The University-wide Council of Latino Organizations

Constitution

ARTICLE I: NAME

The name of this organization shall be The University-wide Council of Latino Organizations, hereinafter referred to by its acronym, UCLO.

ARTICLE II: PURPOSE

UCLO will act as a forum for the exchange of ideas among the registered Latino student organizations. This forum will provide a convenient means by which UCLO can serve as a collective and unified voice in matters concerning the interests and needs of Latino students at The Ohio State University (OSU). When necessary, as determined by the voting members of UCLO, measures will be taken to ensure that the needs of Latino students not represented through membership in a Latino student organization are considered and addressed. This will ensure the representation of Latino viewpoints at the university level.

This collective voice shall be ready to act when the concerns and interests of Latino students require attention as determined by the voting members of UCLO. This proactive stance will allow for representation of the Latino students’ opinions regarding university issues that directly and/or indirectly affect Latinos.

Furthermore, UCLO will serve as a communication among and between all registered Latino student organizations on campus in order to: (a) avoid conflict activities, (b) coordinate and/or co-sponsor activities, and (c) create an awareness of each Latino student organization’s goals. UCLO will provide the opportunity for collaborative support of each organization’s activities, projects, efforts, and concerns.

UCLO will recognize the importance of the activities each Latino organization sponsors and will respect the diverse goals and aims of the Latino student organizations.

No student shall be denied membership in UCLO because of race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, political views, veteran status, sexual orientation, or disability.

ARTICLE III: MEMBERSHIP

Membership within UCLO is open to any student at The Ohio State University with Latino interests. Every registered Latino organization shall be represented at all UCLO meetings by its President or a President’s Alternate and will make decisions and vote on issues previously announced on the agenda.

Any new Latino student organization shall be presented with a copy of the UCLO constitution and a registration to join the Council by sending representatives to the next scheduled meeting and signing the roster. These representatives will be students currently enrolled at OSU and must be a member in good standing of their organization. “Good Standing” will be defined by each organization. All the benefits of UCLO shall be limited to organizations that have registered with Student Organizations and UCLO.

Each organization will determine how to elect their President’s Alternate, keeping in mind the importance of well-informed and knowledgeable individuals regarding university issues and their understanding of Latinos at OSU.

The Executive Committee of each organization shall be responsible for providing the UCLOPresident with the names of their two representatives and will be responsible for ensuring participation of their representatives at all UCLO meetings. In case of any changes concerning the representatives, it is the responsibility of each organization’s President to give advance notice to the UCLOPresident. He/she should also give the name(s) of the person(s) taking the place of the voting representatives.

ARTICLE IV: ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP

Representatives:

TERM:

UCLO representatives will serve for one year

The duties of the representatives are to:

  1. Attend all UCLO meetings or give advance notice of their absences and notify the Committee that the President’s Alternate will attend the meeting in their place.
  2. Be ready to voice their organization’s viewpoint and interests on matters under agenda as well as on matters they deem necessary to address.
  3. Report back to their organization, regarding any items discussed at each UCLO meeting that are relevant to the representative’s particular organization and/or the Latino community of OSU as a whole.
  4. The vote of the representative should reflect their organization

Alternates:

The alternates should be appointed as deemed necessary by the President of each organization. In case the President becomes ineligible for the position or is incapable of attending any UCLO meetings, the President’s Alternate will assume the duties as outlined in Article IV-Representatives. The duration of each President’s Alternate term shall be one semester.

UCLO representatives and Alternates shall never speak on major policy issues on behalf of UCLO unless they are specifically authorized by the Committee to do so. When making public statements, representatives will clearly distinguish between personal and official statements.

Definition of Members

UCLO members include: UCLO Executive Board, Presidents and President’s Alternates, and any OSU student who has attended 80% or more of the current year’s meetings.

ARTICE V: ELECTION OF OFFICERS

The officers of UCLO will serve as administrators and may serve as representatives with voting rights from their respective organizations.

The officers of the Executive Board of UCLO shall be: President, Vice President, VP of Finances, VP of Communications, and Social Chair.

The President, Vice President, VP of Finances, VP of Communications, and Social Chair positions will be nominated. Appointments to these positions must be ratified by a two-thirds vote of the UCLO members.

Any current UCLO memberwho has attended 80% or more of the meetings held during the year previous to the election, shall be considered as a candidate for office. All nominee selections must come from aUCLOmember who has attended 80% or more of the current year’s meetings. In the case of a new organization, 80% attendance will be determined from the date of their registration with UCLO. Granted they have fulfilled the attendance policy, any UCLOmember may vote for the following year’s officers.

