Bylaws of the Council of Graduate Students
April 6, 2005

The Council may adopt such by-laws as may be necessary to carry out the duties of the Council as stated in the Constitution.

Any addition or changes to the current version of the By-Laws shall be proposed at regular Council meetings and approved by a simple majority for future consideration. The proposed addition or changes to the current by-laws shall be sent to each voting member of the Executive Board one week prior to the vote. It must then be approved by a simple majority vote of the Executive Board, and approved by the University through Student Affairs Committee.

1. Definition of a Bylaw

Any CGS action which is intended to have a permanent effect on this document must be approved in the form of a Bylaw. Each Bylaw may have a title. Each Bylaw must be followed by the word "Approved" with the date of approval on the same line. Each new Bylaw must be submitted in the form of a bill.

2. Amendments to Bylaws

Section 1

Amendments to a Bylaw must be submitted in the form of a bill. Any pages of the Bylaw which contain changes must be included with this bill. On these pages, portions to be omitted from the old Bylaw must appear in strikeouts. Portions to be added must appear in boldface. The word "Amended" must be added to the end of the Bylaw with the date of the approval of the amendment.

Section 2

Revocation of an entire Bylaw must be submitted in the form of a bill.

3. Official Copies of the Bylaws

The following offices or individuals shall receive and hold official copies of the Council of Graduate Student Bylaws:

1. Council of Graduate Students
2. Department of Student Life
3. Vice-Chancellor of Student Affairs
4. Council of Graduate Students Advisor
5. Each Council of Graduate Students Representative

4. Membership Rules and Procedures

Section 1

The representative and his/her department shall be notified after each unexcused absence from a Council meeting. If the council fails to notify the representative of his/her absence within three weeks following the meeting, then the absence is excused.

Section 2

For an absence to be excused the Vice President has to be informed prior to the meeting and a proxy appointed prior according to the provisions of Article VII Section C of the constitution.

Section 3

Any member failing to comply with Article VI, Section C of the Constitution will be expelled by the President. The member will be allowed an appeal at the next meeting following his/her expulsion. A 2/3rd majority of the council is required to reinstate a member removed for excessive absences. If a member is brought up for removal for excessive absences but is not removed, the member's unexcused absences will be reset to one.

Section 4

Any department whose representative has been expelled from Council may re-elect a new representative at the start of the following academic year.

Section 5

In the event that a department's representative is replaced, the absences of the outgoing representative will carry over to the incoming representative.

5. Orientation of New Council of Graduate Students Members

Section 1

Persons who are serving their first semester as members on Council of Graduate Students shall attend one mandatory New Member Orientation Meeting. Optional meetings may be scheduled as necessary. An unexcused absence from a mandatory New Member Orientation Meeting will be counted as one unexcused absence from a regular Council of Graduate Students Meeting.

Section 2

The purposes of the New Member Orientation Meeting are

1. to encourage, in an informal setting, interaction between new Council of Graduate Students members and officers, and
2. to explain to new representatives some of the formal procedures of Council of Graduate Students in order to increase the quality of representation.

6. Council of Graduate Students General Service Hours

Section 1

General Service Hours will be defined as participation time in Council of Graduate Students activities beyond regular general meeting. Also, regular internal committee meetings shall not be counted towards General Service Hours.

Section 2

The number of General Service Hours required for each Council of Graduate Students member during a semester will be set by the Executive Board at their first meeting of the semester.

Section 3

Appropriate projects include, but are not limited to the following:

1. Working on events conducted by Council of Graduate Students Internal Committees
2. Helping with a community service projects approved by the Executive Board in the general meetings
3. Working at a Council of Graduate Students in other on-campus/off- campus booth/table

Section 4

The Vice President shall have the authority and responsibility to

1. Approve any appropriate service events, including those not listed above
2. Keep records of project hours
3. Notify Council of Graduate Students members when project hours are due

Section 5

Members who miss more than one project hour during a semester will be expelled from Council of Graduate Students as stated in Bylaw 4.

7. Office Hours for Executive Body Members

Section 1

The officers must hold office hours in the Council of Graduate Students designated office at least two hours a week. The individual officers will announce their regular office hours at the first meeting of the semester and will hold to that unless excused by the President.

Section 2

The President will oversee the regular maintenance of the office hours by the other officers.

8. Internal Committees and Appointment Procedures

Section 1

The membership on the Council of Graduate Students standing committees shall be composed of any members of the Council of Graduate Students. Each Executive Board member of the Council of Graduate Students shall be required to serve on at least one (1) standing committee, unless excused by the Council of Graduate Students officers.

Section 2

The Vice President shall announce the available committee chairmanships to the entire Council after the committee is formed and as positions become available throughout the school year. The chairman of the standing committee shall be appointed by the Council of Graduate Student officers. Any member of the committee shall eligible to be considered as Chairperson.

Section 3

The Committee Chairperson shall nominate a member of his or her committee to be recognized as an Outstanding Committee Member and the member shall be recognized at the annual recognition banquet. Upon nomination the Executive Board shall vote on the candidate. All students who were members of the committee either or both semesters shall be eligible.

Section 4

Ad Hoc committees can be appointed by the vice president. These groups will be used to fulfill duties of special interest or that require special members. The ad hoc committees can be dissolved if the purpose has been served. The vice president will have the power to dissolve the ad hoc committee if requires. The volunteers in these groups will not have the powers of a Council of Graduate Students Executive Body member unless he or she is already Executive Body member.

9. Committee Chair Evaluation

Section 1

The evaluation process shall be administered by the Vice-President unless the committee chair is the Vice-President himself or herself. In such case, President will administer the evaluation process. The evaluation will be reported to the Executive Body.

10. Agenda Procedures

Section 1

For an item of business to be placed on the agenda, the item must be presented in writing to the Executive Board at least 14 business days.

Section 2

The Council of Graduate Students Secretary will post the agenda and all required written material where it is accessible to the Council of Graduate Students membership within five to seven days before the regular Council meeting for which the agenda applies. The Secretary will also inform the Council of Graduate Students Board of Representative membership of the above posting at least five-seven days before that same Council meeting.

Section 3

Only the Executive Board may utilize Council of Graduate Student resources to relay all business items to be voted on by general membership.

Section 4

The agenda will be approved by Council before the transaction of any business. Prior to this approval, items which did not follow the procedures of Sections 1 and 2 of this Bylaw can be added with a two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of Council members who cast a vote.

11. Bill and Resolution Approval

The vice president will correct the punctuation, spelling, and format of all Bills and Resolutions that are approved by Council of Graduate Student. To ensure that these changes do not alter the content or intent of a Bill or Resolution, the author(s) of the Bill or Resolution will approve the corrections to the Bill or Resolution before action is taken upon it.

12. Suspension of the Bylaws

The Bylaws of Council of Graduate Students can be suspended by a three- fourths (3/4) majority vote of the members present excluding sections which list higher voting requirements. Higher voting requirements shall be enforced as listed per section. Correct parliamentary procedures and restrictions listed in the constitution shall be followed in all cases. Motions to suspend the Bylaws must state specific bylaw(s) to suspend in order to be accepted by the chairperson. The motion to suspend a bylaw may be debatable.

13. Intercampus Council of Graduate Students

The Council of Graduate Students shall hold active membership in the Inter-Campus Student Council (ISC). The membership shall be maintained as per the ISC constitution.