Preamble

We, the members of Alpha Sigma, in order to promote the loyalty engendered by group residence of men with common interests, and yet preserve our status as independents, and to promote the ideal of service to Grove City College and the community at large, do hereby ordain and establish this constitution as the instrument of organization for the Alpha Sigma Independent Men’s Residence Organization.

Established: 1974
Amended and Revised: Spring 1984
Amended and Revised: Spring 1992
Amended: Spring 1996
Amended: Spring 1999
Revised: Fall 1999
Amended: Spring 2002
Amended: Spring 2003
Amended: Fall 2005


Article I
(Name, Colors, Shield, Objective)


Section A (Name) - The name of this organization shall be the “Alpha Sigma independent Men’s Residence Organization.”

Section B (Colors) - The colors of this organization shall be old gold and forest green.

Section C (Shield) - The shield of this organization shall be as follows in this heraldic description:

(The shield was designed in the Fall of 1982.)
NOTE: “Right” and “Left” are determined as if the shield were being worn by the one describing it.

Section D (Objective) - The objectives of this organization shall be as follows:

Item I - To promote friendship and loyalty among the members.

Item 2 - To support such friendship by means of group residence.

Item 3 - To perform such services as may be requested by the Grove City College Dept of Music.

Article II
(Officers)

Section A (Officers and their responsibilities) - In order to maintain the orderly operation of the organizational structure, the titles and duties of the officers shall be as follows:

Item I (President) - The responsibilities of the president are as follows:

Clause A - To preside at all meetings of the organization.
Clause B - To appoint and supervise committees as provided in this constitution.
Clause C - To represent the organization to the college administration and all other campus organizations, except as otherwise provided in this constitution or in regulations of the college.
Clause D - To delegate any of these responsibilities in accordance with this constitution.

Item 2 (Vice President) - The responsibilities of the vice president are as follows:

Clause A - To preside at all meetings in the events of the president’s absence or inability to do so, and to perform the president’s other responsibilities in like events.
Clause B - To serve as chairman of the membership committee.
Clause C - To facilitate communication between Pew Fine Arts Center and the members of Alpha Sigma in order to better organize the service efforts of the housing group.

Item 3 (Secretary) - The responsibilities of the secretary are as follows:

Clause A - To keep all records and prepare all correspondence as required by the membership or the president.
Clause B - To serve as chairman of the housing committee.

Item 4 (Treasurer) - The responsibilities of the treasurer are as follows:

Clause A - To procure and disburse all funds in accordance with Article VI of this constitution.
Clause B - To serve as chairman of the social committee.

Item 5 (Chaplain) - The responsibilities of the chaplain are as follows:

Clause A - To open organization meetings with an invocation.
Clause B - To ask the blessing at all organizational dinners.
Clause C - To serve as chairman of the correspondence committee.

Item 6 (Athletics Coordinator) - The responsibilities of the athletics coordinator are as follows:

Clause A - To select coaches for intramural teams in consultation with the general membership.
Clause B - To assist coaches in the organization and operation of all teams.

Item 7 (Historian) - The responsibilities of the historian are as follows:

Clause A - To take photographs of all Alpha Sigma sponsored events, members, and special activities.
Clause B - To maintain a scrapbook of Alpha Sigma events.

Section B (Requirements of officers)

Item 1 - All officers shall be section members as defined in Article III, Section B of this constitution.

Item 2 - All officers shall be duly elected as provided in Article II, Section C of this constitution.

Section C (Term and election)

Item 1 - The term of office for each officer shall be one semester, effective immediately upon his elections and ending with the election of his successor. Any officer is eligible to succeed himself. If an officer will not be returning the next semester to complete his term, he shall nominate his successor subject to approval by the remainder of the executive committee.

