Joint Student Club Recognition Form

Procedures for New Student Club Recognition

Students are welcomed to organize and join associations whose stated purpose is consistent with the two institution’s mission statements and the Catholic, Benedictine tradition.

Recognition of a student organization by the institution is an acknowledgment that the organization has complied with all CSB/SJU eligibility requirements and recognition procedures.  Recognition also implies that the institution approves of the organization’s constitution and bylaws and that the club will have access to certain benefits institutional benefits.

A.   Potential Clubs must submit the following paperwork in hard copy to the Department of Student Activities & Leadership Development in Mary Commons 208 one full week prior to the date that the Joint Club Board convenes to consider the proposal:

1.    A completed Student Organization Recognition Form including the name and signature of an advisor and a list of club officers

2.    An copy of the club's constitution…  you should also email copies of the constitution to pdoran@csbsju.edu and to jcb@csbsju.edu

3.    A list of members with each person’s campus phone number and P.O. Box number (a club must have a minimum of 10 members)

4.    A signed Advisor Contract

You can find copies of the necessary forms below.

B. When all application materials are completed and returned to Student Activities and Leadership Development, Mary Commons 208, the proposed organization’s file is ready for review by the JCB.

Review Process:

1. The JCB will review the materials. The JCB will consult with the appropriate staff, faculty, advisors and/or student groups before considering granting or denying recognition of the proposed organization.  The JCB considers the following questions when evaluating a new club proposal:
   1. Is the proposed club sustainable over time?
   2. Are the clubs mission and goals consistent with the Benedictine Values?
   3. Is the club unique?  Does is duplicate the efforts of an existing club?
   4. Is the club beneficial to the CSB/SJU students in a way that is worthy of the commitment of institutional resources?
2. The JCB votes to recognize or deny the proposed student organization. If recognized, the co-chairs sign off on the Recognition Form. This form is then sent to the Director of Student Activities and Leadership Development.
3. The Director of Student Activities and Leadership Development, the official administrative representative for the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, will then grant or deny recognition. If recognition is granted, the Director signs the Recognition form.
4. The official recognition of joint student organizations is granted when the written signatures of the JCB co-chairs and the Director of Student Activities and Leadership Development are recorded.

 

STUDENT ORGANIZATION RECOGNITION FORM

Please return completed forms to Student Activities & Leadership Dev., Mary Commons 208

Name of Proposed Club:_________________________________________________________________

 

Purpose:______________________________________________________________________________

 

Membership Requirements (Dues, attendance, etc.)if any):_____________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

 

Event(s) organization is planning this year (annual & new):_____________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

 

Officers of Organization (a club will typically have a president, vice president and treasure)

Name                                              Position                       Phone#/Box#                     Email

 

___________________________________________________________________________________

 

___________________________________________________________________________________

 

____________________________________________________________________________________

 

____________________________________________________________________________________

 

____________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Faculty/Staff Advisor:_________________________________________________________________

Attach a typed list of your current membership, include names, box numbers & phone #s.*

Signatures--the following signatures must be obtained before this form is submitted to the Joint Club Board

 

College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University

SAMPLE CONSTITUTION

XYZ Club

Article I: Name and Purpose

Section 1: Name

State the name of the club - you may abbreviate the name after this section if you identify that abbreviation here.

Section 2: Purpose/Mission

State the purpose/mission of your organization – the reasons why you exist. This can be in a list format, or in a paragraph.

Section 3: Affiliation:

If your organization is affiliated with any regional/national organizations, please state those affiliations here.

 

Article II: Membership

Section 1: Eligibility for Membership

CSB/SJU joint clubs must be open to any CSB/SJU student. Non-students [e.g., faculty/staff] are not allowed to be full members, but they can be non-voting, affiliate members. State all categories for membership – voting, affiliate, non-voting, etc.

Section 2: Voting Member Criteria

State how a student becomes a voting member [e.g., attends a certain % of meetings/events, pays dues, etc] and if there are any criteria for any other membership categories. This is an important issue for your organization – you want to make sure that students listed on your voting member list are active, interested students in your group.

