The Charles Drew Health Professions Society (CDHPS)
Constitution
ARTICLE 1
The name of this organization shall be: The Charles Drew Health Professions Society
ARTICLE 2
The purposes of this organization are:
2.1 To provide pre-health students of Amherst College with the support and
encouragement necessary for success in pre-health studies.
2.2 To provide a forum for the discussion of issues pre-health students may face.
2.3 To inform pre-health students of Amherst College of available internships, jobs, researches
or conferences that may assist in the making of career decisions.
2.4 To serve the community by volunteering assistance at high schools, clinics, shelters or other
service type institutions.
2.5 To inform pre-health students of medical school programs that they may be interested in
applying to. This may be achieved in a variety of ways including having speakers from medical
schools at meetings and visiting health graduate schools.
ARTICLE 3
The membership of this organization shall comprise of:
Active Amherst College students who are taking a pre-health study track or who are considering to
do so.
ARTICLE 4
No discrimination of membership shall take place on the basis of age, race, sex, sexual
orientation, religion, handicap, economic status and national or ethnic origin.
ARTICLE 5
The executive of this organization shall comprise of the following positions:
5.1
Two co-chairmen. The two co-chairmen shall be the chief officers of the organization and
shall conduct all meetings of the general organization and executive board. They shall make
all committee assignments with approval of the executive board and shall be a member exofficio of all committees. They shall have general supervision over all the organization’s
programs. The office of co-chairman is an appointed office; the position is filled after the cochairmen from the previous functioning year come to a consensus on which active member
of the Society they will appoint.
5.2
One secretary. The secretary shall keep the records and proceedings of the
organization. He or she shall be responsible for the minutes of all meetings of the club and
Executive Board. He or she shall keep a record of all projects and official actions taken by
the club. The office of Secretary is an elected office and the active members are the voting
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5.3
5.4
5.4
5.5
5.6
electorate.
One publicity chair. The publicity chair shall be in charge of advertising all club activities and
events to the Society’s members and to the Amherst College community.
One event ambassador. The event ambassador helps the publicity chair with publicizing
events for the Society, as well as serves as a liaison between panelists/lectures/other
invitees and the Society. Duties may also include coordinating speaker travel and living
arrangements.
One treasurer. The treasurer shall be responsible for the funds of the club and shall keep a
record of its receipts and expenditures. He or she shall submit an annual report in writing to
the annual meeting each year. The treasurer is also responsible for presenting discretionary
requests to the Budgetary Committee and to the AAS if needed. The office of Treasurer is an
elected office and the active members are the voting electorate.
One webmaster. The webmaster shall add information to, maintain, and update the
Society’s website, located at http://www.amherst.edu/~drewhealth/.
Other officers will be nominated by the Chairman to the executive board and require an 80%
majority of a quorum of the executive board to be approved.
The previously listed officers in Article 5 and the Chairmen of all of the committees form the
executive board. The chain of command is as follows: Co-Chairmen, Secretary, Treasurer, Publicity
Chair, any officers appointed by the executive board, and finally Chairs of the committees in order of
their rank (as determined by the other members of the executive board).
An officer may be impeached for wrongdoing or abuse of power by an 80% majority vote of a quorum
of the active members. This voting policy only applies to co-chairmen if both persons are impeached
for wrongdoing. If, however, only one co-chairman is impeached, the remaining co-chairman shall
appoint the new co-chairman.
ARTICLE 6
Election of officers shall take place in the winter, before the end of finals period, and new officers
shall take office in the fall of the following year.
Election of officers shall take place using a secret ballot. Officers are elected in the order of the
chain of command, with the exception of co-chairmen, who are appointed by previous co-chairmen.
The executive board shall fill vacancies in any office.
ARTICLE 7
The executive board has the right to create and absolve all committees.
ARTICLE 8
The executive board shall conduct the affairs of the club between regular meetings. The members
of the executive board shall be both of the co-chairmen, the elected officers, and the Chairs of the
standing committees.
Meetings of the executive board may be called by either one of the co-chairmen or by a majority of
the members of the executive board.
ARTICLE 9
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All financial dealings shall be done through AAS. The sole signing officer of this organization
shall be the treasurer. The signing officer cannot also be one of the co-chairmen.
BYLAWS
BYLAW 1 GENERAL MEETINGS
1.1
1.2
1.3
There shall be a minimum of one general meeting per semester.
A general meeting shall be called by the Co-chairmen at the request of the executive.
Notice of the general meeting shall 1) be posted in an obvious place, or, 2) be
communicated via email to all members of the Society at least seven (7) days before the
meeting is to take place.
BYLAW 2 ELIGIBILITY OF EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
Only living, active members of the Charles Drew Health Professions Society shall be eligible to
hold executive offices.
BYLAW 3 QUORUM
Unless otherwise stated by any of the co-chairmen, the quorum for all meetings shall be fifteen
percent (15%) of the active membership of the club.
BYLAW 4 COMMITTEES
Committees may be appointed by the executive board at a general meeting, but the executive
board shall take the responsibility to supervise and control the activities of all committees.
Appointed executives or committee members shall not have a vote in executive board decisions,
but shall have regular voting privileges at general meetings.
BYLAW 5 INTERPRETATION
Nothing in these bylaws shall be interpreted in a manner contradictory to the Charles Drew
Health Professions Society.
Code, rules, regulations or policies enacted from time to time by the Charles Drew Health
Professions Society.
Done: So ratified Twelfth day of September in the year of our Lord Two Thousand Six. In witness
whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names as the delegates to the Charles Drew Health
Professions Society.
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