BSFFA Constitution
Ratified April 7, 2002
Updated October, 2008
I. Name & Purpose
A. This organization shall be known as the Beloit Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Association (BSFFA).
B. The purpose of BSFFA shall be to provide Science Fiction and Fantasy
entertainment in all forms.
II. Membership
A. Membership of BSFFA is open to all, regardless of age, race, class, gender,
gender identity, color, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, and religion.
B. The members of BSFFA are responsible for attending meetings, and maintaining a
fun environment within the club.
C. Any Current Student who actively claims membership or is on the list serve shall
be considered a member of BSFFA.
III. Officers and Duties
A. All Officers of BSFFA shall be full-time students at Beloit College.
B. No person may hold office in their graduating semester at Beloit College.
C. The officers of BSFFA shall be; President, Secretary, Treasurer, In-house
Representative, Out-Of-House Representative, Science Fiction & Fantasy Section
Head, Role-Playing Section Head, Wargaming Section Head, and Live-Action
Section Head.
D. The duties of the Officers shall be:
1. President (Non-Voting Member)
a. Represent BSFFA to the campus staff and students.
b. Assure that BSFFA house and club requirements are met.
c. Chair Executive Council.
d. Run and keep order in meetings.
e. Assure that during each semester, section heads are reviewed by the
General Body.
f. Vote on Executive Council votes in case of a tie.
2. Secretary (Voting Member)
a. Keep BSFFA records.
b. Take minutes of meetings.
c. Make necessary copies for the club.
d. Keep a list of alumni and their contact information.
3. Treasurer (Voting Member)
a. Keep expenditure records.
b. Assure that BSFFA doesn’t overspend.
c. Assure that receipts and moneys are duly accounted for in Student
Activities and Accounting.
d. Present the BSFFA Budget to the BelCon Budget Committee.
e. Freeze BSFFA Accounts in the case of any misappropriation of
funds or overspending, or with the approval of Executive Council.
4. In-House Representative (Voting Member)
a. Represent the needs of the in-house members to Executive Council.
b. Live in BSFFA House.
c. Keep harmony in BSFFA house where possible.
d. Assure that house members take care of public house space.
5. Out-Of-House Representative (Voting Member)
a. Represent the needs of out of house members to Executive Council.
b. Be responsible for providing events to make BSFFA more
accessible to the campus at large.
6. Science Fiction & Fantasy Section Head (Voting Member)
a. Purchase things pertaining to Science Fiction/Fantasy.
b. Facilitate campus-wide Science Fiction & Fantasy related events at
least four times per semester.
c. Maintain the BSFFA Library.
7. Role Playing Section Head (Voting Member)
a. Keep a record of current role-playing games being run.
b. Purchase Role-Playing related items.
c. Facilitate at least four campus-wide role-playing events per
semester.
8. Wargaming Section Head (Voting Member)
a. Keep a record of current wargames being run.
b. Purchase items related to wargaming.
c. Facilitate at least four campus-wide wargaming events per
semester.
9. Live Action Section Head (Voting Member)
a. Keep a record of current Live Action events being run.
b. Purchase Live Action related items.
c. Facilitate at least four campus-wide Live Action related events per
semester.
E. Elections and Appointing of Officers
1. Nominations for the next semester will open at least 1 week before
elections are to be held.
2. Elections shall be done by Secret Ballot.
3. The President, Secretary, In-House Representative, and Out-of-House
Representative shall be elected to office by either Australian run off or a
simple majority vote of the General Body (decided at the beginning of
elections by a simple majority vote) at the end of every semester for the
next semester. Their terms of office shall be one semester long.
4. The Treasurer shall be elected by either Australian run off or a simple
majority vote of the General Body (decided at the beginning of elections
by a simple majority vote) at the end of every academic year for a term of
office lasting through the next academic year.
5. Section Heads shall be elected to office by either Australian run off or a
simple majority vote of the General Body (decided at the beginning of
elections by a simple majority vote) at the end of every semester for the
next semester. No one person shall hold one section head for more than
two semesters consecutively.
IV. Finances
A. The Treasurer shall keep records of the allocation of funds between the members
of Executive Council. Funding shall be divided between Section Heads, In-House
Representative and Out-of-House Representative.
B. Each person to whom funds are allocated is responsible for keeping records of
expenditures and giving receipts to the Treasurer.
