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Muslim Student Association at Texas Tech University's
CONSTITUTION
Article I: Name
Article II: Purpose
Article III: Membership
Article IV: Officers
Article V: Meetings
Article VI: External relations
Article VII: Activities
Article VIII: Committees
Article IX: The Faculty Advisor
Article X: Rules
Article XI: Amendment
Amendments
The official name of the said organization shall be Muslim Student Association; Muslim Student Association is a registered student organization at Texas Tech University. The name of the organization is abbreviated as (MSA).
MSA is cultural organization dedicated to promoting the Islamic cultural heritage. The organization seeks to increase the general public awareness about Muslims and Islam, and to enhance a better understanding of their history and contributions to the world. MSA hopes to counter negative stereotypes and to erase misconceptions about the Muslim people by fostering their cultural heritage, identity and values and their past and present contributions to humanity. Also, it is among the goals of the MSA to facilitate Islamic practice for members in any possible way. Moreover, one of the goals of MSA is to act as a venue where Muslims and Muslim Americans can display and share different aspects of their culture with others.
Section 1: Types of memberships
MSA provides two forms of membership: full and associate.
- Full membership: Full membership places no limitations on its holders. Full members constitute the general body of MSA. Only TTU students may be eligible for full membership. Only Muslim students are eligible for office posts.
- Associate membership: Associate membership entitles its holders to participate in all ASA activities with exception of voting and holding office. Associate membership is designed to accommodate TTU faculty and staff as well as off-campus participants.
Section 2: Requirements
The membership of MSA is open to anyone who is willing to play an active part in the association. The association shall not discriminate on the basis of religion, race, sex, or national origin. The executive committee of MSA is empowered to take decisions regarding the membership fee. All members are required to pay the membership fee on due time.
Section 3: Dues
The membership fee is $5.00 per academic year, and it is paid at the beginning of each fall.
Section 4: Termination of membership
An MSA member may be suspended from the association if and only if:
- The individual proves to repeatedly cause an atmosphere, which counters the productivity of the organization.
- The individual proves to repeatedly remain obstinate on compromising with the rest of the members.
- A hearing is held to present the case of the person in question.
The MSA shall have an active executive council that is comprised of a president, Vice-president, treasurer, and a Secretary. The full members of the MSA will vote upon all the officers.
Section 1: Duties
A- President:
The duties of the president are as follows:
- To plan and monitor any and all activities pertaining to the MSA.
- To schedule MSA meetings, executive committee/council meetings, and to setup their agendas.
- To act as a mediator between the executive committee and the MSA members.
- To properly address and enact solutions for organizational disagreements.
- The president may be impeached only by unanimous vote among all MSA members.
- To act as the spokesperson of the organization and monitor its performance.
B- Vice-president
The duties of the vice-president are as follows:
- To assist the president and share his/her workload.
- To keep parliamentary order during meetings.
- To help commence reports and set agenda of meetings.
- To fulfill the office of presidency if the president is unable to be present at meetings, takes a leave of absence, or is impeached. In this case, the vice-president shall carry out the duties of the president until the next election.
- To facilitate MSA functions/programs by planning, executing, and monitoring different activities.
C- Treasurer
The duties of the treasurer are as follows:
- To collect annual dues and keep an accurate record of MSA fmancial accounts.
- To give detailed reports of finances to the executive council.
- To suggest strategies to raise funds for the MSA account.
- To monitor transactions and appropriate expenditures of different MSA activities.
D- Secretary
The duties of the secretary are as follows:
- To give detailed reports of general body meetings.
- To keep an accurate list of new and old members of the MSA members.
- To receive and file mail holdings of MSA.
- To check the mailbox in the Campus Activities and Involvement Office of the Texas Tech University Center and to Appropriately mail payments to debit account related to MSA transactions.
Section 2: Terms of Office
The MSA officers shall be elected to serve for a period of one complete academic year. If, in the event of vacancy by the office of the president, the office shall immediately be filled by the vice-president. All other resulting vacancies shall be filled within four weeks by conducting a vote by the executive council based on nomination and consultation with the general body.
Section 3: Elections
The MSA will hold elections once a year during the first month of the spring semester. The nominations for eligible candidates for the listed officers will be held the third to the last meeting of the academic year and elections will be held in the same meeting with voting procedures. Elections will only take place with a quorum of at least 50% of the association members present. Voting procedures will commence under the direction of the vice-president of the association. Each candidate must be nominated by a member who is not running for an office and each nomination must receive a second motion from an assembly member in order for it to be a valid nomination. Voting itself will take place by secret ballot during the meeting. An ad hoc committee will tabulate results and give a report of the results of elections immediately following the submitting of the secret ballots by the voting members.
- Regular General Body meetings are held once a month. The coordinator of the internal affairs committee calls regular meetings after consulting with members on suitable dates and times and sets the meetings agenda. A quorum is required anytime voting is conducted. A quorum is established when at least 50% of the general body is present at the meeting.
