BYLAWS

of the

NORTH DAKOTA STUDENT ASSOCIATION

ARTICLE I

STUDENT FEES

A student fee for NDSA shall be set at three (3) cents per credit hour up to twelve (12) credit hours for each NDUS student.

ARTICLE II

DELEGATION REPRESENTATION

A.	Formula for Determining the Number of Voting Delegates

1.	The number of voting delegates per member institution shall be accorded by the following formula:

a.	Each school shall receive three (3) voting representatives for the first one (1) to one thousand (1000) FTE students.

b.	Each school shall receive one extra voting representative for every one thousand (1000) FTE above one thousand (1000) using standard scientific rounding convention.  

c.	FTE will be based on the fall FTE as reported by the NDUS office for graduate and undergraduate students.

B.	Delegation Responsibilities and Accountability

1.	Each member institution shall meet the following criteria:

a.	Each school’s governing body must have written policy defining how Head Delegates are selected.

b.	Each school’s governing body must have a written policy defining how voting Head Delegates are selected and removed.

c.	It is the Head Delegates responsibility to inform the voting delegates about NDSA.  

d.	It is the Head Delegates responsibility to inform his/her student body about the actions of NDSA.  In addition, all minutes and agendas are available to all, on the NDSA website.
2.	All exceptions for unforeseen circumstances to Article IV, Section B, Subsection 2 of the NDSA Constitution shall be approved by the NDSA Executive Officers.
	
	a.	In the event of an approved exception, all votes will be communicated in any visible format by a NDSA Voting Record, by which each voting member shall provide a handwritten signature and shall identify his or her vote.  This shall be received by the general body within twenty minutes, or votes will be nullified.

ARTICLE III

EX-OFFICIO OFFICERS

A.	Student Member to the State Board of Higher Education

1.	Qualifications.

a.	Nominees for the position of Student Member must have completed at least one (1) academic year of study at a member institution of the North Dakota University System at the time they assume responsibilities of that position.

b.	At the time of nominationsfor the position of Student Member, each nominee must be enrolled full-time at a member institution of the North Dakota University System.

c.	No student shall be eligible for nomination to the position unless he or she has represented his or her institution, in a voting or non-voting capacity, at three (3) separate NDSA meetings before nominations open.

d.	No student shall be nominated for this position who has not earned a cumulative grade point average of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale.

e.	Nominees must be full-time residents of North Dakota.

2.	Selection.

a.	In accordance with the North Dakota Constitution, NDSA shall submit the names of three (3) candidates to the Governor, who shall make the formal appointment to the position.

b.	Nominations for the position shall remain open for a total of at least two (2) meetings.

c.	NDSA delegates prior to selection of the three (3) candidates shall interview all nominees.

d.	In each round of voting, each voting delegate shall cast one (1) vote for each candidate position left to be filled.  No person may vote for the same nominees more than once in each round.  To ensure this, the vote of each delegate shall be written on a single ballot.  The nominee with the fewest number of votes shall be removed from the list and a new round of voting will begin.  This process will continue until three (3) nominees have each received a majority of votes and these three candidates shall be submitted to the Governor.

3.	Powers and duties.

a.	The Student Membershall have all powers and duties as given by the North Dakota State Board of Higher Education.

b.	The Student Member shall attend all meetings of NDSA and communicate to NDSA all pertinent information concerning the actions of the State Board of Higher Education

c.	The Student Member is a non-voting member of NDSA.

B.	Lobbyist

1.	Qualifications.

a.	The lobbyist shall be elected by the NDSA delegates and shall represent the views of NDSA to the North Dakota State Legislature.

b.	The lobbyist shall be a registered legislative lobbyist in the state of North Dakota.

c.	The lobbyist must be a student or have been a student in the last academic year in the North Dakota University System.

d.	The lobbyist must have at least one (1) semester involvement in NDSA.

