The Constitution of Bangladesh Students Association at Purdue (BDSA)
Article I - Definition
The name of the organization shall be Bangladesh Students Association. The official abbreviation of the organization will be Purdue BDSA.
Article II - Aim
The aim and purpose of this association is to
1. represent Bangladesh and its cultures,
2. cultivate a sense of community among Bangladeshi students within Purdue University,
3. serve the interests of Bangladeshi students within Purdue University,
4. identify the needs and concerns of Bangladeshi students and take responsive action that is beneficial to the Bangladeshi community as a whole,
5. nurture the academic, professional, and social growth and welfare of its members, and,
6. enhance the awareness of Bangladesh and Bangladeshi issues in the Purdue University community.
Article III - Membership
1. Eligibility: Membership and participation are free from discrimination based on race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin or ancestry, genetic information, marital status, parental status, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity, and expression, disability, or status as a veteran- all conforming to the university policy. Membership of the organization shall be open to individuals who support the purpose and objectives of the organization.
2. General Membership: Purdue University staff and faculty or any Tippecanoe County residents, who adhere to the definition of eligibility stated in Article III.1, are eligible for General membership. Applying for general membership would be done through the process determined by the executive committee. General members do not have voting rights.
3. Professional Community Membership: Purdue University staff and faculty or any other professionals that are Tippecanoe County residents who adhere to the definition of eligibility stated in Article III.1 are eligible for Professional Community membership. A professional community member may donate at their discretion, which will help fund the events where the currently available funds are not sufficient. Professional community members do not have voting rights. Professional Community members may receive certain benefits and perks determined by the executive committee. This membership is designed to help the student community cultivate networking needed for propelling their professional career onward and availing ample emotional support and guidance.
4. Active Membership: Within the General membership definition stated in Article III.2, current Purdue University students are eligible for active membership in the organization. A member will be only “active” in an academic year if one pays the membership fee determined by the current executive committee for that academic year. If a member graduates or loses student status from the university, that member will lose the active member status. Active members have the right to vote in any decision-making procedure where the democratic process is involved. The perks of active membership may include certain benefits or perks determined by the executive committee.
5. Membership Fee: The membership fee will be determined annually by the executive committee in accordance with the operating principles as stated in Article V. The Treasurer shall announce the fees to be paid by each member at the beginning of each academic year, right after the first committee meeting, and it shall be charged once every academic year.
Article IV – Executive Committee
1. The Executive Committee shall consist of President, Treasurer, Vice President (Admin.), and Vice President (Community). These positions shall be referred to as the elected positions.
2. The roles of the elected officials are broadly stated as:
a. The President will lead the organization and motivate everyone to contribute to the cause of BDSA.
b. The Vice President (Admin.) will oversee the administrative aspects of BDSA.
c. The Vice President (Community) will ensure the interest of the greater membership in all decisions and activities of BDSA.
d. The Treasurer will handle all the financial responsibilities and compliance with university financial rules. The primary duties are described below (but not limited to):
i. To be responsible for managing the finances including approving activity budgets and submitting reimbursement paperwork
ii. To keep accounts, deposit the organization’s funds, and make expenditures in a manner approved by the Business Office for Student Organizations
iii. to maintain accurate financial records and create a budget
iv. to maintain and distribute meeting minutes and any official records, such as committee applications.
3. Elected officials, by consensus among themselves, may expand the committee by appointing active members in different roles. Such appointments must be approved by the Faculty Advisor.
4. All elected officials should take the training provided by Student Associations Organization (SAO) and pass the required tests to be listed as officials. The President and the Treasurer will complete their respective training. The Vice Presidents will take training designed for the President and the Treasurer to get acquainted with organizational rules and formalities.
5. All the executive members, both the elected officials and appointed members, will have a working understanding of their roles defined and approved by the Faculty Advisor within the first three weeks of the term.
6. The term for each committee will be one academic year from June 1 to May 31.
Article V- Operating Principles
This part of the article elaborates on how the executive committee (EC) will decide on certain events or specific tasks. The decision-making process outlined below is intended to promote transparency, inclusivity, and effective governance within the organization. This will also include the repercussions if transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement of the organization are not maintained.
