Wesleyan University Chapter of the AMS
Draft Rules of Procedure

This Rules of Procedure (hereinafter called Rules) apply to the AMS Student Chapter called "Wesleyan University Chapter of the AMS." 

The Chapter to which these Rules apply is formed by the American Mathematical Society.  The Chapter shall not affiliate with any other organization without first obtaining approval from the AMS, although joint meetings and activities with student chapters of the AWM or SIAM are allowed (and indeed encouraged).

ARTICLE I: PURPOSE

The objectives of the American Mathematical Society (AMS), as established in the Certificate of Incorporation (3 May, 1923), are as follows:
    The particular business and objects of the Society are the furtherance of the interests of mathematical scholarship and research.

Purposes of the Chapter shall be consistent with the objectives of the AMS. The Chapter will support the Graduate Student Seminar, will help fund travel for speakers related to that seminar, will organize and fund trips to conferences, and will organize and fund social events and community building related to mathematical activities. Part of the goal of the Chapter in these activities will be to increase the visibility of the math department and to increase collaboration both within the Wesleyan math department and with the graduate programs of other nearby universities. 

ARTICLE II: ACTIVITIES

For the spring of 2013 the Chapter has created a budget which includes funding to support the Graduate Student Seminar (GSS), to support travel for speakers from other universities, and to support travel for Wesleyan students to speak in the graduate student seminars of other universities. It is hoped that this will lead to more visibility for the Wesleyan math department and more collaboration across institutions. The organizers will work with the GSS organizers to best determine the specific allocation of funds towards these purposes. The Chapter budget also allocates funding for travel to conferences. The organizers will announce a list of conferences via email early in the semester and solicit interest from the graduate students. They will then fund whichever one(s) will benefit the largest number of students. Finally, the Chapter budget includes funding for social events and community organizing. This will include a trip to the Museum of Mathematics in New York City, giving aid to a-day event intended to increase the visibility of mathematics at Wesleyan, and possibly funding the creation of department t-shirts for the math department graduate students. There will be one meeting at the end of the semester where students can give feedback on the activities organized, on how they were implemented, and where leadership for the 2013-2014 school year will be chosen.

ARTICLE III: INSTITUTION SERVED

The members of the Chapter will be drawn from Wesleyan University.

ARTICLE IV: MEMBERSHIP

IV.1. Any student engaged or interested in mathematics and its applications shall be eligible for membership in this Chapter.  The AMS encourages Chapters to be interdisciplinary, including members from multiple departments. For the spring of 2013 and likely the 2013-2014 school year, members will be drawn solely from the population of math department graduate students. As the Chapter grows, membership rights may be extended to the math department undergraduate majors or to members of other departments. All graduate students in the Wesleyan mathematics department are members of the AMS. If membership in the Chapter is extended beyond the population of math department graduate students then the organizers will encourage new Chapter members to become members of the AMS.

IV.2. The decision whether or not to require annual dues, and the amount of such dues, shall be the responsibility of the Officers or the Executive Committee of the Chapter. The current Officers do not believe that there will be any need for annual dues in the foreseeable future. 

IV.3. The Chapter is responsible for annually providing a list of its Student and Graduate Student members to the AMS.

IV.4. Termination of student membership will take place upon graduation or withdrawal from the university or upon failure to pay dues. Members can also voluntarily terminate their membership by requesting verbally or in writing to be removed from the list of members. This will also remove them from any email lists associated with the Chapter and will prevent them from partaking in Chapter activities. 

ARTICLE V: SPONSORSHIP

V.1. The Sponsor is Wesleyan University.
V.2. The Sponsor of the Chapter shall appoint a Faculty Advisor for the Chapter.  In particular, this appointment will be made by the Chair of the Mathematics Department. In the event said Advisor relinquishes his/her position, the Sponsor shall appoint a new Advisor.  The responsibilities, rights and duties of the Faculty Advisor shall be those normally assigned to the Faculty Advisor of student organizations of the Sponsor. The Executive Committee shall have the right to request that the Chair appoint a different Faculty Advisor, but they are strongly encouraged to use this right only in extreme cases.

ARTICLE VI: OFFICERS

VI.1. Normally, the Chapter shall have a President, a Vice-President (optional), a Secretary, and a Treasurer.  The offices of Secretary and Treasure may be combined, especially in small Chapters.  Officers shall be Student or Graduate Student members in good standing with the AMS. While activities may be organized by any Chapter member, the Officers have a particular duty to make sure that activities are happening and that funds are being spent as the budget outlines. This means an Officer will sometimes need to organize and execute events which he/she did not plan. Being available for such duty is part of the responsibility one accepts when one becomes an Officer. Such events can include organizing transportation, lodging, food, and room reservation for speakers to visit Wesleyan, organizing travel and lodging for conferences, and organizing social events.

VI.2. The President shall preside at the meetings of the Chapter (and the Chapter Executive Committee (see Article VII below)).  In the absence of the President, the Vice-President shall assume the duties of the President.  In the absence of the latter, the Secretary shall assume said duties. The President shall monitor the progress of events and shall be available to offer help if the organizer(s) of a given event request it. The President shall also be responsible to make the decision of whether or not to cancel an event. The Vice President also has a responsibility to help event organizer(s), and may be delegated further (specific) responsibilities by the President, e.g. the responsibility to organize food for an event.

