VIETNAMESE STUDENT ASSOCIATION - SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY

CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS

ARTICLE I. NAME & LOGO

The name of this organization shall be the Vietnamese Student Association [at San Diego State University],hereafter referred to as VSA-SDSU.The Vietnamese Student Association (VSA) at San Diego State University (SDSU) has been established since 1968.The above logo has been adopted by members of VSA-SDSU as the official seal of this organization. (2005)

ARTICLE II. PURPOSES

The aims of VSA-SDSU are to promote, educate, and preserve the Vietnamese culture and to invite others to learnabout us. We execute such functions as educational workshops, social events, cultural celebrations, and fundraisingdrives in hope of furthering our goals and to serve the larger public community.

ARTICLE III. MEMBERSHIP

A. EligibilityAll students enrolled at San Diego State University, with an expressed interest in the Vietnamese culture arewelcome to join. Members of the above named organization shall be accepted without discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, disability, sex, sexual preference, age, creed, marital status, parental status or veteransstatus. Furthermore, it is understood that members of the above organization will not, at any time, engage in hazing.Membership eligibility within an SDSU organization in general shall be refer to the Official Student OrganizationHandbook, published and amended annually by the Center for Student Activities and Campus Life (formerly knownas the Center for Student Involvement). Non-SDSU students are welcome to join VSA-SDSU as an affiliatemember. Non-SDSU students are NOT allowed to hold an office seat in VSA-SDSU.B. Privilege of MembershipMembers shall have the right to attend all meetings and participate in all VSA-SDSU-sponsored activities. "SpecialEvents" are for active members only. Members are not allowed to attend closed session meetings as defined inArticle IV Section K.C. DuesThere are NO dues for this organization. Budget is generated from money allotted from SDSU’s AssociatedStudents (A.S.), grants from the Union of the Vietnamese Student Association of Southern California (UVSASoCal), Community supporters, and via fundraising events. Fees however, may be collected from members forcertain social events to help cover the cost and expenses. Members shall not pay no more than $5 per events.D. Active StatusMembers are responsible for attending majority of the general body meetings (GBM). Only in the case of anemergency, test or class, shall a member be absent. If a member has a class on all of the dates set for meetings, theycan still be active only if they are active in their respective committees. Active members must attend at least four outof six meetings per semester to qualify. Inactive status will confer to those who do not fulfill the previousrequirement.

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E. Revocation of Membership

Failure to comply with Article III, Section D, without having proper consent will result in active status revocation.F. Committee ObligationsActive members must represent the committees they signed up for actively, to satisfy their officer. If the officercannot get any response from the committee member, they will contact the Internal Vice President for properdisciplinary actions as referred to in Article IV, Section E.H. RecommendationsThe President of VSA-SDSU will write letters of recommendation to those in active status as mentioned in Article III,Section D upon request. A list of active members will be provided to the current advisor to aid in reports. Overallperformance in VSA-SDSU will be the deciding factor in giving any recommendation. One can be inactive at certaintimes before the time applying for recommendation. If overall performance is positive and continuing success shows,then a recommendation will be granted.I. Family (2006)VSA-SDSU members will be subdivided into three Families (not four) and shall have the names of the threeVietnamese Region: Nam, Bac, Trung, which translate to South, North, and Central. The Purpose of Family is forfurther bonding of our members. Each family will consist of 5 Officers (2 Senior Officers, 2 Officers, 1 JuniorOfficer, while making sure there is a balance of gender as well). Families will be grouped when Junior Officers areelected.Amedning this idea will require a proposal from a current officers with a second approval from another officer;followed by a 2/3 vote from the officers.

ARTICLE IV. OFFICERS, JUNIOR OFFICERS, AND BOARD OF ADVISORS

A. TitlesThe officers of VSA-SDSU shall include (12 seats):The Executive Board (5)President (Chu Tich)Internal Vice President (Pho Chu Tich Noi Vu)External Vice President (Pho Chu Tich Ngoai Vu)Secretary (Thu Ky)Treasurer (Thu Quy)Historian (Bien Khao Vien)Public Relations (Thong Tin)Fundraising Chair (Gay Quy Vien)Events Coordinator (Dieu Hanh Chuong Trinh)Culture Night Chair (Chu Nhiem Dem Van Hoa)Net Viet Editor (Truong Ban Bien Tap Net Viet)Webmaster (Quan Ly Mang Luoi)B. Elections1. Elections are held at the 3

GBM in the Spring Semester. Should the definition of GBM change over thecourse of the academic school year, future elections must be executed between March and April. The rulescontained in the most recent edition of Robert's Rules of Order shall guide this organization in all cases thatthey are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with the Bylaws and special rules of order theorganization may adopt.

