Article I: Name, Purpose and Non-Discrimination Policy.

Section 1

The Human Rights Campaign at The Ohio State University is endorsed by and affiliated with the national Human Rights Campaign organization. The Columbus Human Rights Campaign Steering Committee will sponsor the student organization at The Ohio State University, oversee its general direction, and aid the group in any way as part of its service to the Columbus community and The Human Rights Campaign as a whole.

Section 2:

As America's largest gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (GLBTQ) organization, the Human Rights Campaign provides a national voice on GLBTQ issues. The Human Rights Campaign effectively lobbies Congress; mobilizes grassroots action in diverse communities; invests strategically to elect a fair-minded Congress; and increases public understanding through innovative education and communication strategies.

The Human Rights Campaign is an organization that works to advance equality based on sexual orientation and gender expression and identity. The Human Rights Campaign at The Ohio State University helps educate our local community about the Human Rights Campaign message by engaging in extensive events and programming. We envision a national and local community where gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, and allied Americans can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the OSU community.

Section 3:

Any member affiliated with The Human Rights Campaign at The Ohio State University shall not discriminate against any individual based upon protected status, which is defined as age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status.

Article II: Qualifications and Categories of Membership.

Voting membership is limited to currently enrolled Ohio State students. Others, such as faculty, alumni, professionals, etc. are encouraged to become members, but as non-voting members. There will be two forms of membership: active student membership, non-voting membership (limited to faculty, alumni, professionals, etc.).

Article III: Organization Leadership: Titles, terms of office, type of selection, and duties of the leaders.

Organization leaders (i.e. The E-board) represent the general membership and are elected or appointed from the ranks of the organization’s voting membership. All E-board members (Chair (s), Secretary, Treasurer, and others) are expected to attend all HRC E-board meetings, general body meetings, and all HRC-sponsored events.

Section 1

At least one but not more than 2 Chairs will serve the organization. Length of term for this position will be from the election which the nominee won the majority of votes until the following election. General duties include, but are not limited to: organizing meeting time and place, performing all duties to oversee the success of all Human Rights Campaign organization meetings, acting as key speaker of group, co-signing all checks, working closely with the group's advisers and attending the Human Rights Campaign Columbus Steering committee meetings.  The senior Chair will hold the title of "President" with regards to University student organization leadership requirements.

Section 2

An elected Treasurer will serve the organization. General duties include, but are not limited to: keeping track of all income/expenses, reporting money issues and disputes to advisor and co-chairs, writing grants when money is requested from different organizations, groups, and/or the university, ensuring that the organization keeps a balanced checkbook, keeping an account of all monies, and coordinating group fundraising activities.

Section 3

The position of Secretary will be held by an elected official from the group to perform various duties for the organization. Length of term for this position will be from the election which the nominee won the majority of votes until the following election. General duties include, but are not limited to: documenting general meetings and E-board meetings, keeping track of and archiving all paperwork generated by organization, notifying members of group of upcoming events, meeting minutes, etc., compiling an agenda for each meeting, assisting the Chair(s) with any duties they may need assistance with, taking attendance at all meetings, managing the master list of members, and acting as time-keeper for the E-board and general meetings.

Section 4

The E-board may appoint other officers as appropriate and delegate tasks as necessary.  Such officer positions include, but are not limited to, vice chair and webmaster.  For the purposes of this document these positions will be referred to as "appointed E-board officers".

Article IV: Project Groups

The planning and coordination of individual organizational events will be conducted by Project Groups. These will be independent groups, all reporting to the Chair(s) unless instructed otherwise by the E-board. HRC members have the option to participate in whichever project groups they want, but are required to fulfill their commitment to the group. Each project group will be led by a Project Group Leader. The Project Group Leader position is voluntary and is not considered an E-board role. General duties include, but are not limited to: distributing responsibilities to members of the project group, coordinating the specifics of their program (location, time, etc.), coordinating with the Treasurer to ensure available funding, and reporting group progress to the appropriate party.

Article V: E-board

The E-board will represent the general membership and conduct business of the organization between general meetings of the membership and report its actions at the general meetings of the membership. The Chair(s), Secretary, and Treasurer are members of said E-board.  Other E-board members can be added subject to the E-board's unanimous consent.

Article VI: Qualification Criteria of Advisor(s)

Advisers of this organization must be full-time members of the University faculty or Administrative and Professional Staff. If a person is serving as an advisor who is not a member of the above classifications, a co-advisor must be chosen who is a member of these University classifications. There will be three advisers to the group. The University faculty, Administrative or Professional Staff advisor, the Graduate Assistant Advisor, and an appointed member from the Human Rights Campaign Steering Committee.

Section 1

A university faculty, administrative or professional staff advisor is the main advisor for the group. The university faculty, administrative or professional Staff member may serve as advisor for an unlimited duration of time, until they no longer want to or cannot fulfill the duties that are assigned to them, or if the majority of the group believes it is in the group’s best interest to find a new advisor. The group must have a majority vote on this measure in order to relieve the person of their advising duties. General duties of the advisor include: Working closely with co-chairs and other members of the steering committee to make sure they are on task, act as a tie breaker vote in any election, voting, or amending process, provide direction for the group, provide help for anything that is asked from the organization.

Section 2

A Graduate Assistant Advisor will act as an assistant the main advisor. The group as a whole will conduct a majority elect for future advisers. The Graduate Assistant Advisor may serve as advisor for an unlimited duration of time, until they no longer want to or can fulfill the duties that are assigned to them, or if the majority of the group believes it is in the group’s best interest to find a new advisor. The group must have a majority vote on this measure in order to relieve the person of their advising duties. General duties of the advisor include: Helping the main advisor of the group, in charge of all group elections.

