Constitution 

of The

Muslim Student Association

of the

University of New Mexico

Purpose

The Muslim Students Association was established to help facilitate the needs of Muslims on campus so they can practice the religion of Islam as a complete way of life and to portray the true message of Islam to the non-Muslims on the campus of the University of New Mexico.

Article 1 - Eligibility

Section 1a - General Member

Every Muslim student currently enrolled in UNM is a general member of Muslim Students Association.

Section 1b - Associate Member

Those who wish to participate at the weekly meetings and events and want to be associated with the MSA at UNM shall apply for Associate Membership.

Section 2 - Executive Board Member

Shall be a general member (as defined in A1a:S1) of the Muslim Student Association.

Shall not be an executive board member of any other organization.

Shall be elected as described in Article 3.

Article 2 - Responsibilities

Section 1 - General Responsibilities 

Shall have a clear understanding that this responsibility is given to him/her by Allah to fulfill the purpose of MSA.

Shall notify the advisor and the rest of the executive members about his/her absence for more than two weeks.

Shall attend all the executive board meetings and general meetings unless has an acceptable reason for absence.

Shall assist in all MSA-related activities and events.

Section 2 - President 

Supervise affairs and activities of the organization.

Implement the constitution of the MSA-UNM by formulating the overall plans and organizing the efforts and resources.

Shall be answerable to the current advisor, executive and general members.

Shall pass the presidential responsibilities temporarily to vice-president.

Shall attend all the executive board and general meetings unless has an acceptable reason for his/her absence.

Shall be entitled to act on behalf of the organization and in consultation with the executive board and the advisor.

 Section 3 - Vice-President 

Shall act as a temporary president in the case of temporary or permanent absence of president.

Shall be responsible for holding elections for presidency within in the two weeks of permanent absence of president; however duration can be changed in consultation with the current advisor and rest of the executive board members.

Shall assist the president in affairs and activities of the organization.

Shall supervise the overall performance of the organization.

Section 4 - Secretary 

Shall take over the responsibilities of vice-president in his/her temporary absence only.

Shall assist the president and vice-president in sending out the emails.

Shall help the electoral commission with the emails and getting funds from treasurer.

Shall take notes or minutes of every general board meeting.

Shall manage all MSA-related documents.

Shall be responsible for the internal (communication among the executive board members) and external (communication among MSA and other organizations) communication for the organization.

Shall help the Brothers / Sisters Coordinators with the promotion of events and activities.

Section 5 - Treasurer 

Shall represent the MSA in the financial meetings of Student government.

Shall authenticate all financial acts by signature in consultation with the president.

Shall be responsible for fundraising events of the organization.

Shall submit a financial report to the current advisor through president on a monthly basis.

Section 6 - Brothers Coordinator 

Shall organize the Brothers events and activities in an orderly fashion and help in promotion of the events or activities in consultation with the President.

Shall assist the Secretary in the communication of the organization.

Section 7 - Sisters Coordinator 

Shall organize the Sisters events and activities in an orderly fashion and help in promotion of the events or activities in consultation with the President.

Shall assist the Secretary in the communication of the organization.

Section 8 - Media Coordinator 

Maintain the organization's website (updating, changing, etc).

Shall assist the Secretary in the communication of the organization.

 Article 3 - Elections

            Section 1 - Qualification of a Nominee 

Any general member (as defined in A1a:S1) can be a nominee for any executive office.

            Section 2 - Qualification of a Voter 

Only Associate members and Board members (as defined in A1b:S1) of the MSA can cast a vote.

Section 3 - Electoral Commission 

The electoral commission will be composed of exactly five general members and formed during the first two weeks of the spring semester.

The MSA board will be responsible for providing sufficient funds to the electoral commission.

Electoral commission will open the nominations in the eighth week of the spring semester.

Elections will be held in the tenth week of the spring semester under the supervision of electoral commission.

Electoral commission will be responsible for the verification of eligibility of executive board nominee (as described in A1a:S2).

Electoral commission will ask the secretary to send out an email with the updated list of nominees (Electoral commission can only use the MSA email through current board members).

A week before the elections, electoral commission will pass out the copy (either soft or hard depends on the budget they have for elections) of the MSA constitution to each nominee.

Article 4 - By-Laws Change

Any general member or board member can request change in by-laws.

The current advisor should be notified of any request for change in by-laws.

If the current advisor will disqualify the request then no change can be made.

After the approval of advisor, a discussion will be open and a vote can be called, which depends on the current situation.

The current advisor and executive board shall take a decision within two weeks.

Article 5 - Use of Media

Section 1 - Email 

A member is not allowed to use MSA email for any personal purposes.

An email sent to all executive members should be sent to the current advisor, however, for personal communication board members are not bound to this rule.

 Section 2 - Documentation 

Before the submission of any document either to UNM or Non-UNM organization, executive board should have three copies, one for submission, one for advisor and one for MSA records, which are maintained, in a file in the MSA room.

If possible, the executive board shall have an electronic form of each document on a compact disk reserved for this purpose.

Article 6 - Transfer of Responsibilities

The purpose of this article is to develop a guideline for transferring the administrative responsibilities to the new board after the elections.

The newly elected treasurer, current treasurer, vice-president and secretary shall be responsible for submitting the MSA budget for the next year before the deadline of submitting the budget.

The president and vice-president shall be responsible for giving the detailed information of events, activities, UNM administrative officials' intro, affairs and explanation of how did they run the organization before they go on break.

The current executive board in consultation with the new board shall reserve the room for weekly meetings for the next year before they go on break.

The vice-president shall give a detailed description of documents, which are stored on the compact disk.

Vice-President shall give a detailed description of how to manage a list of Islamic books and literature in the library.

Web administrator shall give an overview of management of the MSA web site to the newly elected web administrator.

The treasurer shall give detailed information about the MSA budget, fund raising and procedure to get the money from the allocated budget.

Article 7 - Impeachment

Section 1 - General Rules 

If any elected or appointed member has been found to violate any one of the following principles, a hearing must be held. Such a violation may be grounds for impeachment. Principles include violating:

Any Islamic Principle or Law that deems them unworthy to serve as a leader and/or representing the MSA in a fashion that is uncharacteristic of the General Body and Islamic Principles.

Having missed more than two meetings without any legitimate excuse or having missed an excessive number of meetings such that the Executive Board deems them unable to carry out the function of their position.

Excessive lateness (6 or more meetings) at Executive Board Meetings with a legitimate excuse.

Having abused funding privileges.

Not fulfilling the duties and responsibilities of their office as outlined in the MSA handbook.

Section 2 - Procedure for Impeachment 

Every attempt should be made to correct the problem and the impeachment procedure should be used only as a last resort. Details of the entire process should remain confidential within the Executive Board and information regarding the case should not be discussed in public. All meetings regarding the case should be held in private so as to protect the reputation and dignity of the individual being impeached.

The individual should be consulted about the list of grievances against them in a private meeting of the Executive Board. They should be allowed to defend themselves against any grievances made against them. The individual has the right to resign at this point if they so choose in which case the procedure would end here.

The individual should not be present during the vote. A written vote should be taken by the President (unless the issue involves the President in which case the Vice President should take the vote). Out of the seven Board members voting, five or greater must vote for the impeachment in order for it to be carried out.