Objective

Arab Students' Association Constitution

Preamble

ASA is a unique organization whose purpose is to promote Arab culture, to unite Arab and Non-Arab students, to combat discrimination of Arabs/Arab-Americans--specifically within the auspices of University of Texas, the city of Austin, and the United States, and finally, to represent the views of Arab/Arab-American students to the Faculty, Board of Regents, and Administration of the University of Texas at Austin.

The activities of the ASA will include, but are not limited to, the promotion of Arab unity through social activities, the construction of an Arab Culture Day/Week, and the promotion of Arab involvement in the university curriculum by way of strategic interaction with the administration. The fulfillment of an anti-discrimination watch group will be headed by an anti-discrimination director who will be elected by ASA members. The choice of whether or not to affiliate the ASA anti-discrimination committee with the national ADC organization is left up to the discretion of the ASA executive committee.

ARTICLE I

Duties of the President are as follows:

  1. To create and monitor any and all activities pertaining to the ASA.
  2. To set up ASA meetings and their agendas.
  3. To act as head of the Executive Committee.
  4. To act as a mediator between the Executive Committee and the ASA members.
  5. To properly address and enact solutions for organizational disagreements.
  6. The President may be impeached only by unanimous vote among all ASA members and board members.

ARTICLE II

Duties of the Vice President are as follows:

  1. To keep parliamentary order during meetings.
    a. To commence reports and agenda settings.
    b. To properly correct members out of order.
  2. To fulfill the office of Presidency if the President is unable to be present at meetings, takes a leave of absence, or is impeached. In this case, the Vice President shall take the office of Presidency until the next set of elections.
  3. To facilitate ASA functions/activities by planning, executing, and monitoring the necessities to make the activities a success.

ARTICLE III

Duties of the Treasurer are as follows:

  1. To keep an accurate record of ASA's financial accounts.
  2. To give detailed reports of finances to the Executive Committee.
  3. To innovate strategies to raise funds for the ASA account.
  4. To monitor transactions and appropriate checks to Committee chairs within ASA.

ARTICLE IV

Duties of the Anti-Discrimination director are as follows:

  1. To report accounts of discrimination committed against Arabs/Arab-Americans (within the UT campus, Austin, and the U.S.) to the assembly of ASA.
  2. To innovate strategies to combat discrimination against Arabs/Arab-Americans.
  3. To enact such strategies by heading an anti-discrimination committee of the ASA.

ARTICLE V

Duties of the Secretary are as follows:

  1. To give detailed reports of assembly meetings in the form of "minutes".
  2. To keep files of new and old members of the ASA.
  3. To receive and file mail holdings of ASA.
  4. To check the mailbox in the Student Activities Office of the Texas Union and to appropriately mail payments to debit accounts related to ASA transactions.

ARTICLE VI

Duties of the Social Director are as follows:

  1. To innovate and enact activities that serve to unite members of the association.
  2. To plan and enact advertising campaigns for social activities.
  3. To coordinate activities with other campus organizations.
  4. To fulfill the afore mentioned services by heading the Social Activities Committee of the ASA.

ARTICLE VII

Voting for new Executive Committee members shall proceed as follows:

  1. Elections shall be carried out at the end of each April during an ASA general body meeting.
  2. Elections will only take place with a quorum of at least 50% of the association members present.
  3. Voting procedures will commence under the direction of the Vice President of the association.
  4. Each candidate must be nominated by a member who is not running for an office and each nomination must receive a second motion from an assembly member in order for it to be a valid nomination.
  5. Voting itself will take place by secret ballot during the meeting.
  6. An ad hoc committee will tabulate results and give a report of the results of the elections immediately following the submitting of the secret ballots by the voting members.

ARTICLE VIII

Board members as well as assembly members may be suspended from the association if and only if:

  1. The individual proves to repeatedly cause an atmosphere which counters the productivity of the organization.
  2. The individual proves to repeatedly remain obstinate in compromising with the rest of the Board members/assembly members.
  3. A hearing is held to present the case of the person in question.
  4. A unanimous vote reached by the Executive committee will enact the suspension of the individual in question.

ARTICLE IX

This constitution may be amended and/or revised if a decision is reached by a 2/3 majority vote of all association members.

ARTICLE X

Certain issues that ASA may choose to become involved with that are of a controversial nature should be avoided in order to preserve an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity among ASA members. It is forbidden for the executive committee of the ASA to involve ASA with groups and/or events which compromise the sociological, economic, and political ideals of the organization. In addition, it is recommended that ASA functions/events do not facilitate any type of reference to Middle Eastern politics which will cause a disagreement among Arab students (i.e. issues beyond human rights). In taking such measures, ASA will remain as an organization of unconditional unity among Arab students. The choice for individuals to engage in ideological debates that are of a controversial nature is encouraged, but its nature does not befit the decorum of the Arab Students' Association and such discussions should be carried out strictly on an individual level.