Constitution

(Ratified by 5/22/2021, 8-0, 100% of full members approving)

Table of Contents

Article I - Name

The name of this organization is the University of New Hampshire, Manchester Programming Club, referred to as UNHM Programming Club.

(voted 3/20/2021, 5-0)

Article II - Mission Statement

The mission of the UNHM Programming Club is to provide members the opportunity to collaborate on group programming projects, expose professional networking opportunities, discuss trends in computer languages and employment, and explore software development strategies, with the aim of preparing its members to enter the workforce with marketable programming competency.

(voted 3/20/2021, 5-0)

Article III - Membership

Section 1 - Becoming a Member

  1. To become a member, prospective members will contact a club officer. Contact information can be found at https://unhm-programming-club.github.io/ .
  2. No prior Programming experience is required.
  3. All members will create a GitHub account and join the club organization, which is named in the Club Accounts Procedures.
  4. Members are highly encouraged to join the Discord.

(voted 5/1/2021, 5-0)

Section 2 - Individual Member Requirements

  1. Members shall make 1 contribution via git/GitHub to a group project by making a pull request, at least once per semester. It is recommended that members request help on the help channel of the Discord because it is tricky doing a first pull request. These contributions do not have to be code; they can be simple content as well. The purpose is to ensure everyone understands how to use GitHub to contribute to a shared repository.

(voted 5/1/2021, 5-0)

  1. Members shall cast a vote in the yearly elections for officers. Not submitting a vote constitutes abdication of membership. A vote of “Abstain” is a valid vote.

  2. Members will strictly abide by the Conduct section of this document on all club communication platforms.

(voted 3/27/2021, 7-0)

  1. Members must be a student at the University of New Hampshire (either campus) or have graduated or transferred within the last 2 years.

(voted 3/27/2021, 7-0)

  1. Members will cast a vote in the yearly officer elections. They may vote to ‘abstain’ or vote ‘no confidence’

(voted 5/1/2021, 5-0)

Section 3 - Member Privileges

  1. Members may propose a resolution at any club meeting, in a manner appropriate to the meeting’s rules of order.

(voted 5/1/2021, 5-0)

  1. Members may start a new group programming project on the GitHub organization page, promote that project to members of the club, and be vested with control and leadership over the project they started. The board may cancel a project only if there is a legitimate, specific reason, such as violating conduct requirements.

(voted 3/27/2021, 7-0)

  1. Members may join any existing group project with approval from that projects leader. They must take direction from that project’s leader and not expect all pull requests to be approved. Team members on a project will be included in discussion about the project.

(voted 3/27/2021, 7-0)

Section 4 - Removing Members

  1. If a member does not meet individual member requirements by the end of the semester, they will be automatically removed from the list of members. They are permitted to re-join and try again.
  2. If a member violates a section of the conduct requirements that involves targeting another individual member, such as sexual harassment, political harassment, or bullying, they may be unilaterally removed by agreement of the club president and vice president, but those officers must validate the circumstances first.
  3. If a member is believed to have violated another section of the conduct requirements, the board will consider the evidence and vote by majority whether to remove them. The evidence must show that the member violated a conduct requirement.

(voted 5/1/2021, 5-0)

Section 5 - Adjunct Members

  1. Members from the UNH Durham Campus and students who have left UNH within the last 2 years may have adjunct membership.
  2. Adjunct members must follow the same conduct rules as regular members.
  3. Adjunct members shall have the same privilege of starting new projects on the team repository and recruiting collaborators.
  4. Adjunct members shall have the same privilege of joining existing projects and being included in them as much as feasible.
  5. Adjunct members shall not hold officer roles.

(voted 3/27/2021, 7-0)

  1. Adjunct members may vote by default but the board may elect to limit a vote to UNHM members only.

(voted 4/17/2021, 6-1)

Section 6 - Faculty

  1. The board shall vote on the faculty advisor.

  2. The new board shall re-approve the faculty advisor after taking office by majority.

  3. Faculty guests are welcome to collaborate with the club and offer assistance and guidance. They may collaborate on a project if invited by a project lead.

