Anthropology Student
Union
Bylaws and Organizational Structure
General Charter
The UWM Anthropology Student Union (ASU) is a student-run, non-profit
organization designed to serve the needs and interests of undergraduate
and graduate anthropology students. Membership is open to all registered
UWM students and alumni. Membership dues are assesses once per academic
year and are payable at the first general meeting of the academic year.
ASU membership provides students with several major benefits. First, ASU ensures
students effective representation in Anthropology Department decision-making.
ASU selects two student representatives charged with attending Anthropology
Department faculty meetings. Student Representatives are charged with presenting
ASU positions and voting on committee recommendations. Second, ASU provides
an open forum for airing student opinion, encouraging student-faculty communication,
and establishing general policies affecting anthropology students. Third, ASU
is recognized by the Office of Student Life as an official UWM student organization.
As a result, ASU budget requests are eligible for funding by the UWM Segregated
Fee Allocation Committee (SFAC). Funds granted to ASU are available to sponsor
visiting lecturers, support student travel to scholarly meetings and basic
operating expenses. Finally, ASU functions on a purely social level by providing
students with the opportunity to interact outside of formal academic contexts
with fellow students and faculty members.
General Bylaws
Membership Requirements
ASU membership is open to all officially registered undergraduate and graduate
UWM students and UWM alumni. All undergraduate Anthropology Majors and minors
and all anthropology graduate students are considered to have general membership.
Paid membership for an academic year is conditioned upon payment by general
members of yearly assessed dues.
Paid Membership Benefits
Paid membership in ASU entitles the individual to :
1. Voting privileges in ASU general meetings.
2. Eligibility for elected and appointed offices.
3. Eligibility for financial support of attendance at scholarly meetings.
4. Free entrance to specified ASU sponsored events.
5. Access to resources available to ASU through Anthropology Department, the
Office of Student Life and the University.
Meetings
All ASU meetings, whether regularly scheduled, special, or committee are open
to attendance by any ASU member. General meetings will be held at approximate
monthly intervals during the academic year. Special meetings may be scheduled
as required on advice of the President of Executive Committee. Meeting announcements
will be distributed in a timely manner prior to each meeting.
Organizational Structure
Elected Officers
ASU will select a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and one
Faculty Representative to serve terms of one academic year.
President
1. Serve as Chair of the Executive Committee
2. Prepare meeting agendas
3. Conduct general, Executive Committee, and special meetings in accordance
with Robert’s Rules of Order
4. Appoint all non-elected committee members
5. Act as liaison with the Office of Student Life
6. Maintain ASU bulletin board outside Bolton 735
7. Maintain ASU yearly files
8. Appoint Committee chairs for special projects as required
Vice-President
1. Serve as Chair of the Executive Committee
2. Serve as Acting-President in the absence of the elected President
3. Serve as Chair of the Nominating and Election Committee
4. Responsible for coordinating ASU Colloquium Series and visiting lectures
5. Duties include contacting proposed speakers, arranging lecture facilities,
producing and posting event publicity, hospitality for lecturer, and
arranging post-lecture receptions
6. Monitor Department Committee appointees’ participation in Anthropology
Department affairs.
Secretary
1. Serve as Chair of the Executive Committee
2. Record and distribute minutes of general meetings
3. Record and distribute minutes of Executive Committee meetings
4. Prepare minutes for approval at general meetings
5. Responsible for mailings, general meeting notices, miscellaneous announcements
and other written business
6. Maintain a current list of all undergraduate and graduate Anthropology
students
Treasurer
1. Serve as Chair of the Executive Committee
2. Collect membership dues
3. Maintain treasury accounts
4. Prepare monthly reports for approval at general meetings
5. Disburse funds
6. Responsible for income generating activities such as bake sales, t-shirt
sales, film festival, etc.
7. Responsible for maintaining accurate records of SFAC allocated funds
8. Responsible for maintaining and updating ASU membership list
Faculty Representative
1. Serve as Chair of the Executive Committee
2. Attend all Anthropology Department faculty meetings
3. Present ASU opinions to faculty on department issues
4. Cast one vote reflecting the views of the student population at Anthropology
Department meetings
Appointed Officers
The ASU President will appoint, upon recommendation of the Executive
Committee, four persons to serve terms of one academic year.
