By-laws
Preamble
We, the students of Central Methodist University, in order to further
the development of the ideals, character, and knowledge of our community
and the development of its students; to ensure the maximum of
self-government based upon mutual respect; to encourage and promote
student learning activities and experiences; do hereby establish and
ordain this Constitution of The Student Body.
Cabinet Rules
The SGA shall meet at least once a month during the academic year at a
regularly scheduled time, in a place designated by the Student
Government President. The Cabinet shall meet once before each SGA Senate
meeting to go over reports and any other issues.
Any legislation passed by the Cabinet stating the Cabinet’s position on
matters concerning the student welfare and interest shall be numbered
and kept in the Student Government Archives.
Roll Call Attendance is extremely important in order to have an
effective organization. A member will be allowed two un-excused absences
before punitive action will be taken. An un-excused absence is any
absences without a written excuse; due one day prior to the meeting.
Acceptable reasons for missing the meeting are hospitalization, deaths,
etc., as judged by the Cabinet. All absences must be written and
submitted to the Executive Secretary in order to be excused.
After two un-excused absences, the Cabinet or Representative member’s
name will be dropped from the roll. Early departure from the meeting
will be considered and un-excused absence unless prior written
notification is received and departure is excused according to section
C.
Quorum must be composed of fifty percent of the members on the roster,
plus one. The President shall not be considered a voting member.
SGA Minister and Cabinet Positions
After accepting applications the President and Vice-President shall
appoint the following Minister and Cabinet positions: Executive
Secretary, Minister of Finance, Minister of Academic Affairs, Minister
of Public Relations, Minister of Special Projects, Minister of Student
Affairs, Director of Cultural Affairs, Director of Off-Campus Relations,
Director of Social Relations, Director of Media, Director of Health,
Director of Inter-Cultural Affairs, Collegian Editor's, Ragout Editor's.
All applications shall be reviewed by the President and Vice-President
and at least one Faculty or Administrative Advisor, to make a final
decision.
These positions are subject to change at the discretion of the President
and the Cabinet; a review of these positions should take place at the
end of every year but must be done every two years. The number of
representatives shall be determined according to
Section 2 of the SGA Constitution
The Public Relations Minister shall be charged with the production and
distribution of the CMU Student Directory.
Faculty, Administration, and Staff shall be exempt from SGA fees when
taking classes KCMU, Ragout, Collegian
Prospective advisors for KCMU, the Ragout, and the Collegian shall be
nominated by respective organization leaders. Interested faculty, staff,
and administration members may request nomination. All nominations must
be presented to the President. Final approval must be made by the
President, Vice-President, and at least one of the SGA advisors.
The Director of Media shall appoint four members of his cabinet which
shall make up the Executive Board. These positions shall be News
Director, Sales Director, Program Director, and Chief Engineer. The
advisor shall be a member of the Executive Board. KCMU shall have the
right to sell advertisements to the community businesses and University
organizations. All revenues from aforementioned sales shall be separate
from the allotted budget; revenues from said sales of advertisements
must be used for the express use of the betterment of KCMU. A separate
bank account will be allowed.
The editor and/or co-editors of the Collegian are responsible for
gathering a staff and delegating assignments to staff members. They are
to oversee the weekly completion of the school newspaper. Any decisions
that need to be made in connection with the paper are within their
jurisdictions, but it is suggested that they confer with their advisor
on major issues. The are excused from producing issues during finals and
during regularly scheduled school breaks. They are also allowed to sell
advertisements in the weekly issues of the Collegian. All revenue from
the ads are to be used for the improvement of the paper and staff
morale. All Collegian funds will be kept in the SGA Collegian account.
No separate bank account will be allowed.
The editor and/or editors of the Ragout are responsible for gathering a
staff and delegating assignments to staff members as they see fit. Their
task is to complete a yearbook during the course of the year. Any
decisions that need to be made connection with the yearbook are within
their jurisdiction, but it is suggested that they confer with their
advisor on major issues. The responsibility for the completion of the
yearbook rest with the editor's. The SGA President, with the
recommendation of the Cabinet, shall annually review the status of the
Ragout. If the Ragout is determined to be defunct for that year, the
budgeted money will be immediately redistributed proportionately among
existing budget areas by the Minister of Finance. The Ragout editor
position will also be dissolved. This will take effect until the next
annual review, by the succeeding administration.