  4. Faculty led projects must get approval by board majority.

(voted 4/17/2021, 7-0)

Article IV - Officers

The officers of the club are:

  • Davis Moore, President

(elected 3/11/2022, 4-0)

  • Tony Pion, Vice President

(elected 3/11/2022, 5-0)

  • Kaitlin McManus, Secretary

(elected 3/11/2022, 5-0)

  • Adam Morvant, Discord Administrator

(elected 3/11/2022, 4-0)

The first faculty advisor is Professor Mihaela Sabin.

(voted 4/10/2021, 6-0)

Section 1 - Officer Requirements

  1. Officers must be current students at the University of New Hampshire, Manchester campus.

(voted 3/27/2021, 7-0)

Section 2 - Officer Roles:

  • The President will preside over meetings, ensure the club is in conformity with UNHM requirements, and safeguard club accounts. The president will make the agenda and send out an invite to club members before the club meets.

  • The Vice President will perform the responsibilities of the president when the president is unable to do so, and also safeguard club accounts. The Vice President will be first in line to take on duties of officer roles that are not yet filled.

  • The Secretary will keep a record of meetings and member contact info, and will create a summary of the meeting and upload that summary to GitHub after the meeting is concluded.

  • The Discord Admins will organize and create rules for the Discord, approve changes to the Discord bot, and be vested with the power to kick individuals from the discord for legitimate reasons, such as breaking defined Discord rules.

(voted 5/1/2021, 5-0)

  • The Treasurer will track expenses, investigate fundraising activities, submit requests for funds, and allocate funds for projects.
  • The Quartermaster will budget and plan events, ensure enough supplies are acquired, and organize and direct the trip safely.

(voted 4/17/2021, 7-0)

The club will maintain a slate of at least 5 officers. If roles are not filled, the board will elect to delegate those duties to the vice president or, if necessary, other board members. The board will seek to fill those roles as soon as possible.

(voted 4/17/2021, 7-0)

Section 3 - Nomination

  1. Members may nominate themselves to run for officer roles but must receive a ‘second’ at the time of nomination to be added to the ballot.
  2. Members may nominate other members to run and the presumptive nominee will subsequently be asked if they wish to run.

(voted 4/17/2021, 7-0)

Section 4 - Removing Officers

  1. Any officer neglecting their duties may be removed by a 2/3 vote of the board. They may appeal to general membership at the next member meeting, and a 2/3 vote from the membership will reinstate them.

  2. Membership may vote to remove an officer by a 2/3 vote.

  3. If an officer is removed, their duties shall be delegated to the vice president until a replacement can be elected. An election shall be held at the next member meeting. If no replacement can be found, the vice president will continue to fulfill those duties unless the board elects to delegate those duties in another manner.

(voted 4/17/2021, 7-0)

Article V - Elections and Voting

Section 1 - Quorum, Eligibility

  1. The quorum for a board is 50% of board members in attendance and the quorum for the club is 50% of club members in attendance. Quorum must be met for a vote on a resolution to be valid.
  2. Quorum is not required for yearly elections, because non-voting members are removed from the rolls.

(voted 5/1/2021, 5-0)

  1. The board may elect to limit a vote to UNHM members only.

(voted 4/17/2021, 6-1)

  1. Meeting attendees may elect to put an important matter to an asynchronous vote of the club or board on the Discord, if quorum cannot be met or if it is felt that said matter should be put to asynchronous vote. Before the next scheduled meeting, members may vote, and if the total number of members exceed quorum and the measure passes, it will be considered passed as though those members attended the meeting.

(Amendment, voted 5/29/2021, 7-0)

Section 2 - Officer Elections

  1. The club will hold elections for officers in the first week of March of the Spring semester.
  2. All members meeting membership requirements are entitled to one vote for each officer.
  3. Individuals will the plurality of votes will be appointed to that officer role.
  4. Ties shall be decided by the Vice President.
  5. Votes for officers shall be public.
  6. Members may abstain.
  7. Members may vote ‘no confidence’.
  8. If a plurality of votes are for ‘no confidence’, no officer shall be appointed and the duties of that role shall be delegated to the Vice President.

