ASHMC Senate Bylaws

Article I: The ASHMC Senate

  1. The members of the Senate are: Senate Chair, President, Treasurer, Dorm Presidents (for each dormitory), and Class Presidents (for each class).
    1. The dormitories are East (Mildred E. Mudd), South (David X. Marks), North, West, Atwood, Case, Linde, Sontag, and Drinkward.
    2. The classes are Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior.
  2. All positions can be held by one or more individuals, except there must be one Senate Chair and one President. Each ticket must include at least one member who shall fill the position for the full academic year, but can include multiple individuals swapping out in different semesters (e.g. if one is leaving for a semester to study abroad).
  3. The Senate shall meet once every week, as scheduled by the Senate Chair and President.
    1. The Senate Chair and President shall report on Executive Board meetings.
  1. The Treasurer shall report on the state of ASHMC’s finances and current status of processing reimbursements.
  2. All other positions shall report on their current events, planned activities, and remaining funding.
  3. A representative from the Division of Student Affairs and a representative from the Facilities and Maintenance Office shall be invited to attend meetings concerning campus policy as non-voting members. 
  1. The Dorm Presidents and Class Presidents have voting power. Each constituency provides one vote (i.e. if two or more individuals share a position, then those individuals share a single vote).
  2. In the event of a tie, the Senate Chair gains a vote.
  3. Quorum shall be defined as one half of the voting membership of the Senate.
  4. The Senate Bylaws can be changed with a three-quarters majority vote of the Senate.

Article II: Senate Responsibilities

  1. The Senate Chair, President, and Treasurer responsibilities are outlined in the Constitution.
  2. Dorm Presidents shall:
    1. Attend Senate meetings
    2. Keep their constituents informed of outcomes of Senate meetings
    3. Act as liaisons between their constituents and the Division of Student Affairs, Facilities & Maintenance, and Campus Safety.
    4. Run dormitory meetings when necessary to address issues relevant to the dormitory in a productive fashion
    5. Organize the removal of items from dorm storage at the beginning of the academic year
    6. Select food representatives from each dorm at the beginning of the academic year to attend Food Committee meetings
    7. Meet with ResLife teams regularly
    8. Communicate with the Social Director about social events happening in their respective dormitories
  3. Class Presidents shall:
    1. Attend Senate meetings
    2. Plan events to enhance class community
    3. The Senior Class President shall:
      1. Plan any Senior celebration events
      2. Plan the Senior Trip
      3. Work with the administration to choose a Commencement speaker

