CONSTITUTION OF THE MASSACHUSSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY HILLEL

LAST AMENDED: December 17, 2010 (Unapproved)

Article I. NAME

Section 1 The name of this organization shall be the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Hillel Society of the MIT Hillel Foundation, Inc, hereafter referred to as Hillel.

Article II. PURPOSE

Section 1 The purpose of Hillel shall be to serve as the Jewish community on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and to provide functions and services to further Jewish life on the campus.

Article III. JURISDICTION

Section 1 Hillel shall be under the jurisdiction of the MIT Hillel Foundation, Inc

Article IV. MEMBERSHIP

Section 1 Membership in Hillel shall be open to all members of the MIT Community interested in furthering Hillel's purpose.

Section 2 Each member of Hillel shall have the right to be counted in a General Meeting quorum and to vote at General Meetings.

Section 3 Each member of Hillel shall be eligible to hold a position on the Executive Board.

Article V. OFFICERS

Section 1 The Student Board of Hillel shall have five officers: the President, the Vice President of Programming, the Vice President of Community Engagement, the Vice President of Communication and the Treasurer.

Section 2 The duties of the President shall be the following:

a Assuming responsibility for the proper functioning of Hillel.
b Presiding at all General Meetings and at meetings of the Executive Board.
c Voting at meetings of the Executive Board and breaking ties in Executive Board votes.
d Breaking ties in votes taken at General Meetings.
e Representing Hillel whenever such representation shall be necessary.
f Taking emergency action on matters requiring immediate attention.
g Notifying the officers of the Executive Board of meeting times and agendas.
h Serving as a student representative on the MIT Hillel Foundation, Inc. Board of Directors

Section 3 The duties of the Treasurer shall be the following:

a Maintaining Hillel’s financial records and reporting these records to the Board as well as externally upon request.
b Paying all legitimate bills in a timely fashion.
c Developing an annual budget approved by the Executive Board within one month of election.
d Requesting funding biannually from the MIT Undergraduate Association Finance Board.
e Co-signing all checks drawn against the Hillel account with the Hillel Director, Administrative Assistant, or President.
f Overseeing the disbursal of Hillel Board grant funds and communicating with grant recipients to ensure successful programs.

Section 4 The duties of the Vice President of Programming shall be the following:

a Overseeing and helping to implement programming events.
b Coordinating programming-related chairs of Hillel. These include Tzedek, Social, Shabbat, Holidays, and Education
c Overseeing Hillel’s program calendar.

Section 5 The duties of the Vice President of Communication shall be the following:

a Recording minutes of Hillel meetings and submitting these minutes for the access of Board members.
b Maintaining a current copy of the Constitution.
c Notifying Hillel’s membership of General Meetings at least one week in advance.
d Maintaining Hillel’s membership database and mailing lists.
e Maintaining the Hillel Student Board’s web presence.
f Publishing a regular electronic newsletter.
g Coordinating the distribution publicity materials in electronic and physical

Section 6 The duties of the Vice President of Community Engagement shall be the following:

a Communicating with Hillel interest groups and other Jewish groups on campus.
b Overseeing the membership related chairs including the Freshmen Engagement, Dining and other relevant chairs

Article VI. STUDENT BOARD

Section 1 The Board shall be empowered to interpret this Constitution.

Section 2 The Board shall be responsible for all the business of Hillel between General Meetings.

Section 3 All members of the Board shall have the following duties:

a Assisting one another in the completion of duties.
b Participating in Hillel’s publicity efforts.

Section 4 Regarding meetings of the Student Board:

a The President may call meetings of the Executive Board. A meeting of the Executive Board shall have a quorum of four officers.
b All members of the student board shall attend meetings as called for by the Executive President, unless the member has been granted an official excused absence as determined by the President
c The Board shall meet weekly.
d All decisions of the Board must be by simple majority vote. A vote may be called by the presiding officer by the agreement of a majority of the Board. In the event of a tie, the Presiding officer shall cast the deciding vote.
e The rules contained in the most recent edition of Robert's Rules of Order shall govern meetings of the Executive Board when not inconsistent with this Constitution.

Article VII. STANDING CHAIRSHIPS

Section 1 The following chairs shall be established annually: (1) Social Chair, (2) Education Chair, (3) Tzedek Chair, (4) Shabbat Programming Chair, (5) Holiday Programming Chair, (6) Freshmen Engagement Chair, (7) Dining Chair.

Section 2 Applications for chair positions shall be accepted by the student board until one week prior to the first day of classes in the spring term. The student board shall select chairs by registration day of spring term.

