Student Government

Constitution

International University of Health Sciences 

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Article I. Structure

Section 1. Members

The IUHS Student Association (ISA) is a confederation of students currently enrolled at the International University of Health Sciences. This includes all distance learning program students, on island MD program students, and on island BS-MD program students. Any and all students are welcome and encouraged to participate in every student government activity.

Section 2. The Assembly

The functioning body of the ISA will be the assembly. It shall consist of members elected by their representative bodies as described below. Student body officers, medical school class officers, and committee representatives are members of the assembly. Votes require a quorum in attendance. A Quorum is defined as 60% of assembly or student population.

Section 3. Student Executive Council

We recognize that at times, it will not be convenient for the entire student body to

Convene. Therefore, between regular ISA meetings, an executive council should meet to discuss pertinent topics as needed. This council can make recommendations to the student body as needed. The student body can override Executive Council decisions by a simple majority vote. The executive council shall consist of the Chair and Vice Chair, and two elected student representatives from each entering class, other than the class president. There will be a faculty advisor that shall be a permanent, but non-voting, member of the council. The faculty advisor shall be appointed and have a term of one (1) year.

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Article II. Officers

Section 1. Student Body Officers - Any student enrolled at IUHS can run for these offices.

A.   Chair - The ISA chair shall be the official representative of the student body and liaison to the faculty, administration, and community. This person shall coordinate, but not direct all student activities, facilitate communication between various student groups and committees, and encourage cooperation with faculty and administrators. He/She shall be an ex-officio officer of all school committees with student representatives and should seek to offer, where appropriate, the students' perspective to all other school committees. He/She should work closely with the Vice Chair to communicate student government activities to the student body. This position sits on a heads the executive council. The Chair will also be required to attend IUHS board meetings

2. Vice Chair - The ISA Vice Chair shall assist the Chair with all the responsibilities listed above. This person acts in the Chair's place in their absence. The Vice Chair, in addition, is also an ex-officio member of all committees with student representation. The Vice Chair shall be responsible for medical school class and ISA elections, contacting class officers and ISA officers prior to each ISA meeting, and relaying news of ISA activities and elections to all students, faculty, and administrators. This position sits on the executive council and heads council in event of absence by the Chair.

C.   Secretary - The Secretary is the official record keeper of the student government organization. He/She is responsible for publicizing upcoming meetings to all students, keeping attendance records at all meetings, and taking comprehensive minutes at all meetings. The minutes shall be then be posted on the ISA bulletin board, e-mail, as well as on the ISA website. The Secretary shall also work to ensure adequate space on student bulletin boards for the publicizing of groups' events and information students want and need.

D.   Treasurer - The Treasurer shall be responsible for managing all ISA funds. This person will be responsible for setting up an ISA bank account with the Chair and will play an integral part in fundraising and/or collection of student contributions to class funds.

E.   Director of Community Service/Public Relations - The director of community service shall coordinate all volunteer community education or service programs of the student body. This person shall keep an up-to-date handbook and/or bulletin board of available opportunities for students and consistently seek new ways for IUHS students to be helpful to the St. Kitts/Nevis community. He/She shall act as the contact person for community groups needing IUHS students to help with educational programs or service projects.

6. Director of Social Activities - The director of social activities shall coordinate school-wide social functions as needed. This shall ideally include at least one social activity per month. Scheduling for these events should be done through consultation of the ISA.

7. Technical Director - He/She will maintain and be responsible for the ISA website. This includes maintain student notes, PowerPoint presentations, class records, and making these available on the ISA website. Other content as necessary.

Section 2. Medical Student Officers

Each class will elect the following officers and committee representatives. Eligibility to run for these positions shall be determined by s students anticipated date of graduation.

1. Class President - The medical student class presidents shall be the official representative of their respective class to the ISA, faculty, and administration. This person shall coordinate, but not direct, all class activities and should offer the class' opinion to all school committees, student government, faculty, and administration as appropriate. They shall conduct regular meetings of the class officers and committee representatives to discuss business relevant to the class, solicit the class' opinion on important matters, and appoint directly or conduct elections for vacant class officer positions with coordination of ISA Vice Chair. Particular responsibilities for each class president also include:

1. MSI - Facilitate student purchase of medical equipment necessary for clinical rotations, relay MSI input into new student orientation, and coordinate orientation activities as needed.

2. MSII - Complete work of previous year with regards to new student orientation, assist Vice Chair with organizing of MSI officers, orient new MSI officers once they are elected, and plan the "End of Basic Sciences Banquet".

3. DLP - Acts a president for all pre-clinical DLP students. The DLP president has the same responsibilities as the MSI and MSII presidents. In addition, the DLP president must the official representative for the unique point of view for the DLP students.

4. MSIII - Plan "Introduction to Clinics" activity for MSII class, work with student affairs staff on workshop for choosing a specialty.

