Constitution
Constitution of Bangladesh Student Association at University of Alberta
(updated on July 2013)
Preamble
Bangladeshi Students Association at University of Alberta is established with an aim
to work as a hub for the students, researchers and alumni of the University of
Alberta. It will also try to educate the students of the University of Alberta about the
diverse culture and rich history of Bangladesh and its people.
Article I. Name and Purpose
I.I Name
Bangladeshi Students Association at University of Alberta
Acronyms: BSAUA
I.II Compliance
The student group operates at the University of Alberta, subject to University of
Alberta policies and procedures. This group will also comply with all local, provincial,
and federal laws and procedures.
I.III Objectives and goals
a) To assist the newcomer students in finding accommodations, providing them
with transportation from airport, if necessary.
b) To assist the newcomer students in settling in and help them go through the
required initial academic procedures.
c) To organize cultural and excursion events among the Bangladeshi students.
d) To promote Bangladeshi culture.
e) To organize sports events annually and to assist any Bangladeshi team or
personnel attending any intramural tournaments organized by the University
of Alberta.
Article II. Membership and Eligibility
II.I Membership
The classes of Membership that exist in BSAUA are as follows.
General Member: A general member is defined as any student who has filled
out the membership form available in the group's
website( www. ualberta .ca/~ bsaua /) and whose membership has been
approved by the Executive Committee. General members are able to vote in a
referendum for constitutional changes and in any other referendum put
forward by the Executive Committee.
Executive Member: An executive member is defined as any member who is
elected to and executive position or who is appointed to temporarily assume
duties of a vacant executive position, while that individual is in that role.
Executive Members are able to vote in all group matters.
II.II Eligibility
a) Any past or present (both undergraduate and graduate) student or
postdoctoral fellow of Bangladeshi origin of the University of Alberta can be a
member of BSAUA.
b) Anyone meeting the requirement stated above can join the association by
filling a club membership form online or submitting the form to one of the
executive committee members.
c) All members will have equal right to vote. The members will take part in a
general election to select an executive committee.
If a member does not take any part in the associations activities for more
than one year will be considered as a dormant member. But, his membership
cannot be nullified.
II.III Membership Dues
a) All members will have to pay an annual membership fee of CD$10.The
treasure will collect the membership fee by January 10 of every year.
b) An extra CAD$2 may be charged for paying the fee after January 10th.
Article III. Elections
a) The elections will be held after every 6 months, i.e. on December 15th and
June 20th.
b) Election will be conducted by VP administration. If VP administration plans to
run as a President candidate, the President will appoint an impartial
committee of three non-candidates to run the election.
c) Nomination forms will be sent out to all the members on December 1 for
December elections and on June 5 for June elections. The forms has to be
submitted within 5 days after they are sent out.
d) Executive committee will publish the eligible candidate list on the website of
the organization and also email to each member on 7 th December and 12 th
June.
e) If only candidate is found for a post, then he/she will be declared winner
without holding the election for a post. However, if deemed necessary by the
executive committee, a yes/no vote can be conducted. If the 'no' votes are
more in number than the 'yes' votes, a new call for nomination for the
particular post shall be invited.
f) If no candidate is found for a post, the existing executive committee might
extend the deadlines for nomination and also the election date, if necessary.
g) Closed ballot elections will be held if more than one candidate nominates
himself/herself for an executive position. The person getting the maximum
number of votes will be selected. If the number of votes in favor of each of
the members is equal, then the executive committee (the one that has
completed its term) will choose one of them for the respective post.
h) Online elections are also acceptable, if they can be carried out securely.
i) Any candidate can appeal about the election results and/or counting process
with in one week of the election.
Article IV. Executive Committee
IV. I Structure of the executive committee
a) The executive committee will have President, VP admin, VP finance, VP
sports, VP entertainment, VP Culture, VP Communication.
b) Candidacy for the posts will be open to all current student members.
IV.II Hierarchy of the executive committee
The President will be considered the head of the association. In his absence, the VP
Administration will work as an acting President. In the absence of both President and
VP Administration, VP Finance will act as the acting President. Following VP Finance
the hierarchy will be VP Entertainment and then VP Sports.
IV.III Distribution of work among the Executive Committee members
a) The President will hold the overall responsibility to run the organization. The
Executive Members will conduct the activities inside the association. The work
distribution of the Executives will be as follows:
b) VP Administration: VP Administration will be responsible for implementation of
rules and regulations within the association. He will deal with violations of
rules and regulations within the association.
c) VP Finance: VP Finance will deal with all financial activities inside and outside
the association. He will be responsible for collecting the membership fees,
maintaining the account and doing appropriate bookkeeping of all financial
dealings.
d) VP Entertainment: VP Entertainment will work at the main contact person for
all functions and parties. All kinds of social gatherings taking place indoor will
be his responsibility.
e) VP Sports: VP Sports will be responsible for all kinds of sports/athletic
activities in the association. He will work as the liaison for all sports related
activities of the association.
f) VP Culture: VP Culture will be responsible for organizing cultural programs.
g) VP Communication: VP communication will be responsible for maintaining the
website of BSAUA, the e-mail account of BSAUA and the moderation of any e-
mail sent to the members of BSAUA through bsaua@mailman.srv.ualberta.ca.