Executive Officer Election Procedure
Eligibility – Those students eligible for office must meet the following
requirements: Must not be on academic or social probation from the time
they pick up their petitions.
Must have been a full-time student of Central Methodist University for
the previous and current semesters.
Petitions – Students who meet the previous requirements will be allowed
to pick up a petition from the Office of Student Development after
verifying eligibility, stating office sought, signing grade release, and
announcing running mate.
Petition can be signed by any current full-time student of CMU.
Twenty-five signatures are required by both the presidential and
vice-presidential candidates in order for the ticket to be placed on the
primary ballot.
Any student’s signature appearing on more than one petition for the same
executive office will void both petitions. Campaign Rules – Students
running for office must campaign and run with a running mate. No team
may spend more than fifty dollars (receipts must be made available by
the team) on election expenses. The Judicial Board may subpoena any
teams or candidate at their discretion during the election process who
they feel may be in violation.
All candidates placed on the primary ballot will be required to go
before the Student Body with a short speech before the primary election.
Candidates making the final election ballot will be required to go
before the Student Body in an official debate after the primary election
and before the general election.
Primary Election – Shall be held no later than the first Tuesday in the
month of April each academic year. All candidates will appear on the
ballot as teams seeking their predetermined office.
Voting places shall take place in the Eyrie and in the Mabee during
regular dining hours. A member of the Judicial Board or SGA Cabinet will
be on hand, to oversee the voting, at all times. Two lists (one for the
Eyrie and one for the Mabee) will be used to mark off students who have
voted. CMU identification will be required upon request in order to
vote.
All ballots will be counted by the Judicial Board in closed session and
the results will be reported to the Student Government President for the
distribution immediately following the closing polls.
The two teams with the most votes under each office will move on to the
General Election. In the case of a tie for second, three will move to
the final round. A write-in blank, will appear on the primary ballot. In
order for a write-in vote to be counted, the following must occur:
The box beside the blank must be marked with an "X".
The first and last names of both executive candidates must be legibly
printed in the blank.
General Election
Polling places and voting procedure will remain the same as for the
primary election with the following changes:
There will be no write-in space on the general election ballot.
Ballots will be counted twice, by the Judicial Board, before results
will be given to the SGA President for distribution.
Both candidate teams will be notified of the results before release to
the gem real public.
Absentee Voting – Absentee voting will be allowed to those students who
are deemed by the Judicial Board to be off-campus for reasons beyond
their control. Acceptable reasons include hospitalization, school
business, death in the family, etc., as judged by the Judicial Board.
Student Government Standing Committees
The standing committees shall be the Issue Forum Series.
The President shall create new committees, or special committees as
needed (i.e. Homecoming).
Student/Faculty committees
Honors – shall administer and carry out an ongoing evaluation of the
Honors Program, shall determine graduation hours and select students for
"Who’s Who". Cultural Affairs – shall plan the special cultural programs
of the University for the school year, make arrangements for the
appearance of the performers under a specified budget, and promote
faculty and student interest in the lectures and concerts. There shall
be two student members selected by the President and Vice-President. The
SGA shall allot no less than thirteen percent of its total budget toward
Cultural Affairs. The SGA shall create a one percent art fund to be set
aside at the beginning of the budget fiscal year. This one percent fund
shall be deducted from the total budget amount presented and not from
any one committee or office, and shall be used for the purpose of
purchasing outdoor art, or otherwise increasing the beauty of the campus
through man-made structures. Learning Resources – shall be concerned
with the review of the activities and policies pertaining to the
library. It shall study the library needs and work with the librarian on
matters of general library policy, development of library resources, and
integration of the library program with other academic activities of the
University. There shall be two student members selected by the President
and Vice-President. Student Development – shall be concerned with the
various phases of student life and activity at CMU. This committee shall
review policies and practices in student organizations and activities
and shall make recommendations relative to suggestions and
recommendations from the Cabinet and organizations of students, if need
be the committee may make needed recommendations to the proper
committees or administration. There shall be three student members