Second Faculty Representative
1. Serve as Chair of the Executive Committee
2. Attend all Anthropology Department faculty meetings
3. Present ASU opinions to faculty on department issues
4. Cast one vote reflecting the views of the student population at Anthropology
Department meetings
Newsletter Editor
1. Responsible for organizing, writing, and publishing of semi-annual
departmental newsletter
2. Responsible for coordinating volunteers for reporting, writing, distribution,
etc.
3. Reports to ASU President and Anthropology Department Chair
Interorganizational Liaison
1. Responsible for acting as Liaison with other UWM student organizations
2. Responsible for coordinating events involving other UWM student organizations
3. Chairs special project committees related to office activities
4. Reports to ASU President
NASA Liaison
1. Responsible for acting as liaison with the National Association of
Student Anthropologists (NASA)
2. Responsible for coordinating events involving NASA and other NASA
affiliates
3. Chairs special project committees related to office activities
4. Reports to ASU President
ASU Standing Committees
Executive Committee
1. Chaired by ASU President
2. Charged with responsibility for conducting official ASU business
3. Develop recommendations to present to general membership on events
and issues presented to the membership
4. Prepare SFAC budget proposal for following academic year
5. A quorum of three members is required to conduct official business
Nominating and Election Committee
1. Chaired by ASU Vice-President and consisting of the Executive Committee
2. Responsible for soliciting nominations for candidates for all elected
ASU offices
3. Present slate of officers to membership one meeting prior to general
elections
4. Prepare secret ballot sheets and distributing them to membership
5. Conduct general elections at the second to last general meeting of
the academic year
6. Responsible for conducting elections and tabulating results
Standing Department Committees (ASU representation required)
The SU Prsident will appoint, upon volunteerism, the folowing committee representatives
for Anthrpology Department Committees. The Executive Committee may add or withdraw
an ASU representative from the Bylaws and department participation as is needed.
The responsibilities of the committee representatives are listed below.
Course and Curriculum Committee
Foundation Accounts Policy Committee
Library, Video/Film Procurement Committee
Museology Committee
Reading Room Organization Committee
Undergraduate Program Committee
UWM Foundation Committee
Responsibilities
1. Attend all called committee meetings
2. Present ASU views, opinions, and recommendations to the committee
3. Responsible for finding a substitute if unable to attend committee
meeting
4. Report to membership activities of committee
5. Update ASU files with any memo, proposals, policy changes (i.e., paperwork)
the committee publishes
6. Maintain communication with faculty Chair of committee or appropriate
contacts dealing with organizations outside of the department
7. Organize volunteers for specific projects
Elections
1. General elections will be held once each year during the second to
the last general meeting of the academic year.
2. All elected offices must be filled at this time.
3. The Executive Committee will be responsible for soliciting nominations
and conducting the general selection.
4. Nominations for elected offices must be presented for consideration
by the paid membership at least two weeks prior to the general election.
5. Nominations may be taken from the floor at the general election meeting.
6. Absentee ballots must be provided to voting members unable to attend
general elections.
7. Voting will be conducted by secret ballot.
8. Candidates must receive a simple majority of votes in order to be
elected.
9. A quorum of at least one-third of the paid membership must vote for
election results to be binding.
10. In cases of office vacancies prior to general elections, the Executive
Committee can make a recommendation to the membership, to be voted on
at the first general meeting occurring after the vacancy.
Bylaw Amendments
Amendments can be made to the ASU Bylaws by presenting, in writing the proposed
amendment(s), to the Executive Committee for consideration and to research
the possibility of contradicting existing ASU or University policy. The Executive
Committee wil present the proposed amendment(s) to the general membership at
the next general meeting. The amendment(s) will be voted on at the next general
meeting after its(their) presentation to the membership. At least one-third
of the paid membership must be present to vote on the proposed amendment(s).
Absentee votes may be counted from those paid members not able to attend meetings.
A simple majority vote is required to incorporate the amendment(s) into the
bylaws.
