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Tufts Undergraduate Urban Studies Collective
Urban Policy, Planning, & Prosperity (UP3)
CONSTITUTION
(reviewed 2/1/2015)
CONTACT:
UP3Tufts@gmail.com
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/up3attuftsuniversity
https://www.facebook.com/groups/347466522013758/
ARTICLE 1: NAME, PURPOSE, AND AFFILIATION
1. The name of this organization shall be Urban Policy, Planning, and Prosperity (UP3).
2. UP3 is Tufts University’s undergraduate student-led urban development organization. UP3's
mission is to understand the interconnected social, economic, political, environmental, and of
course, physical factors that result in different types of cities, while collaborating with leaders
and practitioners in the field for integrated policy, planning, and design solutions to various
urban problems through travel, research, and presentations of case-studies to the Tufts
community and to leaders in the field.
3. UP3 has collaborated with the UEP, as well as Tisch College's IPC, and has reached out to
other Tufts programs such as the IGL, but UP3 is not part of these programs at all, it is a
separate undergraduate student group. UP3 is independent of these larger Tufts programs as
Tufts' only undergraduate urban development group.
4. For clarification, UP3 is an undergraduate student organization. It is not UEP, Tufts' graduate
program for urban and environmental policy and planning, which has its own graduate-level
student organizations.
ARTICLE 2: MEMBERSHIP
1. All students who have paid their Student Activities fees and who are interested in urban
issues can become an UP3’er; prior experience is preferred but there are no requirements.
2. UP3 is a democratic group, in which all members have equal privileges and opportunities to
maximize their capacities, within the general framework that the group collectively decides
(i.e., a member can explore urban interests within the case-study that the group votes for).
3. There are no formal positions in UP3; members can take on as much as they’d like and
through that empowerment can list their achievements in UP3.
4. UP3 does not discriminate based upon race, religion, gender, nationality, handicap, sexual
orientation, or age; UP3 strives to maximize choice, responsibility, and individual as well as
group capacity.
ARTICLE 3: OFFICERS
1. Officers may choose to meet outside of the weekly meeting.
2. An individual may only hold one position as an officer.
3. The Director (Meeting Organizer) shall be responsible for:
I) Running meetings and facilitating discussions.
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II) Calling and recording votes within the group should there be any.
III) Overseeing the other officers’ work
IV) Ensuring that the group is re-recognized by the TCU Judiciary.
V) Being the primary contact for the group]
VI) Being a signatory for the group if funding is requested
The Outreach Coordinator shall be responsible for:
I) Publicizing meetings, events and group membership.
II) Speaking with media entities and contacting the group via email and social media.
The Assistant Director shall be responsible for:
I) Researching specifics and logistics of trips, events and other group activities.
II) Compiling research for case studies.
The Student Advisor shall be responsible for:
I) Finding, contacting and bringing speakers to meetings and events.
II) Gathering information from and lobbying "parent groups" including but not limited to
the Department of UEP and the IGL.
The Treasurer shall be responsible for:
I) Overseeing the club budget and ensuring that all UP3 finances is to be accounted for by
UP3 and TCU.
II) Creating, alongside the other members of UP3, the budget every spring semester to
submit to TCU for the following academic year.
III) Being a signatory if TCU funding is requested.
More positions & responsibilities may be added via constitutional amendment (see Article 7).
ARTICLE 4: ELECTION AND IMPEACHMENT
1. An Officer may be impeached from his or her position if he or she:
a. Is found to have neglected the responsibilities of officer's position.
b. Is found to be in violation of this constitution.
c. Is found to be in violation of the TCU Constitution, University Policies, or any law in
connection with his or her involvement with UP3.
2. Impeachments are to take place in the same manner as constitutional amendments and require
a 2/3 majority vote to take effect.
3. Not applicable; see Article 2, Section 1-4 (we are all ‘officers’ at this time).
ARTICLE 5: MEETINGS
1. UP3 strives to meet on a weekly basis.
2. UP3 makes announcements on its Google Group E-list as well as its Facebook Group (see
links above); these announcements serve as provisions necessary for calling special meetings.
3. There is no attendance policy for meetings, UP3 is not a class. However, UP3’ers are
accountable to the group as the group depends on their work and participation, and as a
relatively small group, UP3’ers are incentivized to participate as everyone has a purpose in
the group. The founders will ask members to do certain tasks if the members are not stepping
up independently; of course, members must choose to take on this work, but by asking them,
they will hopefully accept and feel more engaged & empowered in UP3.
4. There is no quorum for holding meetings, but there must be at least 12 members present to
amend this constitution; so long as there is at least more than one person at the meeting then
it will occur (if those members want to still meet).
5. The majority vote is the UP3 voting rule.
6. Parliamentary procedure not necessary at this point in time.
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ARTICLE 6: COMMITTEES
1. UP3 may divide weekly meetings into specific sub-groups in order to work on specific
aspects of the projects we will be delving into (i.e., social, economic, political,
environmental, or physical aspects of the case-study, or a networking group, event planning
group, and so on). These ‘committees’ will be organized voluntarily as the group progresses
in its work and the founders will help move things along if members aren’t stepping up (but
founders are not formal ‘officers’, as we are a new, collective group right now and Article 3
+ Article 4 do not apply at this time).
ARTICLE 7: AMENDMENTS AND BY-LAWS
1. Anyone may propose an amendment to any article in the constitution except for Article I (the
name, purpose, and goals of UP3 will not be changed; however, although the general
structure of UP3 is permanent, within this general structure is the ability of every member to
decide what to focus on related to urban development issues – therefore, the structure
ironically allows for a lack of structure, and for an ability to think beyond the box, instead of
inhibiting creativity in an ill-advised rigid framework).
2. To submit an amendment, it must be shared first to everyone in the group via our E-list and at
our weekly meeting. Then, at our meeting, we must discuss it together.
3. The amendment will be ratified by a 2/3 majority vote.
4. By-laws not applicable at this point in time.
5. All amendments to the constitution must be approved by the TCU-J via a majority vote.
ARTICLE 8: ADHERENCE TO COLLEGE POLICIES
1. UP3 adheres to all college rules, regulations, and policies and local, state, and federal laws.
2. UP3 adheres to Office for Campus Life (OCL), and TCU/J Constitution policies.
3. UP3 adheres to and is in harmony with all articles of the TCU Constitution.
ARTICLE 9: ADVISOR
1. UP3 hopes to find multiple advisors that have experience in urban policy, planning, and
development (transportation, architecture, anthropology, sociology, economics, political
science, history, art history, and so on).
2. The advisor will help review UP3’s urban policies and plans (i.e., our research and
solutions); the advisor will also hopefully help us network in the field, but the advisor
CANNOT vote.