Section 3: Removal of Members

State the process to remove any member who is not in good standing with the club. Due process must be followed. Things to consider are: reasonable notice to the person being considered for removal, opportunity to defend their position, quorum* needed to vote, timeline for the process, appeal process.

While you will hopefully not need this section, it is very important that you have a process in place. When you need it, this will clarify the procedure and take out some of the difficult personal issues….

 

Article III: Officers

Section 1: Officer Qualifications

Identify what qualifications a student must have to be eligible to be an officer. This may include GPA, length of time in organization, previous experience, etc. All officers must be current CSB/SJU students. See Article IV for Election procedures.

Section 2: Elected Officers

List the positions in descending order (e.g., President, Vice-President, etc). If you choose to have a non-hierarchical structure -–that is great! Then just list the Department of Student Activities contact person first. Also clearly identify the Co-Funding Board (CFB) and Joint Club Board (JCB) contacts.

Section 3: Duties of Officers

List each officer position and their duties. You can include this information in Section 2 if you prefer. You may rename positions and form a non-hierarchical structure (we encourage this actually!). Term of office should also be addressed (e.g., academic year, April 1 – March 31)

Typical duties include:

President: preside at meetings, call special meetings, primary contact with the institutions, appoint committee chairs, runs the election process, other

Vice-President: assume President’s duties in his/her absence, schedule meeting/practice rooms/facilities, primary contact with the JCB, plans member/officer training programs, other

Secretary: takes and distributes minutes of all club meetings, recorder keeper (current and past members, files minutes, etc), club historian, notify members of meetings, handles the official correspondence of the club, other

Treasurer: keeps all financial records, submits monthly audit statements to CFB contact (this is a mandatory requirement if you receive CFB funds), notifies organization of financial issues, prepares budget/allocation requests,

Section 4: Vacancy in Office

In the event a vacancy should occur (resignation or removal), provisions must be made to fill the vacancy. Officer succession/"chain of command" should be addressed (e.g., in the event that the President leaves office, the Vice President will assume those duties until a special election is held. Then refer readers to the special election section of Article IV.

Section 5: Removal of Officers

Grounds for removal of an officer must be clearly identified. Similar to the removal of members, due process must be followed. (see above) Make sure you note the role of your club advisor.

One example:

A petition to remove the officer in question must be submitted to another officer. This petition must contain the signatures of x% of voting members. When such petition is received, the officer shall call a meeting of the club to determine whether or not the officer should be removed.

Grounds for removal are then presented by the officer in charge at a regular or special club meeting. The officer in question shall be provided an opportunity to present a defense either in person or in writing. A quorum shall be present, and a (x%, 2/3, simply majority) vote of the voting members shall decide upon removal.

While you will hopefully not need this section, it is very important that you have a process in place. When you need it, this will clarify the procedure and take out some of the difficult personal issues….

Section 6: Appeal of Removal of Officers

This section clearly outlines what procedure a removed officer can take to appeal the club’s decision.

 

Article IV: Elections

Section 1: Nomination Process

State how officer candidates will be nominated (by a current officer/member, self-nomination, etc.) and the timeline associated with the nomination process.

Section 2: Election

Election procedures, quorum present, method of voting (secret ballot, etc.), number of terms a person can serve, and when the elections will be held (the JCB mandates that by April 1, officer elections take place and that they and the Department of Student Activities are notified of the new officers).

Section 3: Special Elections

This section outlines what procedures will take place if an officer leaves/is removed from office. Clearly state the timeline for these procedures (e. g, within "x" weeks of vacancy occurring). You may use the same procedures from Section 2, with a revised timeline.

 

Article V: Advisor

Section 1: Selection

Indicate how your club will choose an advisor. Note: All club advisors MUST be an employee of CSB or SJU.

Section 2: Duties

What do you want your advisor to do? See advisor contract for ideas.

 

Article VI: Meetings

Section 1: Regular Meeting/Club Activities

Address how often business meetings will occur, any regular club activities, etc., process to notify members of meetings/activities.

Section 2: Special Meetings

Identify why you would call special meetings, and the process used to call these meetings/notify members, etc. Will these meetings be run any differently than regular meetings?