Section 3 Individuals may hold multiple chair positions

Section 4 Chairs shall be responsible for updating their executive board supervisor weekly of progress and attending a monthly meeting of the student board, chairs and representatives of each special interest group

Section 5 The duties of the Social Chair shall be the following:

a Initiating and coordinating Hillel’s social program.
b Working with other members of Hillel to facilitate ideas for social programs.
c The social chair shall report to the Vice President of Programming

Section 6 The duties of the Education Chair shall be the following:

a Coordinating formal education programs including ongoing classes and guest speakers.
b Facilitating informal Jewish education in Hillel’s programs.
c Working with other members of Hillel to facilitate ideas for educational programs and classes.
d Maintaining the Hillel library.
e The education chair shall report to the Vice President of Programming

Section 7 The duties of the Tzedek Chair shall be the following:

a Initiating and coordinating Hillel’s Tzedek program.
b Working with other members of Hillel to facilitate ideas for Tzedek programs.
c Integrating Tzedek into other aspects of Hillel’s programs.
d The tzedek chair shall report to the Vice President of Programming

Section 8 The duties of the Shabbat Programming Chair shall be the following:

a Initiating and coordinating Hillel’s Shabbat Programming.
b Working with other members of Hillel to facilitate ideas for Shabbat programs.
c The Shabbat programming chair shall report to the Vice President of Programming

Section 9 The duties of the Holiday Programming Chair shall be the following:

a Initiating and coordinating Hillel’s Holiday Programming.
b Working with other members of Hillel to facilitate ideas for Holiday programs.
c The holiday programming chair shall report to the Vice President of Programming

Section 10 The duties of the Freshmen Engagement Chair shall be the following:

a Overseeing and assembling a committee for Campus Preview Weekend(CPW). (i) This committee shall be established no less than 4 weeks prior to the start of CPW
b Overseeing and assembling a committee for Orientation programs. (i) This committee shall be established within 4 weeks of the conclusion of the spring semester
c Overseeing the operation of FYSH (First Year Students @ Hillel) Programming and the establishment of a Freshmen Coordinator.
d The Freshmen Engagement chair shall report to the Vice President of Community Engagement

Section 11 The duties of the Dining Chair shall be the following:

a Working with Hillel Staff, Campus administrators and community members to facilitate kosher dining options on campus.
b Working with coordinators of coordinators of any special dining programs including but not limited to Kosher Ko-op and SLAMIT.
c Works with Hillel staff to ensure the smooth planning of all shabbat and holiday meal logistics and to express any concerns of the Hillel student community with regards to these meals to the appropriate staff person(s).
d The dining chair shall report to the Vice President of Membership

Article VIII. COMMITTEES AND SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS

Section 1 The student Board shall assemble committees or special chairs when necessary, both to assist the vice presidents and to fulfill special program needs.

Section 2 In fulfillment of Hillel's purpose, special interest groups shall exist to provide religious services and special programming. They shall be autonomous in all of their business including appointment of leaders. As permanent committees, each special interest group shall report regularly to the Executive Board via the President.

Article IX. STAFF AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Section 1 The professional staff of Hillel shall assist the student board in running the daily operations of Hillel, in planning and executing programming, and in raising funds for Hillel.

Section 2 The Board of Directors of Hillel shall guide the organization in its long-term development, assist in its raising of funds, and arrange for the professional staff.

Section 3 The President of the Student Board shall serve on the MIT Hillel Foundation, Inc. Board of Directors. Additionally, one additional undergraduate student Hillel member shall serve on the Board of Directors. The undergraduate representative shall be annually selected by the Executive Board at the start of the Board of Directors term for one year of service beginning at that time. The student members of the Board of Directors shall attend its regular meetings and represent student viewpoints there.

Article X. GENERAL MEETINGS

Section 1 All Hillel business may be transacted at a General Meeting.

Section 2 The Executive President shall preside over General Meetings.

Section 3 A General Meeting shall be held at least annually.

Section 4 A General Meeting may be called by an action of the Executive Board.

Section 5 A quorum of eighteen voting Hillel members shall be necessary at a General Meeting to transact business.

Section 6 No proxies shall be allowed at General Meetings.

Section 7 The rules contained in the most recent edition of Robert's Rules of Order shall govern General Meetings when not inconsistent with this Constitution.

Article XI. NOMINATION OF OFFICERS.

