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Roosevelt Institution Charter > Roosevelt Home > About > Roosevelt Institution Charter
- (Name) The name of the organization shall be "The Roosevelt Institution."
- (Purpose) The Roosevelt Institution exists to provide students with a voice in the policy process, and by exercising that voice, to train them for future leadership.
- (Affiliation) The Roosevelt Institution shall be a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization.
- (Structure) The Roosevelt Institution shall be a joint project of its student membership, its staff, and its advisors and friends and investors. Each shall have specific responsibilities within the organization, as described in this Charter.
- (Organs) The decision-making organs of the Roosevelt Institution shall be a Board of Trustees, a Staff answering to an Executive Director, a collection of Chapters, a set of Caucuses, an annual Chapter Plenary meeting of representatives of the Chapters and Caucuses, an Editorial Board, and a Student Oversight Committee.
- (Charter) The Roosevelt Institution shall be governed by this Charter. No internal policy of the Roosevelt Institution shall contradict this Charter.
Composition
- (Purpose) The Board of Trustees shall be the voice of the Roosevelt Institution's friends, advisors, mentors, and investors. The purpose of the Board of Trustees is to provide broad oversight to ensure organizational effectiveness, continuity, and longevity.
- (Self-governance) The Board of Trustees shall set its own membership, membership criteria, bylaws, meeting times, committee structure, and officers. The Board of Trustees may meet in open or closed session as it chooses.
- (Terms) Members of the Board of Trustees shall serve staggered three-year terms. They may serve an unlimited number of terms.
- (Relationship with Executive Director) The Executive Director shall attend all meetings of the Board of Trustees, but may be excluded as appropriate from specific discussions. A past Executive Director may not serve on the board for at least two years from the end of her service as Executive Director.
Responsibilities
- (Selection of Executive Director) The Board of Trustees shall select the Executive Director and may remove her at their pleasure. The Board of Trustees shall also select the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Counsel.
- (Budgeting) The Board of Trustees shall approve the annual budget of the organization, including setting the compensation of the Executive Director.
- (Approval of Major Decisions) The Board of Trustees shall approve all major decisions of the organization, including but not limited to those that entail significant risk to the organization or its reputation.
- (Concurrent Meetings with Plenary) The Board of Trustees shall convene concurrently and in the same place as the Chapter Plenary.
- (Purpose) The Staff shall be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Roosevelt Institution.
- (Selection) The Executive Director shall select and hire the Staff.
- (Responsibilities) Staff members' service and authority shall be at the discretion of the Executive Director. The Executive Director and Staff shall ensure that the Roosevelt Institution is accomplishing its mission, shall implement the budget approved by the trustees, shall support the Chapters, and shall discharge all programs and functions of the organization.
- (Provisional Registration) Upon submission of a Constitution, a list of Officers, a list of Members, and other appropriate documentation, the Staff may certify a body with Provisional Registration as a chapter of the Roosevelt Institution.
- (Full Registration) At the meeting of the Chapter Plenary, Chapters having Provisional Registration shall be welcomed with Full Registration by the Chapter Plenary. Chapters may be denied Full Registration by a 2/3 vote of the Chapter Plenary.
- (Membership) A student is a Member of the Roosevelt Institution if she is a Member of a Registered Chapter. Membership shall be open to anyone who is a full-time student, is in the course of their college career, or has graduated within the same academic year.
- (Chapter Constitutions) Chapters shall make decisions in accordance with democratic and progressive principles.
- (Chapter Contract) Chapters shall abide by the Chapter Contract prepared by the Staff and the Chief Counsel, which shall detail the legal, financial, and other responsibilities of Chapters.
Composition
- (Definition) The student membership of the Roosevelt Institution shall meet annually at an Annual Conference. Within the Annual Conference there shall be a Conference Plenary session, during with the student membership may discharge its organizational duties.