VI.3. The Secretary shall keep a record of the affairs of the Chapter, handle correspondence, and submit an Annual Activity Report of Chapter activities to the Secretary of the AMS each year by June 30.

VI.4. The Treasurer shall handle Chapter funds, and shall submit an Annual Treasurer's Report and other financial reports, as requested, to the Treasurer of the AMS no later than June 30 each year.

VI.5. Officers shall serve for terms of one school year, i.e. a fall semester followed by a spring semester. Officers may be elected up to three times in the same position, but may serve for more than three years if they do so in different positions.

ARTICLE VII: OTHER COMMITTEES

VII.1. The creation of committees shall be left to the discretion of the Executive Committee, as will decisions regarding the membership, chairship, and purpose of such committees. One possible purpose would be a committee to impeach an Officer. Such a committee can be created by a simple majority of the Executive Committee and if the decision of this committee is ratified by the Faculty Advisor then it shall stand.

No committee shall be required for nominations for positions on the Executive Committee. Prior to the final meeting of the spring semester, the Executive Committee shall ask for nominations to each position. Members may nominate themselves, and all members who are in good standing are eligible for office. The Executive Committee shall decide the best method of voting (e.g. email vs. paper ballot). Voting will occur at the final meeting (if done by paper ballot) or before the end of the semester. Results will be announced within one week of the conclusion of voting.

ARTICLE VIII: MEETINGS

VIII.1. There shall be at least one meeting per year, during the spring semester. At this meeting, the Executive Committee will summarize events which occurred over the course of the semester and members will have a chance to suggest future events, give feedback, and elect the officers for the next year. Because most Chapter business will be conducted by email, members will be aware of events as they are being planned and executed. The Executive Committee should also constantly solicit ideas for events from members, so members should not need a physical meeting in order to suggest future events. Ideally, there will also be a meeting at the end of the fall semester to summarize events, but one meeting per year will suffice.

VIII.2. The Chapter shall conduct a business meeting once per year during the month of September to plan out the yearly budget. Other business meetings may be called by the President or the Treasurer on two weeks’ notice.

ARTICLE IX: CHAPTER FUNDS

IX.1. The Chapter may levy dues, voluntary or otherwise, collect registration fees for Chapter meetings, and otherwise raise funds in any lawful manner consistent with these Rules. The recommended way to run the Chapter is to do so without dues. If the Executive Committee decides dues are to be required, the President will be responsible for setting the amount (based on a recommendation from the treasurer). The shift to requiring dues will require a unanimous vote from the Executive Committee and from the Faculty Sponsor. Furthermore, members must be given a chance to object to the change and if more than 50% of the membership objects then the change to require dues will fail.

IX.2. If the Chapter decides to levy dues, then all members shall be responsible to pay the dues as set down by the Executive Committee. Any member who does not pay within one month from the due date will forfeit his/her membership.

IX.3. The Chapter’s funds shall be handled by the sponsoring institution in an appropriate manner. The Treasurer will keep track of the status of all funds, while the mathematics department administrative assistants shall see to disbursement of funds for reimbursements, etc. All funds provided by the AMS shall be available to the Chapter for its activities and will be disbursed to the Chapter for purposes decided by the members of the Chapter. The sponsoring institution will not deduct any funds for overhead, direct or indirect costs, or any other purpose.

IX.4. The Treasurer shall maintain books of account that show income and expense items for all activities and balances for all accounts of the Chapter. (This may be an electronic document.)

IX.5. In the inaugural year of a Chapter, the Chapter will receive $500 from the AMS to be placed in its institutional account.  At the the end of each subsequent academic year, an already established Chapter may request funding for the next year of up to $500 minus the balance of remaining AMS-provided funds reported in the Chapter Treasurer's annual report. Such a request shall be made to the AMS Treasurer by submission of an online "Request for Funding" form to the AMS and will include a current financial statement for the Chapter and a proposed budget for the requested funds. A request for funding in addition to the standard $500/year can be conjoined to the online request for standard funding, which must include a scanned letter with signature of the chapter's president and treasurer.

IX.6. Other than seeking funds from the sponsoring institutions of the Chapter, no officers or member of the Chapter may apply for a grant to support the Chapter activities or enter into any contract to support such activities or provide services, without approval of the President and the Treasurer of the AMS or the Executive Director of the AMS acting on behalf of the Treasurer.

ARTICLE X: AMENDMENTS

X.1. These Rules may be altered or amended with the approval of the majority of the membership in the Chapter, with unanimous approval of the Executive Committee, and with approval of the Faculty Sponsor. Members shall be given at least one week to read the proposed changes and will be allowed to vote electronically or at a scheduled meeting. Once the Rules have been amended, the new rules will be submitted to the AMS for approval. 

ARTICLE XI: TERMINATION OF THE CHAPTER

XI.1. A Chapter may terminate itself by the unanimous vote of the members of the Chapter present (or represented by proxy) at a scheduled meeting, provided that notice of the proposed termination and the meeting at which it is to be considered has been given to all Chapter members at least 30 days in advance. 

XI.2. A Chapter may be terminated by the AMS Board of Trustees if there has been no Chapter activity for one year.

XI.3. In the event a Chapter terminates, the funds to which it has legal title shall revert to the account of the AMS.