Cornell University
DEMOCRACY MATTERS OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS
Everything that makes man’s life worthwhile—family, work, education, a place to rear one’s children, and a place to rest one’s head—all this depends on decisions of government; all can be swept away by a government which does not heed the demands of its people. Therefore, the essential humanity of men can be protected and preserved only where government must answer—not just to the wealthy, not just to those of a particular religion, or a particular race, but to all its people. —Robert F. Kennedy
Article I: Description and Mission Statement
Section I. Description: Democracy Matters is a NON-partisan organization concerned about political accountability and the corrupting influence of private money in American government. We hope to educate others and ourselves about present infringements upon democracy, political equality, and government transparency, and the possible alternatives that may help reform and revitalize our political process. Along with education, we work to deepen democracy by pushing for campaign finance and lobbying reform, expansion of the referendum and ballot initiatives in all states, election reform, and increased political participation of the American People.
Section II. Mission Statement: Democracy Matters’ mission is to educate, to inspire, and to act: Change elections and change America.
Section III. Values: Democracy Matters strives to uphold an environment of mutual-respect, open-mindedness, and an appreciation for ideological diversity. Democracy Matters recognizes that competing views and ideas form the foundation for a productive and sound organization. We desire effectiveness and efficiency in achieving our goals while embracing participation and delegation of responsibility to as many of our members as possible. Moreover, Democracy Matters holds sacred the individual, for it is the individual who is the force and strength behind this organization and behind a legitimate Democracy.
Article II: The Core
Section I. Within the Core exists an Inner Core consisting of 7-9 officers, each with different and unique duties and responsibilities, essential to the running of the organization. The Inner Core will be responsible for forming and administering campaigns run by the organization. Each Inner Core Member will have one vote. Each Inner Core Member must attend all meetings except under certain extenuating circumstances. A simple majority vote by all Inner Core Members will pass a proposal raised at a Core meeting. In the event of a tie, the Campus Coordinator will have the deciding vote. For the purposes of an orderly transition from Core-to-Core, each Core Member must compile a comprehensive manual to give to the respective succeeding Core member.
Section I (a): Campus Coordinator—His/Her duties and responsibilities: To act as the official liaison between the National Organization, other Democracy Matters Chapters, and the Cornell University Chapter; To work closely and intensely with the Campus Director on daily Chapter operations; To oversee the Treasurer and Director of Communications; To appoint and oversee a Director of Underclassmen Development; To have the power of interpretation of this Constitution should it be necessary for the Campus Coordinator to make spontaneous decisions during the summer or periods when contact with the Inner Core is suspended.
Section I (b): Campus Director—His/Her duties and responsibilities: To oversee all officers in the chapter not overseen by the Campus Coordinator; To serve as Event Planner in coordinating all events with all other officers of the Core; To prepare the Agenda for Inner Core Meetings; To delegate the position of Scribe of the Week (whose duties and responsibilities will be to observe and keep minutes of the proceedings of each Core Meeting) each Core meeting.
Section I (c): Treasurer—His/Her duties and responsibilities: To devise semesterly budget proposals; To work with Democracy Matters (National) and with Cornell University in securing funding; To oversee budget proposals for events and other organizational functions; To ensure all members are compensated for Organization expenses (to be deemed appropriate by the Campus Coordinator).
Section I (d): Director of Communications—His/Her duties and responsibilities: To promote and publicize for Democracy Matters all events, membership and recruitment efforts, and campaigns; To propose a strategy for such promotion and publicity complete with a budget proposal to be submitted to the Treasurer at the beginning of each semester; To oversee all public relations matters involving campus, local, and national media; To appoint and oversee the Web Site Manager and the News Letter Manager; To form and update a List Serve for the purpose of communicating with all Members of Democracy Matters (Cornell); To be in charge of setting up and running a promotional table in Willard Straight Hall.
Section I (e): Secretary—His/Her duties and responsibilities: To prepare a sign-in sheet for meetings; To develop an Excel spread sheet of members with their appropriate information; To sign up and reserve meeting rooms and tables; To update Registration with Cornell University; To appoint the News, Current Events, and Legislative Reporter or be responsible for this duty directly if he/she so chooses; To record and have on file all historical events of the organization and its members; To oversee elections; To handle any other Administrative duties deemed appropriate by the Campus Director.
