Constitution of Alianza Latina


Preamble

Alianza Latina (Latino Alliance) is hereby established under the authority of the University of Vermont (UVM) Student Government Association (SGA) in order to address the issues of being Latino/a and Hispanic as well as to promote a multi-cultural understanding of the Latino/a and Hispanic experience amongst its members, the UVM community and the greater Burlington area.

The University of Vermont (UVM) Alianza Latina aspires to be a member of The University of Vermont community that values the pillars of Our Common Ground: Respect, Integrity, Innovation, Openness, Justice, and Responsibility. This club or any part thereof shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, sex, religion, creed, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, veteran status, age, economic or social class. (SGA Discrimination Policy)

Article I.    GENERAL PROVISIONS

    Section 1.    The name of this organization shall be the Alianza Latina (Latino Alliance) of the University of Vermont, hereinafter known as the AL.

    Section 2.    For the purposes of this document the University of Vermont will herein be referred to as UVM.

    Section 3.    The AL Vision Statement is as follows:

            a.    Alianza Latina’s vision is a community of Latino/a and Hispanic students, faculty, and community members that are empowered, engaged, and passionate. A community that fosters and maintains solidarity through shared heritage, rooted in the values of plurality, justice, openness, and growth.

    Section 4.    The AL Mission Statement is as follows:

            a.    Alianza Latina was created with the purpose of fostering solidarity among the Latino/a and Hispanic students at the University of Vermont by creating a space for dialogue, identity development, and establishing a sense of community around shared heritage.

 Alianza Latina seeks to educate the UVM community about the strength, ideas, unity and plurality present in the Latino/a and Hispanic community. This is to be accomplished through diverse programming, events and activities that demonstrate the professional, political, social, and cultural presence of Latino/as and Hispanics at UVM, and the greater Burlington area.

Finally, Alianza Latina serves as a safe and informal space, providing a strong foundation for UVM’s Latino/a and Hispanic students to grow as individuals and members of the UVM community.

    Section 5.    AL shall consist of an executive board, advisors, and general body members.

            a.    The executive board shall consist of six positions: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Publicist and Historian.

            b.    There shall be two advisors, one full time staff member and one graduate student.

            c.    General body members consist of any UVM affiliated undergraduate students.

    Section 6.    Meetings:

            a.    Executive Board shall have weekly meetings with the Advisor(s).

                    i.    For any issue or presentation to be on the agenda, a request must be submitted to the President at least 48 hours prior to the meeting.

                    ii.    General Body members and community members may attend the Executive Board meeting under the permission of the Executive Board.

            b.    The General Body shall have meetings bi-weekly at a minimum.

                    i.    Anyone from the UVM and greater Burlington community may attend the General Body meetings.

                    ii.    For any issue or presentation to be on the agenda, a request must be submitted to the President at least 48 hours prior to the meeting.

Article II.    PURPOSE

    Section 1.    The purpose of this organization shall be as follows:

            a.    To provide support to the Latino/a and Hispanic community of UVM.

            b.    To encourage integration between the Latino/a and Hispanic student population on campus and in the community, without the loss of Latino/a and Hispanic culture.

            c.    To work with university administration, faculty, staff, and student body in order to create awareness of our collective needs.

            d.    To keep Latino/a and Hispanic culture alive among us and to share it with the rest of the university to enrich the interaction between students.

            e.    To provide a support network for students who have decided to join the UVM community

            f.    To contribute to cultural awareness and to facilitate the transition of the incoming Latino/as and Hispanics into the Burlington community.

            g.    To promote interaction among the communities through educational, professional, and social activities.

            h.    To collaborate with other Latino/a and Hispanic organizations within the state of Vermont, so that we can be knowledgeable of the current issues and progress of the Latino/a and Hispanic populations.

            i.    To enhance cultural diversity by implementing the purpose of this organization.

Article III.    EXECUTIVE BOARD

    Section 1.    All executive board members must fulfill the following requirements during their terms of office.

            a.    Be full-time undergraduate students at the University of Vermont.

            b.    Be an active member of AL.

            c.    Attend 3/4 of all General Body meetings.

                    i.    Absences must be excused by the President within 24 hours of the meeting.

                    ii.    The President‘s absence must be excused by the Vice President within 24 hours of the meeting.

            d.    Attend all Executive Board meetings.

                    i.    Absences must be excused by the President within 24 hours of the meeting.

                    ii.    The President‘s absence must be excused by the Vice President within 24 hours of the meeting.

            e.    Promote Alianza Latina.

            f.    Adhere to the Community Standards as defined by the current Executive Board at the beginning of the academic year.