He/She is also responsible for communications with other groups.
IV.IV Length of each executive committees terms
a) To give equal opportunity to all eligible members to become an executive,
the length of each term for the executive committees will be six months.
One will be from January to June and the other one will be from July to
December. A new executive committee will be formed every six months
after the election and take the responsibility on January 1st and July 1st of
every year.
The election of the new Executives will take place in closed ballot elections in
the last general members’ gathering before the end of each term. This
constitution can be modified over time to meet the needs of the members.
IV. V Re-election of the Executive Committee Members.
The President of the previous term’s Executive committee will work as an
advisor for the newly formed Executive Committee. He will have no voting
power within the Executive committee. Excepting this, none of the executive
committee members can serve for two consecutive terms, provided that there
are sufficient eligible members.
IV. VI Impeachment of a committee member
a) Any member, with the support of at least two other members, can place a
request in front of the executive committee to impeach one of the executive
committee members. In such a case, the president of the committee will have
to call a special session of the members. The members will cast their yes/no
vote to decide whether to keep the executive committee member in his post
or not. A two third plus one vote will be required to remove the member from
his post.
b) If a post becomes vacant due to impeachment or any other reason, the
president will have to take over the responsibility of that post, until a new
election is held to nominate a member for the post. If the vacant post is that
of the President, then the Vice President will act as the President until a new
President is elected.
c) A new election must be held within 30 days from the day, when a post
becomes vacant.
Article V. Honorary Members
a) A two third plus one vote of the members will be required in a secret ballot
election to make a person a member of the association, who does not comply
with Article II.II.
b) Honorary members will have the same status as the general members, and,
all rules applicable for the general members will apply for the honorary
members.
Article VI. Sub-Committee
a) The executive committee will form sub-committees to organize different
activities within the association.
b) Each sub-committee must have at least one executive committee member.
Article VII. Meeting
a) The executive committee will arrange three general meeting on the first
Saturday of January, May and September. The executive committee on the
basis of requirement can change the date of the meeting. A two-week prior
notice will be sent to the members via e-mail.
b) Robert’s Rules of order will be used to run the meetings.
c) Presence of one fifth plus one member will be considered sufficient to fulfill
the quorum of the meeting.
Article VIII. Amendment of the Constitution
a) This constitution can be modified over time to meet the needs of the
members. Any kind of addition or modification of the constitution must be
approved by two third plus one general member of the association.
b) The proposal to modify the constitution must be raised and seconded by
another member before placing it in front of the association members for
discussion. The discussion will be presided over by the president of the
association.
c) A secret ballot voting system must be used in the amendment.
Article IX. Finances
a) BSAUA's fiscal year runs from Jan 1 to Dec 31.
b) The President and VP Finance has signing authorities.
c) VP-Finance will make deposit as soon as he gets hold of more than $100 of
the groups fund from sponsors and/or from the membership fees.
d) Any purchase has to be approved by both the President and the VP-Finance.
e) VP-Finance will be responsible for re-imbursements with permission from the
President and must keep the original receipt(s) for records.
f) The VP Finance is responsible for preparing and presenting a budget for the
six-month tenure of the committee before the executive committee within
the first month of the formation of the committee.
g) The VP Finance is responsible for safekeeping of the financial documents until
handing them over to the next committee.
h) The VP Finance is responsible for keeping records of all the transactions
made under the running Committee and may provide the information to any
general member if requested.
Article X. Dissolution
a) The group may be dissolved by a 2/3 majority vote at a Special General
Meeting convened for the purpose of which 90 days notice must have been
given in writing to all members.
b) The group is automatically dissolved upon membership dropping below 10
members.
c) Upon dissolution, the Executive Committee is responsible for ensuring that
any remaining financial resources are donated to charity and the bank
account is closed down. Any resources or group assets will be donated to
charity where appropriate but will not be distributed to individual members.
Article XI. Private Initiatives Involving Majority BSAUA Members with Group
Contribution
Any member can initiate private program involving majority BSAUA members with
group contribution only after informing the Executive committee and with its
consent.
Article XII. Quorum in General and Executive Committee Meeting
In any situation other than constitution amendment where a vote must be held
among the general membership and/or executive a quorum of 1/2 will
be employed. This quorum shall be mandatory in executive elections, and any vote
that occurs within a general/executive meeting. If quorum is not met, the motion
cannot be considered valid, and the topic/election must be tabled until a time at
which quorum can be met. However, for constitutional amendment, Article VIII(a)
shall be employed.