Section I (f): Coalition Coordinator—His/Her duties and responsibilities: To form relationships with other Campus organizations and to initiate and organize co-sponsored events; To represent Democracy Matters at meetings of other organizations to stress how the corrupting influence of money in politics relates to their causes; To form relationships with local Ithaca organizations; To assist the Campus Coordinator in maintaining relationships with other chapters of Democracy Matters and to organize co-sponsored events.
Section I (g): High School Project Director—His/Her duties and responsibilities: To coordinate a semesterly/yearly visit to local high schools for the purpose of educating students as well as ourselves; To facilitate communication between Democracy Matters (National) and the local high schools.
Section I (h): Counsel—His/Her duties and responsibilities: To advise and consult the Core on all appropriate matters.
Section II. The Main Core will be made up of 4-20 officers, each with different and unique duties responsibilities. Each officer will be appointed by the appropriate Inner Core Officer and will be directly responsible to the respective Officer.
Section II (a): Web Site Manager—His/Her duties and responsibilities: To create and update a Web Site specifically designed for the Cornell Chapter of Democracy Matters.
Section II (b): News Letter Manager—His/Her duties and responsibilities: To edit a News Letter distributed regularly (as for how often will be determined by the Inner Core). The News Letter should be based upon the principles of educating and promoting the tenets articulated in Article I.
Section II (c): News, Current Events, and Legislative Reporter—His/Her duties and responsibilities: To report on News pertaining to issues related to Democracy Matters; To report on Current Events that interest Democracy Matters; To report on local and federal legislation that interests Democracy Matters.
Section II (d): Director of Underclassmen Development—His/Her duties and responsibilities: To devise and execute a recruitment strategy for attracting Underclassmen to the organization.
Section II (e): Assistant-in-Charge—His/Her position(s) is created to encourage the active participation as well as to train General Members in the operations of the organization. His/Her duties and responsibilities: To be congruent with the duties and responsibilities of the officer He/She is assisting; To be referred to as “Assistant X,” where X represents the position He/She is assisting.
Section III. New positions may be proposed by any Inner Core member and may be made official by a unanimous vote of the Inner Core. This new position, having been created by the order of the Inner Core, will thus expire at the end of this Inner Core’s term. An Amendment may be proposed, formally introducing this position into the Constitution.
Section IV. Faculty Advisor—He/She is a necessary and vital part to the organization. His/Her duties and responsibilities: To make sure the transition from Core to Core runs smooth; To advise on all matters which concern the organization; To act as liaison between the organization and Cornell faculty; To meet with the Core at least monthly in order to ensure a close, working relationship.
Section V. Impeachment Proceedings of Inner Core and Main Core Members—In the event an Inner Core member is not performing his/her duties and is determined that he/she is no longer suited for the position of Inner Core member, a unanimous majority vote by all Inner Core members irrespective of the Inner Core member in question, will formally Impeach the respective member. A two-thirds majority vote by General Members is necessary for the formal expulsion of the officer from the organization. Main Core officers can be relieved of their duties at the will of the Inner Core officer appointee.
Article III. General Membership
Section I. General members form the body of Democracy Matters, for whom without, this organization would be naught. In order to be considered a “Member,” an individual must come to one of the weekly General Members meetings.
Section II. All General members are invited to Core meetings.
Section III. General members will have the right to vote on matters brought to attention at General Meetings.
Section IV. Yet, in order to vote during elections, an individual General Member must qualify by abiding by the, “Election Attendance Policy,” which will be instated five meetings prior to elections (the Election meeting being the sixth meeting). An individual must attend three out of these five meetings in order to be eligible to vote in the election.
Section VI. Membership may be revoked only if a member is found in violation of upholding and practicing the tenets expressed in Article I. The Inner Core Officers will decide by two-thirds vote whether a member stands in violation. In the event of a tie, the Campus Coordinator will cast the deciding vote.