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2. VSA-SDSU offers a total of twelve seats on the Cabinet for each academic year. Each officer elected inspring will serve for one term, defined as the start of the “Turnover Dinner” of one year (e.g. May 2006) to the“Turnover Dinner” the following year (e.g. May 2007).The President seat requires a minimum one yearexperience as an executive officer or two years as an officer. Executive positions require that candidates must

be a previous officer (one year) in order to run for that position. If the President seat or an executive seat isopen, any VSA-SDSU member can run for it, given the fact that he/she must be an active VSA-SDSU memberfor at least one semester as define in Article III, Section D. Other officer positions require that candidates mustbe an active VSA-SDSU member for at least one semester. If both situations are not met, then seats are open toany VSA-SDSU member (regardless of active status). If a candidate decides to do a “co-chair” position withanother person, this must be decided between the two individuals prior to speeches. In order to be elected, eachcandidate must have a “50% + 1” vote from the members. In order to be an official voter, VSA-SDSUmembership application must be submitted by a given deadline set forth by the election committee.3. RequirementsMust submit election application by the deadline set forth by the election committee. Failure to do so willposition the candidate as “write in candidate”, and thus, no election material info on that candidate will beprovided at election. If more time is needed (with special reasoning), please consult with the President. If running for President or Treasurer, a 2.0 GPA must be maintained. All Candidates must prepare a 1-2 minutespeech on why he/she should be elected (election committee should monitor the election with strict timing!).An additional 1-2 minutes will be allotted for questioning per candidates. Election is based on a “run-off”process (i.e., rank your preferences).4. Election CommitteeTo ensure that election is fair and executed smoothly, an election committee will be formed. Eligible committeemembers shall be a current officer that will NOT be running for the succeeding term. A minimum of threemembers are needed and up to a maximum of five will be allowed. Should no candidate fit the electioncommittee requirement, priority will go to the officers that are interested, follow by members who expressedinterest. However, it is highly recommended that members don’t take part in the execution of election, butrather take part by attending and voting on election day.5. Task One serves as Chair of the election process. This will include facilitation of the candidate speeches. Two othermembers shall serve as the Credential Chairs at the beginning of election. One will serve as the timing duringspeeches whereas the other will be at the door to make sure opposing candidates do not hear each other’sspeeches. The two will also be in charge of distributing, collecting, and counting ballots. The ElectionCommittee Chair announces the winners and maintain quorum of the election process. Additional committeemembers can dispurse the tasks amongst how ever many members are on the committee.6. Election DayCredential of membership will take place at the beginning. ONLY VSA-SDSU MEMBERS ARE ALLOWEDTO VOTE. The club secretary will provide a list of all current members to vote. Outsiders and friends of candidates will make the election process unfair and bias. Candidates cannot vote for people running for theposition he/she is running for (e.g. If you are running for IVP, you will not vote during the IVP election.)Election will be conducted according to position as listed in the application. President will go first, follow byIVP, EVP, Sec, etc. Position victory will be announced according to position. (e.g. Once all IVP candidateshave said his/her speech, members will vote, ballots will be tallied, and winner will be announced shortly). If candidate lost his/her election, he/she has the choice of running for another position. Another speech is notnecessary (in order to save time)– but if it helps, one additional minute will be allowed. Based on trials anderror, co-positions are only allowed based on the following criteria:

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The position of E-board can only be entitled to one person. However, Co-presidency is allotted given thatone of the co-presidents also serve as another Executive officers. Regardless, there shall only be five executiveofficers per term.

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Co-positions are discouraged on most positions, however, co-positions for the following seats are allotted:Public Relations, Events Coordinator, VCN Chair, and Net Viet Editor.

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In any given term, no more than 3 co-positions are allowed.If Elected, all officers are required to

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Attend a mandatory Turnover Meeting determined by both the outgoing and incoming presidents.