GSAC Judicial-Legislative Policies & Procedures
Section 1: Duties of the Judicial - Legislative Commission.
a. As stated in the Graduate Student Advisory Council Constitution: Enforce and review the
constitution of the Graduate Student Advisory Council and to make recommendations to the
Graduate Student Advisory Council for improvements when necessary (Article V, Section 9,
Paragraph E, Number 1).
b. As stated in the Graduate Student Advisory Council Constitution: Review proposed amendments
to the constitution to ensure they follow the mission and goals of the Graduate Student
Advisory Council (Article V, Section 9, Paragraph E, Number 2).
c. As stated in the Graduate Student Advisory Council Constitution: Make decisions concerning
excused/unexcused absences from working meetings and propose new amendments concerning
definitions of impeachable offenses (Article V, Section 9, Paragraph E, Number 3).
d. As stated in the Graduate Student Advisory Council Constitution: Oversee the impeachment
process of the Graduate Student Advisory Council members (Article V, Section 9, Paragraph E,
Number 4).
e. As stated in the Graduate Student Advisory Council Constitution: Report to the Graduate
Student Advisory Council Internal Vice President (Article V, Section 9, Paragraph E, Number 5).
Section 2: Appeal process for absence policy decisions (Section 1, Paragraph C).
a. In the event that a member disagrees with a decision made by the commission about an
excused/unexcused absence, they may submit a formal notification via email or letter, no later
than 72 hours after they receive the decision, wishing for an appeal.
b. The Commission Chair shall then be responsible for setting a date for an appeal case no later
than one week from said notification.
c. The Commission Chair shall serve as the Chair for the case.
d. The Members of the Commission shall appoint one Member to serve as the Defendant.
e. The Plaintiff in the appeal shall start first with 5-10 minutes to present his/her case.
f. The Defendant will then be granted 5-10 minutes to respond.
g. The Chair will determine if it is necessary for further discussion to continue.
h. The Plaintiff shall then be excused from the room and the Commission will have 5-10 minutes to
discuss.
i. The Plaintiff shall be brought back into the room and the Commission will vote. A simple 2/3
vote is required by paper ballot, which is collected and read by the Graduate Student Advisory
Council Secretary.
j.
If the member disagrees with the decision made by the Commission they may take their appeal
to the Executive Board for a ruling.
k. If the member disagrees with the decision by the Executive Board, then the Judicial – Legislative
Commission shall organize a case to be held during the next Graduate Student Advisory Council
working meeting.
Section 3: Appeal process for absence policy decision with Executive Board (Section 2, Paragraph J).
a. In the event that the member does not agree with the Judicial – Legislative appeal decision, the
member may wish to bring his/her case to the Executive Board by submitting a formal
notification via email or letter to the Internal – Vice President. The Board will then hold an
appeal case at their next Executive meeting in the same format as Section 2.
b. The Internal – Vice President shall serve as the Chair of the case.
c. The Executive Board shall follow the same format found in Section 2 paragraphs D – I.
Section 4: Appeal process for absence policy decision with Graduate Student Advisory Council.
a. In the event that the member does not agree with the Executive Board appeal decision, the
member may wish to bring his/her case to the general Graduate Student Advisory Council by
submitting a formal notification to the Chief of Staff to be placed on the agenda for the
following working meeting.
b. During “New Business” of the following working meeting the plaintiff shall be given 5-10
minutes to present his/her case.
c. Following the 5-10 minutes, there will be 5-10 minutes allowed for question and answer from
the Council.
d. The plaintiff shall then be excused from the room and 5-10 minutes shall be allotted for the
Council to discuss the appeal.
e. The plaintiff shall be brought back into the room and the council shall vote. A simple 2/3 vote is
required by paper ballot, which is collected and read by the Graduate Student Advisory Council
Secretary.
Section 5: Removal of Officers and Representatives
a. As stated in the Graduate Student Advisory Council Constitution: A motion to move to impeach
must be brought to the floor of a working meeting and must be seconded by a voting member
of the Executive Board (Article 5, Section 2, Paragraph A, Number 1).
b. As stated in the Graduate Student Advisory Council Constitution: Upon being seconded, the
move to impeach must pass a simple majority vote of the Graduate Student Advisory Council
representatives in an anonymous paper ballot which will be counted by the Graduate Student
Advisory Council Secretary (Article 5, Section 2, Paragraph A, Number 2).
c. As stated in the Graduate Student Advisory Council Constitution: An impeachment hearing will
be conducted under supervision of the Judicial – Legislative Commission. During this hearing the
representative who motioned to impeach will present charges and state the case for the
removal, the impeached representative will be given an opportunity to present valid defense
and refute the charges brought against him/her (Article 5, Section 2, Paragraph A, Number 3).
d. As stated in the Graduate Student Advisory Council Constitution: At the next working meeting
following the impeachment hearing, the first order of business will be to conduct a vote to
remove the impeached representative. A two thirds vote must be reached to remove the
Graduate Student Advisory Council representative (Article 5, Section 2, Paragraph A, Number 4).
e. As stated in the Graduate Student Advisory Council Constitution: Members removed from the
GSAC by the impeachment process are not eligible to run for election on future Graduate
Student Advisory Council ballots (Article 5, Section 2, Paragraph A, Number 5).
f. As stated in the Graduate Student Advisory Council Constitution: A vote to remove a member
may only take place if a quorum is present (Article 5, Section 2, Paragraph A, Number 6).
Section 6: Impeachment Process of GSAC Members (Section 1, Paragraph D).
a. Following the working Graduate Student Advisory Council meeting, the Judicial – Legislative
Chair shall be responsible for setting up a hearing to occur at least 1 week before the next
working meeting.
b. The Commission Chair shall serve as the Chair for the hearing.
c. The Plaintiff shall be the member who brought up the motion for impeachment from the
working meeting.
d. The Defendant in the impeachment process shall start first by presenting his/her case, followed
by the Plaintiff. This process will continue a total of two times unless the chair deems it
necessary to continue more.
e. The Defendant shall be brought back into the room and the Commission shall vote. A simple 2/3
vote is required by paper ballot, which is collected and read by the Graduate Student Advisory
Council Secretary.
f. Following the next Graduate Student Advisory Council working meeting, the hearing shall be
placed first on “New Business”.
g. The Judicial – Legislative Chair shall read the verdict from the hearing and explain decision
made.
h. The Member to be impeached will have a chance for question and answers from the general
membership. There will be 10 minutes allotted for question and answer. The Council may wish
to motion to extend time if necessary.
i.
j.
Following question and answers, the voting members of the Council will vote. A simple 2/3 vote
is required by paper ballot, which is collected and ready by the Graduate Student Advisory
Council Secretary.
Quorum must be present for the vote to take place. If it is not, then it will be automatically
tabled until the next working Graduate Student Advisory Council meeting.
Drafted: 11/13/2012
Modified 12/3/12 – Grammatical changes and no GSAC abbreviations