UC Berkeley Computer Science Undergraduate Association
This organization shall be hereinafter referred to as the Computer Science Undergraduate Association, also known as the CSUA.
The purposes of this organization are: to represent the undergraduate computer science student body in dealings with the University of California at Berkeley, its representatives, and any other appropriate organization; to provide a forum for the personal interaction of persons involved in the computer sciences; to promote knowledge of and interest in the computer sciences; and to raise funds to accomplish these goals.
Any currently registered undergraduate student of the University of California at Berkeley is eligible for active membership in the CSUA.
Any student, staff, faculty member of the University of California at Berkeley or former active member may hold associate membership in the CSUA.
Only currently registered students, faculty and staff may be active members in a registered student organization. Only active members may vote or hold office. We will not haze according to California State Law; we will not restrict membership based upon race, color, national origin, religion, sex, physical or mental disability, medical condition (cancer-related or genetic characteristics), ancestry, marital status, age, sexual orientation, citizenship or status as a covered veteran (special disabled veteran, Vietnam-era veteran or any other veteran who served on active duty during a war or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized).
An applicant's membership is not effective until after the meeting at which the applicant joins.
The organization shall have seven elected offices, named President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Librarian, Events Officer, and Alumni Relations Officer.
Only active members of the Computer Science Undergraduate Association as defined in Article III, Section A shall be allowed to run for and hold any of the aforementioned offices in the Computer Science Undergraduate Association.
After their election, the entering officers shall assume office after the last day of the semester, at which point the exiting officers shall vacate their respective offices.
If any officer is unable to perform the duties of his or her respective office during the semester break immediately following elections, then that officer shall appoint an interim replacement.
Officers who resign from office, no longer meet the qualifications set above, or are deemed unfit to serve in their respective offices shall vacate office immediately upon notice of resignation, loss of qualification, or removal from office.
The Politburo shall consist of all elected officers of the CSUA. It shall hold at least three open meetings a semester while school is in regular session. The Politburo shall determine temporary policies of the CSUA. Politburo decisions may be overturned by a two-thirds vote of the general membership at a general meeting.
Other committees may be created or dissolved at the direction of either the Politburo, or by a majority vote of the general membership at a General Meeting. Directorships or other non-politburo positions shall be appointed by the president and confirmed by the majority of the politburo.
Officers shall be selected each semester by a majority vote of the attending General Membership at a General Meeting held no less than two weeks before the last day of instruction, announced no less than one week in advance, and held at a time and place that is considered generally accessible as well in compliance with ASUC regulations concerning accessibility of ASUC sponsored activities.
The chair shall appoint an election officer, who shall not vote or run for office. The election officer must be a member. Members shall be nominated until no more are willing and eligible. No person shall be nominated who is not willing to serve upon their election, and no person not present can be nominated for an office without his or her written consent being presented at the meeting. If only one candidate is in nomination voting may be done by acclamation. Otherwise voting shall be done by secret ballot of active members. A ballot that is blank or otherwise does not uniquely identify a nominated candidate shall not be counted.
If there is at any time a majority for a candidate, that candidate wins. If there is no majority and there are two candidates the election officer shall cast the deciding vote. If there is no majority and there are three candidates, the one with the fewest votes shall be eliminated. If there is a tie among those with the fewest votes the election officer shall select one to be eliminated.
If there are more than three candidates, three shall be selected to proceed to a runoff round as follows. Select as many candidates as possible for the runoff, starting from those with the highest vote totals, until it is impossible to proceed without selecting more than three or discriminating between candidates who received the same number of votes. If it is not possible to select any candidates in this way because there is a tie for first, the election officer shall cast a vote for one of the tied first-place candidates. If there are then fewer than three candidates selected for the runoff round, a new vote shall be held among those candidates not already chosen to select the remaining candidates.
An officer may be removed from office in one of the following ways:
In case of removal or resignation from office of one of the elected officers except the President, the President shall appoint a successor. All such appointments to office must be confirmed by a majority vote of the Politburo at the next announced Politburo meeting. As stated in Article IV, in the event the office of President is vacated for whatever reason, the Vice-President shall either assume the office of president without need for confirmation and appoint a successor to be approved by a majority vote of a quorum of the Politburo, or, with the approval of a majority vote of the Politburo at the next announced Politburo meeting, appoint an eligible member to assume the office of president.
If both the offices of President and Vice-President are vacated in such a way to obstruct the aforementioned order of succession, then the remaining officers, in the order of Treasurer, Secretary, Librarian, Events Officer, and Alumni relations officer may either assume the office of President or, with the approval of the general membership, appoint a new President who will then fill any remaining open offices.
If all offices are made vacant, then the Faculty Advisor shall call and chair a general meeting to elect new officers.
All meetings will run under Parliamentary procedure or some subset of the same. All questions, unless otherwise noted by this Constitution, shall require a majority vote. Only active members of the organization are eligible to vote. All meetings shall be held at reasonable places and times.
Members may vote and run by proxy.
General Meetings shall be held three times a semester while school is in regular session, and shall be publicly announced no less than a week in advance.
Politburo Meetings may be called by the President or by one-third of the Politburo. At least three meetings a semester while school is in regular session must be held open to the membership of the CSUA. Other meetings may be closed at the request of one-third of those members attending or in the event of disciplinary actions. In such a case, a listing of general topics discussed will be made available within one week after the meeting.
Committee meetings will be run under the same rules as the General Meetings. Meetings will be open to attendance by all members.
Further guidelines pertaining to the operation of the CSUA not specifically set forth in the Constitution shall be contained in a set of publicly-available bylaws. Bylaws may be proposed by any active member of the CSUA, and must be approved by a majority vote of the Politburo.
Regulations pertaining to conduct of CSUA members in CSUA activities and in use of CSUA resources shall be contained in a set of publicly-available policies. Politburo members may formulate and implement interim policies in the execution of their duties, subject to later approval of a majority of the Politburo at the next Politburo meeting.
Amendments to bylaws and policies may be proposed by any active member, and must be approved by a majority vote of the Politburo. Such amendments may be overturned by a two-thirds vote of the general membership at a general meeting.
Any amendment to this constitution must be approved by a two-thirds majority of a general meeting convened with at least one week prior prominent public notice of the intent to amend the constitution. All amendments, unless otherwise noted therein, become effective immediately upon adoption.
As a special exception, the officers of the CSUA may, for the sole purpose of bringing the constitution into compliance with ASUC and OSL requirements, amend the constitution by changing emphasized text. All such changes must be publicly announced within one week.
All amendments, additions or deletions must be filed with the Office of Student Life, 102 Sproul Hall. All amendments, additions or deletions must be filed with the ASUC Office of Student Affairs, 400 Eshleman Hall within one week of adoption.
Dissolution of the Computer Science Undergraduate Association may be approved by a two-thirds majority of general meeting convened during instruction with at least two weeks notice of the intent to dissolve the CSUA. In the event of dissolution, to the extent permitted by campus and ASUC regulations, all remaining assets shall be donated to a campus computing organization which allows free access to all University of California at Berkeley students.
All unspent ASUC funds shall remain the property of ASUC, all Graduate Assembly funds shall remain the property of the Graduate Assembly. Remaining privately-obtained funds may be donated to another nonprofit organization with prior approval of the ASUC Senate Finance Committee.