Consitution
Preamble
Union College Hillel is the Jewish Student organization at Union College and is the on-campus home to its Jewish community. Union College Hillel is affiliated with Hillel International and was designated as a Hillel Small and Mighty Campus of Excellence as part of the Soref Initiative for Emerging Campuses.
Article I: Name and Purpose
Section 1: The name of this organization shall be Union College Hillel and will be hereafter referred to as Union Hillel or Hillel in this document.
Section 2: The purpose of Union College Hillel is to create a strong and vibrant foundation for the Jewish community on campus where Union students can participate in meaningful Jewish experiences. Hillel is organized to provide unique experiences through religious, social, cultural, social action, and Israel-related programming for all Union students.
Section 3: We seek new and innovative ways to engage a large percentage of Jewish students at Union by providing opportunities that are meaningful and appealing. We aim to strengthen connections among Jewish students through a diverse and stimulating range of programming that emphasizes religious, cultural, and social aspects of Judaism.
Section 4: Part of Union College Hillel’s mission is to follow the general mission statement of Hillel International, which reads, “Hillel’s mission is to enrich the lives of Jewish undergraduate and graduate students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world.”
Section 2: The purpose of Union College Hillel is to create a strong and vibrant foundation for the Jewish community on campus where Union students can participate in meaningful Jewish experiences. Hillel is organized to provide unique experiences through religious, social, cultural, social action, and Israel-related programming for all Union students.
Section 3: We seek new and innovative ways to engage a large percentage of Jewish students at Union by providing opportunities that are meaningful and appealing. We aim to strengthen connections among Jewish students through a diverse and stimulating range of programming that emphasizes religious, cultural, and social aspects of Judaism.
Section 4: Part of Union College Hillel’s mission is to follow the general mission statement of Hillel International, which reads, “Hillel’s mission is to enrich the lives of Jewish undergraduate and graduate students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world.”
Article II: Membership
Section 1: Membership for Union College Hillel is open to any full-time undergraduate student enrolled at Union College.
Section 2: While Union College Hillel caters to the needs and interests of the Jewish population on campus, students of all cultural backgrounds, races, genders, sexual orientation, and ethnicities are encouraged and invited to participate in Hillel activities and events.
Section 2: While Union College Hillel caters to the needs and interests of the Jewish population on campus, students of all cultural backgrounds, races, genders, sexual orientation, and ethnicities are encouraged and invited to participate in Hillel activities and events.
Article III: Officers and Duties
Section 1: The Hillel Student Board shall be responsible for overseeing the student activities of Union Hillel.
Section 2: The organizational structure of Hillel consists of a general board. The number of board positions and members on the board can change each year depending on the needs of the board and the organization.
Section 3: All board members and general members work together to achieve Hillel’s mission of creating a strong and vibrant Jewish community on the Union campus. A board member serves in his/her/their position for one year, serving from the beginning of spring term through the end of the winter term.
Section 4: If a board member wishes to resign from the general board, the board member may do so by writing a letter or email to the President or Director indicating their resignation.
Section 5: Filling Vacancies
When an office is vacant, with the exception of President, the President shall nominate a replacement with the advice and consent of the General Board. Such nominations must be ratified by a two-thirds vote of the General Board. The President may take action to fill vacancies when he/she/they believes it is necessary, even if the member holding that position has not tendered a resignation.
Section 6: Removing Officers
Any elected official may be removed from office by a secret ballot vote gaining four-fifths of the General Board. The motion must be introduced by the Director of the Hillel or by the President of Union Hillel. A person may also be removed from office by a secret ballot vote gaining two-thirds of the General Board.
These shall be acceptable grounds for removal from office:
Section 2: The organizational structure of Hillel consists of a general board. The number of board positions and members on the board can change each year depending on the needs of the board and the organization.
Section 3: All board members and general members work together to achieve Hillel’s mission of creating a strong and vibrant Jewish community on the Union campus. A board member serves in his/her/their position for one year, serving from the beginning of spring term through the end of the winter term.
Section 4: If a board member wishes to resign from the general board, the board member may do so by writing a letter or email to the President or Director indicating their resignation.
Section 5: Filling Vacancies
When an office is vacant, with the exception of President, the President shall nominate a replacement with the advice and consent of the General Board. Such nominations must be ratified by a two-thirds vote of the General Board. The President may take action to fill vacancies when he/she/they believes it is necessary, even if the member holding that position has not tendered a resignation.
Section 6: Removing Officers
Any elected official may be removed from office by a secret ballot vote gaining four-fifths of the General Board. The motion must be introduced by the Director of the Hillel or by the President of Union Hillel. A person may also be removed from office by a secret ballot vote gaining two-thirds of the General Board.
