ASU Bylaws

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

Inter-organizational 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 President will appoint, upon volunteerism, the following committee representatives for Anthropology 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 will 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.