5. MSIV - Coordinate residency-planning workshop for MSIII class, all match day, graduation activities, and advise the administration on the class' preference for a graduation speaker, and organize his/her appearance.

2. Class Representatives - Two (2) class representatives shall be elected from each class as detailed below. These officers shall be responsible for discussing class-related activities, planning class social functions, and working with the class president to advance the class' needs or request. In addition, representatives are to update class phone list, update the class website, and offer input when necessary to school committees. These officers serve on the executive council.

3. Coordinators of Admissions Activities - Both first year and second year medical students will elect two (2) Coordinators. These students will work with the admissions office to plan and carry out admissions activities and interview weekends. MSI officers will coordinate hosting of applicants with current students and tours of campus facilities. MSII officers will assist other representatives with developing recommended housing lists which will be published on ISA website for new students and will coordinate tours of on island clinical facilities. All coordinators will help with student wide effort to promote IUHS for medical school applicants.

4. MSIII and MSIV - The MSIII and MSIV class includes all third and fourth year students from IUHS. Upon reaching the clinical portion of the program, both DLP and on campus students collectively become the third and eventually fourth year medical school class.

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Article III. Other Student Organizations

The IUHS Student Association should include active participation from all student organizations. Representatives from all student groups should regularly attend ISA meetings and keep the chairperson informed of all ISA activities and concerns. The following rules should govern that interaction:

Section 1. Recognition Procedures

Students at IUHS are free to form groups based on common beliefs and interest, and to express their views through these organizations as permitted by their constitution. Students are reminded, however, that publication or meeting should be conducted with due regard to the laws governing defamation. Libelous defamatory statements are not constitutionally protected, and could subject a student or group or its members to legal action. Students are also advised that unauthorized use of copyrighted material may violate trademark or copyright laws. Students should take care that all publications are free of libelous statements, and contain adequate citations to original sources.

Organizations desiring to use IUHS facilities for their activities and meetings must be recognized by the institution. A Dean in the Office of Student Affairs has the power to grant and to suspend recognition to student organizations.

Recognition is granted tentatively pending one (1) full year of active status. An organization is then removed from tentative status and noted in the student handbook as a fully recognized student organization.

The proposed student organization must file the following information with the Office of Student Affairs:

A.     The name of the organization;

B.     The names and titles of the officers;

C.     The purpose of the organization;

D.     The name(s) of faculty advisor(s), if any;

E.      A financial budget, if applicable;

F.      A constitution as per outline available from ISA.

If required information is not submitted, a group can be denied recognition. A student organization may have its recognition suspended by a Dean in the Office of Student Affairs if:

A.     The organization is found guilty of submitting falsified required information, and/or;

B.     The organization is found in violation of specific agreements relating to use of IUHS facilities, and/or;

C.     The organization is inactive for one (1) academic year. The activity status of each organization is reviewed at the beginning of the academic year. Organizations whose recognition is denied or suspended may appeal in the following sequence:

a.       ISA Faculty Advisor, then;

b.      Executive Dean, then;

c.       Vice-Chancellor, whose decision is final.

Section 2. Coordinating Events

An effort should be made to coordinate the scheduling of events and meetings to avoid duplications and conflicts. To that end, the ISA Vice Chair and Secretary will work with the Office of Student Affairs and with each organization to keep a calendar of events. Groups wishing to have meetings or activities should seek approval for a date/place with the Office of Student Affairs, who will inform the ISA Secretary of the scheduling. Events may be posted on the student activities calendar of the ISA website. While schedule conflicts are unavoidable at times, every chance to avoid them should be sought.

Section 3. Leadership Conference

Shortly after the student body elections, an effort should be made to bring outgoing and incoming officers of the ISA and student organizations together to evaluate the previous year's work and plan for the coming year. The incoming Chair may wish to include a Dean in the Office of Student Affairs.

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Article IV. Meetings

Section 1. General Meetings

The ISA should meet at least once monthly on the first Tuesday of every month. If this is inconvenient due to exam scheduling or vacation it may be changed. All meetings are open to the entire student body and any student can put an item on the meeting agenda by notifying the Chair or Secretary in advance.

Section 2. Executive Council Meetings

The Executive Council should meet at least once prior to each general assembly meeting, and as needed.

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Article V. Attendance at Meetings

In order for the ISA to function effectively as a body representative of all students and organizations, it is imperative that members make every effort to attend all meetings. We feel it is necessary to set the following policy regarding meeting attendance:

1.      Elected Officers should attend all meetings of the ISA. If they are unable to attend a meeting, they should notify the Vice Chair in advance of the meeting and send another student to the meeting as proxy. There is no excuse for failing to notify the Vice Chair of an absence.

