The Constitution of  Ekta - Indian Students Association of
University of Hartford  

Purpose:

Ekta, The Indian Students Association is a service organization for South East Asian students at the University of Hartford. Our goal is to sponsor programs and services which will unite the South East Asian community, provide a basic support network for the South East Asian students, and create an awareness of South East Asian and their roles at the University of Hartford and the community at large.

Membership:

The membership of Ekta shall consist of:

• Any registered student, Alumni, faculty, or staff at the University of Hartford.

• Executive Board: Elected by general membership or appointed by elected executive board.

• Membership Dues

• The newly elected Executive Board should determine dues.

• There should be an option of having either semester or yearly dues.

 Executive Board:

The Executive Board shall consist of:  Elected Officers: President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Publicity Relation Officer, Graduate Representative, Undergraduate Representative, Editor, Web Master, Alumni Relations, and Faculty Advisor.

Executive board eligibility:

• Must be University of Hartford Current or Past Full or Part time student.

• Must not be on scholastic probation from the university (exceptions may be granted by the former executive board).

 Elections:

• Elections will be held for all Executive Board

• Positions shall be nominated and seconded (If no one is seconded, the nominations will be accepted as contenders, else if no one is nominated, volunteers will contenders).President: In addition to above, the contending member (For President) must have attended University of Hartford ATLEAST ONE semester.

• E-Board members may be re-elected

• Active Alumni members may be re-elected

• If TWO or more candidates are in the fray, majority vote rules will be applied.

• In case of a tie, re-elections will be held ONE week later.

• The following applies to non-presidential positions. In case there
  are no contenders, the election process will be repeated for two consecutive meetings.

• If Ekta is unable to fill the vacant position, The president may
  APPOINT a member for the position. Appointment may ONLY be revoked by majority rule.

• Each contender may take up to 5 minutes of campaign address to all
  members.

• Normally address would take place One week after nominations, however due to time constraints contender will choose either day of nominations or day of elections.

• Elections will be open ballot unless a request is made for a closed ballot.

• Current Secretary will count ballots and announce results of
  elections. If secretary is a contender, the Faculty Advisor/Club Advisor will be selected to count the ballots.

• Any Member may request a recount.

• Any member unable to attend election may request 'ADVANCE ELECTION' 

Advance Election:

• By sending e-mail to Ekta( EKTA@HARTFORD.EDU )

• By requesting advance ballot from E-Board member by assigned date by Executive Board

• Ballots must be signed with members full NAME assigned date and time by Executive Board

• Nominations may be made via email (to Ekta) or in person during the meeting on Friday. The deadline for nominations via email will be assigned date by Executive Board

• The nominated individual must accept the nomination to become a candidate.

• Current Student's Votes from sites that offer ID free email accounts (ex: hotmail, yahoo etc) will not be accepted due to obvious issues. Please UHAVAX email account.

Executive Board Duties:

Ekta is a member run organization and with that comes the responsibility of the officers to listen to their members and facilitate the decision making process to them.

President: The president shall represent Ekta at all university functions and at all functions conducted by Ekta. Also, the president will reside over all officer and general member meetings. Any decisions or conflicts within officer meetings will be resolved in a manner determined by the president. It is the ultimate responsibility of the president to ensure the success of Ekta.

Vice President: The Vice President is responsible to preside over any internal conflicts that take place within Ekta. He/she oversees the productivity of the Executive Board. The VP shall assume all presidential responsibilities in absence of the president. Also, the VP will be in charge of ordering t-shirts, recognizing achievements (ex: trophies, certificates), and organizing Ekta bi-monthly general body meetings (room reservations, refreshments, speakers, etc.).

Treasurer: The treasurer shall be responsible for creating, maintaining, and monitoring all financial records, expenditures, revenues, fundraising, sponsorships, ticket sales, and reimbursements for Ekta. The treasurer will submit an itemized budget to the Executive Board at the beginning of each semester. Upon request by the President or Vice President, he/she must show any and all financial records.

Secretary: The secretary shall be responsible for recording the minutes of each executive board meeting and general body meetings. Also, he/she will be responsible for communicating all officer responsibilities to each other. Finally, the secretary will be in charge of maintaining and organizing all internal records and forms for EKTA.

Public Relation Officer: The publicity officer shall be responsible for publicizing all EKTA general meetings and events through items including, but not limited to, fliers, posters, and transparencies. The publicity officer shall maintain and coordinate the phone trees and table assignments.

Graduate Representative: The primary responsibilities of the Graduate Representative are to voice concerns of the entire graduate student body that are part of Ekta.  This will include meeting with students and advising then on various issues before bringing them to the E-Board for further perusal.

Undergraduate Representative: The Undergraduate Representative serves as a link between the undergraduate students, graduate students and the E-Board.  Their main responsibility will be to interact with all the students and inform them of meetings and plans.  Further they will also assist the PRO in meeting with different student organizations that are part of the University of Hartford and arranging common functions and events.

Editor: The Editor’s responsibilities mainly relate to documentation that goes out of Ekta to various other student organizations, clubs and other such unions outside of the University of Hartford.  They will also finalize any material that is published on behalf of Ekta.

Web Master: The Web Master’s responsibilities will be to maintain and update the web page of Ekta on a day to day basis.  Details on the web include contact information of the E-Board, news about upcoming events, links to other Indian Student Associations and such others.

Alumni Relations: The holder of this position has to maintain relations with all University of Hartford alumni who are or were Ekta members.  Alumni have to be updated about the happenings of the meetings and decisions taken regarding certain issues and events.  This person will also be involved in the collection of any funds/donations made by alumni to Ekta.

•  Any and all activities sponsored by EKTA shall be organized in a joint effort by the entire Executive Board.

• Only the President, Vice President (In the absence of President), and Treasurer are authorized account holders (check writing and depositing).

• Any Executive Board officer is entitled to a committee(s) that will help coordinate and implement his/her specific activities.

• The activities (type and date) will be left up to the discretion of the newly elected Executive Board. They are under no obligation to follow prior year activities.

• The Executive Board shall present a budget to the treasurer at the beginning of each semester/year outlining all EKTA activities based on former activities.

• No hierarchy exists amongst the Executive Board members as all the officers may have responsibilities outside of their particular duties.

• At the end of the year, the Executive Board, in a joint effort, will organize an archive of the past year. This will serve as a reference and historical memoir for future Executive Boards and members.

Executive Board resignation and removal from office:

• Any officer may resign during the course of the term following a formal and written resignation to the President and by addressing the Executive Board at the next officer meeting.

• Any officer can be impeached for failure to perform assigned duties properly and in good faith, not representing the best interests of EKTA members, and adversely affecting the reputation of EKTA.

• Any elected or appointed officer can be removed from office by a two thirds vote from the current Executive Board at any Executive Board meeting followed by a majority vote of the members at the next general meeting.

• In the event of a vacancy, the vacant position is up for elections. The Executive Board will determine this process. If the president's position becomes vacant, the vice president assumes presidency.

Constitution:

• The constitution of the Ekta, Indian Students Association is the supreme authority of EKTA.

• Any changes or amendments to the constitution should have a two-thirds majority vote by the current Executive Board and a majority vote by the members present at a general body meeting.

• The newly elected Executive Board is responsible for understanding and following The Constitution of the Indian Students Association at the University of Hartford in its entirety.

 Constitution Compiled and Written by Mugunth Vaithylingam