The Bylaws of
The Washington Delta Chapter of Tau Beta Pi
at Gonzaga University
Bylaw I – General
Section 1.1 – These Bylaws shall govern the proceedings of this Chapter in all matters not expressly provided for in the Constitution and Bylaws of the Tau Beta Pi Association, Inc.
Section 1.2 – This Chapter shall conform to such rules and regulations of Gonzaga University, its School of Engineering, and the Gonzaga Student Body Association as may apply to honor societies.
Section 1.3 – In the event of a conflict between the Constitution and Bylaws of the Tau Beta Pi Association and the rules and regulations specified in Section 1.2 of these bylaws, the rules specified in Section 1.2 will prevail, and the Secretary/Treasurer of the Association shall be notified of the conflict.
Bylaw II – Government
Section 2.1 – Officers and Advisory Board
2.11The officers of this Chapter shall be a President, Vice President, Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary, and Treasurer who shall be active members of the Chapter, at least four other advisors elected from the faculty of the Gonzaga University School of Engineering, chapter alumni, or Tau Beta Pi members residing within 50 miles of the Gonzaga University campus.
2.12The Advisory Board of the Chapter shall be composed of the President, Vice President, Corresponding Secretary, and the non-student advisors. The chair of the Advisory board shall be elected by its members at the first board meeting of the year.
2.13Non-student members of the Advisory board shall hold four-year terms. All other officers shall serve for one year, or until their successors are duly elected and installed.
Section 2.2 – Duties
2.21The duties of the officers shall be those usually performed by persons holding such offices, those prescribed by the Constitution and Bylaws of the Association, and those prescribed by these bylaws or by Chapter action.
2.22The following extra and specific duties are required of the officers:
a:The President shall be this Chapter’s delegate to the Convention of the Association. The other officers will be alternate delegates.
b:The President shall be an ex-officio member of all committees.
c:The President shall see that each officer and committee chair is provided with a list of specific duties for which each is responsible. A copy of each list shall be placed in the Recording Secretary’s notebook, and in the President’s book.
d:The Recording Secretary shall see that each candidate accepting election receives copies of the Constitution and Bylaws and Eligibility Code of the Tau Beta Pi Association, Information About Tau Beta Pi, these bylaws, and such other materials as the Chapter may deem desirable.
e:The Corresponding Secretary shall notify each active member and Advisor of the time, place, and purpose of each Chapter meeting at least one week in advance of the meeting.
f:The President shall cooperate with the Director of Tau Beta Pi District 14 and shall encourage the Chapter members to participate in the District’s activities.
g:The President and Corresponding Secretary shall establish contact with the officers of the Chapters of any other professional engineering societies existing at Gonzaga, in the interest of cooperation between the different societies and the discussion of mutual problems.
Bylaw III – Meetings
Section 3.1 – Meetings required
3.11The Advisory Board shall hold at least two meetings per year, and the Recording Secretary of the Chapter shall keep accurate minutes that shall, within two weeks, be distributed to all members of the Advisory Board, signed by the President and the Corresponding Secretary. An original of the minutes, signed by the President and the Corresponding Secretary, shall be bound in the official Advisory Board Minute Record Book.
3.12Each semester, the Chapter shall hold the following meetings.
a:Election of new members
b:Initiation of new members
c:One other meeting of a social, literary, or technical nature.
3.13Each year, the Chapter shall hold the following meetings.
a:General organization, to be held within the first three weeks of the fall semester.
b:Election of new officers
c:Installation of new officers
Section 3.2 – Order of Business
3.21All active members shall be required to attend the meetings specified in Sections 3.12 and 3.13 except in case of illness, or in the case of being excused by the President or Vice President before the meeting.
3.22The meeting shall be called to order by the President of the Chapter, or in the absence of the President, by the Vice President or any other member of the Advisory Board.
3.23The first order of business shall be the reading of the President’s report of the activities of the Advisory Board and reports by other officers of the Chapter.
Section 3.3 – Quorum
3.31A quorum for meetings involving routine business of the Chapter shall be a simple majority of active members of the Chapter. A quorum for meetings involving elections of new members, officers, or advisors, amending bylaws or voting on amendments of the Constitution or Bylaws of the Association, shall be three-fourths of the active members of the Chapter. A quorum for meetings of the Advisory Board shall be five (5) members of the Advisory Board.
