ASSU Documentation

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====== Article VII: Amendment ======

===== Section 1. Submission of Amendments for Ratification  =====

==== A. General ====
Proposed amendments to this Constitution shall be submitted to a population of the Association for ratification upon approval 2/3 of the membership of each Association legislative body, provided that written notice containing the text of the proposed amendment, the population of the Association that would be eligible to vote on the amendment, and indicating the parts of the Constitution affected thereby had been given at the previous regular meeting, or upon petition by members of the Association, as provided herein. All elections for the ratification of amendments to this Constitution shall be held during the fall, winter or spring quarter. In the event of a typographical error in the Constitution, the Association legislative bodies shall have power to correct the error without a vote of the population of the Association, subject to approval of the Board of Trustees or the President of the University.

==== B.  Petitions ====
  - Any member of the Association wishing to propose an amendment to the Constitution shall submit the text of that amendment, along with a statement of which population would be eligible to vote on the proposed amendment, to the Chairs of the relevant legislative bodies. 
  - The Chairs of the relevant legislative bodies shall then give notice of that amendment at the next regular meeting of the relevant legislative bodies,which begins at least 24 hours after the proposed amendment was received. 
  - If either Association legislative body has not placed the proposed amendment on the ballot for the specified election by the end of the regular meeting of that body following the meeting at which the notice was given, then petitions proposing that amendment may be circulated by members of the Association to the corresponding population of the Association. All such petitions shall contain the text of the proposed amendment, the population that would be eligible to vote on the proposed amendment, and the parts of the Constitution to be affected thereby.
    - If such a petition containing the signatures of at least 5 percent of the members of the Association is submitted to the Elections Commission at least 21 days prior to the Association Spring Quarter General Election, or at least 14 days prior to any other general election, the Commission shall place the amendment on the ballot in the election for which the petition was submitted, provided that it finds the petition to be valid. Grounds for the Elections Commission ruling the petition invalid shall include, but not be limited to, an inappropriate choice of population. Either Association legislative body may rule such a petition invalid, but only on the grounds that the choice of population is inappropriate. Petitions covering the entire membership of the Association must bear the signatures of 5 percent of the graduate and undergraduate populations separately. 
    - If such a petition containing the signatures of at least 15 percent of the members of the Association is submitted to the Elections Commission, the Commission shall, within 48 hours after the petition was found to be valid, call an election, involving the relevant population of the Association, on the amendment except as provided below. Grounds for the Elections Commission ruling a petition invalid shall include, but not be limited to, an inappropriate choice of population. Either Association legislative body may rule such a petition invalid, but only on the grounds that the choice of population is inappropriate. Petitions covering the entire membership of the Association must bear the signatures of 15 percent of the graduate and undergraduate populations separately. The Association legislative bodies may not subsequently amend the call of the election. The election on the amendment shall be held not less than 7 nor more than 21 days after the petitions are submitted to the Elections Commission. However, if they are received within 28 days of the end of the quarter, the Elections Commission may hold the election within the first 14 days of the following quarter. For the purposes of this section, the quarter following the spring quarter shall be the fall quarter. 
    - The Association legislative bodies may, by a vote of 2/3 of each membership, schedule an earlier election for any proposed amendment which has qualified for the ballot. 
    - The Association legislative bodies and the Elections Commission shall share the authority to establish regulations defining the proper form for petitions and governing the circulation thereof. 

==== C. Notice ====
Each proposed amendment, together with the parts of the Constitution affected thereby, shall be made available to all members of the Association at least seven days prior to the ratification election on the amendment, either through publication in the largest general circulation student newspaper or mass distribution of flyers, or through inclusion in an election handbook distributed to members of the Association. If the latter option is chosen, the title of the proposed amendment, the dates of the ratification election, and a statement explaining how to obtain a copy of the text of the amendment, shall be published in the largest general circulation student newspaper and/or mass distribution of flyers at least seven days prior to the election.

===== Section 2. Ratification =====
A proposed amendment shall be adopted upon its approval by 2/3 of the members of the population the Association voting on the amendment (provided that those voting in favor constitute at least 15 percent of that population of the Association) and its acceptance by the Board of Trustees. The population of the Association eligible to vote on the proposed amendment shall be the population listed in the statement of the proposed amendment. For those proposed amendments on which the entire membership of the Association is eligible to vote, approval shall require 2/3 of both the graduate and undergraduate populations voting to be in favor, and that within each population, those in favor constitute at least 15 percent of their respective populations. The Board of Trustees may designate the President of the University to act on their behalf in accepting such amendments. 

===== Section 3. Unconditional Acceptance =====
Should the Board of Trustees (or the University President, if so designated) accept the proposed amendment without condition, it shall take effect immediately, unless the amendment specifies a later effective date.

===== Section 4. Acceptance with Conditions =====
Should the Board of Trustees (or the University President, if so designated) accept the proposed amendment subject to conditions or interpretations,then the amendment shall take effect only upon the approval of those conditions or interpretations by a vote of 2/3 of the membership of each Association legislative body. The amendment shall take effect immediately upon such approval, unless the amendment specifies a later effective date. [All approved letters of acceptance specifying conditions or interpretations of the Board of Trustees (or the University President, if so designated) shall be included in this Constitution.]((Interpreted as part of the May 10, 1996 Letter of Acceptance to mean that "the approved Letters of Acceptance specifying conditions or interpretations of the Board of Trustees or of the President of the University -- including those letters from the period of 1969 to the present currently appended to the Constitution, as well as this letter -- shall continue to be included in and be a part of the Constitution, and should be placed in an appendix thereto", and subsequently ratified by the Association legislative bodies.))

===== Section 5. Finality of Acceptance =====
Once an amendment has taken effect, any additional conditions or interpretations by the Board of Trustees (or the University President, if so designated) may only be imposed by amendment to this Constitution as outlined in this article.

===== Section 6. Integrity of This Document =====
[The official text of this Constitution shall consist of its original text and letters of acceptance, appended with its amendments and associated letters of acceptance, numbered sequentially. All amendments that are placed on the ballot shall be numbered sequentially without regard to year.]((Interpreted as part of the October 16, 1997 Letter of Acceptance "to mean that a master file of the constitution with amendments and associated letters of acceptance as described above will be kept by ASSU; however the standard working document will reflect all edited changes", and subsequently ratified by the Association legislative bodies.))
ASSU Documentation

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