2.      Officers may miss two (2) meetings in the manner described above before the executive council will ask the officer to explain formally the reason for repeated absences. When the officer has missed his/her third meeting, they should appear before at an executive committee meeting to discuss the situation. The executive council may choose to remove that student from office and appoint or hold an election for their replacement. The executive council may also choose to inform the Dean of Student Affairs of the situation and ask that the student not receive "credit" in their Dean's letter for having served.

3.      At each ISA meeting, a roll call will be taken and a list of present and absent officers will be posted with the minutes of the meeting.

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Article VI. Elections

The following regulations shall apply to the elections of student body and class officers. These regulations should be well publicized in advance to all students. Every effort should be made to inform all students of the responsibilities of open positions and to encourage people to run for office. It is the ultimate responsibility of the ISA Chair or his/her designate to coordinate all election procedures

Section 1. Publicizing Open Positions

The ISA Chair will compose a letter to eligible students describing an upcoming election. This note should include the election procedures, timetable, and descriptions of officer's responsibilities. One may use an abbreviated version of the description and regulations contained in this constitution. Current officers should be readily available to discuss their experiences with interested students through an organized meeting if necessary.

Section 2. Nominations

Students may self-nominate by signing a list posted in the Office of Student Affairs. This list should be posted for at least three (3) days. Students must be in good academic standing to run for office. Students can run for only one (1) office per election. After initial election, first year medical students cannot run for ISA Chair.

Section 3. Elections

1. Ballots - The Office of Student Affairs will prepare a ballot based on the aforementioned sign-up sheets. Candidates will be listed in alphabetical. The election official will verify student identification prior to dispensing ballot. Student will return ballot in sealed envelope and will be placed in locked box.

2. Counting of Ballots - Once the voting period has ended, the ballots will be counted by appointed student affairs officials. The ballots will be verified against the list of students who voted for accurate count.

3. Write Ins - Students may write in a candidate for office. If that candidate wins a majority according to the rules below, he/she must agree to serve. If not, a new election will be held.

4. Uncontested Offices - If an office has one candidate running with no other write-ins, that person must still receive a majority of the votes cast to win. If there are write-ins and no majority, then a run-off must be held.

5. Unfilled Offices - If an office remains unfilled following the elections, the ISA Chair can decide to hold a new election or appoint someone to fill a student body office. Class officer and committee representative positions will be filled in the same way by the appropriate class president.

6. Ties/Run-Offs - A run-off will be held when no candidate receives a majority defined as 50% + 1 of all votes cast for that particular position. In that event, a run-off will be held between the two (2) candidates gathering the most votes. If the second and third highest vote getters are tied, the run-off will be held among three (3) candidates. If a class representative election yields a tie for fourth place, the ISA chair can choose to hold a run-off election or allow there to be four (4) class representatives for that year. Run-Off ballots will be distributed and counted in the same procedure as the general election ballots.

7. Posting of Results - The election officials will post the results, but not vote totals, promptly after counting the ballots. The list should be posted on the ISA bulletin board. Ballots will be kept with the appointed Student Affairs official and questions regarding vote totals, etc. should be directed to him/her within six (6) weeks of the results being posted, after which time the ballots will be destroyed. Information relating to vote totals will not be released.

Section 4. Other regulations

1.                  If a candidate runs for a student body office and loses, they may immediately sign up to run for a class officer or committee representative position by notifying the Vice Chair

2.                  For the MSI, and DLP officer elections, students will use the same list to self-nominate for class representative and class president. When signing their name, students should indicate whether they will agree to serve as Class President should they gather the most votes in a combined Class President/Class Representative election. Students voting will vote for up to three (3) candidates running in that election. When votes are counted, the Class President will be the candidate with the highest number of votes who has expressed willingness to be Class President. The Class representatives will be the next two (2) highest vote getters. Information relating to vote totals will not be released.

3.                  Elections will not be held during a vacation period.

Section 5. Timetable

Every effort should be made to adhere to the following election timetable.

MSI Officers

DLP Officers

MSII, MSIII, MSIV Class Officers/Committee Representatives

ISA Elections - Beginning first week of April

Section 6. Terms of Office

Unless stated elsewhere in the constitution, all elected positions are for a term of one (1) year from the first of the month after the posting of results of election.

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Article VII. Amendments

Any student may suggest amendments to this constitution at any time. The amendment should be brought to the attention of the ISA Assembly, who can decide whether or not a simple Assembly majority can approve the amendment, or if a student body vote is necessary. A student may request that an amendment be put to a student body vote at any time regardless of the assembly decision. Amendments will be put on the student body election ballot and will be part of the Constitution with a majority vote of the Assembly or the student body as described above.

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Article VIII. Ratification

This Constitution will be considered ratified upon a simple majority of votes cast during a special ratification voting session. It shall become effective immediately upon ratification.

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Copyright ©2000 Dyron Powell Jr. for the International University of Health Sciences