    Section 2.    The President:

            a.    Shall chair all executive meetings.

            b.    Shall facilitate or select someone to facilitate at general board meetings

            c.    Shall retain cohesion within the group

            d.    Shall create agendas for all meetings.

            e.    Shall act as liaison between AL and other organizations.

            f.    Shall track and create deadlines and timelines.

            g.    Shall work with the Advisors on Executive Board development.

            h.    Shall delegate new tasks to Executive Board when they arise.

            i.    Shall vote only in the case of a tiebreaker.

            j.    Shall perform additional duties as defined at the beginning of the academic year by the current Executive Board.

    Section 3.    The Vice President:

            a.    Shall act as President in the President’s absence.

            b.    Shall coordinate the delegation to the New England Latino Student Leadership Conference (NELSLC).

            c.    Shall coordinate and act as liaison for Café Con Leche (Discussion Series)

            d.    Shall oversee room reservation through the R25 process.

            e.    Shall work with the Secretary and Publicist to maintain the Lynx, Facebook, and email account.

            f.    Shall perform other tasks delegated from the President.

            g.    Shall perform additional duties as defined at the beginning of the academic year by the current Executive Board.

    Section 4.    The Secretary:

            a.    Shall take minutes during all meetings.

                    i.    Send out minutes through the appropriate ListServ in a timely manner, as determined by the executive board at the beginning of the academic year.

                    ii.    Upload minutes onto the Lynx for record keeping purposes.

                    iii.    Send a personalized email with the minutes of all meetings to the ALANA Student Center.

            b.    Shall act as primary contact between the AL and the SGA Student Liaison.

            c.    Shall keep attendance records of meetings.

            d.    Shall maintain a list of active members and their emails.

            e.    Shall update and maintain AL binder.

            f.    Shall work with the Vice President and Publicist to maintain the Lynx, Facebook, and email account.

            g.    Shall perform other tasks delegated from the President.

            h.    Shall perform additional duties as defined at the beginning of the academic year by the current Executive Board.

    Section 5.    The Treasurer:

            a.    Shall maintain the AL budget on a daily basis.

            b.    Shall give out weekly reports on the budget and procedures in process during executive board meetings.

            c.    Shall create a system for all financial requests, including but not exclusive to:

                    i.    Purchase Orders

                    ii.    Supplementary Funds

                    iii.    Diversity Funds

                    iv.    Petty Cash

                    v.    Checks

                    vi.    PurCard purchases

            d.    Shall track, organize, and follow up with all AL affiliated funding and/or purchases.

            e.    Shall perform other tasks delegated from the President.

            f.    Shall perform additional duties as defined at the beginning of the academic year by the current Executive Board.

    Section 6.    The Publicist:

            a.    Shall create, print, and distribute publicity for all AL affiliated events.

            b.    Is in charge of branding AL.

            c.    Shall take video and photographic records of AL events and upload them through the appropriate channels.

            d.    Shall act as liaison with UVM Marketing Director

            e.    Shall act as liaison with UVM Print & Mail Center

            f.    Shall maintain AL Banner

            g.    Shall work with the Secretary and Vice President to maintain the Lynx, Facebook, and email account.

            h.    Shall perform other tasks delegated from the President.

            i.    Shall perform additional duties as defined at the beginning of the academic year by the current Executive Board.

    Section 7.    The Historian:

            a.    Shall create and/or maintain the AL scrapbook that should be filled with photos of events, members, and quotes

            b.    Shall create and/or maintain the website for AL.

            c.    Shall work closely with the Publicist for archiving events and activities.

            d.    Shall perform other tasks delegated from the President.

            e.    Shall perform additional duties as defined at the beginning of the academic year by the current Executive Board.

Article IV.    GENERAL BODY

    Section 1.    Any UVM undergraduate student who pays the SGA fee may be a member of the General Body.

    Section 2.    Membership shall be defined by the membership with the AL group on the Lynx.

            a.    All members have the right to vote.

            b.    All members have the right to run for executive board positions.

    Section 3.    Ad-hoc Committees

            a.    Shall be formed when deemed necessary by the Executive Board.

            b.    Shall be lead by an Executive Board member.

    Section 4.    Active members are defined as the following:

            a.    Attend at least 2/3 of the General Body meetings.

            b.    Participate in committees when developed by the Executive Board.

            c.    Have priority over non-active members to attend AL outings and NELSLC.