Article III: Rules of Order for Senate Meetings

  1. The Senate shall meet once a week to discuss campus policies, budgeting, and internal ASHMC affairs. A representative from the Division of Student Affairs and a representative from the Facilities and Maintenance Office shall be invited to attend meetings concerning campus policy as non-voting members. Meeting times shall be scheduled by the Senate Chair and made publicly available.
  2. Absence Policy
    1. If a position is unrepresented at a scheduled Senate meeting, they will be issued a written warning by the Senate Chair. If additional meetings are missed, their constituency will be fined a sum of $25 for each meeting missed. Fines collected will be added to the ASHMC general fund.
    2. Members of the Senate may send a proxy to Senate meetings if they are unable to attend the meeting themselves. Proxies must be members of the same constituency and not hold another Senate office.
    3. The Senate Chair has the discretion to declare if a position is or is not represented at a given meeting.
  3. With no motion on the table, free form discussion is used by default.
  4. At any time, a member can motion to postpone, amend, or enter into moderated pro/con discussion. Every motion requires a second for action.
  5. After a seconded motion, the Senate Chair asks for dissent. Seeing and hearing none, the Senate votes on the motion on the table.
    1. The Senate Chair calls for voting on the current motion.
    2. Votes “against” are called first, recorded by the individual recording minutes.
    3. Votes “for” are called second, recorded by the individual recording minutes.
    4. Votes “abstaining” are called third, recorded by the individual recording minutes.
    5. Abstentions are removed from the voting consideration, but still count towards quorum.
    6. The vote is decided based on a simple majority of votes “for” and “against”, unless the specific vote has specifications mentioned elsewhere in the bylaws.
  6. If there is dissent following a second, the dissenter may either make an amendment or choose a form of discussion into which the Senate will enter. If unspecified, free form discussion is used. Forms of discussion include moderated discussion, moderated pro-con discussion, and free form discussion. The dissenter or the Senate Chair may suggest a time limit for discussion.
  7. Amendments cannot defeat the original purpose of the motion.
  8. If an amendment to a motion is found friendly, then no additional second is required and no vote on the amendment is required.
  9. During discussion on a motion, a member of the Senate may move to exit moderated discussion and vote (move the previous question). If the motion is seconded, the Senate immediately goes into a vote which requires a two-thirds majority to pass, ending moderated discussion. The senate then enters a vote on discussed motion, which follows standard voting procedures.
  10. At any point in discussion, a member may call a point of order in the event that another member or the Senate Chair has broken one of the rules of order.
  11. At any point in discussion, a member may call a point of information in the event that another member or the Senate Chair has presented false or incomplete information.
  12. The Senate Chair may call for a motion in the event of time pressure. The Senate Chair may only call for a general motion, a motion to vote on the motion on the table, or to postpone an agenda item.
  13. The Senate Chair acts as facilitator of discussion, remaining unbiased. If a motion regards the Senate Chair or the chair wishes to express an opinion, the chair must hand the chairship down to the President until the given motion is brought to a vote.
  14. Executive Session
    1. An Executive Session is a closed meeting of the ASHMC Senate.
    2. An Executive Session is open to members of the ASHMC Senate and Executive Board, and to guests invited by the Senate Chair. It is closed to all others.
    3. An Executive Session should be entered when not doing so would compromise confidential information or significantly alter the content of the discussion taking place.
    4. An Executive Session may only be entered upon a motion by any member of the Senate or Executive Board and a majority vote of the ASHMC Senate.
    5. An Executive Session may only be exited upon a motion by any member of the Senate or Executive Board and a majority vote of the ASHMC Senate, or upon the end of a Senate meeting.
    6. The minutes released from an Executive Session shall be limited, including only:
      1. An explanation of why the Executive Session was entered.
      2. The results of votes taken, to the extent that releasing this information does not compromise confidential information.
    7. Details of a discussion that occurred in an executive session should not be shared outside the Senate and Executive Board without the agreement of those involved in the discussion.

Article IV: Transparency Measures

  1. Availability of Meeting Minutes to Members of ASHMC
    1. Senate and Executive Board meeting minutes must be clearly published on the ASHMC website within three days of approval.
    2. Instructions for accessing publicly available ASHMC meeting minutes must be sent to the student body at the beginning of every semester.
    3. The Senate Chair is responsible for ensuring that the Senate meeting minutes are properly disseminated.
    4. The President is responsible for ensuring that the Executive Board meeting minutes are properly disseminated.
  2. The current Constitution, Bylaws, Executive Policy, Honor Code/Code of Conduct, Memorandum of Understanding, and Room Draw Policy must be clearly published on the ASHMC website. The President and Senate Chair are responsible for ensuring that these documents remain up to date.