Article IV. Meetings
Section I. Core Meetings will be conducted weekly. Each Core Meeting will be scheduled by the Campus Coordinator and Campus Director, and accordingly, will be facilitated by the Campus Coordinator and Campus Director. Each Core Meeting will have a written Agenda prepared by the Campus Director consisting of the following orders of business:
• The first order of business will be to educate. This process will consist of two presentations on separate articles. Each presentation will be conducted by a Core Member and will last no longer than a combined 10 minutes. Core Members will rotate appropriately so each member presents at least once a month.
• The second order of business requires each Inner Core Member to report on the news of the past week.
• The third order of business will be to open the meeting to any new points or issues for discussion.
• The fourth order of business will be to create an Agenda for the following week, complete with the delegation of the Scribe of the Week.
Section II. General Meetings will also be conducted weekly. Each General Meeting will be scheduled by the Campus Coordinator and Campus Director, and accordingly, will be facilitated by the Campus Coordinator and Campus Director.
• The first order of business will be to educate. This can include presentations about legislation, reform movements in other areas, and current events related to deepening democracy. Also, a packet, for the purpose of introducing new members to the respective issue, will be presented to new members.
• The second order of business requires each Committee to report on the news of the past week.
• The third order of business will be to discuss and to trade new ideas for each of the campaigns.
• The fourth order of business will be to break off into individual committees to work on respective campaigns (this meeting does not have to occur at this time but must take place weekly.
Section III. Monthly General Meetings/Events will be held to draw in new membership and educate the campus. Each Meeting will be unique and will reflect the Mission Statement of Democracy Matters—To educate, to inspire, and to act. The Agenda will vary from conducting presentations for the purpose of educating, to Talks and Videos for the purpose of facilitating conversation and debate. Each meeting must start on time and must have a set agenda. General Members will be updated on the progress of the organization.
Article V. Voting and Elections
Section I. All “Voting Members” of Democracy Matters have the right to vote on candidates of the elected positions of the Core.
Section I (a): A majority of all Voting Members present at the respective General Meeting will elect an Inner Core member. In an election of greater than two candidates, if no candidate wins with a clear majority, the two candidates who emerge with the greatest number of votes will then face off in a second election. The candidate with the majority of the votes in this second election will be elected.
Section I (b): In the event of a tied election for any one officer, the current Campus Coordinator will cast the deciding vote.
Section I (c): In the event of a tied election for the Campus Coordinator, a second debate will take place, followed by a second vote.
Section II. Elections will be conducted annually and will take place six weeks before the end of Spring semester. All elected Core positions will be open to new candidates or incumbents. There are no term limits except for graduation.
Section II (a): Elections will be held at the General Meeting which is scheduled closest to five weeks prior to the end of Spring Semester.
Section II (b): The Officer-Elect will not be inaugurated until the final Core Meeting of the Spring Semester. The six weeks interim period will be a time in which the Officer-Elects will attend every Core Meeting for the purpose acclimating each officer-elect to his/her new position. Each Officer-Elect will work with his/her complimentary Core officer in order to ensure the proper training.
Section III. In the event an elected officer cannot fulfill his/her duties and responsibilities and steps down from his/her office, the current Inner Core will appoint a person to fill that position effective immediately. The new officer will be vested with the same rights and be under the same obligations that the resigned officer retained when active as a Core Member. The new officer must run for re-election (if he/she so desires) at the next election date and will be subject to all of the laws articulated in Article VI. When appointing the new officer, the Core will take into consideration the past election results.
Article VI. Amendments
Section I. Any six Inner Core Members or six Voting Members may introduce an Amendment to the Constitution by submitting it, in writing, to the Secretary.
Section I (a): A unanimous vote, by the Core, in favor of the Amendment, is necessary for the adoption of the Amendment.
Section II (b): If the Core cannot reach a unanimous vote, the Amendment is passed to the General Members for voting. A two-thirds majority of all Voting Members present at the respective meeting will ratify the Amendment.
Section II. Should the General Members vote on an Amendment, a copy of the proposed Amendment will be made available to all members at least two days prior to the meeting.
Section III. The time period for the debate will be set by the Core and may be extended if deemed necessary by the Core. A vote is to be taken after the debate.
Section IV. An Amendment may only be proposed once. If voted down, that proposed Amendment must not be submitted again unless it is rewritten to reflect different principles or unless the semester in which it was proposed has expired.