EA: December 15, 2010 Draft Membership Revisions for Charter

ARTICLE 3 Membership

3.1 Eligibility

Except in the case of an incidental vacancy, members of the assembly must also be members of the constituency associated with their respective seats. Changes of status with the university do not alter the eligibility of a member to serve as long as that member remains an employee of the University.

A voting member of the assembly may not serve concurrently as a trustee of the University.

3.2 Seat allocation

The Assembly consists of nineteen voting members, of whom six represent exempt employees, six represent non-exempt employees, one represents the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station at Geneva, hereafter referred to as the Geneva campus, and six represent all employees, regardless of job classification or location.

3.3 Ex-officio members

The following serve as members of the assembly ex-officio without vote:

1. the Employee Elected Trustee,
2. the Editor of PawPrint, and
3. the Vice President of Human Resources or a designee.

3.4 University Assembly

The assembly appoints five employees, of whom at least two are also members of the assembly, to serve on the University Assembly before May 1 of each year.

3.5 Vacancies

3.5.1 Vacancy Defined

A regular vacancy occurs when the term of a member expires, and may be filled by election.

An incidental vacancy occurs when:

1. a seat remains vacant after a regular election;
2. a member resigns or is removed from membership; or,
3. a member ceases to be eligible for membership.

3.5.2 Filling Regular Vacancies by Elections

The Elections Committee conducts elections according to the following process:

1. The assembly reviews and approves election rules, procedures, and a publicity plan for elections in the semester prior to the elections.
2. Candidates may stand for election only to those seats designated to represent their own population.
3. Employees may vote only in elections for seats designated to represent their own population.
4. To mitigate potential conflicts of interest, the Elections Committee resolves any disputes raised regarding election rules without review by the assembly.
5. Elections must be completed and results tabulated no later than the last day of April.

3.5.3 Filling Incidental Vacancies

Should an incidental vacancy occur for any seat, the assembly seats the highest-ranked, unseated candidate from the most recent election for the seat.

Should an incidental vacancy occur and no eligible candidates remain to be seated from the most recent election for that seat, the Assembly may seat a member to fill the vacancy by the following process:

1. The assembly solicits interest from the employee community within two weeks of the vacancy’s occurrence. The solicitation proceeds for no less than one month, and continues until it is closed by the assembly.
2. At the next meeting after solicitation has been closed, the Vice Chair for Internal Operations presents a slate of eligible candidates to the assembly
3. To conduct the election the chair of the meeting:
   1. allows each candidate to make an opening statement;
   2. allows all members present to ask questions of the candidates, including the candidates for the office;
   3. closes question and answer period;
   4. moves to a vote by secret ballot; and,
   5. repeats voting as needed until one candidate receives a majority of votes cast, eliminating the candidate receiving the fewest votes in each round of voting.

Members who fill incidental vacancies shall serve the full remainder of the term.

3.6 Term

The term of membership is two consecutive sessions of the assembly. Terms are staggered such that only half of the members’ terms expire each year.

3.7 Removal

Any member of the assembly may motion to impeach another member for conduct that is unethical, illegal, disruptive, or otherwise in conflict with charter and bylaws of the assembly or the University. The assembly must allow the impeached member to attend any discussion, deliberation, or vote related to the impeachment and must inform all members at least one business week in advance of any meeting where it will consider such a motion. The assembly may remove the impeached member by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the seated membership.

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