This organization shall be known as India Student Association, hereinafter referred to as the ISA in this constitution and its By-Laws.
Section 2:
The ISA shall be a non-profit, non-political, non-religious organization formed to carry out its purpose as listed in Article II of this Constitution.
Article II Purpose
ISA primarily aims at promoting service, leadership opportunities, and helping students who are coming to MSU-Kentucky, making the Indian Culture familiar to University Campus and to the local community in and around Murray
Article III Membership and Voting Rights
Section 1: ISA membership is open and free to everyone in the MSU community, membership fee of $5 per semester. The terminology everyone refers to students, faculty, staff and their spouses at Murray State University
Section 2: Membership is classified into two broad categories: (I) single membership and (ii) family membership. For membership purpose, a family is defined as consisting of a couple only. The children and the parents of the couple are entitled to all the family membership benefits of the ISA except for voting rights.
Section 3: In the case of single membership, the member gets one (1) vote. In the case of family membership, each member of the couple constituting the family gets one vote. Faculty and staffs get no voting rights
Article IV The Executive Committee
Section 1: The ISA shall be governed by an elected committee, hereinafter referred to as the Executive Committee in this Constitution and its By-Laws.
Section 2: The Executive Committee shall be composed of one (1) President, one (1) Vice President, one (1) Secretary, one (1) Treasurer and one (1) Public Relations Officer.
Section 3: Any member of the ISA is qualified to become a member of the Executive Committee. The members of the Executive Committee shall be elected each year by the members of the ISA for a one (1) year term in a meeting that can be attended by all the members of the ISA. Any meeting that all the members of the ISA can attend shall hereinafter be referred as General Body Meeting. The elections shall be held in the spring semester, before the end of the academic year of Murray State University. The members of the Executive Committee shall take office on the first day of the month of April on the year they are elected and shall leave office on the thirteenth day of the month of May of the following year.
(a) In the event that a member of the Executive Committee resigns at any time during his/her term, the member thus resigned shall continue in office till a new member is elected in his/her place in a General Body Meeting. The election shall be held within thirty (30) days of the date of resignation.
(b) ISA shall have a Faculty Advisor from the faculty of Murray State University at all times.
(c) In the event that the Faculty Advisor resigns, the Executive Committee shall nominate a new Faculty Advisor.
Article V General Body Meetings
Section 1: The Executive Committee, during its term, shall call at least four General Body Meetings. The Executive Committee shall notify the members of the ISA of the date, time, place and agenda of any General Body Meeting at least ten (10) days in advance. However, in the case of an emergency, a General Body Meeting may be called at a shorter notice.
Section 2: If a member of the ISA wishes to call for a general Body Meeting, he/she should get the support of at least twenty percent (20%) of the total members of the ISA. A written request stating the purpose of the meeting shall be given to the committee, along with documentary evidence that the request enjoys the support of at least twenty percent (20%) of the total members of the ISA. The Executive Committee shall hen call a General Body Meeting at an appropriate date, within one month of the date of the receipt of written request.
Section 3: If the Executive Committee refuses to call a General Body Meting even after a member demonstrates that such a request satisfies the criteria laid out in Section 2 of Article V of this Constitution, the member may then file a complaint with the faculty Advisor, who may then act according to the provisions of Article VI of this Constitution.
Article VI Dismissal of the Committee Members
Section 1: If the Faculty Advisor determines that the Executive Committee has violated one or more of the procedures set forth in this Constitution and its By-Laws or that the Executive Committee has been acting against the interests of the ISA, he/she may choose to initiate dismissal procedures against one (1) or more of the members of the Executive Committee as described in section 2 of Article VI of this Constitution.
Section 2: To effect the dismissal of one (1) or more members of the Executive Committee, the Faculty Advisor shall call a General Body Meeting of the ISA. For this purpose, Section 2 of the Article V of this Constitution does not apply. At this meeting the Faculty Advisor shall provide justification for his/her decision to seek the dismissal of one (1) or more members of the Executive Committee. If a member if the Executive Committee facing dismissal is not in agreement with the faculty Advisors decision, he/she shall be given an opportunity to address the members of ISA at this meeting. The members of the ISA shall then vote in favor of or against the dismissal of each member of the Executive Committee facing dismissal. An Executive Committee member is dismissed if two thirds (2/3) of the members present vote in favor of the dismissal of that Executive committee member, Provided there is at least 51% of the members present at the meeting
Section 3: In the event that one (1) or more members of the Executive Committee are dismissed, the members of the ISA shall immediately elect replacement for each dismissed member of the Executive Committee for the remaining term.
Article VII Amendments
Section 1: This Constitution may be amended at any General Body Meeting by two thirds (2/3) vote of the members attending. Introducing any amendments to this Constitution in any General Body Meeting needs the written support of at least twenty percent (40%) of the total members of the ISA. The full test of the proposed amendment(s) to be considered in a General Body Meeting shall be communicated to the members in advance.
Section 2: The By-Laws to this Constitution may be amended at any General Body Meeting by simple majority vote of the members attending.
Article VIII Election Procedure
Section 1: To ensure that ISA remains an open and responsive organization that serves its goals, all the main leadership positions are elected by the general membership. The elections will be held during Spring term, weekend after spring break. The term of the officers is approximately one calendar year, though the entire period between elections and the end of the Spring semester is considered transitional and the outgoing Executive Committee is expected to remain heavily involved to ensure that the incoming Executive Committee is properly trained and prepared for the challenges that await them.
