THE SPEECH AND DEBATE SOCIETY
CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS
Article One: Name
Section I: The official title of this organization shall be The Speech and Debate Society.
Article Two: Purpose
Section I: The purpose of the St. Mary’s College of Catbalogan Speech and Debate
Team is to provide a platform for developing and practicing the principles of organized
and intellectual speaking. All members of the team serve this purpose by studying
public speaking techniques and applying those techniques to argumentation and
individual speaking situations. This experience will include competition at high school
speech and debate tournaments.
Article Three: Membership
Section I: Membership to The Speech and Debate Club will be open to any St. Mary’s
College of Catbalogan student who is interested in learning about and practicing the art
of rhetoric.
Section II: The Speech and Debate Society welcomes all students regardless of age,
gender, orientation, race, or religion.
Section III: The moderator shall be considered a member.
Article Four: Officers and elections
Section I: There are five offices open for election:
Section II: Officers will be elected after the Club Day for the school year.
Section III: Candidates for office must be existing members of the club.
Section V: Duties of offices:
A: President:
1. Presides over all club meetings.
2. Acts as the official representative.
3. Organizes agenda for weekly meetings.
B: Vice President:
1. Assumes responsibility for club if president steps down.
2. Organizes all club field trips and activities.
C. Secretary:
1. Notifies all members of scheduled meetings and events.
2. Prepares, keeps, and reads minutes from each meeting.
3. Designs and makes copies of flyers.
4. Works with the advisor to put club announcements in the student bulletin.
D. Treasurer:
1. Works with the advisor to handle all club finances.
2. Keeps records of all club income and expenses.
3. Prepares a financial report for budget-related meetings.
E. Auditor:
1. Contacts local businesses for material support and donations.
2. Works with the treasurer to manage monies gathered from fundraisers.
Article Five: Meetings
Section I: Regular meetings will be held every other Thursday after class hours.
Section II: Any additional meetings are to be called by the president (as necessary) and
only with the moderator’s approval.
Article Six: Amendments
Section I: All amendments must be proposed by an officer and approved by the
moderator.
Section II: Any and all amendments to this constitution must be passed by a
three/fourths vote of club members and have the approval of the moderator.