Bylaw 300 – A Bylaw respecting ISA Board
ISA President is responsible for enacting Bylaw 300 on a regular operational basis.
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Definition
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International Students: Students currently holding a valid study permit and paying the international students’ differential fees at the University of Alberta.
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Domestic Students: Students who are not paying international students’ differential fees.
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Councils: The Graduate and Undergraduate Councils of International Students’ Association.
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ISA’s Graduate Council (ISA-G): The graduate council of ISA consisting of elected representatives of all international graduate students and ISA Board members.
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ISA’s Undergraduate Council (ISA-U): The undergraduate council of ISA consisting of elected representatives of all international undergraduate students and ISA Board members.
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Chancellors: The Graduate and Undergraduate Chancellors of ISA-G and ISA-U respectively.
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Graduate Chancellor: The speaker of the ISA’s Graduate Council and it's representative in the ISA Board.
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Undergraduate Chancellor: The speaker of the ISA’s Undergraduate Council and it's representative in the ISA Board.
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ISA Board (ISA-B): The Executive Committee of the International Students’ Association (ISA). It consists of,
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the President of the International Students’ Association (ISA);
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Vice Presidents of the International Students’ Association (ISA);
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the Chancellors of the Councils;
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Student Groups: Student groups that are currently registered with the Student Group Services (SGS) within the University of Alberta.
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Joint Candidates: Two candidates can contest for an executive position and take the role jointly if elected.
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Department: ISA shall have seven departments with a Vice President leading each department.
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Student Representative Association (SRA): Any association of undergraduate students that represents a definable and enumerable constituency, to which University of Alberta’s Students’ Council exclusively delegates its representative authority.
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Regional Students’ Associations: Student groups whose members are students from a specific country or region in the world, outside of Canada.
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Representative Students’ Associations: The partner Regional Students’ Associations or Student Representative Associations (SRAs) that have representation in the ISA’s Councils.
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Delegate: An executive delegated by a representative students’ association to the ISA’s Councils.
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Councillor: Every elected member of the council with voting right.
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ISA Legislature: Constitution and Bylaws of ISA are considered as ISA legislature and they should be used to govern the framework/operations of ISA.
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C.R.O.: Chief Returning Officer of the International Students’ Association (ISA).
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D.R.O.: A Deputy Returning Officer of the International Students’ Association (ISA).
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Simple Majority: 50% of the votes plus one, rounded down (e.g.: 8 out of 15) of the present voting members with abstentions considered as not present.
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Substantive Majority: two-thirds of the votes, rounded up (e.g.: 14 out of 20) of the present voting members with abstentions considered as not present.
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Quorum: The minimum number of members needed to call a council meeting or the ISA Board meeting.
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Composition of ISA Board
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The ISA Board comprises of following elected members:
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the President (undergraduate);
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the Graduate Chancellor (graduate);
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the Undergraduate Chancellor (undergraduate);
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the Vice President Academic (graduate);
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the Vice President Communications (undergraduate);
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the Vice President External (undergraduate);
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the Vice President Finance (undergraduate);
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the Vice President Graduate Affairs (graduate);
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the Vice President Internal (undergraduate);
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the Vice President Student Life (undergraduate);
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The ISA Board comprises of following support members:
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Student Governance officer Graduate (SGO-G);
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Student Governance officer Undergraduate (SGO-U);
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Manager.
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The elected board seats are reserved as graduate and undergraduate seats for respective graduate council or/and undergraduate council to elect as per Article 3. The composition is not changeable by any councils, board or referendum.
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Joint candidates will exercise their rights as per the mechanism selected from Bylaw 400 during the time of elections.
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The quorum for the board meetings is a minimum of four (4) undergraduate board members and one (1) graduate board member;
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Decision in board meeting are made based on consensus of all the elected members.
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If the Board is not able to make a decision on basis on consensus, then President, Graduate Chancellor and Undergraduate Chancellor can unanimously ask the board to vote and make the decision.
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Appointment
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The following members are considered as elected members:
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the President (undergraduate);
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the Graduate Chancellor (graduate);
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the Undergraduate Chancellor (undergraduate);
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the Vice President Academic (graduate);
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the Vice President Communications (undergraduate);
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the Vice President External (undergraduate);
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the Vice President Finance (undergraduate);
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the Vice President Graduate Affairs (graduate);
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the Vice President Internal (undergraduate);
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the Vice President Student Life (undergraduate);
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The Student Governance Officers and the Manager are appointed members.
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Appointments are made by the Elected board members at their discretion.
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Resignation
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The ISA Board members can resign with a 2-week advance notice to the ISA Board.
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The process of filling an ISA Board’s vacant position shall be as follows,
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The councillors can propose their intention to fill the vacant position to the ISA Board.
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The ISA Board shall nominate candidates for the vacant position.
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The Council shall vote for the contested candidates to fill the position.
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Any joint candidate can resign solemnly, by-default giving the other candidate a complete authority for the respective position.