Article V: Financial Policy

  1. The only persons authorized to charge goods and services to ASHMC are those persons specifically designated by the Senate to do so.
  2. Members of ASHMC shall not use appropriated ASHMC funds for purposes other than those for which the funds were appropriated.
  3. The Senate shall not appropriate ASHMC funds retroactively for expenses already incurred by a member, officer, organization, or committee of ASHMC, unless in emergency situations with a three-quarters majority vote from the Senate.
  4. Student body fees may be changed by a majority vote of the Senate, subject to approval by the Board of Trustees.
  5. The Treasurer shall compile a precise and up-to-date list of all ASHMC property from individual clubs and organizations worth more than $100.00, as well as a list of those members, clubs, and organizations responsible for its safekeeping.
  6. Default Appropriations:
    1. Each dormitory is entitled to receive $15.00 per dormitory resident per semester from ASHMC, payable on demand. The number of dorm residents for a semester is fixed seven days after the first classes of the semester.
      1. All ASHMC members living in HMC-sponsored housing are affiliated with the dormitory in which they reside at the beginning of each semester.
      2. ASHMC members studying abroad are by default affiliated with the dorm in which they last resided.
      3. Students on leave of absence who apply to remain a part of ASHMC will be affiliated with the dorm that they specify in their application.
    2. Each class is entitled to receive $600.00 per year from ASHMC, payable on demand.
  7. Priority of Funding
    1. Fixed charges as stated in the ASHMC Constitution shall receive top priority in distribution of funds. The groups receiving these funds may request additional funding by following the procedure outlined below.
    2. Debt service, plant expense, and other necessary payments shall be paid before budget requests are received. These shall be referred to as fixed charges in keeping with subsection A above.
  8. Guidelines for Funds
    1. Fixed charges will be paid in full or according to agreements made.
    2. The Senate may suggest an appropriate amount of dues be collected by student organizations.
    3. The Senate Chair and President shall receive up to $20 per ASHMC leader, including members of the Executive Board, members of Senate, and Executive Appointments, as discretionary funds for the purposes of training, bonding, and increasing campus presence. 
    4. ASHMC shall maintain a sample organization charter and funding request form to be distributed upon request and publicly posted. These forms will serve as an example of ASHMC standards in sponsoring organizations.
    5. All organization funding requests must be accompanied by a tabulated budget conforming to ASHMC standards.
    6. Clubs and organizations work on a reimbursement basis if they do not have an ASHMC sponsored bank account specifically for that group.
    7. An ASHMC sponsored bank account shall have the Treasurer listed as a signer and executive, and fall under the ASHMC Tax ID number.
  9. Specific Funds
    1. An Emergency Fund of $10,000 shall exist within the Senate budget. The use of the Emergency Fund will require a three-quarters majority vote of the Senate.
    2. A Long-Term Fund of up to $15,000 shall exist within the budget. This account will be used to fund projects or goods that will last a minimum of five years.
    3. 10% of each student’s dues, rounded down to the nearest $5 amount, will be allocated by that student’s vote in a student referendum.
      1. Allocations may be distributed to Athletics, CAP, Club, Diversity, Mudd Life, Social, Sustainability, and General Funds categories.
        1. Funds allocated to the Clubs category will be distributed proportionally to all clubs based upon Senate’s Mudd Budgeting.
        2. Funds allocated to the Athletics, CAP, Diversity, Mudd Life, Social, Sustainability, and Wellness categories will be added proportionally to their Executive Directors’ respective budgets.
        3. Funds allocated to General Funds will return to non-allocated funds, which the Senate may reallocate to its discretion.
      2. Allocations may be made to a $1 resolution.
      3. Allocations of students who do not vote will be directed to General Funds.
      4. Allocations by freshman, sophomore, and junior standing students will occur before Mudd Budgeting in the spring semester. The number of form submissions may be viewed after these allocations are complete so the Senate knows how much of its budget is unusable. Other results and distribution of funds will be made public after Mudd Budgeting, so as to make the two processes independent.
      5. Allocations by incoming freshmen will occur following their first ASHMC Club Fair.
    4. At the beginning of an academic year, the ASHMC Treasurer will distribute the rollover funds from the previous academic year in the following order:
      1. The Emergency Fund, to its capacity of $10,000.
      2. The Long-Term Fund, to its capacity of $15,000.
      3. A General Fund, if any rollover funds remain.
  10. Procedure for Receiving ASHMC Funding:
    1. A budget request for the next academic year, including an up-to-date audit (where necessary) and charter, must be submitted to the Treasurer at least three days before Spring Budgeting, with a reminder sent out at least a week before this due date. A representative of the organization must attend the budget meeting to present their budget.
    2. The Treasurer shall notify every requesting organization of the amount allocated to them and who will be considered responsible for that allocation within three days of the allocation.
    3. In order to receive allocated funds, an officer of the receiving organization must submit a reimbursement request to the Treasurer. Reimbursement requests must be submitted before the beginning of finals in order to guarantee reimbursement that semester.
    4. The Treasurer will forward the reimbursement within a reasonable amount of time to the requesting officer.
  11. ASHMC Tax Details
    1. ASHMC, for the purpose of reporting tax details, will be structured on a fiscal year which begins on May 1 and ends on April 30.