Item 2 - Election procedures shall be as follows:

Clause A - Election of officers shall be held within two weeks of the end of the semester.
Clause B - The president shall notify the members of the election meeting date, time, place at least one week in advance.
Clause C - A quorum for an election of officers shall be three-fourths of the members and section members.
Clause D - The election of the president and vice president shall be by secret ballot, supervised by the president and vice president.
Clause E - Election shall be by majority vote of the quorum.
Clause F - Election of all other officers shall be by nomination by any member, and seconded by another, then elected by majority hand vote of the quorum.
Clause G - After the nomination and before the election of any officer, the membership will be given a brief time to discuss the nominees, while the nominees are not present.

Article III
(Membership)

Section A (Eligibility) - Any male student of Grove City College shall be eligible for membership provided he meets the following requirements:

Item I - He shall have attained the status of at least a second semester freshman.

Item 2 - He shall agree to live in the housing section allotted Alpha Sigma by the college, except in the following circumstances.

Clause A - He is obligated to fulfill a position designated and approved by the college, such as resident assistant or resident director.
Clause B - He chooses to live with a member who fulfils the requirements set out in Clause A above. There may be only one such member per room/suite.
Clause C - He applies to, is accepted into, and lives in the Colonial Hall Apartments on Lower Campus.

Item 3 - He shall be elected as provided in Article III, Section C of this constitution.

Item 4 - He shall submit a completed questionnaire form as provided in Article III, Section C.

Section B (Classes) - The classes of membership shall be as follows:

Item I - Member: Any male student of Grove City College elected to membership as provided in Article III, Section C of this constitution.

Item 2 - Section Member: Any member living in the housing section allotted by the college.

Item 3 - Alumni Member: Any member becomes an alumni member upon graduation from Grove City College, or upon leaving Grove City College for any reason.

Section C (Election) - The election of members shall be as follows:

Item I - Election of members will be held in the spring semester.

Item 2 - The membership committee shall prepare a questionnaire, which shall include at least: name, class, major, activities, and interests; this is to be completed by anyone interested and eligible to be a nominee for membership.

Item 3 - The chairman of the membership committee shall notify all members of the date, time, and place of the election meeting, at least two days before the election.

Item 4 - A quorum for the membership election meeting shall consist of at least four-fifths of the members and section members.

Item 5 - The election procedure shall consist of two parts: the election of new members. and the selection of alternates. The number of new members elected shall equal the number of open housing slots available. The recommended number of alternates, as selected by the Chairman of the membership committee, should be at least one-half the number of open housing slots.

Item 6 (New members) - The election meeting procedure for the election of new members shall be as follows:

Clause A - The chairman of the membership committee shall read the nominees’ completed questionnaires, and entertain discussion by all members of the nominees. This shall be done one nominee at a time.
Clause B - A first ballot including the name of each applicant for membership, or nominee will be taken. On this first ballot, each member may vote for as many nominees as he wishes, regardless to the number of open housing slots. The purpose of this ballot is to eliminate any nominees (from further consideration) who do not receive five or more votes. This ballot shall not elect any members: it is simply an elimination ballot.
Clause C - If the number of remaining nominees is less than the number of new members to be elected plus the number of alternates to be selected, as indicated in Item 5 above, only those nominees who did not receive three or more votes will be eliminated from further consideration. If the number of remaining nominees is still not great enough, all nominees shall again be considered for membership.
Clause D - Election of new members shall be by secret ballot; on each ballot, members may cast votes for nominees equal to the number of open housing slots that remain.
Clause E - The election procedure shall continue until a member is elected by a two-thirds majority vote of members and section members.
Clause F - After the third election ballot, the membership may move to disclose the vote number distribution, but not the names of the nominees receiving those votes.
Clause G - The number of new members elected may not exceed the number of housing slots available.

