By-Laws of the Joint Senate
of the
Dialectic and Philanthropic Societes
August 27, 2001
I.
Regular Meetings
1.
Date/Location
2.
Order of Business
3.
Skipping/Rearranging order of business
1.
Absence of Officers and temporary appointment
2.
“Call to the chair”
3.
Assistant Clerk
4.
Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms
5.
Vacant Offices
1.
Procedure for voting (general)
2. Nomination for
offices
3.
Collection/Tallying of ballots
4.
Abstentions in regular debates are non-votes
1.
Petition Guidelines
2.
Sponsor Guidelines
3.
Sponsor must be present during petitioning
4.
Written copy of petition filed with Clerk
5.
Letter of acceptance/denial and induction
1.
Major expenditures ($100+)
2.
Lesser expenditures ($25-$99.99)
3.
Minor expenditures (<$25)
4.
Filing of Bills and Resolutions
5.
Form of Bills and Resolutions
6.
Bills from committees (“favorable”/”unfavorable”…)
7.
Numbering of bills
8.
Expiration of bills and resolutions
9.
General Statutes
1.
Maintenance of Papers (Di)
2.
Maintenance of Books etc. (Phi)
3.
Signing out materials
1.
Dress Code
2.
Rise when speaking
3.
Use of “Senator” when speaking to a member
4.
Crossing the chambers / Late Arrivals
5.
Conversation
6.
Robert’s Rules of Order
1.
Selection
2.
Faculty Member status
3.
Re-election in case of vacancy
1.
Adoption
1.
Procedure
2.
Suspension
1. The regular meetings of the Joint Senate of the
Societies will normally convene in the Dialectic Society chamber at
7:30 P.M.
on Monday evenings, except as provided for in the Constitution.
2. The order of business for a regular meeting
shall be as
follows:
a. The call to order.
b. The call of the roll.
c. Announcements.
d. The reading of the minutes.
e. The presentation of the scheduled
program.
f. Induction of new members.
g. The reports of officers and
committees.
h. Unfinished business and general
orders of
business.
i. New business.
j. Petitions, papers, memorials, and
addresses.
k. Consideration of applications for
membership.
l. Report of the Critic.
m. Announcements.
n. Adjournment.
3. Items on the order of business may be
considered out of
sequence or dispensed with upon a two-thirds majority vote of members
present.
Article II. Officers
1. If any officer is not present at a meeting, the
chair
may designate any other active member to serve in that office for the
duration
of that meeting only.
2. The President, or any other presiding officer,
may
"call to the chair" the next highest officer in succession to preside
for any specified length of time, provided that the member shall not
preside
for more than one meeting.
3. With the consent of the Societies, the Clerk
may
appoint an Assistant Clerk who will assist in maintaining the
Societies'
correspondence and in other such duties as the Clerk shall direct. The
Assistant Clerk shall serve for one semester, or until a successor is
appointed.
4.
With the consent of the
Societies, the Sergeant-at-Arms may appoint an Assistant
Sergeant-at-Arms for
the purpose of assisting with cleaning the chambers, overseeing chamber
usages,
and other tasks as the Sergeant-at-Arms shall direct. The Assistant
Sergeant-At-Arms shall serve for one semester, or until a successor is
appointed.
5. If the Presidency should fall vacant, the
President Pro
Tempore will serve as President until the next regular meeting, at
which a
special election to fill the office shall be held. If any other office
shall
fall vacant, the President may appoint a successor pro tempore until
the next
regular meeting, at which an election to fill the office will be held
as above.
All such special elections shall be conducted as an item of unfinished
business.
Article III. Voting
and
Elections
1. All voting shall be as directed in the
Constitution.
Any active member may call for division after a voice vote. All votes
on the
admission, expulsion, or censure of members, or the impeachment of
officers,
shall not be recorded.
2. The procedure of elections within the Joint
Senate
shall be as follows: the respective Societies shall make their
selections for
nominees to Joint Senate offices. At this time, the Joint Senate shall
convene
for elections, which will take place in declining order of succession.
The
Society presidents shall announce the nominees of their Societies, and
after
appropriate debate on the nominees' merits, the election shall take
place. If
no member nominated by a Society receives a majority of the votes cast,
nominations from the floor will be accepted, to be considered alongside
the
Societies’ nominees. The voting procedure shall then be repeated. If a
majority
is still not reached, a runoff election between the two highest
vote-getters
will be conducted. Consideration will then proceed to the next office
until all
offices are filled.