1. Meeting Conduct
a. The organization shall hold regular meetings to discuss and make decisions on organizational matters. No major decision can be taken without a formal meeting of the executive committee.
b. The Vice President (Admin.) will consult the EC members minimum of 10 days prior to a meeting and create agenda items.
c. The meetings shall be scheduled in advance (at least two weeks before the closest agenda item execution date), and all EC members shall be notified of the meeting details, including the date, time, and location, via an email or other universally used communication tool by the Vice President (Admin.).
d. To proceed with a meeting, a quorum must be attained. A minimum of 60% of the EC members must be present in the meeting to attain the quorum.
e. A designated facilitator for the meeting proceedings will be determined by the President at the beginning of the meeting. The president may customarily serve in this role.
f. In case of unavoidable circumstances where the presence of an executive officer in an upcoming meeting becomes difficult, that official must inform the Vice President (Admin.). This notice is expected to be at least 24 hours in advance.
g. An executive member must not miss executive meetings unreported for two times. In case this happens, the validity of the concerned official’s post will be added as an agenda item in the upcoming meeting and may be reported to the Advisor, who may decide to take further actions based on the satisfactory causes shown or not shown by the concerned member.
2. Discussion and Deliberation
a. The designated facilitator shall present the agenda for the meeting, which includes the items to be discussed and decided upon.
b. EC members shall have an opportunity to express their opinions, ask questions, and engage in a constructive discussion on each agenda item.
c. All viewpoints and perspectives shall be respected and considered during the deliberation process.
d. The designated facilitator may encourage members to find common ground and propose compromises when necessary.
3. Agenda item voting procedure:
a. Each board member shall have one vote per agenda item, and voting shall be conducted in a fair and accountable manner.
b. After the discussion of each agenda item, the designated facilitator will ask the four elected officials to submit their vote (verbally or through any other medium) and record the “Yes” and “No” responses. Then the facilitator will ask the remainder of the board members to submit their vote on the agenda item and record the “Yes” and “No” responses.
c. An agenda item will pass if:
i. all four or majority-elected board members say “yes,” and
ii. the majority of the remaining board members say “yes”
d. An agenda item will fail if:
i. the majority or equal number of elected board members say “No,” and
ii. the majority of the remaining board members say “No”
e. An agenda item will require a re-vote if:
i. all four or the majority of elected officials say “yes,” and the majority of the remaining executive committee members say “No”, or,
ii. all four or the majority or equal number of elected officials say “No,” and
the majority of the remaining executive committee members say “Yes”
iii. If the re-vote does not bring consensus for a pass or fail, then it will become mandatory to discuss the issue and agenda item with the Faculty Advisor.
4. Recording Decisions
a. The Vice President (Admin.) shall accurately record the decisions made during the meeting in the form of meeting minutes or other official records, including the date, the item discussed, and the outcome or action decided.
5. Implementation and Follow-Up
a. Once a decision has been made, the four elected board members shall develop an implementation plan and assign responsibilities to relevant EC members or committees.
b. Progress on implementing the decision shall be regularly reviewed and monitored to ensure timely execution by the President of the organization.
c. At the discretion of the executive committee, special sub-committees for different activities can be formed. Only the executive committee members can be the chairs of each subcommittee.
d. If necessary, adjustments or revisions to the decision may be made through further discussion and previously outlined decision-making procedure in a future meeting.
6. To ensure transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement of the organization, it is compulsory to:
a. post the minutes of BDSA executive committee meetings on the BDSA website within seven days of a meeting, and
b. send a financial report to the membership and ask for anonymous feedback from the membership about the events every quarter (September, December, March, June), and
c. perform necessary actions to maintain the eligibility of all the grants pursued by BDSA at Purdue University, according to the rules and regulations defined by the grant.
7. Failing to ensure
a. the measures stated in Article V.6.a & V.6.b two times, or
b. the step stated in Article V.6.c will result in making all four elected officials “delinquent” and re-elections may be held at the discretion of the faculty advisor.
Article VI- Organizational Rules and Regulations
1. All members of the executive committee must be active members of the Purdue BDSA. During the term, the executive committee members must maintain active membership status. At any event, if an executive committee member loses the active membership status or is not in good standing with the university, or enters academic probation in the university, that member would become ineligible to hold the respective post in the executive committee. In such cases, the position would be vacated immediately. If an elected official’s post is vacated, the Faculty Advisor would appoint an interim official in the same post from among the active members. If an appointed member’s post is vacated, then it will be filled according to Article IV.3.
2. Position Limit: There can be only 1 person for each elected position.
3. Diverse representation: The executive committee must ensure that at least one event per academic year is focused on the undergraduate student members of the organization.
4. Representatives: Professional Community members’ representatives may be included in the sub-committees chaired by executive committee members.
5. Power of General Body: At the request of at least 66% of the active members, any decision taken by the executive committee can be reversed.