Item 7 (Alternates) - The election meeting procedure for the selection of alternates shall be as follows:

Clause A - Those nominees who were not eliminated by the first ballot, and not elected to membership on following ballots shall be considered possible alternates.
Clause B - Each member shall rank the alternates by secret ballot according to their preferences in descending order. By ranking an alternate, each member is also casting a vote for that alternate. Each member may vote for up to but not exceeding the recommended number of alternates.
Clause C - Each nominee must receive a simple majority vote of the quorum to be placed on the alternate list.
Clause D - The tallying of the votes shall be done via a point system. A rank of one shall receive points equal to the recommended number of alternates. Each subsequent rank shall receive one less point.
Example: Suppose that the recommended number of alternates is five. A sample ballot and point distribution is given below:

Ballot #1 Ballot #2
Candidate #1 5 Points Allocated Candidate #1 5 Points Allocated
Candidate #2 4 Points Allocated Candidate #2 4 Points Allocated
Candidate #3 3 Points Allocated Candidate #3 3 Points Allocated
Candidate #4 2 Points Allocated    
Candidate #5 1 Point Allocated    
Clause E - Each alternate that receives a simple majority vote is then ranked in descending order according to the total number of points received.
Clause F - If any ties occur in the alternate rankings, each tie shall be broken by a vote-off between the two or more nominees who are tied: each tie shall be broken by this method until all nominees for alternates are ranked. In each vote-off, each member casts only one vote.

Article IV
(Housing Selection)

Section A - The housing selection process of the organization shall be in accordance with all pertinent regulations of Grove City College.

Section B - The housing chairman (secretary) will be responsible for preparing and submitting a housing list as required by the college in accordance with the following provisions.

Item I - Immediately following the selection of new members, the housing chair shall begin receiving requests for rooms in the section allotted by the college. These requests shall be posted for perusal by all members. The deadline for such requests shall be before the date which the college will begin receiving housing lists.

Item 2 - Requests for rooms by current section members who will be returning to the same room will be automatically honored by the housing chair. The term, “squatting,” is hereby adopted to the above procedure.

Item 3 - Specific housing assignments will be coordinated by the housing chair at an official meeting towards that purpose. The date and time of this meeting must be agreed to by the executive committee (see Article V, Section A).

Item 4 - Room assignments will be organized as follows:

Clause A - Seniority for room selection shall be granted on the basis of the total number of semesters lived in the sections. The term “rank,” is hereby adopted to the above provision.
Clause B - Seniority for selection of a particular room shall be granted based on the number of semesters lived in said room.
Clause C - Those members who choose to “squat” will be recognized first during the housing selection meeting. Only one returning occupant is necessary to be recognized as a legitimate benefactor of this procedure.
Clause D - No special privilege will be granted to any officer, for the purpose of housing.

Item 5 - The housing meeting shall proceed as follows:

Clause A - Those members who choose to “squat” will be recognized first. The rooms selected by the above will then be closed to further selection.
Clause B - Housing will then proceed in order of decreasing “rank.” Members of equal rank will draw numbers to determine the order of selection. When members of equal “rank” have concluded their selection, those rooms shall be closed to further selection.
Clause C - New section members will be given a “rank” of “zero.”

Article V
(Committees)

Section A (Executive Committee) - The executive committee shall consist of the president, the vice president, the secretary, and the treasurer. This committee shall be chaired by the president, and shall be responsible for planning all meetings and activities, and conducting such business with the college and others as may arise.

Section B (Membership Committee) - The membership committee shall consist of the vice president as chairman, and such other members as the president may appoint. The committee shall be responsible for receiving applications for membership, and preparing the nominee list.

Section C (Housing Committee) - The housing committee shall consist of the secretary as chairman and as representative to the college, and such other members as the president may appoint, all such members being section members. This committee shall be responsible for planning and submitting the housing list to the college as provided in Article IV, Section B of this constitution, and also for the proper treatment of the section facilities and any problems arising from improper treatment of said facilities.

Section D (Social Committee) - The social committee shall consist of the treasurer as chairman, and such other members as the president may appoint. This committee shall be responsible for proposing, investigating, and planning social activities, subject to approval by the membership, and for the collecting the fees for such activities as provided in Article VI in this constitution.

Section E (Correspondence Committee) - The correspondence committee shall consist of the chaplain as chairman, and such other members as the president may appoint. This committee shall be responsible for keeping the alumni list up-to-date and corresponding with the alumni and other parties when the need arises.

Article VI
(Funds)

Section A - No dues or initiation fees shall be required of members.

