Commuter Student Association


Illinois Institute of Technology Commuter Student Association
Articles of Constitution

Article I. Name and Purpose

Section 1.This organization shall be known as the Commuter Student Association.
Section 2.The purpose of this organization shall be:
  • to help create a sense of community and friendship among the commuter student population;
  • to aid the new commuting student in becoming active in campus life;
  • inform the commuter student population about all of the available student services offered by the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT);
  • to provide a mechanism for returning students to get to know and form relationships with new students.

Article II. Membership

Section 1.Membership shall be extended to all graduate and undergraduate students of the Illinois Institute of Technology and Vandercook Institute.
Section 2.Membership shall not be discriminated based on race, creed, color, sex, age, sexual orientation, religion, or disability.
Section 3.All members of CSA attending a meeting at which elections are held or proposals are "brought before the membership" shall have voting privileges at said meeting.

Article III. Leadership and Responsibilities

Section 1.Executive power over CSA (as defined by Article V) will be vested an Executive Committee consisting of a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Social Chair and Webmaster. The responsibilities outlined will remain the duties of the mentioned officers for each term unless otherwise specified by the current year's Executive Committee.
Section 2.The President of CSA will be charged with the following functions:
  • Administrative relations (initiating contact with and maintaining communications with IIT's administration)
  • Preside over all CSA general meetings, executive meetings, and functions.
  • Organizing the logistics of all executive committee retreats, special events, and meetings.
Section 3a.The Vice President of CSA will be charged with the following functions:
  • Organization and upkeep of the CSA Office
  • Committee structure organization
  • Maintenance and oversight of CSA committees
  • Food and beverage requests for all CSA meetings and special events
Section 3b.The Vice President will share the responsibility of meeting space reservation with the Social Chair.
Section 4a.The Secretary of CSA will be charged with the following functions:
  • Recording of the official minutes of all CSA meetings and functions
  • Photographing CSA Events
  • Periodic emails to the membership
  • Contact with IIT's student newspaper (TechNews)
Section 4b.The Secretary will share the responsibility of facilitating the preparation and logistics of executive rewards (special awards to the membership) with the Treasurer.
Section 5a.The Treasurer of CSA will be charged with the following functions:
  • Proposing an annual budget
  • Collaboration (assisting the sponsorship of events) with other student organizations at IIT
  • General organization accounting
  • Working with the funding process as outlined by the Student Leadership Committee (SLC)
Section 5b.The Treasurer will share the responsibility of facilitating the preparation and logistics of executive rewards (special awards to the membership) with the Secretary.
Section 6a.The Social Chair of CSA will be charged with the following functions:
  • Helping coordinate all aspects of CSA sponsored events
  • Planning CSA sponsored events
  • Promoting CSA and CSA sponsored events
Section 6b.The Social Chair will share the responsibility of meeting space reservation with the Vice President.
Section 6c.The executive position of Social Chair will commence during the fall semester of the 2005 school year. Elections for this position will be held at the end of the previous semester in accordance with Article III, Section 11.
Section 7a.The Webmaster of CSA will be charged with the following functions:
  • Maintaining the organization's website
  • Posting announcements
Section 7b.The Webmaster will share the responsibility of planning and hosting all CSA events with the other members of the executive board.
Section 8.All executive committee members are responsible for developing and finalizing all CSA programming for the scope of their term.
Section 9.All members of the Executive Board will share the responsibility of commuter board maintenance.
Section 10.Any and all responsibilities not explicitly outlined or implicitly defined in this article shall be delegated as seen fit by the current term's executive committee members, approved by a 2/3 vote of this body.
Section 11.The term of an executive committee member is one academic year beginning during the preceding summer. For example, the 2000 - 2001 Executive Committee will take power in the summer of 2000.
Section 12.Elections for the new Executive Committee shall be held during the last semester of the outgoing committee's term and must be well publicized (as defined in Article III, Section 11). The election will be supervised by the Faculty Advisor as entailed in the oversight function described in Article VI, Section 1.
Section 13.All proposals to be submitted to the IIT administration are subject to membership approval made by the executive committee are subject to a majority vote by this body. In the event of a tie, the CSA Faculty Advisor shall be included in the vote as a tie-breaker but at no other time (with the exception of Article IV, Section 1 & Article VII, Section 1).
Section 14.The Executive Committee must report to its membership regularly through the use of E-mail and flyer-posting in all campus buildings.

Article IV: Executive Removal and Succession

Section 1.The process for the removal of a CSA Executive Committee member is as follows:
Section 2.The purpose of this organization shall be:
  • A formal, signed proposal must be submitted by a CSA member to a body consisting of the Executive Committee (excluding the member selected for removal) and the CSA advisor (henceforth known as the impeachment council).
  • The impeachment council must approve the proposal by a 3/4 majority. Subsequent approval puts the member selected for removal on "impeachment" status.
  • The proposal for removal must be brought before the CSA membership in a special meeting which must be well publicized (as defined in Article III, Section 11).
  • The proposal must be approved by 2/3 of the attending membership of this special meeting.
Section 2a.If a member of the Executive committee resigns or is removed before the completion of his or her term, the remaining executive committee members will chose one of two courses of action as they deem appropriate:
  • Organizing and holding a special election to fill the vacant position
  • Absorbing the vacant office's duties among the remaining committee members
Section 2b.The only exception to Article IV, Section 2a is if the office of the President shall become vacant. If the President of CSA resigns or is removed from office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the role as President.
Section 2c.If Article IV, Section 2b is executed, the CSA Executive committee with then implement Section 2a of this same article to fill the vacancy of the Vice President as they deem necessary.

Article V: Executive Authority

Section 1.The scope of executive authority shall entail all programming, day-to-day operations, logistical decision-making, and organizational administration.
Section 2.Executive Authority shall be vested in the Executive Committee as defined in Article III, Sections 1 and 9.

Article VI: Advisor

Section 1.The Faculty Advisor of CSA shall be responsible for the counseling of the Executive Committee regarding CSA business and will serve an oversight function of the organization as a whole. The advisor shall be appointed by the Student Activities office.

Article VII: Meetings

Section 1.Frequency, length, location, and time of all CSA general meetings shall be decided by the Executive Committee prior to the beginning of the first semester of their term.
Section 2.All attempts shall be made to keep the length, location, and time of general CSA meetings uniform.
Section 1.The CSA Executive Committee shall meet with the CSA Advisor at least once a month to discuss programming and administration issues.

Article VIII: Committees

Section 1.The formation and appointment of committees shall the be the responsibility of the Executive Committee Vice President, as outlined in Article III, Section 3a.
Section 2.The committees will be directly responsible to the Executive committee on delegated matters and will communicate through the Vice President as outlined in Article III, Section 3a.

Article IX: Amendments

Section 1.This constitution may be amended at any time subject to the following process:
  • A formal, signed proposal must be submitted by a CSA member to a body consisting of the Executive Committee and the CSA advisor (henceforth known as the amendment council).
  • The amendment council must approve the proposal by a 3/4 majority.
  • The proposal for amendment must be brought before the CSA membership in a special meeting which must be well publicized.
  • The proposal must be approved by 2/3 of the attending membership of this special meeting.

Article X: Dissolution

Section 1.In the event that CSA, an organization fully funded by the Illinois Institute of Technology, dissolves, all property and equipment shall be returned to the university immediately.