I. Regular Meetings

1. Date/Location
2. Order of Business
3. Skipping/Rearranging order of business

II. Officers

1. 1. Absence of Officers and temporary appointment
2. "Call to the chair"
3. Assistant Clerk
4. Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms
5. Vacant Offices

III. Voting and Elections

1. Procedure for voting (general)
2. Nomination for offices
3. Collection/Tallying of ballots
4. Abstentions in regular debates are non-votes

IV. Membership

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

V. Resolutions, Legislation, Expenditures

1. Major expenditures ($100+)
2. Lesser expenditures ($25-$99.99)
3. Minor expenditures ( under $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

VI. Papers and Properties

1. Maintenance of Papers (Di)
2. Maintenance of Books etc. (Phi)
3. Signing out materials

VII. Rules of Decorum

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

VIII. Advisor

1. Selection
2. Faculty Member status
3. Re-election in case of vacancy

IX. Adoption of the By-Laws

1. Adoption

X. Amendments

1. Procedure
2. Suspension

Article I. Regular Meetings

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:
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.