SCHOOL OF FOREIGN SERVICE ACADEMIC COUNCIL
CONSTITUTION

• Preamble

• Article One:  Name and Purpose

• Article Two:  Membership

• Article Three:  Election

• Article Four:  Meetings

• Article Five:  Responsibilities of Members

• Article Six:  Responsibilities of Officers

• Article Seven:  Powers

• Article Eight:  Impeachment, Recall, and Dismissal

• Article Nine:  Vacancies

• Article Ten:  Amendments

• Article Eleven:  Ratification

• Bylaws:  Committee Protocol

• Bylaws:  Election Protocol

• Bylaws:  Appendix A

• Bylaws:  Amendment 1

PREAMBLE

We, the members of the School of Foreign Service Academic Council , shall serve as an effective link between the undergraduate student body, the administration, and the faculty of the School of Foreign Service (SFS). We shall seek to address the concerns of the SFS student body and to foster a strong academic community. We shall be governed according to the precepts stated in this Constitution while abiding by University policies and fiscal procedures.

ARTICLE ONE: NAME AND PURPOSE

SECTION ONE: This organization shall be known as the School of Foreign Service Academic Council (SFSAC).

SECTION TWO: The purpose of the SFSAC is:

1. To serve as the official representative of the SFS undergraduate student body to the School's administration and faculty with regard to all matters pertaining to the SFS.

2. To promote interaction between students, faculty, and the administration.

3. To promote student awareness of issues and policies pertinent to the School of Foreign Service .

ARTICLE TWO: MEMBERSHIP

SECTION ONE: The Council will be comprised of nine members: two class representatives from each of the Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior classes, and one President.

SECTION TWO: All members must be full time students in good academic standing, unless otherwise approved by the Academic Council or the Election Commission.

SECTION THREE: Terms of office shall commence at the conclusion of the academic year and continue through the following academic year with the exception of the President, Freshman class representatives and Senior class representatives, whose term lasts the duration of the academic year (Sept.-May) only.

SECTION FOUR: The members of the Academic Council cannot hold elected office in another student government organization.

ARTICLE THREE: ELECTION

SECTION ONE: Election of the Sophomore class representatives and Junior class representatives of the Council shall be held on the Wednesday two weeks before the end of classes in the Spring semester and will be supervised by the Election Commission.

SECTION TWO: Election of the President, Freshman class representatives, and Senior class representatives shall be held on the Wednesday before SAC Fair in the Fall semester and will also be supervised by the Election Commission.

SECTION THREE: The Election Commission will consist of a minimum of four (4) members, selected in the following manner: In the Fall Election, the Sophomore and Junior Representatives (who had been elected in the previous Spring Semester) will serve as the Commission. In the Spring Election, the Commission will consist of all Council members who are not running for office. The Commission shall serve independently of the Council for the purpose of conducting fair and efficient elections.

SECTION FOUR:

SECTION FIVE: For elections to be valid, either over fifty (50) percent of the eligible undergraduate SFS student body must vote; or the Election Commission must ratify the results. “Eligible” is defined as those currently enrolled in classes at the Georgetown University main campus.

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ARTICLE FOUR: MEETINGS

SECTION ONE: The President shall have called a meeting of the full Council within one week of the election of a full Council.

SECTION TWO: A quorum of two-thirds is necessary for the meeting to be official.

SECTION THREE: The Council shall hold regularly scheduled meetings (weekly) conducted according to the rules established by the Council in a public room of adequate size and accessibility at a publicized time with weekly publicized minutes and agendas. The meetings shall be open to all members of the SFS community, unless closed by a plurality vote of the Council. Additional meetings may be called by the President or by any five members of the Council together.

SECTION FOUR: Within the first few meetings, the Council must accomplish the following:

1. Appoint members to the various committees;

2. Conduct a thorough examination of the Constitution and by-laws by all the Council members;

3. Discuss and determine the Academic Council's goals for the year;

4. Establish, by majority vote, a regular meeting time and location for the Academic Council.

ARTICLE FIVE: RESPONSIBILITIES OF MEMBERS

SECTION ONE: The Council shall meet at least once a semester with the Dean of the School of Foreign Service .

SECTION TWO: The nine members of the Academic Council shall serve as representatives to the School of Foreign Service Executive Council (School Council). Six members of the Academic Council shall have a vote on the Executive Council. The same six members will retain their right to vote for the semester. At the beginning of a new semester, six new members will be designated as the voting representatives on the Executive Council.

SECTION THREE: The Council shall coordinate the efforts of the students to periodically re-evaluate the School's curriculum and policies.

SECTION FOUR: Each of the members shall be required to fulfill the duties relevant to the Council assigned them in this Constitution or by the President.