- During meetings, any proposal presented by a member or group of members under sponsorship by at least one executive council member shall be duly put into vote. If approved by a simple majority vote of a quorum, the proposal must be implemented within the guidelines of the constitution.
- Officers may meet weekly and whenever any of its members think that a meeting is needed.
- Individual committee meetings’ times and frequency are left to the committee coordinator to determine.
Article VI: External relations
The MSA is not in relation with any local, state, national or international organization. However, MSA will cooperate where possible with any other organization that shares similar objectives.
The activities of the MSA will include but are not limited to, promoting a healthy sense of identity through social activities, organizing an Islamic Culture Day/Week, and facilitating the Muslim contribution to TTU academic goals through an organized dialogue with the members, administration and faculty.
Committees are in the form of the Athletic, Social and Cultural (ASC) committee, the public relations committee and the elections committee. The ASC committee shall have as its primary purpose the duties of assisting the officers in finding speakers, organizing the content of the meetings, and coordinating international business society activities. The public relations committee shall have as its primary purpose the duties involved with advertising meeting agendas and informing members about events affecting the organization. The elections committee shall have as its primary purpose the duty of conducting elections when called for by the president or highest-ranking officer. Members of the elections committee may not hold elected offices while serving on the committee.
Article IX: The Faculty Advisor
Section 1: Selection
An advisor can be nominated by any member and voted upon in a general body meeting. The majority of members of the executive committee should approve the nomination.
Section 2: Responsibilities
- An advisor should provide advice to members on pertinent matters.
- An advisor’s signature must be on any organizational account.
- Advisor must be a faculty of Texas Tech.
- Advisor should be aware of all meetings executive or otherwise, and should be available for two out of three general body meetings with the elections and constitutional amendments being mandatory.
- Advisor should approve any activities taken up by the organization.
- Advisor shall be responsible for settling any disagreements arising amongst the members of the executive council.
Section 3: Resign of Advisor
In the event of an advisor’s resign, nominating a new faculty advisor shall fill the vacancy.
All meetings will be conducted informally unless otherwise specified.
Amendments shall be accepted at any meeting. The proposed amendment must be submitted in a written form to the council. After receiving the proposed amendment, a period of at least a week must be allotted before an amendment can be voted upon. A vote of majority of the active members who are present at the meeting is required for passage.
Article III: Membership: Section 3: Membership Dues:
The Membership fee is $10.00 per academic year, and it is paid at the end of the spring semester.
Article III: Membership: Section 5: Voting:
Those who wish to vote for officers of the next academic year must be on the MSA list a month prior to the election and have paid their membership dues. Persons showing on the day of elections that are not on the MSA list from the previous year will not be allowed to vote, but can pay their membership dues for the new school year.
Article IV: Officers: Section 1: Duties: E-Public Relations Officer:
- The public relations officer may be nominated by the MSA officers in order to ensure the best representation for the MSA. The duties of the officer are as follows but not limited to:
- Aiding the president in the coordination of public affairs relation between the MSA and other associations and organizations.
- Keeping track of campus events and activities that discuss Muslim affairs like seminars, films, discussion groups, etc.
- Keeping track of what the local on-campus and off-campus media reports and publishes like the University Daily and other local newspapers.
- Aiding in receiving new incoming students to Texas Tech at the airport, and help them to spend the night either at the mosque or elsewhere in coordination with the other MSA officers.
- Aiding the secretary with providing application packets to applying Muslim students and corresponding and aiding them in any way necessary.
Article IV: Section 3: Elections:
Officer elections will take place in the spring semester so the new officers may have the opportunity to meet over the summer months and begin planning activities for the following academic year.
Article IV: Officers: Section 5: Resignation of Officers:
In the event that a certain officer wishes to resign from his/her position, he/she should submit a written request citing his/her reasons to the president, with a two week notice. The president must accept the resignation if the reasons that the resignee outlines are acceptable. In the case that the president is not satisfied with the cited reason(s), he/she has the privilege to ask for the advisor in order to dissuade the resignee from the resignation. If the written resignation is acceptable to the president, it is under the discretion of the president and officers whether the officer is allowed to address the general assembly. In any case, the president will read the formal written resignation of the officer to the general assembly.
In the case that one of the officers is not fulfilling his/her duties in their elected position, the president, advisor, and majority of the officers may request the resignation of the person from the position. Any issues of concern to the executive body will be addressed to the general body, where a vote will take place as to whether or not to remove that person from office. To fill the vacant position of the resigned officer, the nominated candidates who ran for the same position with the next highest votes will replace the resigning officer. In the case that person declines or no other person ran against the resigning officer, the president will call a general meeting where a student(s) will be nominated, voted on, and elected according to the usual procedures that the MSA general meeting follows in electing all officers.
In regards to the president, if he/she feels that they cannot carry on his/her duties with optimal capacity, he/she may choose to resign. Before the formal resignation of the president, a general meeting must be held in which the president would have to explain his/her reasons for resigning and immediately following a new president is nominated and elected.