Section 2: Any ISA member, graduate or undergraduate, can run for a position on the Executive Committee. A couple of weeks or so before the elections, an official call for nominations will be announced to electronic mailing lists. Nominations and position statements will then be collected and then announced to the ISA general membership through email . candidates will have a chance to present themselves and their ideas to the members and the members will have a chance to question them openly. In order to ensure maximum participation of voters in the election, voters will also be allowed to vote online. The candidates with the most votes will win the position
Section 3: The faculty advisor will facilitate the meeting, the faculty advisor will oversee the counting process or an individual (usually a faculty member) designated by the faculty advisor will oversee the vote-counting process.
Section 4: In the case of tie-vote, the faculty advisor will cast the deciding vote.
Section 5: The election results will be made public at the General Body Meeting to the members present, and via e-mail to all ISA members not present at the meeting.
BY-LAWS TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE INDIA STUDENTS ASSOCIATION
MURRAY STATE UNIVERSITY
Article I The Executive Committee
Section 1: The President shall be in charge of the overall coordination of all matters pertaining to the ISA and shall be responsible for having the ISA registered with the Murray State University.
Section 2: The Vice President shall primarily be liaison with various campus and non-campus organizations and individuals.
Section 3: The Secretary shall primarily handle all the correspondence and maintenance of all the non-financial records pertaining to the ISA including the minutes of all the General Body Meeting and Executive Committee meeting.
Section 4: The role of the Treasurer shall primarily be as outlined in Article V of the By-Laws to the Constitution of the ISA.
Section 5: The Public Relations Officer shall primarily handle all the publicity for events organized by ISA.
Section 6: On all the operational matters pertaining to the ISA, the decision of the Executive Committee shall be final.
Article II The Executive Committee Meetings
Section 1: The Executive Committee shall meet periodically (at least quarterly) during its term to act upon matters related to ISA. Each member of the Executive Committee has the right to call for such a meeting. The Faculty advisor shall be invited to attend such meetings.
Section 2: The President shall preside over such meetings. In the event that the President cannot attend such meeting, the Vice President shall preside over that meeting.
Section 3: The Secretary shall record the minutes of such meetings. In the event that the Secretary cannot attend such a meeting, one of the other members of the Executive Committee shall record the minutes. The Faculty Advisor shall be provided with a copy of the minutes.
Article III Appointments
Section 1: The Executive Committee may create additional posts/subcommittees in order to assist it in matters pertaining to the ISA. These posts/subcommittees shall carry a designation and the responsibilities of these posts/subcommittees shall be clearly defined. The term of these posts/subcommittees shall be identical to the term of the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee shall notify all the members of the ISA about such posts and invite volunteers from them. The Executive Committee shall then make appointments from the volunteers in accordance with its best judgment.
Section 2: The Executive Committee has the right to dismiss an appointed person/one (1) or more members of any subcommittee it creates, if in its judgment, the person(s) involved has(have) failed to discharge his/her duties.
Article IV Membership Dues
Section 1: The rates for membership dues shall be decided by the Executive Committee each year. For the purpose of assigning membership dues, the Executive Committee may further subdivide the categories mentioned in section 2 of the Article III of the Constitution of the ISA.
Article V Treasury, Accounting and Records
Section 1: The Treasurer shall be the ISA representative for the International Student Organization (ISO) at Murray State University. He/She shall inform the Executive Committee of any ISO meetings. In the event that he/she cannot attend any such meetings for any reason, he/she should inform the Executive Committee in advance and depute one of the other Executive Committee members to attend in his/her place.
Section 2: Only the President and the Treasurer have the authority to sign checks on behalf of the ISA for expenses related to ISA activities.
Section 3: The Treasurer shall keep an account notebook in which he/she should record all the incomes and expenses involving the ISA, along with detailed explanations.
Section 4: The treasurer shall obtain and keep a receipt for each expense incurred. However, the Treasure has authority to spend up to a maximum of fifty US dollars ($50.00) during his/her term without obtaining any receipts.
Section 5: The Treasurer shall issue a receipt for each income the ISA receives; the counterfoils of all such receipts, giving the date of the transaction, the amount and the source, shall be retained by him/her. The income to the ISA includes membership dues, donations to ISA, advertisement revenues, funding obtained from Murray State University and other sources.
Section 6: The Treasurer shall prepare a statement of revenues and expenses for each month during him/her term and send copy of that to the President and Faculty Advisor.
Section 7: The Faculty Advisor shall review and approve the financial statement mentioned in Section 6 of the Article V of the By-Laws to the Constitution of the ISA each month.
Section 8: The Treasurer shall prepare a statement of revenues and expenses at the end of his/her term. Copies of this statement are to be distributed to the members of the ISA. This statement shall be presented by the Treasurer and shall be discussed by the members of the ISA at a General Body Meeting.
Section 9: At the end of the term of the Executive Committee, but no later than one month after a new Executive Committee takes office, the outgoing Treasurer shall obtain the following: (i) a statement of funding approved for the ISA by International Student organization of Murray State University and (ii) a statement of funding provided to the ISA by the Student Governing Association of Murray State University. These statements shall be furnished to the incoming Treasurer and the Faculty Advisor.
Section 10: At the end of the term of the Executive Committee, but no later than one month after a new Executive Committee takes office the outgoing Executive Committee shall provide the incoming Executive Committee with the following records: (i) minutes of all the General Body Meetings and Executive Committee meetings for the preceding year,(ii) monthly financial statements mentioned in section 6 of Article V of the By-Laws to the Constitution of the ISA, (iii) annual financial statement mentioned in section 8 of Article V of the By-Laws to the Constitution of the ISA and (iv) any other records relevant to the ISA.
Article VI Donations
Section 1: The ISA may donate money to organizations requesting donations from ISA subject to the conditions laid out in sections 2, 3 and 4 of Article V of the By-Laws to the Constitution of the ISA.
Section 2: The Executive Committee shall satisfy itself that the goals of such organizations are consistent.