Section 1 Nominations shall be opened four weeks prior to the date of elections. Nominations shall be closed by the President at the General Meeting for Elections

Section 2 The VP of communication shall inform the Membership of Hillel of the opening of nominations and provide a description of each position as stated in Article V.

Section 3 The VP of communication shall be in charge of receiving nominations, notifying members when they have been nominated and tracking pending nominations.

Article XII. ELECTION OF OFFICERS

Section 1 Election of the officers shall take place at a General Meeting to be held within six weeks of the end of the Fall Term.

Section 2 The term of office shall run from the beginning of the Spring term for one year.

Section 3 The Vice President of Communication shall notify the membership of a General Meeting for elections at least one month in advance.

Section 4 The President shall describe the elections procedure and answer any procedural questions before proceeding with the elections.

Section 5 The order of elections shall be as follows: President,Vice President of Programming, Vice President of Community Engagement, Treasurer, Vice President of Communication.

Section 6 The election for each office shall be completed before the election for the next office may begin.

Section 7 Before each election, the President will close nominations for that office.

Section 8 Each candidate for a position may speak for three minutes before that election with the other candidates not present. Subsequently, with no candidates present, the Hillel members present at the election shall discuss the candidates until a motion to vote is approved by a majority.

Section 9 Votes for officers shall be cast by written secret ballot. In order to vote for an office, a Hillel member must have heard all speeches pertaining to that office. The ballot shall contain a list of candidates' names. The names of all candidates nominated off the floor shall be written onto the ballot. Any ballot not containing all the candidates' names shall be disregarded. The vote shall be by prioritization. Voters shall rank candidates in order of preference.

Section 10 To be elected, a candidate must receive a majority of the votes cast, ranking each vote by priority. a First, only first choice votes shall be considered. If no nominee receives a majority, the nominee receiving the fewest votes shall be eliminated. Any ballots in that candidate's pile will then be divided based on second choice votes. This process will be continued through the preference order. b If no candidate is elected by this procedure, then a simple majority vote will determine the election in a run off between the two leading candidates from the original ballot.

Section 11 No member may hold more than one office at a time.

Section 12 Upon the resignation or removal of any officer, The executive board shall find a suitable candidate to fill the position. For a vacancy in the position of President, the Board and shall appoint an interim president and a special election will be held to fill the position of President. a A special election shall be held in a General Meeting as soon as possible to fill the vacant office. The membership shall be notified of the General Meeting at least one week in advance. Nominations shall occur immediately prior to the election.

Section 13 The elections for the Student Executive Board will be conducted in the presence of only those represented by the Student Executive Board.

Section 14 During the General Meeting for elections, the two highest ranking seniors on the Student Executive Board — as determined by order of voting specified herein — shall tally the vote in private. If two seniors do not serve on the board, the Executive President shall choose two vote counters.

Article XIII. IMPEACHMENT OF OFFICERS

Section 1 The following shall be acceptable grounds for impeachment:

a Failure to execute satisfactorily the duties of office.
b Behavior unbecoming of an officer of Hillel.

Section 2 The impeachment procedure shall be as follows:

a Impeachment proceedings against any officer may be brought through written charges of 2 other Executive Board officers or through a petition signed by thirty-six members of Hillel.
b Those charges shall be submitted to the Vice President of Communication, or in the event that the Vice President of Communication is the officer in question, to the Executive President. The Vice President of Communication or Executive President shall present these charges to the officer in question.
c A General Meeting shall be held within two weeks of the charge. The officer in question may speak for ten minutes in his or her defense. He or she shall then leave the room and those present may debate until a motion to vote is approved by the majority.
d Two-thirds of the members present at the General Meeting must vote for removal in order to remove the officer under question from his or her duties.

Article XIV. AMENDMENTS

Section 1 Amendments to this Constitution may be proposed either by the Executive Board or by petition of eighteen Hillel members. Amendment proposals shall be presented to the Vice President of Communication at least two weeks before the General Meeting at which they are to be considered.

Section 2 At least one week before the meeting, the Vice President of Communication shall send to each Hillel member the following: a copy of the proposed amendment, an explanation of the reasons for the amendment, a copy of this article of the Constitution, and an announcement of the General Meeting at which the amendment is to be considered.

Section 3 At a General Meeting where amendment proposals are processed, the following qualifications shall apply:

a At that General meeting, amendments may be modified by proposals approved by a majority vote.
b The final form of the amendment must be germane to the original proposal.
c New amendment proposals may not be brought at General Meetings, but must instead be transacted through the procedure outlined in this article.

Download in PDF format