selected by the President and Vice-President, one of which should be an
off-campus student. Academic Standards and Admissions – shall be
concerned with the academic standards of the University and with
maintaining those students. This committee shall periodically compare
the academic standards of Central Methodist University with other
comparable Universities in an effort to improve the academic program of
the University. There shall be two student members selected by the
President and Vice-President. Financial Aid – shall be concerned with
policies concerning student financial aid and deal with the concerns of
the students dealing with financial aid. There shall be two student
members selected by the President and Vice-President, one of which
should be the current Minister of Finance. Religious Life – shall
supervise and coordinate the religious life program on the campus. The
committee has as its specific responsibility the Chapel worship services
and religious counseling for students. There shall be two student
members selected by the President and Vice-President, who are not
related to any of the campus religious organizations, one of which
should be the current Inter-Cultural Relations Director. Academic
Affairs – shall engage in long range academic planning and shall be
concerned with the formulation and implementation of the education
policies of the University, including review of curriculum,
requirements, and degrees. There shall be two student members selected
by the President and Vice-President. The Minister of Academic Affairs
shall automatically be assigned to this committee. Athletic – shall be
responsible for overseeing practices and standards within collegiate
sports. It shall also be concerned with trends in athletics. There shall
be two student members selected by the President and Vice-President, one
of which should be the current Director of Social Relations. Academic
Assessment – shall research, develop, review, and recommend
procedures/policies to assess student learning in and beyond the
classroom at CMU. There shall be two student members selected by the
President and Vice-President. By-laws Purposes
These By-laws shall serve as an extension and clarification of the
Constitution of the Student Body.
The purpose of these By-laws is to ensure the continuity of the SGA.
These By-laws shall not conflict with any part of the Constitution.
The Constitution and respective By-laws should be reviewed at the end of
every academic year, and must be reviewed every two years.
Judicial Board Hearing Procedure
Chancellor introduces Judicial Board, Defendant, and Petitioner.
Chancellor reads incident report or petition.
Act of violation/ charge read aloud.
Citing of alleged rule violated and source for rule clarified and read
aloud (all evidence must be deemed relative to the interaction and
conflict between "a" and "b" above.
Opening remarks (time limit: three minutes)
Petitioner (Prosecutor)
Defendant
The petitioner and/or defendant may petition the Chancellor for extended
time for opening remarks and for closing arguments.
Presentation by Petitioner
At this Petitioner will present evidence and/or call witnesses pertinent
to section II only. After each witness has been questioned by
Petitioner, the Defendant will be able to question the witness as well.
Judicial Board Members will ask any questions they feel necessary to
Petitioner and/or any witnesses brought forth by same.
Presentation by Defendant
At this time the Defendant will present evidence and/or call witnesses
pertinent to section II only. After each witness has been questioned by
Defendant, the Petitioner will be able to question the witness as well.
Judicial Board Members will ask any questions they feel necessary to
Defendant and/or any witnesses brought forth by same.
Judicial Board Members ask any clarifying questions to either side at
this time.
Closing Arguments (7 minute time limit)
Petitioner
Defendant
Deliberation
Everyone except Board Members will be asked to leave the room at this
time.
All witnesses, Defendant, and Petitioner will be asked to wait
throughout deliberation since the Board will retain the option to recall
anyone during this time for further questioning clarification.
Rendering of a Decision
Everyone except Board Members will be asked to leave the room at this
time.
All witnesses, Defendant, and Petitioner will be asked to wait
throughout deliberation since the Board will retain the option to recall
anyone during this time for further questioning or clarification.
Board members will create motions for decisions and the assigning of
punitive actions if any are needed.
Announcement of Decision
The Board Clerk will appropriately fill out the "Statement of Decision –
Judicial Hearing" form and a copy will be sent to the following:
President of the University
President of the Student Government Association
Office of Student Development
Defendant
Petitioner
Any person of office deemed directly affected by the outcome of the
Judicial Hearing.
Appeal
Either party has the option to appeal the results of a hearing. This
appeal must be filed with the Board Clerk within a two week period from
the time of the hearing.
An appeal can be filed by filling out the "Statement of Appeal –
Judicial hearing" form obtainable from the Board Clerk Only the
President of the University has the power to hear an appeal to a
decision of the Judicial Board.