3. In all elections within the Societies, the
society
presidents shall distribute and collect the secret ballots. The chair
and the
two society presidents shall serve as tellers, and shall count the
ballots
before the Societies immediately after they have been cast. In all
voting other
than elections in which secret ballots might be used, the chair may
appoint one
teller from each Society to assist.
4.
When the Joint Senate is
voting on the resolution for the debate of a given meeting’s program,
all
abstentions shall count as non-votes for the purpose of resolving in
favor of a
given side.
Article IV. Membership
1. Petitions for active membership shall be
delivered
orally, and shall be entertained under Papers, Petitions, Memorials,
and Addresses.
Persons petitioning for active membership shall supply their names,
counties,
and/or states of origin, and the Society to which they have petitioned
to the
Clerk.
2. Any non-member petitioning for active
membership must
be sponsored by a non-lapsed member of the Societies, who must have
agreed to
sponsorship at least one regular meeting prior to the night of the
petition.
This requirement may be waived by a two-thirds majority vote; in such a
case it
is suggested that the Membership Committee investigate to determine why
a
proper sponsor was not secured and how this might be avoided in the
future.
3. The sponsor must be present during the
petition, and
shall speak first during consideration of the petition. This
requirement may be
waived by a simple majority vote; in such a case it is suggested that
the
sponsor be fined and/or reprimanded unless he should present a valid
excuse.
4. A written copy of the petitioner's speech must
be delivered
to the Clerk immediately following the petition. This requirement may
be waived
by a majority vote during consideration of the petition.
5. The outcome of the vote on a petition for new
membership shall not be announced immediately. The Clerk shall send a
letter of
acceptance or denial to the petitioner the following week, and if
accepted the
petitioner shall be inducted at the next induction ceremony. These
ceremonies
will be held when necessary during the regular meetings of the
Societies, at
the fourth meeting of every session and at four-week intervals
thereafter, and
also at the first and last meetings of every session.
Article
V. Resolutions, Legislation, and Expenditures
1. Any expenditure of $100.00 or greater is
defined as a
major expenditure and must be considered by the Finance Committee, as
provided
in the Constitution, before approval by the Societies.
2. Any expenditure of $25.00 or greater, but less
than
$100.00, must be considered by committee or approved by two-thirds of
the
members present at a regular meeting of the Societies.
3. Any expenditure of less than $25.00 requires
the
approval of a simple majority of the members present at a regular
meeting of
the Societies.
4. At least one copy of all bills and resolutions
approved
by the Societies shall be filed with the Clerk. At least one copy of
all bills
amending the Constitution or By-Laws and all internal resolutions shall
be
filed with the President Pro Tempore as chairman of the Constitution
Committee.
5. All bills and resolutions approved by the
Societies and
filed with the appropriate officials shall observe the following form:
Date:
Introduced by:
Reported:
Action:
(title) AN ACT (OR RESOLUTION) TO
_________________________________________________
(preamble)
WHEREAS_________________________________________________________________
WHEREAS
__________________________________________________________________
AND
WHEREAS
__________________________________________________________________
(enacting clause:)
NOW (or, if preambles included,
THEREFORE)
BE IT ENACTED BY THE DIALECTIC AND PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETIES OF
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT
CHAPEL
HILL THAT:
ARTICLE I. (title, if any)
Section A.
1.
2.
etc.
Section B.
1.
a.
b.
etc.
2.
etc.
etc.
6. Bills or resolutions reported or
discharged from
committee shall, under the heading "Reported", indicate the
committee's report (i.e., "Favorable", "Unfavorable", or
"Without Prejudice"), and the committee's vote, if any. Bills or
resolutions reported from the floor without committee consideration
shall be
indicated "For Debate".
7. The Clerk shall assign a number to each bill or
resolution proposed: the first part of this number being the number of
the
session of the Societies (1 for fall, 2 for spring), the second part of
which
indicating the year since the foundation of the Societies, and the
third part
indicating the order in the session in which the bill or resolution was
reported to the Clerk. Bills and resolutions shall be numbered in
separate
sequences. The Clerk shall complete each number by prefixing "B" for
bills or "R" for resolutions.
8. Unless incorporated into the By-Laws or
Constitution,
the provisions of all bills or resolutions shall expire at the end of
the
semester in which they were enacted, unless extended at the end of the
semester
by a two-thirds vote of the members present in the last meeting of the
session.
All appropriated funds unexpended at the end of the semester shall
revert to
the treasury.
9. Bills or resolutions extended by a vote of the
Societies at the end of the semester shall be designated as general
statutes
and shall be indicated by prefixing a "G" to the bill number. Such
extension shall continue until the general statute is repealed by the
Societies. General statutes may be amended at any time by a two-thirds
majority
vote, and may be repealed at any time by a simple majority vote.