C. Each person to whom funds are allocated is responsible for writing a budget and
providing it to the BSFFA Treasurer before the BelCon mandated budget
deadline.
V. Amending the Constitution and Bylaws
A. A 2/3-majority is defined as two thirds of the attendant voting body voting yea.
B. Any Executive Council decision can be overruled by a 2/3-majority vote of the
General Body.
C. The General Body may temporarily suspend any portion of the constitution with a
2/3 majority vote.
D. The Constitution may be permanently amended through the following process:
1. Amendments to the constitution shall be brought before Executive Council
prior to their presentation to the General Body. It shall be the role of
Executive Council to advise on issues of clarity and formatting.
2. After Executive Council has seen the amendment, it may be presented to
the General Body for discussion. The presenter shall receive last speaker
privileges.
3. All amendments to the constitution shall wait for a period of not less than
one week after presentation before being voted on by the General Body.
4. Amendments shall be permanently added to the constitution by a 2/3
majority vote of the General Body.
VI. Meetings & Voting
A. General meetings shall be held at least once every other week, except for in
extenuating circumstances.
B. Executive Council meetings shall be held weekly except on school breaks, and in
extenuating circumstances.
C. Meetings shall be run by the President and/or Executive Council, in order of rank.
D. Emergency General or Executive Council meetings may be called by 2/3 of
Executive Council.
E. Proxy voting:
1. Any member may deliver a written statement of their preferred vote to the
president or secretary, either by hand or by email prior to the start of the
meeting in which the vote is taken.
2. Absentee nominees must submit a written acceptance and statement prior
to the meeting, and must appoint a proxy representative to speak for them.
VII. Removal and Ranking of Officers
A. Should any Executive Council officer do anything that compromises the purpose
of their section, the club, or their duties as members of BSFFA, they can be
removed by a 2/3-majority vote of the General Body.
B. Ranking of officers from highest to lowest is: President, Secretary, Treasurer, InHouse Representative, Out-Of-House Representative, Section Heads. If further
resolution is needed talk to faculty sponsor.
C. Should any position be vacated, the highest-ranking officer is responsible for
holding emergency elections within two weeks.
D. The proposal to remove any officer must be presented to the Executive Council
one week prior to the vote. The officer in question must be notified at the same
time.
E. The officer who is in question has the right to speak for themselves for the same
amount of time that the person accusing them speaks, or three minutes, whichever
is longer.
F. The officer in question has a right to a proxy defense in case of unavoidable
absence.
G. Announcements will be sent to the General body informing them that a vote to
remove an officer will be held, one week prior to the meeting in which the vote
will be taken. The announcement will include which officer is in question and the
specific grievances against that officer.
VIII. Housing Policy
A. The spirit of this Housing Policy is to ensure that all BSFFAs have a fair chance
of getting a room in Wood Tower D.
B. Housing Committee encourages everyone applying to live in house to talk to each
other regarding which floor they want to live on and which rooms they want to
live in.
C. Housing Committee
1. Housing Committee shall be formed no later than the second BSFFA
general meeting of the spring semester.
2. Five (5) members shall be elected by a simple plurality of the BSFFA
General Body.
3. The In-House Representative and Out-Of-House Representative shall be
members of Housing Committee.
4. The Chair of the Housing Committee shall be the BSFFA President.
D. It shall be the job of Housing Committee to review applications and assemble a
housing list from those applications
1. Housing Committee is responsible for assuring that each housing
application is filled out completely. Any discrepancies in an application
must be clarified by means of a polite, efficient discourse between the
applicant and Housing Committee.
2. Members of Housing Committee may exempt themselves from the
meeting where their room choice is being discussed.
3. Each applicant has the right to request an interview with Housing
Committee. Housing Committee reserves the right to request an interview
with an applicant.
4. Housing committee is to remain impartial when possible and to consider
the well-being of Wood Tower D as a community above individual
interests.
E. Determining Qualifications of Applicants
1. An individual who has failed to achieve a GPA of 2.0 or higher for two or
more consecutive semesters will not be considered eligible to live in
house, but will be eligible for the waiting list.
2. To determine which applicants are most qualified to live in house, Housing
Committee shall consider the amount of proactive involvement in BSFFA
over the past four semesters present on the Beloit campus. A noticeable
increase or decrease in involvement over time will be taken into account.
