Association.
  6. Duties of the Finance Officer shall include:
    • Preparing and maintaining all financial records for the Association, and presenting them in a report at each General Meeting.
      • Prepare and present a report at each executive meeting detailing all financial records for the Association.
      • Maintain the bank account of the Association, if such account exists outside of the Student Union Society, as follows:
        • Ensure the President, vice-President, Secretary and Finance Officer are registered with the bank as signing officers within two (2) weeks of the beginning of their elected term.
        • Ensuring that any signer who is no longer holding a position of The Executive is unregistered from the bank as a signer.
        • Ensure that the bank account requires a minimum of two (2) signing authorities for all withdrawals.
        • After an Election and two (2) weeks into the next term, at the latest, the outgoing Executive must transfer signing authority to the newly elected Executive. The newly elected Executive must follow the rules of this section but cannot exercise spending authority before the start of their term.
      • Upon request, assisting the Association in developing draft budget, and tentative plan of expenditures for a given semester.
      • Ensuring all withdrawals have been approved by the Executive, and at least two signing officers have endorsed all cheques written and withdrawals made.

6. Finances

  1. All funds of the Association must be kept in one of the following:
    • The possession of an Executive member.
    • A secure lock-box in a central place as agreed to by the Executive.
    • The Association’s bank account.
    • The Association’s PayPal account.
  2. The Financial Officer shall keep proper records for the bank account and PayPal account of the Association and prepare financial statements of the Association’s financial affairs. This shall be done at the direction of the Executive as per sections 5.6.1 and 5.6.2.
  3. The Executive shall not use funds from the Association at any given time for a purpose that is not directly related to the needs of the Association.
  4. Allocation of funds from the Association bank account must be approved by at least two (2) members of the Executive who are signers on the Association’s bank account. Allocation of funds must be for a reason that is directly related to the needs of the Association or has otherwise been approved by the Executive.
  5. The Association recognizes the standard Fiscal Year of the Canadian Federal Government, running from April 1st to March 31st.

7. General Meetings

  1. There shall be a General Meeting of the Association each year to:
    • Receive a report from the Executive.
    • Receive the audited financial report of the financial affairs of the Association for the previous year, and the budget for the following year.
    • Accept nominations from the floor and hold an election to determine the Executive members for the term of October 1 to September 31 of the following year.
      • Executive members may only be nominated after being accredited at least 30 credits by UFV.
  2. Each General Meeting must be held after all necessary preparation work is complete and ready to be presented, within the first 30 days of the fall semester beginning.
  3. The secretary or Designate shall give fourteen (14) days notice of a General Meeting on the front page of the Association’s website and any relevant social media.

8. Special Meetings

  1. The Secretary shall convene a Special Meeting of the Association:
    • At the directive of the Executive.
    • Within fourteen (14) days of a petition signed by one-third (1/3) of the total membership or ten (10) members of the association, whichever is the least, provided such a petition shall state the business to be discussed at the Special Meeting.
  2. The secretary shall give seven (7) days notice of a Special Meeting by means of notices placed around the UFV Campus in accordance with section 7.3.
  3. The secretary or Designate shall give seven (7) days notice of a Special Meeting on the front page of the Association’s website and any relevant social media.

9. Voting

  1. The Chairperson at each meeting of the Association shall be the President, Vice President, Secretary, Financial Officer, or active member of the association based on availability.
  2. Persons eligible to vote shall be:
    • At Executive Meetings, members of the Executive, both signing and general.
    • At General Meetings, those members of the Association present who hold full membership.
  3. In the event of the tie, the Chairperson of the meeting has the authority to either break the tie, or postpone the vote until the next meeting.
  4. All questions before meetings of the Association shall be determined by a simple majority vote of those voting, except where stated otherwise in this Constitution.

10. Quorums

  1. The Quorum for an executive Meeting shall be half of all current Executive, rounded up if necessary.
  2. The Quorum for General Meetings shall be one-third (1/3) of the total membership, or fifteen (15) members of the Association, whichever is the least, provided that for a Special Meeting called under section 8.1.2 of this Constitution, the quorum shall include at least ninety percent (90%) of the petitioning members.
  3. If quorum is not met in a General, Executive, or Special meeting within one half hour (30 minutes) of posted meeting start time, the meeting will be adjourned for one (1) week. If at the rescheduled meeting, quorum is still not met, the meeting and voting may proceed without quorum.
    • Due to the nature of the delay, posters and other notices should be given as soon as possible. The fourteen (14) day requirement does not apply in the case of an adjourned meeting.

11. Alterations to the Constitution

  1. The procedure for altering this Constitution shall be:
    • The proposed amendments shall be read out in full before the members attending the General Meeting in which the changes are to be adopted.
    • The amendments must be met with a two-thirds (2/3) majority of the voting members present at the General Meeting in order to be adopted.
    • The Constitution is the official version of the constitution effective September 18, 2017. All future revisions to the Constitution must modify this section to reflect the date that changes take effect. All previous versions of the constitution are rescinded effective September 18, 2017.

12. Disbandment

  1. Should the Association be disbanded or in any way become defunct, that all assets of the Association shall be held in trust by the Student Union Society of UFV as a ledger entry until such time as the Association is reconstituted and re-affiliated, or for a period of five years. If after this period, the Association in not reconstituted and re-affiliated, the assets will be transferred to the Student Union Society. This clause cannot be altered unless approved by the Student Union Society.