Article VI. Papers
and
Properties
1. All original copies of bills, resolutions,
correspondence, and other papers of the Societies shall be maintained
in the
offices of the Societies, which shall be located in the Dialectic
chambers;
duplicate copies, when and where possible, shall be bound and deposited
in the
Societies' libraries. Original copies shall remain in the offices for
three
semesters and then shall be deposited by the Historian in the
Societies'
archives in the Southern Historical Collection.
2. All books, periodicals, and bound paper
belonging to
the Societies shall be maintained in the Societies' libraries in the
Philanthropic chambers.
3. No books or periodicals may be removed from the
Societies' libraries without being signed out according to a system
which shall
be administered at the discretion of the Sergeant-at-Arms. Only active
members
may sign out materials, and they shall be responsible for their
safekeeping;
they must return all materials by the end of the session, or sooner at
the
request of the President or Sergeant-at-Arms. Members who lose or
damage
materials shall be liable for them at the cost of replacement or
repair. The
President, at the request of the Sergeant-at-Arms, may levy fines at
his
discretion for failure to return materials promptly.
Article VII. Rules
of Decorum
1. All members shall attend regular and special
meetings
of the Societies in dress consonant with the respect due the Societies
and
their traditions. Suggested dress shall be coats and ties for male
members, and
dresses, skirts or slacks and blouses for female members. At the
discretion of
the chair or of the Societies, members dressed improperly will be
subject to
fine, not to exceed two dollars.
2. All members shall rise from their seats to gain
the
floor, and shall remain standing either at their seats or at the
rostrum while
addressing the Societies. However, no member may rise while another
member or a
guest is speaking except to make a motion or point which may interrupt
a
speaker in parliamentary procedure. For remarks of more than three
minutes'
duration it is advisable that members speak from the rostrum. Members
shall
request permission from the chair to approach the rostrum and shall
retire from
it immediately upon completing their remarks unless responding to
questions.
3. All members in their addresses and remarks
shall avoid
obscene comments. They shall address other members as "Senator". No
member shall allege misconduct by another member unless such remarks
are
prefixed by a motion of censure, impeachment, or expulsion. Members
shall
attempt to avoid the introduction of such motions when guests are
present.
4. No member shall leave or cross the chamber
while the
Societies are in session without requesting permission from the chair.
However,
members arriving late during a program may enter quietly by the door
furthest
from the rostrum. Further, members who arrive after the start of
discussion on
a resolution, motion, or other item of business shall not be eligible
to vote
on that item, but shall be eligible to vote on all succeeding items.
Members
who are present for less than one (1) hour of a meeting shall be
considered
absent for that meeting.
5.
When members wish to
address a speaker during time reserved for questioning, they are not
allowed to
engage in “conversation”, the practice of asking more questions than
they were allotted
when recognized or making statements that are not direct questions.
Members may
ask for “multi-part” questions, but even with this qualifier may ask no
more
than three at once.
6. Members shall take care at all times to abide
by the
rules of protocol and decorum set forth in Robert's Rules of Order. The
enumeration of these rules of decorum shall not be construed to exclude
other
rules commonly observed and hallowed by the traditions of the
Societies.
Article VIII. The Advisor
1. An advisor to the Societies shall be selected
at the
beginning of each spring semester by a majority vote. This person will
advise
and assist the Societies as needed.
2. The advisor shall be treated in all respects as
a
faculty member of the Societies during his tenure, save that the
advisor shall
not be requested to pay any dues.
3. Should the post of advisor fall vacant, the
Societies
shall elect a new advisor by majority vote with all deliberate speed.
Article IX.
Adoption of the
By-Laws
1. These By-Laws shall be approved article by
article and
shall become law upon majority vote of the members present at a regular
meeting
of the Societies.
Article X. Amendments
1. All proposed amendments to these By-Laws not
originating with the Constitution Committee shall be presented to the
Clerk,
who shall read them before the Societies at a regular meeting. The
amendments
shall then be referred to the Constitution Committee for consideration.
The
Committee shall return them with its report at the next regular
meeting. This
report and the proposed amendment shall be read to the Societies and
the floor
opened up for discussion. Amendments originating with the Constitution
Committee shall be given to the Clerk, together with the report of the
Committee, after which they shall be read to the Societies and
discussed as for
other amendments. A majority vote at this meeting shall be necessary
for
adoption of the amendment.
2. Any provision of these By-Laws, except for this
Article, may be suspended for a period not to exceed the duration of
the
current meeting by a two-thirds majority vote. The provisions of this
Article
may not be suspended in any way.