Commuter Students
Organization
Constitution
Commuter Students Organization
The Ohio State University
Created August, 2003
Preamble
We, the advocates of the Commuter Students of The Ohio State University, believing that
a student organization is needed to enhance the university experience for that division of
students, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the Commuter Students
Organization.
Article I – Name, Purpose, and Non-Discrimination Policy of the Organization
Section 1: Name: The Commuter Students Organization at The Ohio State
University. For the purposes of this document, the group will henceforth be known simply
as CSO.
Section 2: Purpose: The purposes of this organization shall be:
1.
2.
3.
4.
To act as an advisory group to the commuter student population at the
Ohio State University;
To sponsor activities and encourage communication among commuter
students in order to provide for the continuing growth of students’
involvement, participation and belonging to the Ohio State University.
To communicate the interests of commuter students concerning campus
issues and University policy to the commuter senators on the Under
Graduate Student Government.
To assist in the planning of programs for commuter students, including
social events, welcome activities and other such programs;
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5.
To create an organization through which commuter students of the
Ohio State University can take leadership roles and contribute to the
involvement of commuter students to the University community.
Section 3: Non-Discrimination Policy: The Commuter Student Organization
shall not discriminate against any individual(s) for reasons of race, color, creed, religion,
sexual orientation, national origin, sex, age, disability, or veteran status.
Article II – Membership: Types of Membership
Section 1: Officers: Officers are elected by their peers in the commuter student
population by a process to be decided each Spring Quarter.
Section 2: Committee Co-Chairpersons: For each committee sanctioned by CSO,
one Committee Co-Chairperson will be appointed by a vote of the CSO and one
Committee Co-Chairperson will be appointed by the president of CSO.
Section 4: Non-Voting Representatives: Non-voting Representatives in CSO are
off campus students at Ohio State, who, although not elected as Officers, have decided to
attend meetings of the CSO. Non-Voting Representatives may participate in discussion or
debate at meetings of the CSO.
Article III – Membership: Qualifications for Membership
Section 1: Qualifications for Membership: All members of the CSO must be fulltime or part-time students at The Ohio State University, who have at one time commuted
to campus or are currently living in off-campus housing.
Section 2: Qualifications for Officers and Committee Co-Chairpersons: In
addition to the requirements stated in Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution, Officers of
the CSO must have completed two full-time quarters (twenty-four credit hours) at The
Ohio State University.
Article IV: Organization Leadership: Titles, Terms of Office, Selection of Leaders, and
Removal of Leaders From Office
Section 1: Titles: Within the CSO, there shall be four Officers, a President, a VicePresident, a Treasurer, and a Secretary. There shall also be two committee co-chairpersons.
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Section 2: Terms of Office: The Officers of the CSO shall have term lengths of
approximately one year, beginning two weeks after the tallying of election results; elections
are held in April of each year.
Section 3: Type of Selection: The Officers shall be chosen by a vote of all
members of the CSO program and shall be chosen via an internet ballot. . The election
may be conducted via email to the organization’s advisor or on an electronic voting website
and shall be so done at the discretion of the organization’s advisor.
Section 4: Official Duties of the President: The President of the organization
shall be responsible for conducting the organization’s meetings. This function includes
calling to and maintaining order during the duration of meetings of the CSO and
presenting the agenda for each meeting. The President shall give the introduction to each
meeting, introduce the meeting agenda, and conduct any preliminary discussions to voting
on new business. If there are to be no votes within the meeting, the President shall
conduct all discussion within the meeting. In addition, the President will serve as the
official liaison to the faculty advisor of CSO Furthermore, the President will be the official
diplomat and dignitary on behalf of the commuter student body at university functions
and events that require a representative on the program’s behalf, unless otherwise chosen
by the faculty advisor, a vote of the CSO, or by circumstance, such as a special invitation to
another member of the commuter student body.
Section 5: Official Duties of the Vice-President: The Vice-President of the
organization shall first and foremost assume all duties of the President should the
President not be able to fulfill them for any reason. In addition, the Vice-President shall
be the convenor of the Committee Co-Chairpersons of the organization. This duty shall
encompass monitoring the productivity of each committee, evaluating the need for the
continuation of each committee, and recommending the termination or creation of
committees to the CSO and to the faculty advisor. Furthermore, the Vice-President shall
be the Parliamentarian at meetings of the CSO, and thus, will be the official conductor of
debates pertaining to proposals to be voted upon and the act of voting itself.
Section 6: Official Duties of the Treasurer: The Treasurer of the organization
shall be responsible for keeping records of the organization’s finances. The Treasurer,
along with the organization’s advisor, will be responsible for signing the organization’s
checks in order to make purchases, pay debts, or otherwise exchange funds of the
organization. Also, the Treasurer will be responsible for informing all members of the
organization of the organization’s financial status.
