Constitution
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Preamble
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We, The Cooper Union Art Student Council, shall serve as an intermediary between the student body and the administration, faculty, staff, and alumni, in order to uphold the values set forth by the Art Student Council and lend a voice to the student body within the existing bureaucratic structure of The Cooper Union. We shall serve as an essential component to creating an environment that furthers active and long-term change; protects student rights and freedoms; and fosters healthy conditions for learning and art-making. The Art Student Council shall stay open to the ever-changing needs of The Cooper Union School of Art Community.
For these ends and upon these principles, we, the students of The Cooper Union School of Art, do hereby associate ourselves and adopt this Constitution for our branch of the Student Council.
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Article I: Purpose
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To create a framework for transparency within every facet of our community by which to improve and/or sustain the values and standards of The Cooper Union School of Art, the Art Student Council must represent and support the diverse and evolving viewpoints and needs of the student body.
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Article II: Values
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Essential to creating a learning environment that is conducive to students’ personal, artistic, and intellectual growth are the values of Community, Equity, Justice, Accountability, Empathy, Love, and Transparency.
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A. Community: Equity, Justice, and Accountability
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Community is a feeling and a set of relationships and shared experiences amongst people. Conditions of Community imply responsibility towards others: We must share goals in which tools of Equity, Justice, and Accountability ensure that the Community is held together, and no one is left behind.
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1. Equity, Justice, and Accountability are established through a shared agenda to combat racism (i.e., the decolonization/anti-racism movement), classism, and ableism; to close the achievement gap; and to promote neurodiversity.
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B. Love and Empathy
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At the heart of a stable Community is a collective sense of Love and Empathy. There should be a shared commitment to maintaining a culture of wellbeing, understanding, patience, safety, and belonging.
1. Love as a verb: Strive to replace apathy and the culture of punitive discipline (intimidation and neglect of struggling students) with restorative practices.
2. Empathy indicates a practice of respect over acceptance: There will always be conflicting values, respect allows for conditions of belonging and understanding and fair change within a community.
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C. Transparency
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Transparency produces an empathetic and equitable learning environment. Transparency within an institution is maintained through open and honest conversation between the student body, the administration, faculty, staff, and alumni about decision-making, long-term change, ongoing affairs, and institutional values and intent.
Article III: Membership
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A. Members
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Art Student Council shall encourage participation and membership from all Cooper Union School of Art Students. Members will fairly represent the entire student body, in particular, students who may not have the time or the same privileges that allow for equal participation.
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In order for participation in the Art Student Council to be sustainable, rather than exhaustive, students in representative positions must be supported.
B. Members in Good Standing
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Members in Good Standing indicate School of Art students who regularly and consistently participate in and attend Art Student Council and committee meetings.
C. Meetings
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The Elected Officers and Members of the Art Student Council will meet no less than once a month or as often as is needed and/or determined.
Article IV: Elected Officers
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Elected Officers are participating members who hold Student Representative and/or Administrative Chair positions within The Cooper Union Art Student Council. Refer to the Art Student Council Committee List for Student Representative positions.
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A. Authority and Responsibility
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The Elected Officers shall have general responsibility for the ongoing affairs of The Cooper Union School of Art Student Council. All decisions made by Elected Officers must be presented to the Members of the Art Student Council at the next general meeting. Any of these decisions may be overruled by a majority vote of the Members in Good Standing.
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B. Elections
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Members will be elected by majority vote at the beginning of the Fall semester. An additional election will be held at the closing of the Spring semester for the Administrative Chair position, which will be effective upon the beginning of the following Fall semester.
C. Removal
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The Cooper Union School Art Student Council reserves the right to remove Elected Officers. Cause for removal shall be defined as poor participation or lack of participation, malfeasance or nonfeasance of assigned duties, or upon other grounds found by all of the Members in Good Standing to constitute good and sufficient cause.
The process for removal of an Elected Officer shall begin when a Member in Good Standing charges the Officer in question with the reasons for their removal at a meeting. The Officer in question must be offered an opportunity at that meeting to defend themself. A two-thirds majority of the Members in Good Standing in support of the motion to remove is required for an Officer to be removed.
D. Vacancies
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If a vacancy is declared in a representative position, the alternate on the committee on which the representative had served will serve in place of the originally assigned representative. The Cooper Union Art Student Council reserves the right to appoint a suitable representative to the vacancy by a two-thirds majority vote of the Members in Good Standing.
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Article V: Amendments
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This Constitution may be amended by a two-thirds majority vote of the Members in Good Standing in accordance with issues pertinent and relevant to the students of The Cooper Union School of Art. The amended Constitution must be presented to the Members of the Art Student Council before being voted on. If voting cannot be done in person, an alternative solution (i.e. online voting) must be found.
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Approved by JSC, 8/12/20