A suitable proxy shall be any Ohio University graduate student or emeritus. Proxies cannot be another voting member. All proxies should have a note (email, written note, etc.) from the voting member stating their stance on issues on the agenda.
Excusable absences shall follow the University-excused absence policy. Excused absences include: illness, death in the immediate family, religious observance, jury duty, and involvement in University-sponsored activities. The President shall be responsible for determining whether the VP’s absences are excusable.
An executive session shall be a closed session of the GSS where only voting members, the Advisor, or their proxies may be present
9.02 Frequency
The date, time, and location of general meetings for each semester shall be determined by the Executive Council in accordance with the Constitution at least two weeks prior to the beginning of the semester with no less than six meetings per semester. Meetings will be kept under one- and one-half hours, unless a majority vote of the body requests an extension. One extension of fifteen minutes will be allowable upon an affirmative vote. Upon adjournment of the meeting, all unfinished business will be tabled for consideration at the next meeting.
Summer semester Executive Council meetings shall be held at the discretion of the Executive Council.
Special meetings shall be convened at the discretion of the Executive Council or via petition of a majority of the total voting membership of the GSS
9.03 Notification
Notification of a meeting shall be distributed by the VP via the GSS listserv at least four days prior to each general and special meeting.
9.04 Rights of Persons Attending
All general and special meetings shall be open to the public except when a concurrence of two- thirds of voting members of the GSS in attendance vote to enter into executive session for the explicit purpose of discussing personnel matters or matters involving litigation or potential litigation. The Presiding Officer may allow selected individuals to remain present
Only voting Executive Officers, Senators, Commissioners, or Department Representatives or their respective proxies may address the GSS during consideration of legislation.
The Presiding Officer shall recognize and allow non-voting individuals in attendance to speak during a designated time in the agenda, termed “Speak Out.”
All individuals attending or speaking at a GSS body meeting (including but not limited to body members, presenters, and general public) will have the right to be addressed by their chosen name and pronouns. The Presiding Officer will be in charge of enforcing adherence to this right but any attendee may interject on point of personal privilege to address violations.
9.05 Attendance
Attendance at scheduled general meetings is mandatory for all voting Executive Officers, Senators, Commissioners, and Department Representatives. Failure to answer during roll call shall be considered an absence for that meeting unless a suitable proxy has been secured or the absence has been approved prior to the meeting. To be accounted as present, members must stay in attendance until adjournment is called. Attendance at scheduled Executive Council meetings is mandatory for voting Executive Officers.
Voting members shall send written notification, which may take the form of email, of their absence to the VP in advance and designate a suitable proxy in accordance with 9.06. Voting members are expected to maintain clear communication with Executive Council regarding their attendance.
If the VP must be absent, they shall send written notification, which may take the form of email, of their absence to the President in advance and designate a suitable proxy in accordance with 9.06.
A senate member shall not be permitted to use a proxy more than three times a semester.
No voting Executive Officer, Senator, Commissioner, or Department Representative shall have more than three unexcused absences per one-year of service from scheduled general meetings, or, for Executive Officers, from either scheduled general meetings or scheduled Executive Council meetings. In the event of a fourth unexcused absence, said member shall be notified by the VP of their immediate dismissal from GSS and all internal duties. If the VP has a fourth unexcused absence, the President shall be responsible for notifying the VP of their immediate dismissal from GSS and all internal duties. No member dismissed in the course of an academic year due to unexcused absences may re- apply to body membership within the same academic year.
Absences that do not follow the University-excused absence policy will be unexcused.
All other absences will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis by the Executive Council.
If a member resigns, and is not removed from office, they will be allowed to re-apply to the body within the same year.
The executive council shall reserve the right to call a second roll before adjournment.
9.06 Proxies
A voting Executive Officer, Senator, Commissioner, or Department Representative may designate an Ohio University graduate student to serve as a proxy.
An individual serving as a proxy shall have the same rights and privileges afforded to the voting member during a general or special meeting of the GSS. All actions and statements made by the proxy are the responsibility of the voting member for whom the individual is serving as proxy.
Proxies must be in attendance at the general or special meeting to vote on behalf of the voting member. Voting by written proxy shall be prohibited.
Proxies shall report back to the voting member on the proceedings of the meeting.
9.07 Quorum
A quorum of the total voting membership of the GSS shall be in attendance at any general or special meeting in order to transact official business of the GSS.
Quorum shall be half of the voting Executive Officers, Commissioners, Senators, and Department Representatives, except for the first meeting of each academic year during which quorum shall be half of all elected members.
Quorum shall be determined by calling the roll at the beginning of each general or special meeting.
9.08 Agenda
The agenda for general and special meetings shall be proposed prior to the meeting by the President upon consultation with the Executive Council.
The agenda shall be posted no later than 5:00 p.m. the day before the Graduate Student Senate meeting.
Individuals wishing to have items placed on the agenda shall make such a request of the President prior to the meeting being called to order; items may be added to the agenda after the beginning of the meeting by a majority vote.
All meetings shall follow the same agenda format, except for the last meeting, which shall proceed according to 15.05 of the R&P.
9.09 Reports
Reports shall be presented during each general meeting by the Executive Officers or their respective proxies.
Advisors, College Senators, Commissioners, committee Chairs, and Department Representatives may, but are not required to, present reports during general meetings.
All reports shall be submitted to the VP in writing no later than 5:00 p.m. the day following the report being given.
9.10 Minutes
An official record shall be kept of all proceedings during general and special meetings.
All minutes shall be adopted at the next general meeting upon concurrence of a majority of voting members in attendance.
9.11 Legislation
All proposed legislation and amendments shall be presented in the form of a resolution, which must have at least two sponsors.
Resolutions must be posted for public review at least twenty-four hours prior to the meeting at which they are to be considered, except as required in the case of Constitution and R&P amendments.
Resolutions may be proposed with less than twenty-four hours’ notice. If this is the case, the membership has the choice to consider the legislation or to leave it on the table for the next general meeting.
Resolutions shall be adopted upon concurrence of a majority of voting members in attendance, except as required in the case of Constitution and R&P amendments.
The primary sponsor of any adopted resolution shall be required to submit the resolution, and a letter of explanation (if appropriate).
9.12 Executive Session
A call to move into executive session can be made by:
Any Executive Council member calling for it prior to the meeting. The “call” shall be a verbal or written notification given to the other Executive Council members. The call shall contain the reason for the executive session and the point of the meeting at which it will take place.
A motion by a voting member and concurrence of two- thirds of the voting members in attendance.
The GSS must follow all state laws regarding executive sessions and shall consider itself a public body.
The body must announce reasoning to the public before moving into executive session.
Executive Council members are the sole members able to suspend the rules in executive session.
No member may speak to the specifics of what was said or who spoke during the session to anyone outside of the session.
Permissible discussion topics in executive session are limited as defined by Ohio Revised Code 121.22, which can be found on the website of the Ohio Legislature.
9.13 Electronic Voting on Time-Sensitive Resolutions
The Executive Council, upon a unanimous vote, reserves the right to draft a time-sensitive resolution and call for a vote from the general body at any time through a form of digital communication decided on at the beginning of each academic year by the Executive Council.
This procedure is only to be used in response to extemporaneous and extraordinary events and/or circumstances that directly impact the lives of graduate students with actions that would require approval from the general body.
Votes will be collected over a time frame of forty-eight hours.
In order to pass, a time-sensitive resolution must receive a concurrence of two-thirds of the entire voting membership.
If a time-sensitive resolution fails to pass, the Executive Council can place the resolution on the agenda of the next general body meeting. A vote on a time-sensitive resolution shall not replace a general body meeting.