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Section 7: Official Duties of the Secretary: The Secretary of the organization shall
be responsible for keeping written records of meetings of the CSO. The Secretary shall
produce for each meeting, a written minutes to be sent to all members of the CSO,
complete with all necessary details of the meeting and information regarding the time and
location of the next official meeting. In addition, the Secretary shall also be responsible for
making meeting reservations for the CSO, regarding the location and time of the meetings.
Section 8: Removal of Leaders From Office: If an Officer or committee
chairperson of the CSO fails to perform his or her duties, he or she may be subject to
dismissal from office at the hands of the remaining members of the CSO. Any of the
remaining Officers organization may make a proposal to dismiss an officer to the rest of
the CSO within a meeting, as governed by the normal rules of procedure of the
organization. A vote shall be conducted, without the presence of the Officer or committee
chairperson in question, and removal shall be granted in this case only if three-fourths of
the remaining officers and class representatives agree upon removal. In addition to this
method of removal, the faculty advisor may also recommend removal from office for any
Officer or committee chairperson, which will be decided via a vote as described above.
Furthermore, dismissal from The Ohio State University will immediately end the term of
office for an Officer or committee chairperson, without a vote being cast.
Article V: Standing Committees & Committee Co-Chairpersons:
Section 1: Names of Committees: Upon the inception of this Constitution, the
established Standing Committees shall be the computer committee.
Section 2: Composition of Committees: Committees shall be comprised of
members of the CSO. Only requirements listed in Article III, Section 1 must be met. In
addition, Officers of the CSO may participate in committee activities, including serving as
Committee Co-Chairpersons.
Section 3: Selection of Committee Co-Chairpersons: Henceforth, one
Committee Co-Chairperson for each of the committees listed in Section 1 of this article
shall be selected by the newly elected Officers shortly following their taking of office during
Spring Quarter, and one Committee Co-Chairperson for each of the committees listed in
Section 1 or this article shall be selected by the Program Coordinator shortly following the
elections during Spring Quarter. Committee Co-Chairpersons shall nominate themselves
via an application process. Applications for each Co-Chairperson will be distributed
during the same period in which elections for new Officers shall be held during April. The
new Officers and the faculty advisor shall then review the applications. The new Officers
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shall appoint one Committee Co-Chairperson for each committee via a vote. A 3/4
majority vote of the Officers shall be sufficient to accept Committee Co-Chairpersons into
their positions. The Program coordinator shall also appoint one Committee CoChairperson for each committee.
Section 4: Committee Co-Chairpersons Terms of Position: Committee CoChairpersons terms of position last approximately one year, starting immediately following
their selection by the Officers of the organization and the faculty advisor during Spring
Quarter until the next selection by Officers of the CSO and the faculty advisor the
following year. Committee Co-Chairpersons may apply for positions as Co-Chairpersons
as many times as they so choose, but will not necessarily be selected by the Officers of the
Organization or by the faculty advisor if they are incumbents.
Section 5: Addition of Ad Hoc Committees: Committees may be added to the
Commuter Student Organization via a vote of the organization. During Spring Quarter,
the Vice-President, acting as head of the Standing Committees, shall review the
committees’ actions from the previous academic year, and make recommendations for the
addition of a new committee(s) if he or she feels it is necessary. In addition, the faculty
advisor may also recommend the addition of a new Standing Committee for the
organization to vote upon. If a vote is passed by the organization for the addition of a new
Standing Committee, the committee shall become active upon the insertion of the new
Committee Co-Chairpersons to their positions following elections of Officers of CSO.
Section 6: Official Duties of Committee Co-Chairpersons: Committee CoChairpersons shall be responsible for determining the direction of each Standing
Committee during the academic year. Committee Co-Chairpersons shall be responsible
for recruiting other commuter students to assist them in their committee’s work, planning
events, programs, or activities for the commuter students within their committee’s given
area, and reporting their upcoming activities to the CSO during meetings of the
organization.
Article VI: Advisor(s) to the Organization:
Section 1: Number of Advisors: The Assistant Director of Off-Campus Student
Services at the Ohio State University will serve as the principal advisor to the organization
at all times, and thus, there must always be at least one advisor to CSO. The Program
Coordinator may, however, appoint others as secondary advisors to the group if he or she
so chooses.
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Section 2: Qualifications for Secondary Advisors: Secondary Advisors to the
organization must be above the undergraduate level of study and must be either enrolled as
either graduate or professional students at The Ohio State University or faculty or staff
members at The Ohio State University. In addition, the faculty advisor may supplement
these requirements at his or her discretion.
Section 3: Official Duties of the Advisor: The Advisor(s) are responsible for
overseeing the group’s activities and making certain that the organization is staying within
the bounds of its Constitution and all of the policies of The Ohio State University.