(voted 4/17/2021, 7-0)

Section 3 - Changes to the Constitution

Changes to the Constitution must be proposed and endorsed by an officer who will bring it to a vote in the next member meeting. If 2/3rds of the club membership agrees to the change, the Constitution will be updated by the Secretary or Club President to reflect the change.

(voted 4/25/2021, 5-0)

Section 4 - Changes to Club Accounts Procedures:

Changes to the club account procedures will be conducted by a meeting and majority vote of the officers.

(voted 4/25/2021, 5-0)

Section 5 - Faculty Advisor

The board of directors will vote once per year, after being elected to their posts, whether to keep the current faculty advisor or interview new faculty advisor candidates. If the board votes to remove the faculty advisor, a new faculty advisor will be approved by a vote of the majority of the club. If no faculty advisor is found, the club will continue without a faculty advisor, but may lose its official status.

(voted 5/1/2021, 5-0)

Article VI - Meetings

Section 1 - Meeting Frequency and Notice

  1. Meetings shall be held at a time and place determined by majority vote of the board.

  2. Members and the board shall have 1 week notice for meetings. However, in circumstances where a meeting is held as a continuation of a previous, overly-long meeting, a sooner meeting extension date may be approved by 3/4ths of members in attendance.

(voted 4/25/2021, 5-0)

Section 2 - Emergency Meeting

  1. A member has the privilege of calling an emergency meeting of the membership once per semester.
  2. An emergency meeting requires 48 hours notice.
  3. The members shall contact a board member with the reason for the emergency meeting and all membership shall be notified.
  4. As with all meetings, quorum must be reached for resolutions passed in the emergency meeting to be valid.

(voted 4/25/2021, 5-0)

Section 3 : Parliamentary Procedure

  1. Meetings will be conducted informally, using the spirit of Robert’s Rules of Order as described in the attached document, Roberts-Rules-of-Order.pdf.
  2. Any attendee of a meeting may request that the meeting follow Robert’s Rules of Order strictly, and the chair of the meeting will subsequently implement Robert’s Rules.

(voted 4/24/2021, 6-0)

Article VII - Conduct

  1. Any conversations on the club discord or in club meetings that violate UNHM’s academic honestly policy are disallowed. If a member wants help with their homework, helping members should ask them Socratic questions or point them to useful resources, but shall not complete their homework for them or hand them the answers.

  2. This club will be apolitical. It will never make any official statements about topical political issues. The club is about programming only, not about politics. Politics also have no place on the Discord server, which shall be about Programming and UNH.

  3. In accordance with the University of New Hampshire non-discrimination statement, this club will not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity expression, disability, veteran status, marital status, genetic information, pregnancy, or political orientation. These facets of an individual will not be considered when voting or appointing them to an officer role, as a member of a committee, as a group project leader, or any other position. Discussions about these things also generally do not belong on the discord or in meetings, as they do not relate to programming.

  4. Sexual harassment of any kind will not be tolerated. Any member who sexually harasses any individual on a club communication platform or any individual they met on a club communication platform will be expelled from the club and be reported to the university or the authorities. This club will be a place where all sexes can be comfortable and be treated equally, without having to worry about harassment. This means there is to be no discussion of sex in the discord or in meetings.

  5. Vulgar language is not permitted in the Discord or in meetings. While sometimes individuals accidentally swear, consistent violators may face censure, muting, or, in egregious cases, expulsion.

  6. Members will treat each other with respect and kindness. Members will show patience with members who do not have as much programming experience as they do. Members will not mock or bully other members.

(voted 3/27/2021, 7-0)

Article VIII - Ratification

This constitution shall be approved by a 2/3rds vote of all members.

(voted 4/24/2021, 6-0)