2.	Duties

a.	Lead lobbying activities on behalf of NDSA’s views to the North Dakota State Board of Higher Education, the North Dakota Legislature, and other entities deemed necessary.
b.	Track student issues at the national level and present them to NDSA.
c.	Act as a liaison to the North Dakota University System’s Council of College Faculties.
C.	Recall.

1.	The Student Member of the State Board of Higher Education may only be removed from office in accordance with the State Board guidelines.

2.	The lobbyist shall be subject to the recall provisions outlined in the NDSA Constitution.

ARTICLE IV

NDSA APPOINTMENTS TO STATE COMMITTEES

A.	Membership.  NDSA shall select the Academic Affairs Council Representatives and the Student Affairs Council Representative.

B.	Qualifications.  The representatives shall be NDSA delegates and may not hold an executive position or ex-officio position in NDSA.

C.	Selection.

1.	Nominations for these representatives shall be open for a minimum of two (2) meetings, including the meeting during which the election takes place.

2.	Elections for these positions will be held in April of each year with the respective terms of office beginning in the fall semester.

D.	Powers and duties.

1.	Academic Affairs Council Representative.

a.	The Academic Affairs Council Representative shall serve as student representative to the Academic Affairs Council with such powers and duties as given by said Council.

b.	This representative shall remain a voting delegate of his or her school, attend all meetings of NDSA, and communicate to NDSA all pertinent information concerning the actions of the Academic Affairs Council.

2.	Student Affairs Council Representative.

a.	The Student Affairs Council Representative shall serve as student representative to the Student Affairs Council with such powers and duties as given by said Council.

b.	This representative shall remain a voting delegate of his or her school, attend all meeting of NDSA, and communicate to NDSA all pertinent information concerning the actions of the Student Affairs Council.

3.	Recall.  These representatives shall be subject to the recall provisions outlined in the NDSA Constitution.

ARTICLE V

NDSA STANDING COMMITTEES

A.	Constitutional Review Committee.

1.	This committee is charged with the continuing revision and modification of the NDSA Constitution and Bylaws to ensure the changing needs of NDSA.

2.	It will be the responsibility of the committee to clarify and interpret the Constitution and Bylaws as deemed necessary.

3.	This committee is charged with reviewing the purpose and scope of NDSA.

4.	This committee shall be responsible for creating and reviewing a ‘Code of Elections’.

5.	This committee shall be responsible with reviewing and altering the Strategic Plan and Operational Goals for NDSA.

6.  The Constitution Committee Chair shall keep both hard and soft copies on the NDSA Constitution and Bylaws up-to-date (both strike through and normal formats).  These shall be passed on to the new Committee Chair for the following term, along with legislation worked on by the committee.

B.	State and Legislative Affairs Committee.

1.	The committee chair shall have a working knowledge of the legislative process.

2.	This committee will keep in contact with legislators and review pending legislation.

3.	This committee will make recommendations to NDSA regarding the impact of pending legislation on the students of North Dakota.

4.	This committee shall set the goals and plan the schedule for the NDSA lobbying effort.

5.	This committee shall be responsible for researching issues and providing all necessary information and statistics to the NDSA lobbyist.

6.	The committee shall organize communication with NDSA and the legislature.

7.	This committee shall be responsible for communicating with the NDSA lobbyist to ensure that appropriate action be taken regarding legislative issues facing NDSA.

8.	If the bodyof NDSA chooses to host a “Higher Education Day”, this committee shall be responsible for implementation.

C.	Finance Committee.

1.	This committee will review the current financial situation of NDSA and shall provide a recommended budget to the delegation.

2.	This committee shall look for ways to reduce the costs of NDSA to the member institutions.

3.	The Finance Committee must have final approval of all expenses paid or reimbursement requests.  The Finance Committee will preside over all monetary transactions for the NDSA account.

