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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 19, 1950)
PROPOSED ASUOl CONSTITUTION CONSTITUTION Preamble We the students of the University of Oregon in order to establish a representative government; to encouiage the development of leaders and participants for the communi ty and the sovereign state of Oregon; to stimulate an awareness of the rights and responsibilities of students in relation to the community; to improve student cultural, social, and physical welfare, and to promote the geneial welfare of this institution, do hereby ordain and establish this Constitution. This we do with the recognition that the President of the University of Oiegon has the ultimate responsibility for the total University program. ARTICLE I Name This organization shall be known as The Associated Stu dents of the University of Oregon. ARTICLE II Membership Section I. The membership of this Association shall consist of all students registered in the University of Ore gon, Eugen#, Oregon, who have paid the Student Union Educational Activities fee. Section II. Student membership of any of the particu lar classes shall be determined by the academic rules of the University of Oregon. ARTICE 111 Officers Section I. The Elective Officers. The elective officers of this Association shall be a president and a vice-president. Section II. The Non-Elective Officers. The non-elective officers of this Association shall include: 1. Chairman of the Student Union Board, ex-officio 2. Chairman of the Co-op Boaid, ex-officio 3. Emerald Editor, ex-officio.. 4. AWS President, ex-officio 5. Public Relations Chairman 6. Social Chairman 7. Athletic Chairman 8. Director of Student Affairs, ex-officio Section III. Qualifications of Officers. Clause I. Any member of this Association who shall have complete! at least three terms at the University of Oregon and who shall have acquired one hundred ten credit Lours prior to election shall be eligible for election to the office of president or vice-president. Clause 2. No student shall take office nor continue to hold office under this constitution unless he shall have complied with the academic requirements of the Univer sity of Oregon. Section IV. Duties of the President. Clause 1. Tlie president shall preside over all meet ings of the Cabinet and the Senate and shall exercise all powers pertaining to the calling of the meetings and con duct of business in accord with this constitution. Clause 2. He shall, coordinate the performance of duties by the Cabinet members. Clause 3. He shall, at the beginning of each school term, submit to the Senate an estimate of his budget for the following term, and at the beginning of winter and spring terms, he shall submit to the Senate an account of his expenditures for the previous term. Clause 4. He shall nominate to the president of the University, student members to student-faculty commit tees. tVio Pn not Uiause nr anau - except ex officio members, subject to a two-thirds appro val of the Senate and may remove such Cabinet members by stating cause. Clause G. He shall appoint the student members of the Student Court subject to a two-thirds approval of the Senate. . Clause 7. He shall be responsible for carrying out legislation enacted by the Senate. Clause 8. He shall from time to time inform and rec ommend to the Senate matters concerning student welfare. Clause 9. He may create new non-elective officers if approved by a majority vote of the Senate. Clause 10. He shall be an ex-officio member of the Student Union Board. Section V. Duties of the Vice-President. Clause f. He shall serve as chairman of the election committee and shall be responsible for the administration of all elections under the constitution. Clause 2. He shall assume all duties pertaining to Hie office of president in the president s temporary ab sence and all other duties as delegated by the president of this Association. Section VI. Cabinet. Clause 1. The Cabinet shall consist of the president, vice-president and non-elective officers of this Association. Clause 2. The Cabinet shall advise and assist the president of the ASUO in administering the affairs of this Association. Clause 3. It shall be the duty of the Cabinet to sub mit proposals to the Senate designed to promote the ob jectives of this Association. Clause 4. The Cabinet members shall have the right to attend and speak in Senate meetings. ARTICLE IV Senate Section I. Membership. The ASUO Senate shall be com posed of: Clause 1. The President and Vice-President of the ASUO. Clause 2. The President, Vice-President, and two representatives from each class. Clause 3. Nine members elected at large. Clause 4. Two Faculty members. These two faculty members shall be appointed by the President of the Univer sity. Their terms shall be for two years except for the first year when one of the members shall be appointed for a one year term. Section II. The Senate shall elect its own officers; with the exception of the president and vice-president, who shall be the President and Vice-President of the ASUO. Section III. Powers and Duties of the Senate. Clause 1. The legislative powers of the ASUO shall reside in the Senate. Clause 2. The Senate shall approve by a two-thirds vote all appointments to the Cabinet and chairmanships of standing committees made by the President of the ASUO. Clause 3. The Senate shall have the power to inves tigate and report in any area of student life. Clause 4. The Senate shall have the power to create special committees and shall elect their chairmen. Clause 5. The Senate shall have the power to remove student Administrative and Judicial officers by proceed ings initiated by a two-thirds vote at a regular meeting and passed by a three-fourths vote at the following regular meeting. ., . ... Clause 6. Vacancy in the offices of President or Vice president will be filled by the Senate. Clause 7. The Senate will meet semi-monthly and also at the call of the President. Clause 8. The Senate shall make all rules and regula tions necessary for properly carrying out elections Clause 9. The Senate shall have the power to with hold approval of class activities and functions. Clause 10. The Senate shall elect a Yell King. Clause 11. It shall be the duty of the Senate to main tain its membership and therefore it shall elect students to fill class office and ASUO representative vacancies. ARTICLE V Judiciary Section I. Student Court. Clause 1. The Student Court shall be composed of five members appointed by the ASUO President subject to two-thirds approval of the Senate. Sufficient appointments shall be made each spring from the sophomore class to maintain the total of five. At no time will more than three members belong to the same class. Clause 2. ASUO President shall designate the chair man. Clause 3. The Court shall have jurisdiction in all disciplinary matters delegated to it by the President of the University or the ASUO Senate. Section II. Constitutional Committee. Clause 1. Membership. The Constitutional Commit tee, to which any member or administrative body of this Association may refer any question on which it desires an opinion as to the correct judicial construction or interpre tation of any part of this constitution or by-laws, shall con sist of