The terms of office shall be for one year, beginning on the first day of autumn semester and ending on the last day of summer term. Nominations will take place during the February meeting of spring semester. The procedure for nominations will be as follows:

  1. Each eligible member may nominate one candidate for President, Vice President, VP of Finances, VP of Communications, and Social Chair
  2. Nominations will be in written form and will be turned in to the President at the second meeting of the spring semester
  3. The number of nominations a person receives will not be counted. An individual nominated more than once for the same position will only have their names stated once by the President.
  4. The nominees will accept or decline the nomination
  5. Each nominee must verbally present and turn in a written platform to each UCLO member during the third meeting of the spring semester.

The procedure for elections will be as follows:

  1. Elections will take place during the first March meeting of spring semester.
  2. The election will be conducted on a secret ballot prepared by the President.
  3. Upon receiving the ballots, the President and the Advisor will proceed to count the votes. Each vote is reviewable by all UCLO members.

ARTICLE VI: RE-ELECTION OF OFFICERS

The President, Vice President, VP of Finances, VP of Communications, and Social Chair can be re-elected but may not serve more than two consecutive terms.

ARTICE VII: VACANCY OF OFFICER

In the event that the President, Vice President, VP of Finances, VP of Communications, or Social Chairresign their position, UCLO members will nominate and elect an individual to the respective position. Each member will be allowed one nomination. The election process will proceed as dictated in item 2 and 3 under the election procedure section of Article V.

ARTICLE VIII: DUTIES OF OFFICERS

All UCLO officers must present a semester report, outlining all of their respective activities. These reports should address past, present and future issues pertaining to UCLO. Each report will be presented during the first meeting of the semester following the said report.

President

During his/her term as President of UCLO, he/she may hold an executive board position within any organization registered under UCLO.

Duties of President:

  1. Be continually aware of University policies affecting Latino students
  2. Serve as the official voice of the OSU Latino student community in matters concerning the university, state and/or national issues, relating to Latinos.
  3. Serve as the continuous liaison between UCLO and the leaders of all other OSU Latino organizations.
  4. Plan and conduct regular and special UCLO meetings
  5. Prepare the agenda for these meetings and send copies to all UCLO members in a timely fashion
  6. Preside at UCLO meetings
  7. Coordinate the duties of all officers and ensure that they are being performed properly.
  8. Receive and give proper course to:
  • Applications from each Latino Student Organization to be registered in UCLO, during the first month of every academic year.
  • Proposals for funding special events organized by Latino organizations such as tutoring, mentoring, leadership and cultural activities that would contribute to the academic success of the Latino students at OSU.

Vice President

During his/her term as Vice President of UCLO, he/she may hold an executive board position within any organization registered under UCLO.

Duties of the Vice-President:

  1. Discharge all of the duties and responsibilities of the President in his/her absence and assume the office of President in the event that the President can no longer server his/her position.
  2. In charge of overseeing UCLO events
  3. Coordinate the activities of all the committees and ensure that they are functioning properly
  4. Help to increase UCLO’s student membership aiming at those students that do not belong to any OSU Latino organization.

The Collective duties of the President and Vice President are to:

  1. Convene and conduct grievance meetings
  2. Allow for consultation with each other on matters that require a collective opinion of Latino student issues.

VP of Finances

Duties of the VP of Finances:

  1. Keep all validated records in file for the duration of the Treasurer’s tenure
  2. Transfer these records to the succeeding Treasurer.
  3. Be responsible for tracking UCLO’s financial transactions and keeping record of all other bookkeeping matters.
  4. Present UCLO with a written financial report during each UCLO meeting.
  5. Report the financial status, including operational and general funds balance to UCLO at each meeting.
  6. Submit a written financial report to HOC

VP of Communications

Duties of VP of Communications:

  1. Update allUCLO social media
  2. Send out newsletters and emails to UCLO members
  3. Keep list of current UCLO members up to date

Social Chair

Duties of Social Chair:

  1. In charge of leading advertising strategies for all UCLO events
  2. Encourage collaboration between UCLO members

ARTICLE IX: ADVISOR

There shall be as many advisors as deemed necessary by the council, but there will be at least one advisor from the university’s full-time faculty or staff. The advisors will be confirmed by a simple majority vote of membership. The advisor will serve as long as necessary. The advisor will also cast his/her vote in the event of a tie on a submitted voting matter.

ARTICLE X: MEETINGS

A simple majority of voting members must be present to constitute a quorum. Meetings of UCLO shall convene bi weekly during the first and third weeks of the month. The first meeting of the month shall consist of general UCLO information while the second meeting of the month shall consist of discussion and planning for UCLO events. Additional meetings may be held as deemed necessary by the membership of UCLO. Meetings shall be open to the public but only representatives with voting rights can vote on issues presented before UCLO.