These shall be acceptable grounds for removal from office:
- Failure to execute satisfactorily the duties of office.
- Behavior unbecoming of an officer of Hillel.
- The President shall oversee all Hillel activities.
- The President shall preside over all Hillel board meetings
- The President is the representative of Union Hillel to the greater Jewish community.
- The President shall assist the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life in Jewish programming.
- The President is the liaison between the Hillel board and the various offices of the college affecting Jewish life.
- The President shall work closely with the Vice President to assess the state of Jewish life at Union College and to work on a broad vision for the Jewish community.
- The President shall have no voting rights in elections except in the case of a tie or impeachment.
- The President shall oversee all board members in their duties.
- Vice President
- It is the Vice President’s responsibility to take the place of President when the President is unavailable.
- The Vice President works closely with the President to ensure an optimum working environment for Union Hillel.
- Tech and Social Media Chair
- Shall give notice of all upcoming Hillel and Kosher Kitchen events.
- Shall use current and modern techniques of advertising events to promote events to the entire campus, including Instagram, and campus outlets
- Secretary
- Shall keep and upload on Google Doc to the board accurate minutes of all Board meetings.
- The minutes must include a “members present” section.
- Shall be responsible for keeping attendance at board meetings.
- Shall write correspondence to the Hillel membership as well as greater Jewish community and Union community.
- The Secretary shall facilitate Director with HEART engagement attendance tools
- Treasurer
- Is responsible for handling a declining debit card for Hillel events and outings
- Shall work with the Director to handle financial transactions
- Kosher Kitchen President
- Is responsible for all the activities of the Kosher Kitchen and upholding the laws of Kashrut at all times.
- Shall work the Director on planning meals for Shabbat and special events.
- Ritual Vice President
- Is responsible for planning and implementing programs for the Jewish Holidays in conjunction with the Director.
- Environmental
- Snowball Coordinator
- Newsletter Editor
- Chabad Liaison
- Community Service
- Multifaith Liaison
- Israeli Programming
- Social Programming
- Fundraising
- Membership
- Social Justice
- Greek Liaisons
Article IV: Board Meetings
Section 1: The Hillel Student Board shall be the general leadership and the chief-decision-making body of the Hillel.
Section 2: The Student Board shall meet on a weekly basis. All Student Board meetings shall be open unless explicitly closed. The Advisor/Director shall not have to be present to hold a meeting.
Section 2: The Student Board shall meet on a weekly basis. All Student Board meetings shall be open unless explicitly closed. The Advisor/Director shall not have to be present to hold a meeting.
Article V: Elections
Section 1: Elections shall be held annually as close to week 8 of the winter term as possible.
Section 2: In order to be eligible to vote, a student must meet the following requirements:
Section 3: The candidate who obtains the majority of votes will win.
Section 4: If there is a tie vote, there will be a re-vote with the top 2 candidates.
Section 5: Candidates may not take part in voting. If there is a tie vote, the candidates outside the top 2 vote getters are eligible to vote in the second round of voting.
Section 6: There will be one determined voting date and time to be set no less than 3 weeks prior to the election. If an eligible voter cannot attend the determined voting time and date, he/she shall notify the election chairperson.
Section 7: Those attending the pre-determined voting time will be given a ballot or blank piece of paper to indicate whom they are voting for. Voting will be conducted by secret ballot. In the case of an uncontested race, a motion for a vote of acclamation may be heard. The candidate(s) is elected if the motion is seconded and there is no dissent. The Executive Board should distribute the voting guidelines (Article 5 of Union Hillel’s Constitution) for use during elections. Those who submit a paper ballot may not submit an electronic ballot.
Section 8: Eligible voters who cannot attend the determined voting time and date described in Section 6, he/she shall have the opportunity to take part in the election via email. The e-mail election period will last 24 hours. Ballots submitted after the 24 hours has elapsed will not be counted. The time stamp on the email will be the only indicator of an eligible e-mail ballot. E-mail ballots shall be sent only to the Hillel Director.
Section 9: Eligible voters may only vote once. Re-submission of ballots is prohibited. (I.E. A voter cannot submit a paper ballot and change the vote via e-mail.)
Section 10: The outgoing President shall chair elections. If the President is running for a second term, the Administrative Vice President shall chair the elections. In the event of extenuating circumstances where the President or Administrative Vice President is unable to be present at elections, elections will be presided over by a Senior member of the Executive Board, or, if need be, a Senior Board member. Vote tallies shall be counted by the chair and in the presence of the Hillel Director.
Section 2: In order to be eligible to vote, a student must meet the following requirements:
- Be a Union College student
- Have attended at least four Hillel events in the three terms prior to elections.
- Only one of the 4 events per term may be Shabbat dinner.
