Student OrgsMCS Club

Basic Laws

1. Membership to the MCS club is and will be open to all Gustavus students. Similarly, all events held by the MCS club are not and will not be closed to any Gustavus student wishing to attend. Announcements, while not going out to all students, will go out to any student who requests it, and all meetings held under MCS will be open to anyone who would like to attend regardless of whether they have become an official member.
2. MCS membership is available to everyone regardless of when they decide to join.
3. MCS membership does not require any attendance to maintain membership, except for the governing body who must make every effort to attend every event and meeting.
4. The MCS governing body will consist of five roles (their roles outlined below), the president, the vice-president, the treasurer, the risk manager, and the web-master. The creation of new roles will be discussed below. Any member of the MCS club may be elected to the governing body and no restrictions or advantages will be constructed by current or old members to subvert the election potential of any person wishing to run. 
5. MCS members have the right to a fair election (outlined below), the features of which are, knowledge of election materials,  secrecy, fair timing, accessibility, and prevention of internal coercion. 
6. Meetings will be held at a minimum of once a month. Meetings may be postponed or moved at the discretion of the governing body but no meeting shall leave the month that it is scheduled in and no meeting may be placed before the next day of the rescheduling. As an example, a meeting scheduled for September 1st may be moved to the 30th but it is not permissible for it to take place on October 1st or on August 31st. Similarly, meetings will be held at an agreeable time, influenced by the members of the club and set by the president and vice president. No rescheduling may be made at an unreasonable time (such as a holiday or to an unreasonable hour). 
7. The Changing the Constitution section on changing the constitution must be met with the same 2/3rds majority as changing Basic Laws, despite this section not lying within the Basic Laws section. This is described later, and this text-only resides in the Basic Laws to prevent any person from changing this line in order to circumvent honest means of changing the constitution.
8. At least two paper copies of the constitution will exist and will be updated if the constitution is changed. The two that are mandatory will be kept by the president and vice president respectively. Copies will be made available to any member of the group who wishes to have one. In a case where it is suspected that the electronic version has been tampered with, the paper copies will be used to verify if this has truly taken place.

MCS Governing Body

These are the roles currently recognized by the MCS club. All members must be elected and their terms will not exceed one year without reelection. Any member of the governing body who violates the basic laws or attempts to violate them opens themselves to immediate dismissal (though not a ban from the club) from their role. 

The President:

The president of the MCS club will be elected no later than four weeks after the fall semester begins and their term will last until the next election, where they may either be reinstated or replaced. Their role includes, but is not limited to, setting the clubs’ agenda, event planning, organizing meeting times, dates, and locations, and managing the day-to-day operation of the club. 

The Vice President:

The vice president shares the roles and responsibilities of the president and the work outlined above will be divided in whatever way the president and the vice-president see fit. The vice-president will also be elected no later than four weeks after the beginning of the fall semester. If the president steps down or has been dismissed from their position the vice-president will obtain the president's role and an election, not exceeding four weeks, must be called to fill the position of vice president.

The Treasurer:  

The treasurer is responsible for the finances of the MCS club which includes the collection of funds raised from events and for the lobbying of funds from the Student Senate. For any event where funds are deemed necessary, it is the treasurer's responsibility to obtain them in the proper manner and to inform the club if these funds cannot be obtained in their entirety. Furthermore, the treasurer may not sink MCS projects by refusing to support them financially, any attempt of this sort will result in the dismissal of the treasurer filled by an election (elections described below) as soon as is possible, not exceeding four weeks. The treasurer will be elected within the first four weeks of the fall semester.

The Web-Master

The web-masters role includes maintaining the website, operation of any technology needed for any event (if the operation is not taken by some other member), and supplying members of Gustavus with the MCS constitution. While the web-master will be responsible for the maintenance of the constitution they in no way have authority in which to change it (excluding the proper routes listed below). Any attempt to alter the constitution in a way not outlined in it as it was written or voted on, will result in immediate dismissal from the role of web-master (but again, not a ban from the club). The webmaster will be elected within the first four weeks of the fall semester.