4.	In order to conduct committee business delegates from three (3) different institutions must be present.

5.	Requests for financial disbursement will be brought before the Finance Committee and be voted on by that committee.

6.	The Treasurer’s report will be reviewed every NDSA meeting by the Finance Committee.

7.	The Treasurer shall not serve as a voting or executive member of the Finance Committee.

8.	If the Treasurer is unable to fulfill his or her duties, the Finance Committee can recommend the removal of said officer.  If the Treasurer is removed, and interim Treasurer will be recommended by the Finance Committee and approved by the full NDSA delegation.

9.  The Finance Committee Chair shall keep a hard and soft copy of the NDSA budget, which shall be passed on to the new Finance Committee Chair for the following term, along with legislation and records of transactions.

D.	Student Affairs Committee.

1.	This committee will bring student concerns to NDSA and will conduct surveys on problematic issues.

2.	This committee will create and oversee a Public Relations Subcommittee.

3.	This committee will research organizations that are similar to NDSA in order to provide ideas for future activities.

4.	This committee will be responsible for coordinating any conferences that NDSA may attend or host with other organizations.

E.	Committee Meetings.

1.	These committees will meet as deemed necessary by NDSA delegates.

2.	The NDSA Vice-President will serve as an ex-officio member of all NDSA committees.

F.  Committee Chairs shall:

1.  Submit an agenda one week prior to the upcoming NDSA meeting with researched topics for discussion.

2.  Inform the president and the NDSA Assembly about discussion topics.

3.  Contact each committee member to update them on the progress of said committee.

4.  Get both hard and soft copies of all legislation to the NDSA secretary and webmaster no later than seven days after the NDSA assembly meeting from which the said legislation was originated.  Said legislation, and any other important documents, should be passed on to the new Committee Chair the following term.

5.  See that a Secretary for their committee is elected at the beginning of each term.  The Secretary shall then be responsible for keeping records of the minutes for the committee, and distributing them to the committee members and the NDSA Secretary.

ARTICLE VI

TRANSFER STUDENTS

A.	Transfer students are considered to be from the institution they attend for the majority of their term as delegate or officer.

B.	The school at which the student is currently enrolled will be considered his or her institution for the remainder of the academic year unless the student has been accepted for transfer to another institution and states his or her intention to transfer before the end of the term.

C.	Students transferring more than once during their term are considered to be from the institution they attended the greater portion of that term.

D.	Branch schools are considered separate institutions.

ARTICLE VII

PARLIAMENTARY AUTHORITY

The most current edition of The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure by Alice Sturgis shall be the parliamentary authority on all matters not covered in the NDSA Constitution and Bylaws.

ARTICLE VIII

APPEALS PROCESS

All appeals of the NDSA assembly election or recall decisions shall follow the procedures outlined in this section.  Officers, appointees, or committees may appeal a recall decision in the following matter:

1.	Initial appeal of an election or recall decision is made to the Constitutional Review Committee.

2.	The initial appeal must be submitted in writing within ten (10) days to the Constitutional Review Committee Chair, who shall place the appeal on the agenda at the next regular or special meeting of the committee.  A copy of the appeal submitted should besent to the Head Delegates of each member institution and to the President.

3.	A two-thirds vote of the Constitutional Review Committee shall be required to overturn the election or recall decision.  Only Constitutional Review Committee members who have attended at least one prior Constitutional Review Committee meeting in the current year may vote on appeal matters.

4.	If the individual is dissatisfied with the decision of the Constitutional Review Committee, the individual may further appeal to the NDSAassembly by submitting an appeal in writing within ten (10) days to the President and Head Delegates.  The President shall place the appeal on the agenda at the next regular or special meeting of the NDSA assembly.

5.	A two-thirds vote of the NDSA assembly shall be required to overturn the election or recall decision.

6.	Valid reasons for appeal shall be limited to procedural errors, violation of election procedures, or new information not considered in the original decision.

7.	In hearing appeals the appellate body is ruling on the appropriateness of a policy, procedure, or decision and does not have the power to make an appointment.