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If the Chancellor is impeached or resign bylaw 100 or 200 is applicable for filling vacant position.
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Impeachment
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An ISA Board member can be impeached by a formal motion submitted by any member of the Council.
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This motion requires a substantive majority in the council that elects for that particular board position.
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In case of joint candidates, it is possible to impeach a single candidate.
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If one candidate is impeached, the other candidate gets the sole control of the executive position for the rest of their tenure irrespective of the position sharing mechanism selected during elections.
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The process of filling an ISA Board’s vacant position shall be as follows,
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The councillors can propose their intention to fill the vacant position to the ISA Board.
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The ISA Board shall nominate candidates for the vacant position.
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The Council shall vote for the nominated candidates by the board to fill the position.
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Structure of Meetings
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The Order of Business for the Board meetings shall be:
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Introduction;
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Attendance;
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Call to Order; and,
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Approval of Agenda/Minutes.
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Presentations;
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Executive Reports;
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President,
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Vice President Academic;
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Vice President Communications;
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Vice President External;
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Vice President Finance;
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Vice President Graduate Affairs;
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Vice President Internal;
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Vice President Student life.
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Motions;
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General Business; and,
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Adjournment
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The ISA Board meetings shall take place every week.
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Every member of the ISA Board has the right to call an emergency meeting.
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Individuals or groups may be invited to attend the ISA Board meetings without a voting right as per a Board member’s request.
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All board members can submit motions or discussion topics to the SGO’s up to 24 hour prior to the board meeting.
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Chancellors and President are exempted from 24-hour deadline.
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The board members will finalize a four-month meeting schedule at the beginning of every semester;
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Honorary members can attend a board meeting as support board members.
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Honorary members with Advisor title, have all rights of elected board members except vote and will not be considered in consensus decision making.
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ISA Board Rights
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Rights of all elected board members with voting right:
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Right to speak;
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Right to vote only if vote is called by President, Undergrad Chancellor and Grad Chancellor unanimously;
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Right to delegate their rights to a general member for a maximum of one Board meeting;
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Right to information; and,
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Right to request for an emergency Board meeting.
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If a Board member cannot attend a meeting in person, they may attend via an audio or video communications software. If this is not possible, they may designate a proxy or interim active board member.
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Elected Board members need to vote to make any general member as interim active board member.
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Proxy do not need board approval and shall be considered as guests in the board meeting with no rights of elected board members.
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Interim active board members can be removed from its position at any time by real board member.
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Interim active board member will have all the rights in absence of the real board member.
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If the interim active board member is for more than a period of one month then council that elect for that position need to vote on appointment of interim active board member.
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The Chancellors have the right to demand the Council’s approval on any decision that the Chancellors determines as an important decision affecting the political standing of ISA or advocacy policy.
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The Board have complete autonomy in the framework of the departments.
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Right to create and remove director/coordinator positions to assist the Board members.
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The respective Executive shall decide the responsibilities of the positions under their respective department.
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Board members can appoint, dismiss or transfer the director/coordinators in their respective departments.
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Rights and Duties of the ISA Board:
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Review the membership of a member in a bad standing and decide at its discretion;
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The conditions mentioned in bylaw 500 will lead to a member in bad standing.
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The Board is allowed to impeach the members in a bad standing.
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The ISA Board may call Council meetings with a prior notice of 24 hours in the event of an emergency;
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The ISA shall have seven departments, one for each Vice President for their assistance;
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Internal Department shall suggest candidates for each vacant departmental position; and,
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Vice President of each department will accept/decline the suggested candidate for the appointment.
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ISA Board has the right to make/implement/enact internal working policies at its discretion.
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ISA Board's decision prevails over the council's decision in all internal matters of ISA since the council consists of delegates/representatives of external organizations and they cannot be allowed to interfere in internal matters of ISA.
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The Board has the jurisdiction to decide if a matter is internal to ISA or not.
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Internal Matters include and not limited to the following,
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Departmental working policies.
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ISA operations and procedures.
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Management of directors and councillors.
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Internal tasks of ISA.
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Vice President’s handling of their respective department.
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ISA Board Commitment to the Council
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The ISA Board shall respect the Councils rights.
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The ISA Board shall take all final decisions on all internal matters of ISA.
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The ISA Board is accountable for its actions to the Council with exception to internal matters of ISA.
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The Council has the ultimate authority to represent all international students and thus have final say over ISA’s political standing and advocacy policies.
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The Board handles the everyday operations of the association, and the council oversees the rules of the association, sets the direction for the executive, and holds the executive accountable to student interests.
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Attendance
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If a Board member does not attend three consecutive board meetings, it shall be considered as their resignation;
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The vacant position due to a lack of attendance shall be filled as per this bylaw.
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No force or effect
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Any decision of the ISA’s Councils/board that is in conflict with the federal or provincial statute, common law, or traditional law and/or practices is of no force or effect.
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Any decision that violates the rights of the Council as per bylaw 100 or 200, is of no force or effect.