CONSTITUTION OF THE TURKISH STUDENT ASSOCIATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
(MOST RECENT AS OF 9/23/1998)
ARTICLE I: NAME AND PURPOSE
Section 1. This organization shall be known as
the Turkish Student Association (hereafter
known as TURKSA)
Section 2. The Purpose of this organization
shall be:
-
To promote cultural exchange and awareness among the Turkish and U.S.C
communities at
large.
-
To promote and organize activities for a better understanding and representation of
Turkey.
-
To provide and support social, cultural and recreational programs for the club members and supporters.
D . To help and to solve the problems of its
members and new in-coming Turkish students.
E. In case of needs to provide tutoring in the
Turkish language for the U.S.C community.
ARTICLE II: MEMBERSHIP
Regardless of race, national origin, religion
or sex, sexual/orientation, membership is open to
anyone who is interested in Turkey and the
Turkish culture.
Section 1. Voting members of this organization
shall be those who are attending the U.S.C
part-time or full-time.
Section 2. Non-voting members shall be:
A. Associate Member is any person in the
community or a faculty/staff member who pays the
annual fees.
B. Honorary Member is any individual, who is
not a student at U.S.C., deemed as such by
the Executive Committee, and they need not pay
any fees.
Section 3. Membership may be withdrawn for the
following circumstances:
A. If a member breaks the organizational
rules, i.e., engaging in activities, which are in conflict
with the purpose of the organization.
B. If a member fails to pay dues.
In either of these cases, only the Executive
committee can propose termination of the membership to the TURKSA Board. For
this, a simple majority of the Executive committee is sufficient.
Section 4. Membership dues shall be $10.00 per
semester.
ARTICLE III: EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Section 1. The Executive Committee of this
organization shall consist of
President
Vice Presidents (2)
Publicity Director
Secretary
Treasurer
Executive Members
(4)
Section 2. The general responsibilities of the
Executive Committee, consisting of the ten
officers in Section 1, Article III, shall
consist of
A. Making decisions and following the courses
of action necessary to further the goals of
TURKSA.
B. To pursue all activities as decided by the
TURKSA Body.
C. To appoint functional committees.
The duties of the Executive Committee members
shall be
A. President
1. Provide direction and
motivation to the TURKSA in the furtherance of its goals.
2. To call meetings of the
Executive Committee and the TURKSA Body.
3. To preside over the
Executive Committee and the TURKSA Body meetings.
4. To follow activities and
inform members.
5. To represent the
Association in all the university and social functions.
6.To be a delegate to the International
Student General Assembly meetings.
7.To be responsible for all
properties of TURKSA.
8.To approve all spending
and sign all checks.
9.To appoint one of the Vice
Presidents as Deputy President in his/her absence.
10.To appoint one of the
Members as Vice President, Treasurer or Secretary, in their
absence, resignation, death or inability to
perform their duties.
B. Vice Presidents
1.To act in place of President in his/her
absence, resignation, death
or inability to perform his/her duties, after
appointed by the
President or the Executive Committee.
2.To assist the President in providing
direction for the Association
and the functional committees.
3. To co-sign checks
C. Publicity Director
1. To organize all
activities related to publicity, such as advertisement, posters and flyers
2. To act as the
webmaster for the organization
3. To inform members about upcoming meetings
and activities.
D.Secretary
1.To handle correspondence.
3.To keep minutes and records of all meetings.
4.To perform other secretarial duties
(publicity, reserving rooms and equipment
etc.).
E.Treasurer
1.To collect fees.
2. To keep books on finances.
3.To inform the TURKSA Body on the budget.
4.To assist in the organization of
fund-raising events and committees.
F. Executive Members
1.To propose social and
cultural activities.
2.To form functional committees upon desired
activities.
3.To assume organizational duties specific to
different parts of an event (food,
music, dance, etc.).
4.To act in place of Treasurer and/or
Secretary in their absence, after appointed
by the President.
Section 3. Only the voting members of this
organization are eligible to run and hold an office.
Section 4. If an Executive Committee member
misses three Executive Committee meetings in
a row without an acceptable excuse, he or she
will be considered as resigned.
An excuse should be given before the meeting
in writing (may be an e-mail message),
and it should be approved by the President or
the Executive Committee.