- High Holiday services (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) and Passover Seders and meals will not be counted towards the amount required per term.
- If one is abroad, he/she is exempt from fulfilling the requirement for the term.
- Any issues of eligibility would be put to a vote with a 2/3 majority necessary to pass a motion put forth.
- One must attend a candidate’s forum and listen to the candidate’s speeches. There must be a minimum of 2 candidate’s forums held before voting occurs to accommodate scheduling conflicts.
- If one is not on-campus during the spring term but is eligible to vote, he/she must declare their status at least a week prior to the election. This person will be able to vote via e-mail.
- Former board members/outgoing seniors wishing to vote are eligible to vote as long as they meet the above requirements. This does not include the outgoing President.
Section 3: The candidate who obtains the majority of votes will win.
Section 4: If there is a tie vote, there will be a re-vote with the top 2 candidates.
Section 5: Candidates may not take part in voting. If there is a tie vote, the candidates outside the top 2 vote getters are eligible to vote in the second round of voting.
Section 6: There will be one determined voting date and time to be set no less than 3 weeks prior to the election. If an eligible voter cannot attend the determined voting time and date, he/she shall notify the election chairperson.
Section 7: Those attending the pre-determined voting time will be given a ballot or blank piece of paper to indicate whom they are voting for. Voting will be conducted by secret ballot. In the case of an uncontested race, a motion for a vote of acclamation may be heard. The candidate(s) is elected if the motion is seconded and there is no dissent. The Executive Board should distribute the voting guidelines (Article 5 of Union Hillel’s Constitution) for use during elections. Those who submit a paper ballot may not submit an electronic ballot.
Section 8: Eligible voters who cannot attend the determined voting time and date described in Section 6, he/she shall have the opportunity to take part in the election via email. The e-mail election period will last 24 hours. Ballots submitted after the 24 hours has elapsed will not be counted. The time stamp on the email will be the only indicator of an eligible e-mail ballot. E-mail ballots shall be sent only to the Hillel Director.
Section 9: Eligible voters may only vote once. Re-submission of ballots is prohibited. (I.E. A voter cannot submit a paper ballot and change the vote via e-mail.)
Section 10: The outgoing President shall chair elections. If the President is running for a second term, the Administrative Vice President shall chair the elections. In the event of extenuating circumstances where the President or Administrative Vice President is unable to be present at elections, elections will be presided over by a Senior member of the Executive Board, or, if need be, a Senior Board member. Vote tallies shall be counted by the chair and in the presence of the Hillel Director.
Article VI: Impeachment and Reelections
Section 1: These shall be acceptable grounds for impeachment:
- Failure to execute satisfactorily the duties of office.
- Behavior unbecoming of an officer of Hillel.
- Impeachment proceedings against any officer may be brought through written charges of four other Executive Board officers or through a petition.
- Those charges shall be submitted to the President, or in the event that this party is the officer in question, to the Administrative Vice President. The President or Administrative Vice President shall present these charges to the officer in question.
- A general meeting shall be held within two weeks of this charging. The officer in question may speak for ten minutes in his defense. He shall then leave the room and those present may debate until a motion to vote is approved by the majority.
- A 2/3 vote of the members present at the General Meeting shall be required to remove the officer under question from his duties.
- Impeachment of the President will result in a complete reelection. The Administrative Vice President would preside over the special election. If that officer is running for President in the special election, the Secretary or Vice Presidents will preside over the special election. A special election will follow the Presidential election procedures discussed in Article 5.
Article VII: Amendments and Ratification
Section 1: Any and all of Union College Hillel’s articles may be amended by 2/3 votes of the general board. Any amendment must have two public discussion periods either at the weekly meeting or at a special meeting. The amendment can be voted upon at the end of the second meeting
Section 2: At least one week before the meeting, the Secretary shall send to each Hillel member the following: a copy of the proposed amendment, an explanation of the reasons for the amendment, a copy of this article of the Constitution, and an announcement of the General Meetings at which the amendment is to be considered.
Section 3: Prior to ratification of this document, there must be public discussions (but not limited to) at least three public weekly meetings.
Section 4: This constitution shall take effect upon a vote of approval by a majority of the membership present at the determined, publicized weekly meeting.
Section 2: At least one week before the meeting, the Secretary shall send to each Hillel member the following: a copy of the proposed amendment, an explanation of the reasons for the amendment, a copy of this article of the Constitution, and an announcement of the General Meetings at which the amendment is to be considered.
Section 3: Prior to ratification of this document, there must be public discussions (but not limited to) at least three public weekly meetings.
Section 4: This constitution shall take effect upon a vote of approval by a majority of the membership present at the determined, publicized weekly meeting.
