United Nations Society at the University of Toronto


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Bylaws

United Nations Society By-Laws - September 11, 2005

The by-laws contained herein hsall govern the day-to-day running of the UN Society, subject to the UN Society constitution.

Duties of Executive Members

The duties of the president are to include:

Being responsible for the overall direction and actions of the UN Society, and

II.

Acting as the liaison with all bodies relevant to the UN Society, and

III.

Directing efforts to secure funding for the UN Society.

The duties of the treasurer are to include:

Maintaining the financial records and accounts of the UN Society, and

II.

Assisting the president in efforts to secure funding for the UN Society

The duties of the training director are to include:

Directing training efforts for all interested members of the UN Society in the rules and procedures of inter-collegiate model United Nations conferences, and

II.

Specifically training and helping to prepare those members of the UN Society who are attending inter-collegiate model United Nations conferences as student delegates, and

III.

Endeavouring to ensure that student delegates attending inter-collegiate model United Nations conferences feel sufficiently prepared to have a positive experience at the conference(s) they attend, and

IV.

Appointing, in conjunction with other executive members, training coordinators and delegation captains.

The duties of the conferences director are to include:

Ensuring that all conference administrative deadlines are met in a timely manner, and

II.

Ensuring that all student delegates are aware of conference required work and facilitating the completion of said work in a timely manner, and

III.

Acting as the liaison with all conference administrative bodies, and

IV.

Researching inter-collegiate model United Nations conferences.

The duties of the communications director are to include:

Being responsible for membership recruitment for the UN Society, and

II.

Being responsible for the general promotion of the UN Society, and

III.

Directing the maintenance of the UN Society Website

IV.

Ensuring that the membership body is kept adequately up-to-date with regards to the actions and decisions of the UN Society and its executive.

The duties of the secretary are to include:

Taking minutes at all general and executive meetings of the UN Society and circulating said minutes to all executive members for approval, and

II.

Ensuring, in conjunction with the communications director, that the approved minutes for all general and executive meetings of the UN Society are made available to all members of the UN Society, and

III.

Maintaining the UN Society archives.

Executive voting shall occur as follows:

The meetings coordinator reserves the right to call for a vote to end discussion on the current topic and proceed to a vote on the issues of the discussion,

II.

Once in voting procedures the meetings coordinator will entertain a motion for a closed voting system, if no such motion is made then the vote will be assumed to be open,

III.

Any non-procedural decision requires five of the seven executives to be in favour for it to pass,

IV.

Any procedural decisions will require a simple majority to pass.

Appointment and Election Procedures

The appointment procedure shall be:

Executives have the authority to appoint aides. These aids must be made known to the executive body before being charged with any duties;

II.

The executive reserves the right to dismiss any appointed aide at any time.

10)

The executive must:

Select candidates for the positions of web-administrator, fundraising coordinator, and social convenor, for the next academic year following the executive elections and prior to June first for approval by the incoming executive.

II.

Appoint head delegates for all conferences immediately following the secretary election.

III.

Call for applications for the elections officer position from the UN Society's membership eight weeks prior to the elections of the executive,

IV.

Recieve all applications for the elections officer one week after the call,

Name an elections officer within three weeks of the application deadline

VI.

Select an elections officer who is not a member of the executive or a candidate in the upcoming election

11)

Elections shall operate using the following method:

The appointed elections officer shall be responsible for:

i.)	Managing the election procedures, and
ii.)	Collecting nominations from applicants, and
iii.)	Collecting the proxy votes from the communications director, and
iv.)	Collecting and counting election ballots.

II.

At least one member of the current executive shall oversee the counting of election ballots

III.

All nominations for executive positions must be submitted to the elections officer no later than one week prior to the election. Any submissions that are sent after midnight of the final submission date shall be discounted from the election;

IV.

Nominations must be circulated by the elections officer to all members within twenty-four hours following the final nomination submission date;

Prior to voting, nominees may make a speech that may not exceed two minutes. Other nominees must leave the room for the duration of any of their opponents’ speeches;

VI.

In the case of a run off, candidates are permitted to make a speech that may not exceed thirty seconds.

VII.

The order for elections shall be: president, treasurer, training director, conferences director, and communications director;

VIII.

Elections will operate on a closed ballot system.

12)

The newly elected executive shall assume office on June first of each year.

Finances

13)

Finances

The president and treasurer shall have signing authority for the UN Society’s finances;

II.

All expenses must be approved by the executive;

III.

Three weeks prior to the election, an up-to-date financial report must be presented by the treasurer to the members,

IV.

One week prior to the final day of classes of each academic year the treasurer must submit a budget report to the executive. Once approved by the executive the report must be made available to the members;

Any member of the UN Society has the right to review and scrutinize the UN Society’s financial records. An up-to-date financial statement will be provided to any member given seven days notice to the executive,

VI.

A cheque request form must be filled out and delivered to the treasurer at least three days in advance of when the cheque is needed. The treasurer may waive this requirement at their discretion.

Membership Fee

14)

The membership fee for the UN Society shall be five dollars.

Delegate Selection and Member Responsibilities

15)

Delegate Selection

Members may be selected if they:

i.)	Have attended at least one training session for each of rules of parliamentary procedure, speaking, and paper writing;
ii.)	Will attend at least two preparation sessions for their delegation,
iii.)	The executive reserves the right to limit the number of attending delegates for any conference at its discretion,
iv.)	Delegates may be selected based on their performance during training sessions,
v.)	Delegates will be informed of these requirements at the beginning of each academic year.

II.

The executive has the discretion to waive these requirements on the recommendation of the training director.

16)

Delegates are responsible for:

Maintaining a positive image of the UN Society and the University of Toronto while at conferences,

II.

Attending all pertinent conference sessions and meetings,

III.

Acting in accordance with the spirit and mandate of the United Nations during any UN Society event.

Faculty Advisor

17)

The executive must appoint / confirm a faculty advisor prior to the start of the academic year.

Revocation of Membership

18)

The executive has the authority to revoke the membership of any member if they have violated article 16 of these by-laws.

Executive Impeachments

19)

Any executive impeachment shall:

Consist of a hearing, where the violation(s) shall be read, and the executive in question shall be permitted to offer their defence,

II.

Require the attendance of the entire executive and the faculty advisor for the hearing,

III.

Hold the impeachment vote one week after the hearing.

20)

Any member of the executive may be impeached by a unanimous decision of the rest of the executive and the agreement of the faculty advisor if:

They are found to be in neglect of their duties, or

II.

They have abused or misused their authority, or

III.

They have violated article 16 of these by-laws.

Appeals

21)

Articles 19 and 20 shall be open to appeal for a period of up to one week after the initial decision is made. The executive may restore the member’s membership with five affirmative votes and may restore an executive’s authority with the agreement of four of the six executives and the agreement of the faculty advisor.

Amendments

22)

Amendments to these by-laws require the approval of five of seven executive members of the UN Society. Any proposed amendments must be circulated to all executive members of the UN Society two weeks prior to voting.