Section 5. The nomination and election of
officers shall be conducted in the following manner:
Nomination procedures: Any voting member may be nominated. All
nominations must be seconded.
Election procedures : There must be at least 50 (fifty) per cent quorum. The
winner must have a simple majority of the
votes to be elected to the
Executive Committee. The election will be
completed by a secret ballot
and open tabulation.
Section 6:
1. Elections shall
be made in the last week of April.
Elected committee members are required to attend
the executive committee meetings in the period between
the elections and the beginning of the new term of office.
2. In the election made in April, the president, two
vice-presidents, treasurer, publicity director and
two executive members are elected for the executive
commitee.
3. The term of office shall be from August 1 to July 31
of next year.
4. After the elections are made in April, Any TURKSA member
can be nominated for the position of an executive member
after the nominee attends 3 (three) executive board meetings
in a row. Appointment of the position requires the simple majority
of votes in the executive board. In cases when there are
even number of executive board members, president's vote
is counted as 2 (two).
Section 7:
Vacancies occurring
in any elective office shall be filled
in the following manner:
1. In case of
president's resignation, death or inability
to perform duties of the office, one of the vice-presidents
assumes the position.
2. In case of Vice
President's,
Treasurer's and Publicity Director's
resignation, death or inability to perform duties of
the office, any executive officer can be appointed by
the president for the office.
3. Any executive member appointment can be done during the
regular term can be done as described in Article III,
Section 6.
ARTICLE IV: MEETINGS
Section 1. Meetings shall be held at least
once a month.
Section 2. Special meetings shall be called by
either the Executive Committee, or the President.
ARTICLE V: COMMITTEES
Section 1. Functional committees shall be
appointed by the Executive Committee, upon
desired activities by the TURKSA Body.
Membership in these committees will be on a
voluntary basis. Each committee will have a
coordinator approved by the Executive Committee
and he/she will call meetings of their own
committee as necessary, and report periodically to the
Executive Committee.
ARTICLE VI: FACULTY/STAFF ADVISOR
Section 1. In the event that this organization
chooses to sponsor an activity or event, the signature
of a faculty or staff advisor will be
required. This person shall be a full-time professional/
employee of the University.
ARTICLE VII: RESPONSIBILITIES
Section 1. TURKSA accepts full financial and
production responsibility for all activities which bear its
name as official, and will adhere to all
University and Student Activities regulations. All
publicity for an event must bear the name of
the sponsoring organization.
ARTICLE VIII: AMENDMENTS
Section 1. Amendments can be proposed by any
voting member. Amendments to the Constitution
require a fifty per cent quorum and a 2/3 vote
to be passed.
ARTICLE IX: BY LAWS
Section 1. TURKSA can establish by laws. At
least fifty per cent quorum is needed to establish by
laws. Two-thirds vote is required to amend
them. Any changes in either the Constitution or the
by-laws will be reported to Campus Life office
by the President.
ARTICLE X: HANDLING OF ORGANIZATION MONEY
Section 1. All money belonging to the TURKSA
shall be deposited and disbursed through a bank account
established by the organization. The name on
the account will be the name of the organization,
and the ID number will be the tax ID number of
the organization in the bank records. The
organization checks will be signed by only the
President, or by the President and one of the Vice
Presidents, or by the President and Treasurer.
ARTICLE XI: AFFILIATIONS
Section 1. This
organization is a recognized student organization at the University of
Southern California,
but is not a part of the University itself.
Section 2. In all
correspondence and business transactions, it may refer to itself as an
organization at USC,
but not as part of USC itself.
Section 3. TURKSA
accepts full financial and production responsibility for all activities it
sponsors.
Section 4. TURKSA
agrees to abide by all pertinent USC policies and regulations. Where USC
policies and
regulations and those of TURKSA differ, the policies and regulations of
USC will take
precedence.
Section 5. This
organization recognizes and understands that the University assumes no
legal liability for
the actions of the organization, and that the University is not
providing blanket
indemnification insurance coverage for any activities of the
organization, unless
those activities expressly benefit and further the goals of
the University, and
have received prior review, approval and consent of the
Offices of Student
Activities, Risk Management and/or General Counsel.