SECTION FIVE: The Council shall establish, by a three-fourths vote of the Council, by-laws for the purpose of fulfilling the needs and requirements of the Constitution and the Council. These by-laws shall not conflict with the Constitution.

SECTION SIX: Each class of the Council shall coordinate at least two projects of their own volition.

ARTICLE SIX: RESPONSIBILITIES OF OFFICERS

SECTION ONE: Following the Presidential, Senior class representatives, and Freshman class representatives elections, there shall be elected from the membership of the Council by a plurality vote of the Council a Vice-President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer. No one Council member shall hold more than one officer position on the Council at any one time (i.e. President, Vice-President, Secretary, or Treasurer).

SECTION TWO: The President shall serve as the principal link between the administration and the Council. He/she shall meet bi-monthly with an appropriate Dean of the School and shall also serve as the direct link between the Administration and the SFS student body.

SECTION THREE: The President shall meet with the presidents of the other Councils at least once every semester to discuss and coordinate activities.

SECTION FOUR: The Vice-President shall, in the absence of the President, preside over the Council and perform all the duties of the President.

SECTION FIVE: The Secretary shall keep and post in an appropriate place all minutes of the meetings of the Council; he/she shall also keep a separate list of attendance to all the meetings.

SECTION SIX: The Treasurer will be responsible for managing the accounts of the Council throughout the year. He/she must make quarterly reports of the Council’s overall budget.

ARTICLE SEVEN: POWERS

SECTION ONE: Officers and members shall derive their powers and duties solely from their positions on the Council as defined in this Constitution.

SECTION TWO: The members of the Council, including the President, shall vote on issues presented to them.

SECTION THREE: The Council shall have the power to conduct the election or appointment of student representatives to official School of Foreign Service committees. (See Appendix A)

SECTION FOUR: The Council shall have the power to establish standing and ad hoc committees, composed of members of the SFS student body, according to the needs of the SFS student body as governed in accordance with the by-laws. (See Appendix A)

SECTION FIVE: The Council shall have the power to approve or disapprove, by a two-thirds vote, appointments to and dismissals from standing and ad hoc Academic Council committees made by the President.

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ARTICLE EIGHT: IMPEACHMENT, RECALL AND DISMISSAL

SECTION ONE: Members of the Council who fail to abide by this Constitution, who fail to fulfill their responsibilities, or who have excessive absences (two absences without a valid reasons-as determined by the Council or President-or a total of five absences per year) or who are more than five (5) minutes late to two meetings per semester without prior notification are subject to dismissal from the Council.

SECTION TWO: Any Council member who begins an action of impeachment against another member must submit in writing the reasons for the proposed impeachment to the Council. Either the President or the Vice-President must notify the member in question of the situation prior to the next meeting.

SECTION THREE: The member in question must appear before the Council at its next meeting. The member making the impeachment charge must also be present and be prepared to present his reasons for proposing impeachment either directly or anonymously through the President (at the accuser's discretion). The accused member shall be given the right to present arguments in his own defense.

SECTION FOUR: After having heard both sides to the Council's satisfaction (a majority vote is needed to end debate), the Council shall determine its course of action by a two-thirds vote.

SECTION FIVE: If found guilty of the charges, the Council can choose to remove the member from any positions related to the Academic Council, censure the member from running for the Council in the future, dismiss the member from all Council duties, or all of the above.

SECTION SIX: In the event that the Council determines that the charges of impeachment against the member are unjustified, the charges shall be dismissed.

SECTION SEVEN: The impeachment of any member, and the subsequent action of the Council, shall each be determined by a two-thirds vote of the Council.

SECTION EIGHT: Any member of the SFS student body, within two weeks of the posting of election results, may initiate a recall by collecting thirty (30) percent of the eligible electorate on a petition requesting the recall of the member(s). An election commission will then be established to conduct the election (yes/no referendum).

ARTICLE NINE: VACANCIES

Vacancies during the term of office of any of the Council positions must be announced at least one month in advance and shall be filled at the earliest time possible in a manner designed by the Council (e.g. by election or by appointment).

ARTICLE TEN: AMENDMENTS

SECTION ONE: All proposed amendments to the Constitution, in order to be considered, must be submitted in writing to the President of the Council.

SECTION TWO: All proposed amendments to this Constitution, in order to take effect, must be passed by more than two-thirds (2/3) vote of the Council.

ARTICLE ELEVEN: RATIFICATION

This Constitution, in order to take effect, must be ratified by a three-fourths vote of the Council and a simple majority of the SFS student body.  This document currently stands ratified.

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By-Laws

 I. COMMITTEE PROTOCOL

It is the opinion of the Academic Council of the Walsh School of Foreign Service that it is necessary to include a series of governing by-laws in the Constitution of this body in order to regulate the function of the committees.

