The Graduate Student Association exists in accordance with the mission of Saint Louis University to support the development and growth of graduate students as persons fully constituted as active members of the University community, deserving to share in its life and governance. Realizing the special needs and talents of graduate students, the GSA exists to act as an advocate and to serve as a conduit to serve the needs and to provide assistance to the University administration as it seeks to realize the University's mission. To this end this constitution is adopted.

Article 1: Name

The official name of the organization shall be the “Saint Louis University Graduate Student Association," but the organization is also referred to as the “Graduate Student Association” or “GSA.”

Article 2: Purpose

The Graduate Student Association will act as an advocacy group for individual and collective concerns relating to issues affecting graduate student life at the University.

The GSA should encourage community and interaction among all graduate students.

The GSA will act as a clearinghouse or forum for the dissemination of information to graduate students.

The GSA will seek equitable representation and involvement from all graduate students.

The GSA will attempt to provide support not elsewhere available to enhance the educational and professional development of graduate students.

Article 3: Implementation of Purpose

3.1 Communication

inform graduate students of GSA functions and objectives
provide regular- opportunities for networking through general assembly and informal gatherings
maintain a website
provide a number of means for optimum communication between graduate students and GSA (such as email, graduate student catalog, SLU newslink, website)

3.2 Advocacy

provide pool of persons to serve on university committees as representatives of graduate students
create and maintain an advocacy committee to address concerns brought to the GSA by General Assembly (GA) representatives and graduate students to University faculty, staff, and administration

3.3 Equity

solicit department volunteers
attempt to reflect department constituency

3.4 Support

provide support to enhance the education and profession development of graduate students in the Graduate School.

Article 4: General Assembly

4.1 The governing body of the GSA will be the General Assembly (GA).

4.2 The General Assembly is made up of grad student departmental reps within the auspices of the Graduate School.

4.3 Each department of each school within the Graduate School will be entitled to appoint one representative and one alternate to serve in the General Assembly.

A. Each department is entitled to one vote; the departmental representative carries this vote. In the event of the representative's absence, the alternate is entitled to cast the vote.

B. Representatives and alternates must be graduate students in good standing registered for the current semester and majoring in the department that they will represent.

C. Any other registered full-time and part-time graduate students of the University are considered nonvoting members, entitled to information and participation at meetings.

Article 5: Officers

5.1 The officers of the Graduate Student Association are:

· 1 President or 2 Co-Presidents

· 1 Vice President, Frost (North) Campus

· 1 Vice President, Health Sciences (South) Campus

· 1 Treasurer

· 1 Graduate Administrative Assistant (Graduate Assistant)

5.2 Each officer must be a graduate student in good academic standing.

5.3 The officers comprise the Executive Committee. The Executive committee acts when the General Assembly cannot be convened. All actions taken by the Executive Committee are subject to approval by the General Assembly.

Article 6: Faculty Advisor

The faculty advisor of the Graduate Student Association is the Dean of the Graduate School. In the event of a voting tie, the Faculty Advisor serves as the tie-breaking vote.

Article 7: Amendments to the Constitution .

1. Amendments may be proposed to the Executive Committee by any voting member

2. Amendments must be presented at the next meeting of the General Assembly.

3. Amendments must be voted on at the second meeting, after at least 30- days notice to the General Assembly.

4. Amendments must pass by a two-thirds majority of the General Assembly.

Article 8: Ratification

Ratification of this Constitution must be by affirmative vote of two- thirds of the departmental voting members present.

(Last revision August 2002)

Graduate Student Association (GSA) - BYLAWS

Section 1: Appointment of General Assembly (GA) Voting Members

1.1 Solicitation for appointments to GA membership will be made in

April for the following academic year. Volunteers will be solicited from the

graduate student population; department heads will be contacted for possible

nominations; and suggestions from current General Assembly representatives

will be requested.

1.2 Each department shall appoint one voting representative and one alternate.

1.3 Members will officially take office at the first meeting of the

General Assembly following their appointment.