Article V.    ELECTION PROCEDURE

    Section 1.    Election Day shall be held within the first ten days of April.

    Section 2.    Election polls shall be held online through the Lynx.

    Section 3.    A member of the Executive Board who is not rerunning for the Executive Board, hereinafter known as the Election Chair, shall oversee the election process.

            a.    If all members of the Executive Board are rerunning, the duty of Election Chair will fall on one of the Advisors.

            b.    If the Advisors cannot run the elections for whatever reason, the current Executive Board may appoint an active General Body member as Election Chair.

    Section 4.    The process for elections shall be as follows:

            a.    Letters of Intent must be sent to the Election Chair two weeks prior to Election Day.

            b.    A platform and/or resume are one week prior to Election Day.

                    i.    Platforms and/or resumes will be available online via the Lynx for all members to read at least 48 hours prior to Election Day.

            c.    Candidates may come in and present their platforms and answer question during the last General Body meeting prior to Election Day.

            d.    On Election Day, polls shall be opened for 48 hours.

            e.    The Election Chair shall send out election results within 12 hours after the polls close.

Article VI.    IMPEACHMENTS, RESIGNATION, AND VACANCIES

    Section 1.    Resignation

            a.    An Executive Board member can resign at any time due to personal, professional, or academic reasons.

            b.    A written statement shall be presented to the President and the Advisors.

                    i.    In the case of a Presidential resignation, the statement shall be presented to the Vice President and Advisors.

                    ii.    The Advisors and President/Vice President may share the cause of resignation with the rest of the Executive Board if appropriate and under approval the person resigning.

            c.    A follow up meeting will be held between the Advisor(s) and the person resigned to debrief.

    Section 2.    Impeachment

            a.    Any active member of AL may motion to impeach any Executive Board member on the grounds of gross incompetence, ineligibility, dishonesty or action in violation to this constitution.

                    i.    The motion will be brought first to the President.

                            1.    If an impeachment of the President is in order, the motion will be brought to the Vice President.

            b.    At the following Executive Board meeting:

                    i.    The President or Vice President shall present the motion and corresponding evidence to the Executive Board with the person accused absent.

                    ii.    The remainder of the Executive Board must past the motion with a 2/3 vote.

                            1.    If passed, the motion and the evidence shall be presented to the accused person.

                            2.    The accused person will then be given the option to resign or proceed with removal.

            a.    If the person chooses to resign, the resignation procedure shall be followed. See Article VI, Section 1.

            b.    If the person chooses to continue with the removal process, the issue will be present to the General Body.

            c.    A demand for removal, which would bypass the Executive Board, may occur with a petition of 30% of the current active members.

            d.    The removal process shall be as follows:

                    i.    The motion and evidence shall be presented at the following General Body meeting.

                    ii.    The accused person will then be given time to defend his/her/hir case to the General Body.

                    iii.    The motion will be set to a vote via the Lynx, with the appropriate information provided online.

                            1.    For the removal to continue, 2/3 of the voters must vote for removal.

                            2.    Any poll where less than 25% of the General Body vote will be considered null and another poll shall be created.

    Section 3.    Filling Vacancies

            a.    In the event of a Presidential vacancy, the Vice President will assume the role of President and the Vice President position will be filled using the typical process.

            b.    In the event of any non-Presidential vacancy, the position shall be filled using the election process, see Article V, Section 4.

                    i.    The timeline may be adjusted to fit the need of the Executive Board.

                    ii.    If there is a vacancy in March or April, the Executive Board can choose to leave the position vacant or appoint an active member of the General Body.

Article VII.    AMENDMENTS, DISSOLUTION, AND ADOPTION

    Section 1.    Amendments shall require a 2/3 vote by the General Body via the Lynx.

            a.    Any poll where less than 20% of the General Body vote will be considered null and another poll shall be created.

            b.    Any active member may propose amendments to the Constitution.

    Section 2.    Dissolution of this constitution and adoption of a new one shall require a 3/4 vote by the General Body

            a.    Any poll where less than 30% of the General Body vote will be considered null and another poll shall be created.

Article VIII.    BY-LAWS

    Section 1.    The following requires a simple majority to be changed:

            a.    General Body meetings shall be held on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.

            b.    General Body meetings shall be held in Living/Learning Center, L/L A-161


Alianza Latina Constitution
11/20/89
03/01/90 revised
05/01/90 revised
04/18/11 revised