6. Faculty Advisor: The faculty advisor will be a non-student member of the organization, with all rights and privileges therein, except for the right to vote or hold office. The advisor must be full-time faculty or administrative/professional staff at Purdue and be committed to the aim of BDSA. The role of the faculty advisor is to provide guidance and support according to the university's stipulated rules.
7. Steering Committees: If a planned event transcends the term of an executive committee, a special steering committee may be formed to plan and execute the event successfully. The executive committee would assign a convener of the steering committee who would preside over meetings and act as the person in charge of the event. Such a steering committee would operate independently of the executive committee of BDSA and would be effective till the event is held. If the election is held after forming the Steering committee and before the event is held, all the newly elected officials of BDSA will be ex officio members of the Steering committee.
8. Professional Community Bridge: The executive committee will strive to appoint a representative from the professional community who will serve as a bridge between the professional community members and the current committee and membership.
Article VII - Election Procedures
1. Election Timeline
a. An election for the four elected positions (as stated in Article VII.3) of the executive committee will be held at the end of the fall semester, before the winter break.
b. The newly elected officers are expected to shadow the current committee. The elected candidates for post “X” will be known as “X-Elect” for the rest of the ongoing term, then will continue to serve for one full term.
c. The charge must be handed over to the new executive committee before June 1st of each year.
2. Election Panel and Execution
a. The advisor will select the election panel of three people who will be non-eligible for voting, nominating, or posing as candidates. The panel may preferably be chosen from Professional community members or the ex-officials who have their term limits fulfilled. If a panel member is chosen from active members, that panel member cannot hold any executive committee post for the upcoming term.
b. The election(s) will be online, preferably Boilerlink, through the method formed by the panel.
c. By-laws related to the election must be followed to elect Executive Committee members.
d. As soon as charges are handed over to the newly elected Executive Committee, the respective offices of the university must be notified within three weeks.
e. In case of any kind of complaint from any active member regarding any kind of coercion or manipulation from any candidate, it should be submitted to the Advisor and Election Panel for their planned course of action.
3. Posts to be Elected:
a. There are four positions to be elected:
i. President (Open for both Undergraduate/Graduate Communities)
ii. Treasurer (Open for both Undergraduate/Graduate Communities)
iii. Vice President - 1 (From Undergraduate Community)
iv. Vice President - 2 (From Graduate Community )
4. Election Procedure:
a. The election will be held in a single ballot:
i. President and Treasurer Election
1. President and Treasurer candidates may be either an undergraduate or graduate active member.
ii. Vice President-1 and Vice President- 2
1. Two Vice Presidents will be elected from separate degree levels – undergraduate and graduate. The educational status of these two posts is different from each other to ensure representation of all students.
2. If the President is elected from the graduate student members, then the Vice President -1 (from Undergraduate Students) will become Vice President (Community) and the Vice President -2 (from Graduate Community) will become Vice President (Admin.). It will be vice-versa if the president is an undergraduate student.
b. For each post, the winners will be decided through the majority votes.
5. Term Limits:
a. No President/Treasurer/ Vice President (Admin.)/ Vice President (Community), i.e., Elected Officials, can serve in their respective posts for more than two terms.
b. Elected officials can be elected in other posts in the following terms for only one time at most.
c. Elected officials can be selected as executive members in the following terms at most two times.
d. Appointed executive members can be appointed as executive members in the same or different posts not more than two times.
6. Qualifications for the posts:
a. The qualification of the President, Treasurer, Vice President (Admin.) and Vice President (Community) posts is only limited to being an active (paid) member of BDSA.
b. Any person who is serving in the current committee can participate in the election if eligible.
7. Candidate Nomination:
a. The initial nomination may be called upon through a popular poll. If the nominated member is not willing to serve, such a nomination will be considered invalid.
b. For each post, an official nomination is needed from two active members.
c. No active member can officially nominate more than one person for a single post.
d. No active member can officially nominate more than two people altogether.
e. The candidate must submit the nomination pledge signed by the two nominators to the Election panel.
f. The Pledge,
“I, ____(name)_______________, studying as a _____________________ at Purdue University, would like to submit my nomination for the post of (President/Treasurer/Vice President -1 (Undergraduate) / Vice President – 2 (Graduate)) (tick one), nominated by (i)_______________________(name 1),_____, , and (ii) ______________(name 2)___________________. I pledge that I will abide by the decision of the Election panel about my candidacy and election results and will conduct any objections in the proper organizational protocol.