Bylaw VI – Operation of the Chapter
Section 4.1 – Election of Officers
4.11There shall be an election of Chapter officers as early in the calendar year as conditions allow, and not to be later than one month before the district conference. The new officers shall take office at the end of the school year for a term of one year.
4.12At the first meeting of the Advisory Board after the district conference, the retiring officers shall turn over all the records to their successors and these records shall be up-to-date in all respects. It shall be the first duty of all incoming officers to familiarize themselves with these records and see that they are in good order and in an up-to-date condition, and if not, to try to get the cooperation of their predecessors to rectify the aforementioned records before the latter leave college permanently.
4.13The records shall include roll and record books, the minutes of the meetings of the Chapter for the current and previous years, and the card or other catalogs of the active members and of the alumnus members of the Chapter. It must include a correct and itemized list of the paraphernalia and other properties of the Chapter pertaining to the initiation ceremonies with a written note as to their place of storage.
Section 4.2 – Standing Committees
4.21The Chapter shall have standing committees on Membership, Initiation, Social Activities, Community Service, and other committees as the Chapter desires and establishes. Except by special Chapter action by three-fourths majority vote, the President of the Chapter shall decide on the size of each committee and shall appoint its membership including chair of the committee.
Section 4.3 – Chapter Finances
4.31The expenses of the Chapter shall be borne by duties paid at the time of membership and by funding from outside sources, including the Gonzaga Student Body Association. The membership fee shall be a one-time fee of $80, due at initiation, which covers initiation fees and Chapter dues. The amount and conditions of the dues will be voted on at a regular meeting of the Chapter by a three-fourths affirmative vote of all the Chapter membership eligible to vote thereon, subject, on appeal, to the approval of the Advisory Board of the Chapter.
4.32The budget of the estimated expenses of the Chapter for the next school year shall be prepared in February or March by the officers of the Chapter as a special order of business of one of the regular meetings of the Chapter. It shall include all of the expenses of the initiation ceremony, dinners, luncheons, picnics, dances and other social activities, back debts, prizes and awards, auditors and bank charges, supplies, long distance phone calls, stationery, postage, etc. This budget shall be submitted to the appropriate office of the Gonzaga Student Body Association.
4.33The Chapter’s fiscal year shall begin on August 1st, and end on July 31st.
4.34No part of the net earnings of the Chapter will inure to the benefit of, or be distributable to, members or officers of the Chapter, or to any other individual.
Bylaw V – Election of Members
Section 5.1 – Election Periods
5.11The Chapter shall hold two elections of new members and there shall be two initiations each year; one during the fall and spring semesters of the school year. Deviations for the above schedule may be permitted with the consent of Tau Beta Pi Headquarters.
5.12Special elections and/or initiations of undergraduate members can also be held for good and sufficient reasons, with consent of Tau Beta Pi Headquarters.
Section 5.2 – Compilation of Data
5.21The membership committee of the Chapter shall obtain from the proper office of Gonzaga, the names and academic records of all students from ABET-accredited programs, which include Civil, Computer, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, likely to be in the upper fifth of the regular senior class of engineering or the upper eighth of the regular junior class of engineering, at the time of the election. Such students shall be considered collectively as class groups without regard to their academic discipline.
5.22Transfer students shall be eligible for consideration at the third regular election after their registration at Gonzaga. Such students may be eligible at the second regular elections after their registration at Gonzaga, provided the consent of five-sevenths of the Advisory Board is obtained.
5.23In computing one-eighth or one-fifth of the total enrollment of the regular junior and senior classes in engineering, respectively, any fraction shall be considered a whole integer. If the lower limit of one-eighth or one-fifth of the total enrollment falls within a group of students who have the same grade point rating, all names shall be included on the list without distinction.
5.24Members elected from a certain class who drop back to a later class shall not be counted with that later class, nor in the quota(s) there from, when reckoning the quotas for purposes of election.
Section 5.3 – Election
5.31At each election meeting, the Eligibility Code must be read before the applications and recommendations from faculty members are made available to the Chapter members.
5.32Applicants shall be voted upon in the order the applications were received. Each applicant shall be voted upon before the next applicant is considered.
5.33All voting shall be carried out by secret ballot and shall be conducted by the President of the Chapter, or by a member of the Advisory Board. The term “secret ballot” shall be interpreted to mean that no member shall see or know as to how any other member voted.