Risk Manager:

It is the responsibility of the risk manager to verify that the activities carried out by the MCS Club pose no danger to its members. It is furthermore the job of the risk manager to monitor emergency situations and to take actions to prevent them. In the case of an emergency event, the risk manager will make all decisions pertaining to the emergency until a higher authority can take over.

Election of Governing Body 

All members of the MCS club have the right and ability to run for the governing body of the MCS club and have the right to the following election. The features of this list can only be changed by a referendum (outlined below) of the Basic Law as that is where they are defined. However, the details of these features may be changed by an ordinary constitution referendum (outlined below).

Knowledge of Election Materials:

Except for any false, misleading, or slanderous materials, any document, video or other election-related media provided by the governing body and the candidates will be given to the MCS members in order that they may be able to make voting decisions with all information available. It is the right of every member of the MCS club to be informed on the candidates running for the governing body, as such election materials should be presented in the most truthful manner they were received in, attempts at obstructing members of the MCS club from election materials will result in said persons being dismissed from current roles and a ban from election activities (but not from the club).

Secrecy:

Every election of every member of the governing body must ensure secrecy for those voting in it. As such no public vote shall ever be allowed to decide the role of a person. Similarly, no evidence of having voted, or evidence of having voted a certain way, shall be requested by a member of the MCS club. No policies may be passed by the current administration to try and access and breach the secrecy of the vote. 

Fair Timing:

No election may ever require a voter to make a split-second decision. All voting must be open for a minimum of three days and a maximum of seven, the beginning and end must be signaled to every member in the group. There will be no awards or advantages given to those who vote early, indeed the verification of early voting denies the voter of their right to secrecy. 

Accessibility:

The election of any member must be accessible to all members of the MCS club. As such there will be no restrictions that have the potential to make it unduly difficult for anyone to vote in a timely and secure manner. Similarly, if any member reports their inability to vote by whatever has been decided to be the conventional means then action should be taken to collect that members vote in the way that most closely resembles the current rules, but that is reasonable for the member who made the complaint. Voting complaints cannot be registered by anyone but the voter themselves (unless it is infeasible for them to do so and there is sufficient evidence of this) and if more than half of the MCS members register a voting complaint then the election itself must change its specifications to more agreeable ones (decided by special referendum, listed below). 

Internal Coercion:

 No current or former member of the governing body can in any way use their power to influence the outcome of an election. These may include voter fraud, intimidation, promises of reward, etc. 

If any member is found to have been involved in the violation of the rights of an election then they will be immediately dismissed from their role and will be banned from running for any future roles (but will not be banned from the club). 

Changing the Constitution: 

If members of the MCS club see fit to change any part of this constitution they may do so by the following methods.

To change or add anything to the Basic Laws there must be a referendum, which will be a special meeting, hosted with the governing body and all members available, to discuss a change to the constitution. A referendum can be called by any member of the MCS club. In the referendum (which may span multiple special meetings) the change to the constitution will be suggested, and once a final decision is made on this change all members will be notified of the suggested (but not yet implemented) changes. A vote will be held (in the same manner as elections) and if the change passes with a majority greater than 2/3rds then the motion passes and the Basic Laws will be altered exactly to the specification decided in the referendum. 

To change any other element of the constitution will similarly require a referendum but the voting majority must only exceed ½ of the member's approval. In the case of a tie, the constitution will remain unaltered. 

In the Case of the Dissolution of the MCS club:

Upon dissolution of the MCS Club, any financial assets will be credited to the Gustavus Student Senate, as dictated by the original constitution.

Date of Ratification: October 6th, 2012 Revised by Meghan Peterson 10/6/12, Revised by Helen Wauck 09/27/13, Revised by Brandon Sizzler  1/1/22