Signed by:
____(candidate signature)_________________
____(Nominator 1 signature)_______________
____(Nominator 2 signature)_______________ ”
g. Every candidate must record a video of at least two minutes as an introduction and manifesto for the election.
8. Candidacy Reduction:
a. No candidacy can be redacted once the official nomination is submitted.
9. Voting Qualification:
a. Any active member who paid the fee in the term under the ongoing committee will be selected as a voter.
b. The voter list will be published by the Election Panel.
c. For each post, the winners will be decided through majority voting.
d. In case of a tie for the winners in any post, a run-off election will be held at the discretion of the Advisor. The advisor will not be voting in the run in the run-off election (as with the case of any other election according to Article VI.6).
10. Election Procedural Timeline
a. The advisor will form an election panel as per Article VII.2.
b. The panel will call for the nominations, state Article VII and by-laws, and declare the nomination submission and election date.
c. The official nominations will be submitted as per article VII.7 and evaluated as per articles VII.6 and VII.7.
d. The final nominations for the election and the election online portal will be declared and set up, as per Article VII.2.b.
e. The candidates will post the manifesto as per Article VII.7.g at least two days before the election. Any candidate not posting the video within the deadline will lose the candidacy automatically.
Article VIII – By-Laws
1. The executive committee can draft bills as necessary for the organization. The bills can be adopted as a by-law by the majority vote of the active members of Purdue BDSA.
2. A by-law cannot conflict or supersede any part of the Constitution.
3. A by-law may not violate the university policies or conflict with the guidelines and policies of the Recognized Student Organization (RSO) of Purdue University.
4. Once a by-law is passed, a two-thirds majority of the active member vote is needed to repeal or amend it.
5. Once the election process is started, by-laws cannot be amended before the new committee is elected.
Article IX – Scope
1. Decisions and actions by the executive committee or members of the Purdue BDSA must be in accordance with Purdue University policy and adhere to Student Activities and Organizations rules and regulations.
2. All account keeping, organization's fund deposition, and expenditures are to be done in the manner approved by the Business Office for Student Organizations and adhering to applicable policies of Purdue University.
Article X- Disciplinary Measures for Constitutional Violation
This part of the article helps ensure compliance with the constitution's rules and regulations, and it provides a mechanism to address any violations or misconduct within the organization.
1. Any general member of the organization may report to the faculty advisor about violation of the constitution by the current committee. In case of serious violations or complaints, the advisor may initiate democratic processes involving committee members exclusively, or the whole active membership body, to take further decisions.
2. The faculty advisor will review these reports and determine actions depending on the nature and severity of the violation.
3. The disciplinary rulings may include warnings, suspensions, removal from office, or expulsion from the organization, among other measures.
4. In case a measure consists of the removal of an executive member from a post, then the faculty advisor will appoint a new replacement until the next election for that position.
5. All forms of hazing are prohibited by Purdue University both on and off campus. See the “Policy Against Hazing” here.
Article XI- Constitution Amendments
1. Proposal of Constitution Amendments: Amendments to the Constitution can be proposed to a general meeting in the following three procedures: -
a. Resolution by the Executive Committee.
b. Resolution by the Constitution Reform Committee appointed by the Faculty Advisor (if appointed in the absence of a working Executive Committee).
c. A petition signed by at least 30% of the active members.
2. Resolution of Amendments
a. The advisor will appoint a committee to reform the constitution, if not done already. This committee will work on preparing a proposal for open consultation and a vote by the active members.
b. Once a proposal of the amendment is brought to the floor of a general meeting of the Executive Committee, the members of a referendum shall vote on it.
c. Votes can be collected in advance, with signatures, or electronically.
d. The passage of the proposal requires at least 66% of all active members to vote in favor of the proposed amendment.
e. A constitution amendment or by-law amendment can only be proposed after the deadline for membership renewal is passed.
3. Amendment Clause: All amendments to the constitution and bylaws are subject to the approval of the Student Activities and Organizations and must adhere to the applicable university policies and laws. They MAY NOT take effect until they have been approved.
Article XII- Intellectual Property
1. We agree to follow Purdue's guidance and requirements relating to any intellectual property our RSO may use.
“This constitution is ratified and amended, by the Constitution Reform Committee (appointed by the Faculty Advisor and President of the Executive Committee 2022-23); and finally, achieved the mandate of more than 66% of active members of the organization, on July the 2nd, 2023. The constitution reform committee consisted of: Mir Imtiaz Mostafiz, Mohammad Shams Ud Doha, Salma Akhter, Tridib Saha, Binayok Sharma, Arunima Chowdhury & Shamsad Rahman.”