Amendments to Anthropology Student Union Bylaws and Organizational Structure
Amendment 1.
Because ASU recognizes the importance of students being able to present papers
at professional conferences, ASU agrees to finance (in the amount of $50)
any ASU member who requests support and presents evidence of presentation
at a professional conference.
Amendment 2.
Anthropology Student Union Hiring Rules
Because the Anthropology Student Union is allowed advisory votes concerning
the hiring of faculty, we have adopted the following rules concerning
the casting of these advisory votes.
1. Who is allowed to vote?
In order to cast an official vote at the special Anthropology Student
Union meeting, a student must have met with or heard the lecture of at
least 75% of the candidates. If a student meets or sees the lecture of
less than 75% of the candidates the student can come to the special Anthropology
Student Union meeting and voice his/her opinion. But the student will
not be able to cast a vote. If a student does not meet or see the lecture
of 100% of the candidates but does meet or see the lecture of at least
75% of the candidates, he/she must attend the special Anthropology Student
Union meeting in order to hear the discussion concerning the candidate
they were not able to meet.
2. The voting meeting.
A special meeting of Anthropology Student Union will be called according
to the by-laws of Anthropology Student Union. The purpose of this meeting
will be to determine the order of the candidates and to explain the voting
procedure for the advisory votes of the representatives. This meeting
will be conducted by the Vice President of Anthropology Student Union.
At the beginning of the meeting the Vice President will determine a time
limit for the discussion of the candidates. At the end of this time limit
the Vice President will call for a vote. Eligible voters will cast a
secret ballot ranking their top 2 choices if there are only 3 candidates
or for their top 3 choices if there are more than 3 candidates. In order
to determine the ranking of the candidates, all first place votes will
be given a point value of 3, all second place votes will be given a point
value of 2, and all third place votes will be given a point value of
1. All of the points will be added up for each candidate. The candidates
will be ranked in order of total points highest to lowest. All ties will
be settled by the higher number of first place votes or each candidate
(second and third place votes will be used if necessary to break ties
in the number of first or second place votes). If no tie breaker can
be used to determine a ranking a tie will be declared. Mail ballots will
be allowed if a student has met with or attended the lecture of 100%
of the candidates but she/he is unable to attend the special meeting.
3. Representative voting
The advisory vote for the search committee shall be cast as follows:
For all candidates who receive 60% or more of the possible points per
candidate (3 times the number of eligible voters) the vote will be “for.” For
all candidates who receive between 59% and 40% of the possible votes
per candidate the vote will be “abstain.” For all candidates
who receive 39% or less of the possible points per candidate the vote
will be “against.”
The advisory votes for the department meeting shall be cast as follows: The
same percentage criteria outlined able will be used with regards to the recommendation
of the search committee. If there are two candidates with over 60% of the total
points possible per individual, one vote will be cast for each candidate if
the department is attempting to narrow the field of candidates. If the department
is attempting to narrow the field of candidates and there is a three way tie
the representatives will voice the three way tie and indicate support for all
three candidates but they will official abstain from all votes including all
three of these candidates. The same logic applies to a tie for second place
when the first place candidate is still in the running. One vote will be cast
for the first place candidate, and the second vote will be abstained for the
other two candidates while the representatives voice their support for these
two candidates. The final votes of the student representatives should be cast
in terms of the above percentage system. The only times both votes should be
cast for a single candidate are 1) if only one candidate receives 60% or more
of the possible points, 2) if the vote is between a candidate with 60% or more
of the possible points and a candidate with 39% or less of the possible points,
or 3) if the vote is between on the top three candidates and a candidate that
did not even make the top three regardless of the percentages earned by either
candidate. At all other times the votes should be split “for,” split “for” and “abstain,” or
split “abstain.” At no time should student votes be cast for candidates
who did not either finish in the top three or receive more than 39% of the
points possible per candidate.
Amendment 3.
In addition to the above listed Executive Committee powers:
6. The Executive Committee may recommend to the general membership that any
elected officer may be removed for the remainder of his/her term.
7. The Executive Committee may appoint ad hoc student representation on departmental
committees.
Amendment 4.
All funds allocated by ASU must be supported by evidence of use.
