MIT Students for Israel Constitution Article 1: Purpose The purpose of MIT Students for Israel (hereafter: MITSI) is to bring a greater understanding of the state of Israel to all students at MIT by providing educational and constructive opportunities regarding the politics, current events, and culture, and history to the MIT campus. MITSI intends to raise awareness of and excitement for Israel and events in the Middle East with a pro-Israel perspective and general good will. Article 2: Membership 1. Any member of the MIT community interested in furthering the goals of MITSI may become a general body member of MITSI by attending either a general body meeting or a board meeting. 2. Any general body member of MITSI can become a voting member of MITSI if s/he contributes 10 or more hours of work towards MITSI each scholastic term (including both general body and board meeting attendance). 3. The membership of MITSI will at all times contain at least 5 MIT students and be more than half MIT students. 4. MITSI will not discriminate based on any characteristic listed in MIT's Nondiscrimination Statement, and any student unable to pay dues may be exempted from said dues and allowed to participate. Article 3: Officers 1. This organization will have a. President i. The president shall be the official representative of MITSI to any other organization and to MIT. ii. The president will preside over all meetings. iii. The president is responsible for determining when meetings are and publicizing this to MITSI. iv. The president shall be a member of the Election Committee. v. The president shall be an MIT student. b. Treasurer i. The treasurer shall be responsible for the finances of MITSI. ii. The treasurer is required to sign all checks/vouchers of MITSI. iii. The treasurer is responsible for coordinating all grant proposals and other fundraising efforts. iv. The treasurer shall be a member of the Election Committee. v. The treasurer shall be an MIT Student who is not the president. c. Political Activities Coordinator i. The political activities coordinator shall monitor and maintain an active relationship with local, state, and national politicians and inform them of MITSI’s views on Israel-related issues. ii. The political activities coordinator shall be responsible for organizing pro-Israel petitions and letter writing campaigns on MIT campus. iii. The political activities coordinator shall maintain an active relationship with campus political groups. iv. The political activities coordinator shall be a member of the Election Committee. d. Education Chair i. The education chair shall be responsible for initiatives to educate the MIT community about Israel's history and present. ii. The education chair shall organize advocacy training and other forms of self-education for MITSI members. iii. The education chair shall be responsible for maintaining the MITSI webpage with up-to-date information. iv. The education chair shall be a member of the Election Committee. e. Media Relations Coordinator i. The media relations coordinator shall contact news organizations both within and outside of MIT to promote awareness of situations in Israel. ii. The media coordinator shall contact news organizations both within and outside of MIT to promote awareness of MITSI events and activities. f. Intergroup Liaison i. The intergroup liaison shall be responsible for arranging meetings and providing information to other student groups at MIT about MITSI’s activities and information about Israel. ii. A goal of the intergroup liaison shall be to work toward joint programming with other campus groups. iii. The intergroup liaison shall maintain active relationships with campus influentials. g. Cultural Events Coordinator i. The cultural events coordinator shall be responsible for creating events, activities, and opportunities for the MIT community to learn and become excited about Israeli culture. h. Secretary / Regional Liaison i. The secretary shall be responsible for taking minutes at general body meetings and sending them to all general body members. ii. The secretary shall be responsible for taking minutes at board meetings and sending them to all voting members. iii. The secretary shall be responsible for maintaining a current list of voting members in order to facilitate elections. iv. The secretary shall act as the representative of MITSI to other Pro-Israel college groups, and maintain active relationships with the representatives of these groups. i. Publicity Chair i. The publicity chair shall be responsible for evaluating, with the aid of the MITSI board, the proper levels of advertising for each MITSI's initiatives. ii. The publicity chair shall then be responsible for implementing the advertising efforts, including, but not limited to any of the following: creating fliers, creating e-mail announcements, distributing the two latter items. j. Scheduling Manager / Listmaster i. The scheduling manager is responsible for finding times and places for all MITSI activities to take place, in particular reserving spaces through the CAC and Schedules offices. ii. The scheduling manager shall maintain the various MITSI mailing lists, updating the lists as the necessary. k. Booth Chair i. The booth chair shall be responsible for maintaining a visible MITSI presence at MIT through boothing and/or tabling. ii. The booth chair shall find MITSI members to people the booth as well as obtain the materials to use at the booth. 2. Election of Officers: a. Election of the President, Treasurer, Political Activities Coordinator, and Education Chair shall occur in that order at the board meeting on the first week of the spring semester. i. Any voting member of MITSI may be nominated or nominate him/herself for these positions, either by e-mail no later than 24 hours before the election to the MITSI Board, or in the call for nominations directly preceeding the election. ii. Quorum for elections of these officers is two-thirds of the voting members. iii. Any candidate is elected if s/he wins a majority of the voting members present. iv. If more than two people are running and no one wins a majority, then the person with the fewest votes is dropped from the ballot and votes are recast. v. The term of office runs from the conclusion of elections for one year to the conclusion of the next elections the next year. vi. The outgoing president shall preside over elections, unless he is a candidate, in which case the outgoing treasurer shall preside. If he too is a candidate, the order of progression of the election presidership shall run down the outgoing positions listed in Article 3, Section 1, until the first non-candidate is identified. b. Elections of all other officers shall be at the board meeting on the 2nd of the spring semester. i. These positions (named in Article 3, Section 1e through Section 1k) will be filled with a slate of candidates selected by the Election Committee who are also voting members. a. The Election Committee, consisting of the officers elected in the first week of the spring term in accordance with Article 3, Section 2a, will create a slate during the week between their elections and the next board meeting. b. Voting members interested in offices may express their interest to the Election Committee during the ensuing week. c. The Election Committee will have confidence in their slate and be able to defend it to the questions of the voting members at the Slate Election Meeting. ii. Quorum for elections of positions in 2b shall be two-thirds of the voting members. iii. The slate will be elected if it wins the approval of a majority of voting members present. iv. The newly elected president shall preside at the election of the slate. v. If the slate does not win a majority of the voting members, the Election Committee will draw up a new slate. vi. An emergency elections meeting will be called by the president no later than the next week to vote on the new slate. vii. This process will be repeated until a slate is approved. viii. The term of office runs from the conclusion of the slate elections to the conclusion of the next slate elections a year thence. c. Removal: Any officer may be removed by a two-thirds vote of the voting members. Article 4: Meetings 1. General body meetings shall be held approximately once a month. a. The purpose of the general body meetings shall be to inform the general body about the actions of the group, to receive feedback from them, and to effect programming. 2. Board meetings shall be held once a week. If this is not possible, they shall be held a minimum of twice a month. a. The purpose of Board Meetings shall be to plan the course of the organization, coordinate programming between the various initiatives of the organization, and give the voting membership a voice in the actions of the club. 3. Meetings shall be presided over by the president, unless s/he is absent. In that case, the treasurer shall preside. 4. Decisions will be made at meetings, when necessary, by votes conducted by the presiding officer. Article 5: Amendments 1. Amendments shall be presented by any voting member of MITSI. 2. Quorum for amending this constitution shall be two thirds of all voting members of the organization. 3. Amendments shall be passed by a two-thirds vote of the voting members present. Article 6: ASA Idolatry Clause 1. MITSI agrees to abide by the rules and regulations of the Association of Student Activities, and its executive board. This constitution, amendments to it, and the by-laws of this organization shall be subject to review by the ASA Executive Board to insure that they are in accordance with the aforementioned rules and regulations.