5.34All applicants must be elected by an affirmative vote of at least three-fourths of the active Chapter membership.
5.35After all scholastically eligible candidates have been considered and voted on, there shall be a second ballot taken by order of class rank (seniors first, juniors second) for each applicant who failed election on the first ballot. No student who fails election of the second ballot shall be further considered unless twenty-five percent of the voting members present so request. No student who fails the third ballot shall be further considered at this election. Any such students may be considered at subsequent elections if they are still eligible.
5.36The President shall direct the membership committee to have sufficient letters of notification of election prepared in advance of the election meeting. These letters should be signed by the President and Corresponding Secretary, addressed to the electees, and mailed within twenty-four (24) hours of the election meeting.
Section 5.4 – Inactive Status
5.41An active member shall become inactive upon withdrawal from school or because of illness or accidental disability lasting over two months. On returning to school, the member shall immediately become active.
5.42An active member will become inactive by the affirmative vote of five-sevenths of the Advisory Board. Such a member will be re-admitted to active status upon receipt of a written petition and its approval by the Advisory Board.
Bylaw VI – Initiation
Section 6.1 – Candidate Activities
6.11The Chapter will require its student candidates who have applied for admission to participate in an activity recommended or approved by the Chapter Advisory Board to foster a spirit of liberal culture, and meeting the requirements in Section 6.12.
6.12This activity may take the form of a project and/or writing an essay of not less than 500 words upon a topic suggested or approved by the Advisory Board. Activities shall be limited to tasks and duties that are a test of a candidate’s intellectuality and mentality rather than physical strength and endurance, and shall not consume an inordinate amount of time to the possible detriment of required school work. Physical violence, offence to dignity or decency, or public exercises that make the candidate ridiculous in any way shall not be permitted. The expense of any candidate’s activity shall be carefully considered as to ascertain its economic feasibility.
6.13The candidate shall be invited to a get-acquainted meeting at which the Chapter’s members can meet the candidates and introduce them to the purposes and activities of Tau Beta Pi, and form a personal evaluation of the character of each candidate.
Section 6.2 – Electee Duties
6.21If an electee has not performed an activity as a candidate, it is permissible to require them to participate in an activity as an electee. The activity shall meet the same qualifications as activities for candidates, specified in Section 6.12.
6.22Each electee shall be required to read the Constitution and Bylaws of the Tau Beta Pi Association before being initiated.
6.23An electee shall not be initiated without paying the initiation fees in full. In special cases, however, this provision may be waived with the approval of the Advisory Board, for an electee who has signed a promissory note for covering the initiation fees and any other indebtedness to the Chapter.
6.24Initiates shall sign their names in the Roll Book of the Chapter as part of the initiation ceremony. Each sheet of the Roll Book shall have, as a caption, the pledge to support the Constitution, Bylaws, and the ideals of the Tau Beta Pi Association.
Section 6.3 – Certificate
6.31Each initiate shall be given a certificate of membership and bent key.
Bylaw VII – Modifications of Bylaws
Section 7.1 – Amendments
7.11Amendments to these bylaws may be proposed by any three active members of the Chapter. A proposed amendment shall be submitted in writing to the President, and shall be signed by the members proposing it.
7.12These bylaws may be amended by a three-fourths affirmative vote of the active membership of the Chapter, subject to approval by the Advisory Board.
7.13The Corresponding Secretary shall send a copy of the bylaws, as amended, to the Secretary/Treasurer of the Association within two weeks after an amendment is adopted.
Section 7.2 – Suspension of Bylaws
7.21These bylaws may be suspended only by a three-fourths affirmative vote of the active members of the Chapter, and a five-sevenths affirmative vote of the Advisory Board.
Bylaw VIII – Dissolution
Section 8.1 – In the event of dissolution of the Chapter, the residual assets shall be distributed to the Tau Beta Pi Association, Inc., a corporation organized and operated exclusively for educational and scientific purposes and exempt from federal income tax under Section 501 (c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1954. Any such assets not so disposed of shall be distributed to a Federal, State, or Local Government for public purposes.
Bylaw IX – Enactment
These bylaws were adopted by vote of this Chapter and its Advisory Board and became effective on March 22, 2012.
Signed:
(President)
Signed:
(Advisory Board Chair)