Section 3: Parliamentary Authority

Will you use Robert’s Rules of Order? How will the meetings be run…

Section 4: Quorum*

What % of your membership must be present for official club business to occur? 2/3 is a standard number.

*A quorum is a certain percentage of voting members required to be present during a vote. It is VERY important to clearly indicate what your quorum will be (often, it is 2/3 of the voting members). You want to make sure that when a vote takes place that you have a representative sample of your voting membership present.

 

Article VII: Committees

Section 1: Committee Structure

Include what committees (if any) that your club will have. Include responsibilities of each committee and who is responsible for each committee. Examples include Membership, Programs, Elections, Fundraising, etc.

Section 2: Special/Ad-Hoc Committees

State that special/ad-hoc committees may be formed if needed…

 

Article VIII: Finances

Section 1: Co-Funding Board

State whether or not your club will apply for CFB monies and that if allocated resources, your club will follow all CFB and institutional regulations.

Please note that recognized clubs MAY NOT have an off-campus account, even if it is from club generated funds. This is an institutional policy.

Section 2: Honorariums

State whether or not any officers or members will receive an honorarium/stipend from the organization. Note: if honorariums are given, they must come from club generated funds.

Section 3: Dues (optional)

State here if members are required to pay dues, and if so, how much that will be.

 

Article IX: Amendments

Section 1: Ratification

Identify the process to be used regarding proposed constitutional amendments: voting procedures, timeline, etc.

Section 2: Submittal to Department of Student Activities and Joint Club Board

Any changes made to this constitution must be submitted to the Department of Student Activities and the JCB.

Article X

The following is a required statement for all organizations: The (name of organization) admits students without regard to their race, religion, color, sex, age, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and other activities, generally accorded or made available to members of the organization. 

Article XI

The following is a required statement for all organizations. The (name of organization) considers hazing to be a degrading and destructive activity which is inconsistent with the standards of this student organization.  The (name of organization) recognizes the dignity of every person and opposes all forms of hazing.

 

Date of recognition/revision:

 

CLUB/ORGANIZATION ADVISOR CONTRACT 2009-2010

Any CSB or SJU faculty or staff member can be an advisor to a club or organization. A student cannot be a club advisor.  Off-campus people are not allowed to advise CSB/SJU clubs for many reasons: knowledge of the campuses and policies, insurance/risk management issues, and building a stronger campus community are just a few of these reasons.

 

The members of  (club/organization name)_____________________________, by the selection process outlined

in our constitution hereby announce that (advisor name)________________________will be our cub advisor for

the academic year 2009-2010.

CSB/SJU has the following basic expectations of all club/organization advisors:

• meet with the executive board as often as necessary
• explain institutional policy/procedure
• offer financial management advice
• provide continuity for the club/organization from year to year
• act as a resource to the group
• attend programs that may potentially have liability/risk for the institutions
• intervene in activities that are illegal or contrary to CSB/SJU

The following expectations are to be negotiated between the advisor and the club/organization.  Please check off all expectations the advisor is willing to commit to, make one copy for both the advisor and the executive board, and return a copy to the Department of Student Activities and Leadership Development.

1. ____ attend all meetings
2. ____attend all executive meeting
3. ____meet with the President/Chairperson before/after meetings
4. ____attend a specified number of club/organization events
5. ____ help to prepare the agenda for meetings                               
6. ____ speak up during meetings with relevant information               
7. ____ challenge group members/officers to think creatively
8. ____ take an active part in formulating the goals of the group
9. ____ take an active part in facilitating the development of group goals
10. ____ promote group activities to other faculty/staff
11. ____ other (list)

 The above expectations and responsibilities may be reconsidered at anytime based on the needs of all parties.

Signatures

I have met with the club/organization and discussed the expectations/responsibilities and will fulfill these to the best of my ability.

 

Advisor Signature _________________________________________________          Date ___________         

Campus Address___________________________________________________

 

Club/Organization Leader___________________________________________           Date ___________         

Campus Address__________________________________________________

  

Director of Student Activities & Leadership Development  ________________________________________ 

Date__________