Article VII: Method of Amending Constitution: Proposals, notice, and voting requirements.

Proposed changes and amendments to the Constitution must be approved by the E-board and the general members. The proposed changes will be posted online for two weeks, discussed in the general body meetings after the two week period, and voted upon after full discussion. A 2/3 vote is required. Only voting membership of the organization, who is present at the meeting in which the vote is taken, may vote on any amendments.

By-laws

Article I

The Co-chairs will hold the responsibility of conducting the meetings. The format in which they conduct the meetings is entirely up to them. In order for members to be heard at general meetings, members must raise their hands until they are called upon by a member of the E-board. If there are too many people who would like to voice their opinion on a certain issue, Chairs have the authority to limit responses of the members to one minute.

Article II: Membership

Active Student Member status will be given to students who attend two or more general meetings. No organization dues will be required with this membership. If a member does not complete these requirements, they will then become a standby member. Only Active Student Members will have voting rights.

Article III: Election / Appointment of Government Leadership

Elections will be held in the spring quarter, no later than April 15th. The Graduate Assistant Advisor will be in charge of running the election. In the event the Graduate Assistant is not available to run the election, the duty will then be passed to the head advisor, then to the Human Rights Campaign Advisor, and then to the Chair(s). In order to hold an office position, student must have Active Student Member status and the member must be nominated by a member of his or her peers (self-nominations are permitted) and they must accept or decline the nomination. Student may use any means of advertising, and may post any material about their campaign.

Elections will be held in balloting style. If a person is running unopposed, they automatically win. If there are two or more people running, all nominees must remain outside the general meeting area during the election of the position they are running for. Each nominee will give their speech individually in front of the general meeting area, and then will go outside the meeting room. Members will then be able to talk as a group about that person running for election. This process will be repeated until all nominees have finished. Balloting will then take place with the nominees outside the general meeting area. When ballots have been tallied, nominees will enter the general meeting area and the elected will be announced.

After new officers have been elected, there will be a transitional period of two months. During this transitional period, new E-board members and old E-board members will all attend the weekly E-board meetings and run general body meetings cooperatively. This will provide for the most effective transfer of duties. New E-board members will take full office responsibilities following this transition period. If, during a transition period, an E-board member is unable to fulfill their duties (excluding Chairs), the position will be offered to the first runner up. If the first runner up is unable to take on the position, there will be a new election.

This article takes precedence over Article IV insofar as succession during the transition period is concerned.

Article IV: Succession / Removal of Officers

Section 1

Should the President (i.e. the senior Chair) be unable to fulfill their duties, the role of President would then fall to the remaining Chair (if any).  If there is no other chair, then the role of President would then fall to the Secretary, then to the Treasurer, and finally any appointed E-board officers in order of seniority.

Section 2

Should the Treasurer be unable to fulfill their duties, the role of the Treasurer would fall first to the junior Chair (but only if there is more than one Chair), then to the Secretary, and finally to any appointed E-board officers in order of seniority.

Section 3

Should the Secretary be unable to fulfill their duties, the role of the Secretary would fall first to the junior Chair (but only if there is more than one Chair), and then to any appointed E-board officers in order of seniority.

Section 4

Appointed E-board officers can be added and removed with the unanimous consent of the Chair(s), Treasurer, and Secretary.  No other vote is required.

Section 5

Should there be a vacancy remaining after the previously defined orders of succession (in Sections 1-3), a special election may be held in the same format as introduced by Article III, with only the vacant position(s) up for vote.

Section 6

Impeachment proceedings against an officer may be initiated by a motion introduced by a voting member and seconded by a member of the E-board.  The date will then be set by simple majority, but can be no sooner than a week from the date the motion is introduced.  On the determined date, there will then be a debate.  The debate will end with a motion for cloture being adopted by a simple majority of voting members.  At this point, the impeachment vote will proceed, with a 2/3 majority required for the officer to be impeached.  The vote will be run by an advisor, using the same process of succession as Article III, but officers are exempt from running their own impeachment votes.  In the event that none of the parties specified in Article III are able to conduct the vote, the duty then falls to the Treasurer, then to the Secretary, and then appointed E-board officers in order of seniority.

Alternatively, when school is not in session (that is, during breaks or Summer Quarters for the purposes of this process), with the consent of at least two E-board officers, an emergency E-board meeting can be called to remove an officer.  At this meeting all E-board officers will discuss the circumstances fully and then cast a vote via secret ballot.  The person responsible for running this process is determined by the same order of succession as a general impeachment vote would use. For this kind of vote, there must be at most one "no" vote (including the impeached officer's vote) for the impeachment measure to pass.

Article V – Advisor(s) Responsibility

Section 1

A University faculty, administrative or professional staff advisor must fulfill all the duties listed in the constitution. This advisor is not required to attend meetings, but should attend at least one general meeting or E-board meeting a quarter.

Section 2

A Graduate Assistant Advisor must fulfill all the duties listed in the constitution. This advisor is not required to attend meetings, but will only be required for attendance when they are called upon for assistance.

Article VI: Meeting Requirements

All E-board members are required to attend general meetings and the E-board Meetings. E-board meetings, unless otherwise agreed upon by 2/3 of the E-board, must be held every other week when school is in session. This time should be consistent throughout the year. General meetings will be scheduled as deemed necessary. There is no attendance limit to regular meetings.

Article VII: Method of Amending By-Laws

By-laws can be amended by proposing writing and reading the change at a general meeting of the membership and then will be voted upon at the next meeting. A 2/3 vote is required. Only voting membership of the organization, who is present at the meeting in which the vote is taken, may vote on any amendments.