five members: Dean of the Law School or his pei sonal representative as permanent chairman, two mem bers of the faculty of the University of Oregon, and two upper class members of this Association. Appointment to membership of this committee shall be made by the Senate on the recommendation of the Presi dent of the University of Oregon and the President of this Association. Clause 2. Authority. The Constitutional Committee shall have supreme and final authority on all questions of interpretation of this constitution, by-laws, and student legislation and on all disputes arising from student body or class elections, and shall, upon request of the Senate or Cabinet, render advisory opinions on the interpretations of the constitution and by-laws. ARTICLE VI Elections Section I. Filing-. All candidates for elective positions un der this Association shall file a petition with the Vice President of this Association not later than midnight of the seventh day prior to the elections. Section II. Positions elected at large. Positions elected at large shall include President, Vice-President, and nine rep resentatives. They will appear on the same ballot, and shall be elected by the Preferential System of voting as provided for in the by-laws. The candidates receiving the highest and second highest number of first choices shall be president and vice-president respectively. Section III. Class positions. The same election procedure will be followed for each class. They will each return a president, vice-president, and two representatives. Section IV'. Dates of Elections. ASUO elections shall take place after the first and prior to the eighth week of spring term. Freshman elections shall take place after the first and prior to the fifth week of winter term. ARTICLE VII Amendments Section I. Proposal. Amendments to this constitution may be proposed by a two-thirds vote of all members of the ASUO Senate or by a petition signed by two hundred (200) members of this Association. Section II. Publicity. The proposed amendments shall be published in the Oregon Daily Emerald on three successive publication days, and shall be voted upon by ballot of the members of this Association one w-eek from the date of the last publication. Section III. Adoption. A two-thirds majority of the bal lots cast shall be necessary for the adoption of any amend ment, provided at least one-third of the qualified voters vote on the amendment. ARTICLE VIII Enabling Clause Section I. This constitution shall be adopted by a two thirds vote at a general election of the student body, pro viding that one half of the members of this Association cast ballots. Section II. The adoption of this constitution and by laws supercedes and amends all other existing constitu tions and by-laws of this Association. Section III. The ASUO Executive Council shall conduct the first election under this constitution. BY-LAWS ARTICLE I Conduct of Business Section I. Rules of Order. Roberts’ Rules of Order shall govern this Association and all councils and committees of this Association. ARTICLE II Election Procedure Section I. Elections. Clause 1. There shall be a minimum of three polling places at any election. Clause 2. In all elections under this constitution, the Australian Ballot system shall be used. Clause 3. The polls shall be open continuously from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on election days. Clause 4. The official poll book, which shall contain in alphabetical order the names of all members of this As sociation, shall be prepared by the Registrar’s office five, days prior to elections. No person shall be permitted t6 vote unless his or her name appears in the official poll book. Any member of this Association who has paid the Student Union-Educational Activities fee shall be entitled to have his or her name in the poll book and shall be en titled to vote at the annual election or any special election of this Association. The Registrar’s office shall certify in writing on the poll book that it is the official poll book, and shall deliver the same to the Director of Student Affairs of the Uni versity of Oregon before 5 p.m. of the day prior to the election. The vice-president of this Association shall, fif teen minutes prior to the opening of the polls, receive the official poll book from the Director of Student Affairs upon a receipt therefore to the Director of Student Af fairs. Clause 5. All elections under this constitution shall be conducted by such rules and regulations as may be laid down by the Student Senate and such rules and regula tions shall be administered by the vice-president of this Association. Clause 6.. The ballots shall be counted only by the judges appointed by the vice-president and under his di rection. i Clause 7. Any qualified voter of this Association wishing to contest the election of any person must give notice in writing to the Constitutional Committee of the ASUO within ten days from the date of said election, stat ing under oath the reason or reasons for contesting the election, supported by the statements under oath of not less than five qualified voters therein, the nature and character of the irregularities upon which the contest is based. " Clause 8. The sample ballot and voting instructions shall be printed in the Emerald the two successive publica tion days prior to election. ABX1CL1S 111 Preferential Voting Each voter will be given a ballot containing the names'" of the candidates with a blank square beside each one. In these squares the voter will put numbers indicating the order of his preference for the different candidates, put ting down as many as he chooses in “1-2-3 order” as he wishes. After the polls have been closed, the tabulators first establish the quota which is the least number of votes through which a candidate can be elected. This is ascer tained by dividing the total number of votes cast by a number one greater than the number of offices to be filled and adding one to the resulting quotient. Thus, if there are 1500 votes cast and there are four offices to fill, the quota will be obtained by dividing 1500 by five and adding one, giving 301. , Then the tabulators sort all the ballots in piles accord ing to the first choices indicated. Following this, the bal lots will be counted and each candidate will be credited with the number of first choices he has gained. If the number of first choices received by any candidate is equal to or exceeds the quota, which is, let us say, 301, he will at once be declared elected. Still using the quota of 301 as an example, suppose a candidate receives more than that number. As already stated, he will be considered elected. Then, from such a successful candidate’s pile of votes a number of ballots equivalent to the surplus will be drawn and the second choices indicated on these ballots will be credited to the candidates who are still in the running but not yet elected. If the addition of these second choice ballots to any can didate's pile raises his total to 301 votes, he will be de clared elected. Then, after all of the first choice ballots have been distributed, the candidate with the least number of votes will be declared defeated; and his ballots will be distri buted, each one going to the “continuing candidate” indi (Please turn to page sez’enj