Furthermore, at least one advisor, along with the organization’s Treasurer, is responsible
for co-signing each check issued on behalf of the organization.
Article VII: Meetings of the Organization:
Section 1: Meeting Style: Meetings shall be conducted according to Robert’s Rules
of Order. In order to proceed, either the President or the Vice-President, acting as President,
must be present. In the event that only the President is present, he or she shall act as both
acting President and Vice-President, encompassing all the duties of both roles. The same is
true should only the Vice-President be present. The President of the organization shall
begin and end each meeting, introduce non-voting topics of discussion, and introduce any
guest speakers. The Vice-President, serving as Parliamentarian, shall regulate voting
procedure and discussion of issues being voted upon.
Section 2: Frequency of Meetings: Meetings of the CSO will be held bi-weekly
during the academic year at a regular meeting time to be decided quarterly by the members
of the CSO, including all Officers.
Section 3: Cancellation of Meetings: Meetings of the CSO may be cancelled via a
vote of the organization at the meeting preceding the meeting that has been brought up for
cancellation. Only the acting President may bring to vote a measure to cancel a regularly
scheduled meeting of the organization.
Section 4: Calling of Special Meetings: A special meeting may be called during
the academic year by two methods. The faculty advisor of the CSO may call a special
meeting of the CSO so long as he or she gives three days notice to members of the
organization. The second method must be proposed and voted upon by the organization
at a regularly scheduled meeting.
Article VIII: Ratification of the Constitution:
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Section 1: Ratification: The Constitution of the CSO shall be ratified only after
approval by the founding Officers, Committee Co-Chairpersons, and Advisor of the
organization.
Article IX: Method of Amending the Constitution:
Section 1: Proposal of Amendments: Proposals for amendments to the
Constitution of the Commuter Students Organization shall be made at meetings of the
Commuter Students Organization. Anyone in attendance at a meeting may make a
proposal for an amendment, but the amendment must be submitted to the President of
the Commuter Students Organization at least one week ahead of time in order to be
considered.
Section 2: Passage of Amendments: Amendments will only be added to the
Constitution after a rigorous voting process. First, the CSO must pass the proposed
amendment by a 4/5 majority vote as described in Article X of the Constitution. After
passage by the organization, the proposed amendment shall be put before the general
membership of the program, which then must pass the measure by a 2/3 majority of those
who vote on the proposal, as described in Article X. An amendment to the Constitution
shall become active immediately upon its passage by the general body of the commuter
population.
Article X: Method of Election of Officers and Vote Distribution:
Section 1: Election of Officers: Officers of the CSO shall be elected by the
general membership of the CSO during April of each year. Nominations for office may be
made by any member of the Ohio State commuter student population but the proposed
nominee must accept the nomination for him- or herself. Nominees must be made known
to the Program Coordinator at least two weeks prior to the election. The election shall be
conducted via the internet. Votes shall be tallied by the Advisor/Program Coordinator in
order to maintain fairness for all candidates. The nominee with the most votes for each
Officer position shall be awarded the election. A majority vote of at least 50% is not
needed for election, as more than two nominees may run for each office. In the case of a
tie, there will be a runoff election between the two top candidates until a winner is
declared.
Section 2: Distribution of Votes Amongst the Organization: During meetings of
the CSO, each Officer in the organization shall have one vote when a proposal is presented
to the organization. Non-Voting members of the CSO may participate in discussion of
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proposals to the organization but will not be permitted voting privileges when a measure is
called to question.
Article XI: Dissolution of the Organization:
Section 1: Method of Dissolution: First and foremost, the organization shall be
dissolved should the Ohio State University itself be disbanded. The second method of
dissolution may occur via a recommendation of dissolution from the Assistant Director,
who may end the organization at any time. The Advisor to the organization, must,
however provide to the CSO a written statement detailing the reasons for dissolution.
Section 2: Disposing of Assets and Debts Upon Dissolution: Should the
organization be dissolved for any reasons, any monetary assets that the group has attained
shall be given to The Office for Off-Campus Students at The Ohio State University. Any
non-monetary assets shall be distributed at the discretion of the Officers and Advisor of the
CSO. Furthermore, it shall be the responsibility of the Treasurer and the Advisor of the
organization, whose names appear on the organization’s checks, to deal with any debt that
has been incurred by the organization at the time of dissolution. Also, the responsibility of
closing any bank accounts in the name of the organization shall fall upon the Treasurer
and the Advisor, whose names appear on the checks at the time of dissolution.
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Commuter Students
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Constitution
The Commuter Students Organization
The Ohio State University
Signed:
_______________________
Jesse LaSalle, President
_______________________
Jeremy Lange, Vice President
_______________________
Bethany Cunningham
Treasurer
_______________________
Francesca Gomez
Secretary/Communications
_______________________
Sean McLaughlin
Advisor
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