- (Agenda) The Student Oversight Committee shall have primary responsibility for setting the agenda for the Chapter Plenary. The Board of Trustees, the Staff, and any five percent of attending delegates may add items to the agenda for consideration. The Student Oversight Committee, in cooperation with the Staff, shall select the Officers of the Chapter Plenary.
- (Representation) Any Registered Chapter is entitled to send at most one female representative and at most one male representative to the Chapter Plenary. Representatives shall be chosen according to the internal constitutions and procedures of the Chapter.
Responsibilities
- (Statement of Principles) The Chapter Plenary shall have sole power to amend the Statement of Principles. The Chapter Plenary shall not take positions on policy except through the Statement of Principles.
- (Application of Principles) The Roosevelt Institution shall not advance anything contrary to its Statement of Principles.
- (Editorial Board) The Statement of Principles shall be interpreted by an Editorial Board selected in a method devised by the Staff and approved by the Chapter Plenary.
- (Policy Challenges) The Chapter Plenary shall annually set three Policy Challenges for Roosevelt. These Challenges shall guide the Staff and Trustees in their decisions and shall inform the annual budget.
- (Resolutions) The Chapter Plenary may pass other resolutions about organizational priorities at its discretion.
- (Vote of No Confidence) Having exhausted all other processes, the Chapter Plenary shall have the power to remove the Executive Director by a Vote of No Confidence. Such a vote shall occur after appropriate debate, if 1/2 of the representatives attending the Chapter Plenary sign a petition requesting such a vote. If more than 1/2 of the attending representatives vote to remove the Executive Director, she may serve a maximum of 90 days further until the Board of Trustees shall appoint a new Acting Executive Director or Executive Director.
- (Purpose and Formation) Caucuses are formed by a vote of the Chapter Plenary to represent a given identity group.
- (Membership) Membership in any Caucus is open to any Member of the Roosevelt Institution who self-identifies as having the identity represented by the Caucus.
- (Project Fund) Caucuses shall each have a project fund, set in the budgeting process, for use in projects that enhance the participation of members of that identity group within Roosevelt.
- (Representation) Each Caucus shall be entitled to one representative at the Chapter Plenary for every 25 Chapters invited. Representatives shall be selected from among the Caucus' members by its members. Persons invited to represent a Caucus at the Chapter Plenary shall not count against their Chapter's allotment of representatives.
- (Officers) Caucus members shall select officers for the coming year as they deem appropriate, annually before the Chapter Plenary.
- (Meetings) Caucus meetings shall be informal, typically by email, telephone, or among members who are present at the Chapter Plenary.
- (Purpose) The Student Oversight Committee shall raise student concerns with the Staff and Trustees, enhance communication between the Chapters and other organs of Roosevelt, and respond to Staff and Trustee inquiries about the student experience within Roosevelt.
- (Composition) The Student Oversight Committee shall be composed of five current student Members of the Roosevelt Institution. The Staff shall accept and consider applications for positions on the Student Oversight Committee. The Staff shall then submit finalists for election by the Chapter Plenary. The Staff shall regulate elections and campaigning for Student Oversight Committee. The Staff may structure elections regionally, by gender, or in another manner, at their discretion, provided that at least two persons are running for each position on the Student Oversight Committee.
- (Officers) The Student Oversight Committee may choose its own officers as it deems appropriate.
- (Decertification of Chapters) In case of violation of the Chapter Contract or other actions that harm Roosevelt, its mission, or its reputation, the Student Oversight Committee may decertify Chapters by a 2/3 vote.
- (Amendment Proposal) Either the Board of Trustees or the Chapter Plenary may propose an Amendment to the Bylaws.
- (Passage of Amendments) Amendments shall go into effect after a 2/3 vote in favor by each of the Board of Trustees and the Chapter Plenary.
- (Emergency Amendment) In case of an emergency, the Board of Trustees may approve an Emergency Amendment by a 2/3 vote. Emergency Amendments are effective from immediately after the vote until the Chapter Plenary is able to meet and consider it. It shall continue in effect if it receives 2/3 approval from the Chapter Plenary; otherwise it shall be void.
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