Articles

I. All major actions and events by any committee must be presented to and approved by the Academic Council before initiation.

a. Only the President of the Academic Council can give final approval for any such actions or events.

II. All reports and requests to the Academic Council from committees must be routed through the appropriate committee liaison to the Council.

III. All requests for funding for an event or action must be directed to the Treasurer of the Council after review by the committee liaison.

a. Funding will only be sought after said event/action has been approved by the Council.

IV. All committee expenditures of Council funds must be fully documented and delivered to the Treasurer of the Council to be filed.

a. Unless otherwise agreed upon, the Treasurer of the Academic Council will obtain all requested funds and collect all documentation of expenditures

V. Any expenditure of personal funds for committee events is discouraged. Reimbursement of such funds is limited to $25 without prior authorization of the Council, and receipts must be presented to the Treasurer.

VI. All communication between committees and Georgetown University faculty must first be routed through the Academic Council for approval. Any direct communication between committee members and faculty must be approved by the President of the Council and he/she must be totally informed of all such communication.

VII. All e-mail communications between committee members must be sent to the appropriate committee liaison.

VIII. At the beginning of each school year, new committee chairs must attend a workshop detailing the proper operation and procedures of SFS Academic Council committees.

a. Any committee chair who does not attend or has not been excused from attendance to this workshop by the President will be removed from office by the Council and a new chair will be assigned.

II. ELECTION BYLAWS

1. Any candidate in violation of the election rules is subject to disqualification from the election at the discretion of the Election Commission, in recognition with GUSA protocol.

2. All candidates seeking to run for election must declare their candidacy to the Election Commission by the start of the campaign season, as stated at the Election Commission’s information sessions on the Academic Council elections.

3. The campaign season will begin at 11:59 pm the Friday before the election date. The campaign season will terminate at 11:59 pm on the Tuesday before the election date. Any candidate who pursues campaign activities outside the timeframe of the campaign season may be subject to disqualification. Campaign activities include written, spoken, or implied promotion of a candidate’s election.

4. A member of the Election Commission must approve all campaign materials before their display or dispersal. Original copies must be brought to a Commission member before duplicates are made in order to expedite the approval process. The Commission member will visibly initial or sign the material. Campaign associated material found without such authorization places the candidate at risk of disqualification.

5. Emails, Instant Messages, and other forms of electronic advertising may not be used in any form. The Academic Council will allow each member to submit a 50-word statement that will be included in an email to the appropriate voter audience prior to the election. This single email will be the only method of electronic campaigning. The submissions will be arranged in alphabetical order according to last name.

6. Candidates for Class Representative may spend a maximum of 600 points on all campaign materials, while candidates for President may spend a maximum of 1200 points on all materials. Candidates must submit a signed itemization of used campaign materials and quantities before the end of the campaigning season. The following fees will be assumed:

a. 1 point per ¼ sheet handout

b. 4 points per 8” x 11” flyer

c. 10 points per flyer greater than 8” x 11” and up to 11” x 17”

d. 80 points per poster larger than 11” x 17”

7. Materials may only be posted in the following locations: university bulletin boards, residential doors / windows with permission of the occupant, Red Square , and university housing buildings.

* There is a limit of one flyer / poster per bulletin board in all locations.

8. Any evidence of sabotage or tampering with another candidate’s campaign material must be reported to the election commission and may result in the offending party’s disqualification.

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APPENDIX A

SFS COMMITTEES: The Academic Council shall appoint student representatives to the following standing School of Foreign Service Committees :

· Freshman Admissions Committee

· Transfer Admissions Committee

· Standards Committee

· Appeals Committee

· Seniors Committee

· Diplomatic Ball Committee

· Special Events Committee

· Communications Committee

· Development/Fundraising Committee

· Social Action Committee

· Diversity in International Affairs Committee

The Council shall also have the power to appoint student representatives to newly created, standing, or ad hoc committees of the School of Foreign Service .

Membership on Committees is open to all full-time SFS undergraduate students in good-academic standing who will be enrolled as students for the entire academic year.

Membership on Committees must also adhere to the following conditions.

Freshman Admissions Committee:

· Must be a student who started college at Georgetown in SFS who has completed at least two years at Georgetown and who has either junior or senior standing.

Transfer Admissions Committee:

· Must be a transfer student who has completed at least one academic year at Georgetown in SFS and who has either junior or senior standing.

Seniors Committee:

· Must be senior in SFS.

AMENDMENT 1

The council reserves the right to veto any decision made by the Committees except those of the Freshman Admissions and Transfer Admissions Committees due to their cooperation with the University's Office of Undergraduate Admissions and the School of Foreign Service Office of the Dean.

LAST REVISED:
May 4, 2006 by a unanimous vote of the 2005-2006 SFS Academic Council.

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