ARTICLE XI: VOTING

Each organization shall voice only one vote through a representative. The group of representatives from each organization will arrive at a consensus that will determine their organization’s one vote. President’s Alternates may vote on behalf of their organization. Motions, upon being seconded, will carry with a simple majority vote. Proposals will also be approved with a simple majority vote. In the event of a tie, the UCLO advisor will cast a vote.

PROXY VOTING

No representative of an organization will be permitted to give his/her proxy to another member of the organization unless it is to the alternate.

ARTICLE XII: PROPOSALS

Proposals shall be submitted in written form during aUCLO meeting and include the following items: Proposals, Participants, Purpose, Cost Analysis, Contact Person and any other relevant financial details. The proposal will be voted on during the next scheduled meeting. In matters of extreme urgency, where in the proposal’s objective will transpire before the next scheduled meeting, expediency will be enacted, allowing for the vote to be made at the current meeting.

During the first meeting of each academic year in autumn, every UCLO representative must submit a proposed budget for his or her respective organizations for the autumn and spring semester, and summer term. The budget should include all scheduled and/or tentatively planned events.

ARITCLE XIII: RECORDS

All documents, minutes, letters, reports, and resolutions passed, endorsed and/or approved by UCLO shall be considered validated records and thereby, property of UCLO. These records shall be kept on files under custody of the President and Vice President.

ARTICLE XIV: IMPEACHMENT

The President and Vice-President shall be subject to impeachment on the following grounds:

  1. Failure to comply with the principles of UCLO as outlined in article II and IV
  2. Consistent failure to adhere to their duties and responsibilities as outlined on article V.

The procedure for impeachment and removal from office will be as follows:

  1. A written motion for impeachment must be submitted to UCLO
  2. A simple majority vote will be required to proceed with the impeachment hearing.
  3. The officer will be given the opportunity to resign or defend his/her position
  4. If the officer declines the option of resignation, a written argument must be submitted to UCLO during an impeachment hearing, which will be scheduled by the Advisor one week after the motion for impeachment.
  5. During the impeachment hearing, the officer(s) impeached will be allowed to verbally defend his/her position
  6. UCLO will be given the opportunity to question the impeached officer’s argument at which point the accused will be allowed to respond.
  7. UCLO will then proceed to vote on the removal of the officer(s), which will require a two-thirds vote
  8. If the officer(s) is/are removed, an election will follow as defined in Article V.

ARTICLE XV: REVIEW OF CONDUCT

Any representative of UCLO shall be subject to a “Review of Conduct” on the following grounds:

  1. Failure to comply with the principles of UCLO as outlined in Article II
  2. Consistent failure to adhere to the duties and responsibilities of an UCLO representative as outlined in Article III

Grievance shall not be presented at a regularly scheduled meeting. Grievances shall be relayed in written form to the President

If deemed necessary, the President and Vice President will convene a grievance hearing where the accused and accuser will meet. Disposition of the grievance will be left to the discretion of the President or Vice President after the grievance hearing. Upon evidence presented, the representative under investigation will be acquitted, dismissed, or issued a warning. Actions concerning written warnings or dismissals will be reported at the next meeting of UCLO. All procedure above will be held in closed session.

ARTICLE XVI: AMENDMENTS

The Articles of this Constitution may be amended. The amendment will be adopted when ratified by two-thirds of UCLO’s voting membership. The motion shall be presented at one UCLO meeting and then taken back to each organization to be discussed. The proposed amendment will be voted on at the next scheduled UCLO meeting. Any representative can present a written motion to amend the constitution.

ARTICLE XVII: BY-LAWS

If so deemed necessary, UCLO may keep by-laws, adoption, and amending them as necessary by a simple majority vote of the membership. Any provision not covered in the constitution will be addressed in the appropriate section of the by-laws.

ARTICLE XVIII: RATIFICATION

The ratification of two-thirds of the voting representatives of each Latino student organization shall be sufficient for the establishment of the constitution. Done in convention by the representatives of the Latino student organizations of OSU on the nineteenth day of October of 2016. In witness hereby, we have subscribed our names:

Alpha Psi Lambda National Inc.

Folclor Hispano

Graduate Association of Latino/a and Latin American Students (GALA)

Hispanic Business Student Association (HBSA)

Latino Health Corps

Latino Law Student Association (LLSA)

Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA)

Latino Student Association (LSA)

Salsa Club

Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity Inc.

Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority Inc.

Society for Advancement of Chicano/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS)

Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE)

Spanish & Portuguese Club

Project Nicaragua

Portuguese Graduate Student Organization

Puerto Rican Student Association (PRSA)