Section 2: Duties and Responsibilities of Voting Members

The duties and responsibilities of the members of the General Assembly

are these:

(a) to attend all General Assembly meetings or provide an alternate

when not able to attend

(b) to disseminate information from the GSA to students within their

departments

(d) to bring concerns of graduate students to the GSA

(e) to work with departmental administration to secure proper use of

GSA funds allocated to departments

(f) to make sure their department is represented on one committee/special project.

(g) Should a department not be able to send a representative to GA meetings and maintain good standing as listed in Section 7.3: (d) of the By-Laws, the department must fulfill the following alternative requirements:

(i) The department chair/program director must submit a written statement to the GSA Executive Board explaining why their graduate students cannot attend GA meetings as scheduled each semester.

(ii) The departmental rep must serve on one GSA committee.

Section 3: Officers

3.1 President/Co-Presidents (hereinafter referred to as President) The President is the executive officer and presides over all General Assembly and Executive Committee meetings. (S)he acts as the spokesperson to the administration of the University and coordinates and

oversees all other officers' activities. The President keeps all other officers up to date on GSA activities. This office has only one (1) total vote that cannot be split.

3.2 Vice Presidents. The Vice Presidents advocate and respond to the needs of graduate students on their respective campuses. Upon the election of the two vice presidents, the Executive Committee determines the distribution of additional duties. Each of the vice presidents is appointed to be responsible for one of the following duties:

(a) one vice-president will chair the Awards Committee

1. GSA awards (Teaching Assistant, Faculty Mentor, and Service)

2. Brennan Fellowships (Dissertation, Thesis, and Exam awards)

(b) one vice-president will chair the Advocacy Committee, which will coordinate the gathering and dissemination of information concerning issues pertinent to graduate student life (e.g., legislative, health, financial, etc.)

3.3 Treasurer

The Treasurer is responsible for:

(a) creating a budget in consultation with the Executive Board

(b) keeping accurate records of revenues and disbursements

(d) presenting the budget to the General Assembly at the beginning of the fall semester

3.4 Graduate Administrative Assistant. The Graduate Administrative Assistant is an eleven-month assistantship as stipulated by the Graduate School and is responsible for the daily administration of GSA. The Administrative Assistant reports to the Graduate School Dean, who is also the faculty advisor and also has a permanent voting seat on the University Board of Graduate Studies. This person also sits as permanent Treasurer for the Graduate and Professional Student Assn. (GPSA)

3.4 Election. Officers are elected by majority vote at the April General Assembly meeting. Any graduate student in good standing is eligible to run.

3.5 Term. All officers take office at in May of the year of election and serve a term of one year. Officers are not restricted from running for the same or another office in following years.

3.6 Removal. Any officer found to be negligent in the fulfillment of their official duties may be removed from office by a majority vote of the General Assembly.

Section 4: Executive Committee

4.1 The Executive Committee consists of the officers of the GSA.

4.2 The Executive Committee sets the agenda for General Assembly meetings, recommends action to the General Assembly, adopts a budget and approves expenditures not included in the budget as funds allow, and appoints committees as needed for the conduct of GSA business.

4.3 The Executive Committee acts when a meeting of the General Assembly cannot be convened, subject to the approval of the General Assembly at the next meeting.

4.4 Minutes of the Executive Committee meetings will be kept and made accessible to the General Assembly.

Section 5: Meetings of the General Assembly

5.1 Meetings are held at times and places determined by the Executive Committee. Reasonable attempts are made to hold meetings convenient to all General Assembly members. Every attempt is made to hold meetings to one hour.

5.2 Voting members are notified of meetings at least one week in advance.

5.3 Meetings are open to both voting and nonvoting members. Nonvoting members are welcome to participate in discussion.

5.4 Both voting members and alternates may attend meetings and participate in discussion; however, only one vote per department may be cast.

5.5 Motions must carry by a majority of voting members present.

Section 6: Acquisition of Revenue

6.1 Members of the GSA do not pay dues to the GSA but rather an activity fee to the University which is then distributed to the Student organization through GPSA.

6.2 Revenue raised by the GSA or by outside sources will be kept in a University account under the title, “Saint Louis University Graduate Student Association”.