Section B - Those members deciding to participate in activities of the organization shall pay the social committee the cost of his participation.

Section C - Should the organization at any time become liable for fines or other assessments by the college, the executive committee shall decide whether such assessments should be paid by named individuals, the entire section membership, or the entire membership. The amount of the assessment shall be determined, and all individuals named shall be obligated to pay the treasurer the full amount by a fixed date subject to the suspension of membership for failure to pay. Suspension shall include denial of the right to participate in organization activities and elections.

Article VII
(Amendment Procedure)

The constitution may be amended subject to approval by three-fourths of the members and section members.

AMENDMENT I
to the
Constitution of the Alpha Sigma Independent Men’s Residence Organization

We, the members of Alpha Sigma, in the Spring of 1984, having realized several short­comings of the Constitution of the Alpha Sigma Independent Men’s Organization, hereby amend said constitution.

In the first ten years as an organization, the members of Alpha Sigma have found it necessary to function not always in accordance with said constitution. Therefore many amendments have come into practice, though not in words, which we wish to here preserve in an effort to ease the functioning of Alpha Sigma.

And rather than adding numerous amendments to the end of said constitution individually, in a manner which might serve to be cumbersome, we have assembled the amendments within the context of said constitution and thus formed this amendment.

Approved Unanimously
February 26, 1984

AMENDMENT II
to the
Constitution of the Alpha Sigma Independent Men’s Residence Organization

We, the members of Alpha Sigma, in the Spring of 1992, having realized several short­comings of the Constitution of the Alpha Sigma Independent Men’s Organization, hereby amend said constitution.

In order to both clarify and expedite the new member election procedure, we have amended Article III of said constitution. As with the first amendment to said constitution, we have assembled the amendments within the context of said constitution and thus formed this amendment.

Approved Unanimously
February 16, 1992

AMENDMENT III
to the
Constitution of the Alpha Sigma Independent Men’s Residence Organization

We, the members of Alpha Sigma, in the Spring of 1996, having realized a need for a historical record for posterity, hereby amend said constitution (Item 7, Section A, Article II).

Over the first twenty-one years, the history of the Alpha Sigma independent Men’s housing Organization has been lost due to a lack of appropriate means of record keeping. Recognizing this problem, we, the members of Alpha Sigma, cite a need for an office of Historian.

This new office of Historian will maintain a scrapbook filled with photographs, news articles, programs, and other memorabilia. The Historian will pass this book to the Historian of the next year, who will add to it.

AMENDMENT IV
to the
Constitution of the Alpha Sigma Independent Men’s Residence Organization

We, the members of Alpha Sigma, in the spring of 1999, recognizing changes in the housing procedures as delivered by Article IV of this constitution, hereby amend this constitution (Section B, Article IV).

REVISION
to the
Constitution of the Alpha Sigma Independent Men’s Residence Organization

We, the executive officers of Alpha Sigma, in the Fall of 1999, recognizing the need for the accessibility of our constitution to current and future members of Alpha Sigma, hereby revise this constitution.

In revision, all amendments not already included in the body of this constitution have been inserted to clarify current policies and to facilitate more efficient usage of the constitution during meeting procedures. No new amendments have been added. Only prior amendments have been inserted into the main body of this constitution.

Also in revision, the constitution has been word processed and recorded onto computerized floppy disk to facilitate quicker and easier reproduction of this document.

AMENDMENT V
to the
Constitution of the Alpha Sigma Independent Men’s Residence Organization

We, the members of Alpha Sigma, in the Spring of 2002, having realized the need for an official correspondence between the members of Alpha Sigma and the faculty of Pew Fine Arts Center for the coordination of service, herby amend said constitution (Clause C, Item 2, Section A, Article II).

AMENDMENT VI
to the
Constitution of the Alpha Sigma Independent Men’s Residence Organization

We, the members of Alpha Sigma, in the Spring of 2003, having realized the shortcomings of our current method for electing new members, hereby amend this constitution (Items 5, 6, and 7, Section C, Article III).