3. Proactive involvement shall be determined by the following point system.
The sum of the points received through this system shall determine each
applicants housing priority.
One (1) point:
a. Aiding in club mechanics (ie dance set-up, barbecue grilling, etc)
b. One-time events (ie boffer making, girly night, etc)
Two (2) points:
a. Running a pick-up Role-Playing Game (four sessions or fewer)
Three (3) points:
a. Running a pick-up Live Action Role-Playing Game
b. Weekly Event (ie boffer/nerf, board games night, etc)
Four (4) points:
a. Individual Campus Events (ie dances, visiting speakers, alumni
events, etc.)
Five (5) points:
a. Club and/or house representation at Belcon, Belfast or Reslife
committees
b. Membership on the BSFFA spring Housing Committee
c. Running a semester long Role-playing Game
Six (6) points:
a. Running a semester of a Live Action Role-Playing Game (LARP)
b. Semester serving in one of the following Executive Council
positions:
i. Secretary
ii. Treasurer
iii. In-House Representative
iv. Out-of-House Representative
v. Science Fiction & Fantasy Section Head
vi. Role-Playing Section Head
vii. Wargaming Section Head
viii. Live Action Section Head
Seven (7) Points:
a. Semester serving as BSFFA President
4. The housing committee shall be given discretion over:
a. The point value, if any, of serving on additional BSFFA
committees, sporadic events, secretarial advancement in case of
presidential death, and other events.
b. The point values of events detailed in Part V.E.3 on a year to year
basis when deemed necessary.
F. The Housing Application
1. The Housing Application shall be no more than 2 pages (front and back)
with plenty of room to answer questions.
2 . The Housing Application must include a place for each applicant to list at
least three (3) rooms the applicant prefers to live in, rated by preference,
and space to list his or her desired roommate should the applicant wish to
live in a double. If possible, the applicant should list rooms on more than
one floor.
3. The Housing Application will include the following questions: “Are you
willing to live elsewhere in the house?” and “What have you done for
BSFFA?”
4. The applicant is responsible for including as much information as they can
regarding what they’ve done for the club for the past four semesters on the
Beloit campus.
5. There shall be 2 sections, one in which applicants may list those
individuals they cannot live on the same floor with, and one in which
applicants may list individuals which they prefer not to live on the same
floor with. An applicant may not be denied housing eligibility based solely
upon other applicants’ answers to those sections.
6. The Housing Application shall not include any questions which are
purposefully harmful or insulting.
7. The Housing Application will not include suggestions about where people
should live.
G. In the case of a close running between candidates applying for the Dungeon
(G22), Housing Committee is advised to give preference to a candidate who did
not formerly hold the room.
H. If more than one person requests the same room(s), Housing Committee
encourages applicants to settle the dispute among themselves before submitting
their applications. If a solution cannot be achieved, then Housing Committee
will assign the room(s) based on the merits of the applicants.
I. The Housing List will be approved by a simple majority of the General Body.
The Housing List is Official as soon as this simple majority is achieved.
1. In order to police Housing Committee, the Housing List will be made
public at least one week before the General Body is to vote on the Housing
List.
2. The General Body must vote on the Housing List at least two weeks before
the list is due to the Residential Life Office.
3. Should the Residential Life Office not release the due date early enough
for Housing Committee to plan efficiently, sections H-1 and H-2 of this
policy may be waived.
4. A 2/3 majority of voting Housing Committee members is needed to
reconsider the Housing List after it is official. The Reconsidered List (if
different from the Official List) will be presented to the General Body at
an emergency general body meeting. Should the reconsidered list not be
approved, the Official Housing List will remain in effect.
J. If the General Body does not pass the Housing List, Housing Committee shall call
an emergency Housing Committee meeting and assemble a new Housing list,
followed the next evening by an emergency General Body meeting to vote on the
new Housing List.
K. Individuals can protest the Housing List by bringing their concerns to Housing
Committee within one week of the Housing List being made public. Housing
Committee decides if this is a valid reason and then may change the room
assignments to accommodate the concerns. Confidentiality will be maintained by
all those individuals.
1. Proxies can speak on behalf of an individual, bringing the complaint to
Housing Committee.
L. In the event that any problem arises that affects the filling of BSFFA House at any
time between active semesters, the BSFFA President has the sole power and
responsibility to implement the waiting list and/or do anything else necessary to
ensure a full house.