6.3 Funds, representing 83% of paid Graduate Student Activity fees as received from the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA), will be kept in the University Account, with 15% going to SGA for graduate participation in University wide events, and 2% retained by GPSA for operating purposes.

Section 7: Allocation of Revenue

7.1 An amount of funds received from GPSA will be set aside for the internal budget and other activities of the GSA as determined by the Executive Committee and General Assembly. The Treasurer, in conjunction with the Executive Committee, is to determine the budget.

7.2 In accordance with Article 3.4 of the GSA Constitution, GSA reimburses funds spent

in accordance with the following guidelines.

(a) Departmental :

i. The GSA will establish an account from which each department may draw funds for the reimbursement of special or extraordinary expenses after GSA receives the official census figures in the spring of each academic year.

ii. The amount allocated to this fund each year will be determined as part of that year’s normal budget.

iii. A department requesting funding should submit its expense request on the appropriate GSA form along with a short written justification for said item/s to the Graduate Administrative Assistant for approval prior to incurring the expense and before the April 15 deadline. The Executive Committee will then determine if the said expense meets the special/extraordinary expense criteria and notify each dept. accordingly.

iv. Special request criteria include, but are not limited to the following:

1. Items or events that are not the ordinary financial responsibility of the department.

2. Items or events that enhance the educational and professional development of the graduate students in the department and fall within University parameters and may not include food or drink.

3. Items or events that benefit as many of the students within the department as is possible or practical.

v. Total funds available to any department may not exceed a departmental limit based on the number of full and part-time students in that department as determined by the Graduate School census received from the Registrar’s office. The Executive Committee will bring a recommendation of the specific per student dollar amount, along with minimums and maximums, to the General Assembly for approval and publication at the first meeting of the academic year to be held in September.

vi. Unspent funds in this account will revert back to the GSA internal budget.

(b) Individual:

i. The GSA will provide supplemental funding for poster presentation materials, publishing assistance, travel and conference costs for all currently enrolled graduate students, which fall within the stated guidelines and deemed appropriate by the GSA Administrative Grad Assistant and the current Executive Committee.

ii. The Executive Committee will submit recommended amounts for each of these categories to the General Assembly for approval and publication at the first General Assembly Meeting of each academic year to be held in September.

iii. Individual funding requests are limited to one per semester for each graduate student.

The Graduate Administrative Assistant reimburses funds spent in accordance with the budget and guidelines of GSA upon presentation of valid dated and itemized receipts. Such expenditures are usually made with the previous approval of the Executive Committee either verbal or in writing.

7.3 The Graduate Administrative Assistant reimburses funds allocated to departments only when the following conditions are met:

(a) The graduate student fills out a “GSA Funding Request Form” which can be acquired from the GSA office, the GSA website or the departmental GSA representative.

(b) This form is signed by the student, the GSA representative of his/her department, and the departmental chairperson.

(c) The graduate student turns in the completed form, along with the original receipts, during the academic semester in which the expense was incurred.

(d) Attendance requirements for all funding have been fulfilled, specifically:

i. GSA will have four scheduled meetings per semester.

ii. Department Representatives or their alternates may miss only one meeting per semester

iii. Each department representative must serve on one of the following committees: Finance, Research Day, Advocacy, and Awards.

Section 8: Forfeiture and Reduction of Departmental Revenue

8.1 The forfeited funds transfer into the internal budget and will roll over into the next fiscal year.

8.2 Any department not represented in the General Assembly is not eligible to receive funds.

8.3 Failure to comply with 7.3(d) (above) results in forfeiture of Departmental and Individual funds for the un-represented department in that academic semester.

(a) Fall academic semester begins July 1 and ends December 31.

(b) Spring academic semester begins January 1 and ends June 30.

Section 9: Amendments to the By-Laws

9.1 Amendments may be proposed to the Executive Board by any voting member of the GA.

9.2 Amendments must be presented at the next meeting of the GA.

9.3 Amendments must be voted on at the second meeting, after at least 30-days notice to the General Assembly.

9.4 Amendments must pass by a two-thirds majority of the General Assembly present.

(Revised September 2004)