CONSTITUTION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PLATTEVILLE RESIDENCE HALL ASSOCIATION Ratified on April 15, 1987

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1 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PLATTEVILLE RESIDENCE HALL ASSOCIATION Ratified on April 15, 1987 Updated September 19 th, 2016 ARTICLE I: NAME ARTICLE II: PURPOSE The name of this organization shall be the University of Wisconsin-Platteville Residence Hall Association, hereafter referred to as RHA. Section 4 Section 5 To provide a source of information for the residents in those matters concerning the residents in those halls. To provide a means for residents to address any issues and concerns affecting them. To provide support and recognize programs and opportunities for the general membership. To provide leadership, training, and information to ensure that a fair and effective system of government is provided in the individual residence halls. To support and promote a positive living environment for all residents. ARTICLE III: POWER ARTICLE IV: MEMBERSHIP RHA shall have the primary responsibility for the formulation and review of policies concerning student life, services and interests in the residence halls as given in the Implementation Plan, we reserve all the above mentioned power. The general membership of RHA shall consist of all the students residing in all residence halls staffed by UW Platteville Department of Residence Life faculty. The business assembly of RHA shall consist of the non-voting executive board, non-voting advisor(s), and voting Residence Hall Representatives. ARTICLE V: EXECUTIVE BOARD Officers of the Executive Board shall consist of the President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Communications Coordinator, and the Communications Coordinator-Elect. The executive board officers shall act in accordance with this constitution and by-laws. ARTICLE VI: MEETINGS The RHA business assembly shall have regularly scheduled meetings to conduct the business of the organization. In order to vote on business at any meeting there must be a quorum present. See by-laws ARTICLE IV, Sections 1 and 3. 1

2 ARTICLE VII: COMMITTEES The RHA shall provide representatives from within the business assembly to those External Committees it deems necessary in order to fulfill its purpose and represent the general membership. The RHA shall establish Internal Committees as it deems necessary in order to fulfill its purpose. These committees shall be: Special Events, Issues and Concerns, Communication and Development. ARTICLE VIII: FINANCES ARTICLE IX: AFFILIATION The RHA shall acquire assets (cash or non-cash) for use in fulfillment of the purposes of the organization. The RHA of UW-Platteville may affiliate itself with any state, regional, national, or international college and university residence hall association for the benefit of its general membership. An affiliation may be terminated if the benefits received from membership do not outweigh the costs involved. ARTICLE X: AMENDMENTS AND BY-LAWS Amendments to this constitution must be submitted to RHA two weeks in advance of implementation. An amendment shall be effective upon approval by a 2/3 majority of the total voting members of the business assembly. By-laws must be submitted to RHA one week in advance of action. A by-law shall be effective upon approval of a 2/3 majority. ARTICLE XI: RATIFICATION AND ENACTMENT The constitution and by-laws shall be introduced in writing at a business meeting by a member of the RHA. The constitution and by-laws shall be ratified when approved by a 2/3 majority of the total voting members of the business assembly. The constitution and by-laws shall take effect immediately upon being ratified. Ratified April 15, 1987 Revised September 12, 2005 Revised September 4, 2006 Amended April 22, 2004 Amended April 6, 2005 Amended April 24, 2006 Amended November 5, 2012 Amended April 15 th,

3 BY-LAWS of the RESIDENCE HALL ASSOCIATION ARTICLE I: RESIDENCE HALL REPRESENTATIVES Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Representation: Each residence hall shall have two elected representatives in the business assembly of RHA, from within that hall. Election: The election of representatives to RHA by each individual residence hall shall be done in accordance with Appendix I. Term: Representative terms shall be from the first fall RHA meeting until the last meeting of the spring semester. Newly elected representatives are suggested to be present at the last two RHA business meetings of the spring semester. Vacancies: The policy by which a vacated Residence Hall Representative position is filled shall be as follows: 1. A vacated Residence Hall Representative position shall be filled within three weeks of the notification of vacancy. 2. A representative from that Hall Council shall be appointed by that Hall Council to serve as the Residence Hall Representative until a permanent Residence Hall Representative is appointed. 3. A resident of that hall shall be appointed by the Hall Council to fill the Residence Hall Representative position for the remainder of the term. 4. If the position is not filled as deemed in Article 1, section 4, parts 2 and 3, the hall shall lose their voting rights equal to the number of vacant representative spots for an equal amount of time the representative is missing. Voting: Properly elected or appointed Residence Hall Representatives or their proxies shall have one vote each time a vote is required, at all RHA business meetings. See by-laws ARTICLE IV, Sections 2 and 3. Duties: The duties of a Residence Hall Representative shall be as follows: 1. To serve as a liaison between the RHA and their respective hall through that hall. 2. To represent the interests of the residents they represent to the RHA. 3. To promote the purposes of RHA. 4. To serve on a minimum of one RHA committee. 5. To attend all RHA business meetings and RHA committee meetings assigned. 6. To attend their hall council and executive board meetings regularly and report on the decisions and activities of RHA, and to report to the RHA business assembly the concerns and activities of their hall. Qualifications: The qualifications of a Residence Hall Representative shall be as follows: 1. Must be a registered full time student at UW Platteville. 2. Must be living in the residence hall they represent. 3. Must be in academic good standing, and must not be on academic probation in accordance with UW Platteville policy, which must be maintained throughout their term in office. 4. Shall not be a Hall Council President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, wing officer, or hold any other exec board position unless serving as a temporary Representative or proxy. 5. Shall not be an RA. 6. RHA Representatives may serve on the Executive Board or Business Assembly of any of the other governance groups outlined in the UW-Platteville s Implementation Plan for Wisconsin Statute (5). It is suggested that RHA Representatives review the expectations and time commitments related to their RHA role and the desired position prior to seeking/accepting other positions that may conflict with the ability to effectively fulfill the RHA Executive Board Member s job duties. 3

4 Section 8 Section 9 Representative Attendance Policy: The attendance policy for representatives to the business assembly shall be as follows: 1. Attendance is mandatory for scheduled RHA business meetings, hall council meetings, hall council executive board meetings and committee meetings assigned. 2. More than two unexcused absences per semester will result in removal from RHA. 3 Removal from RHA will become effective at the time of the meeting following the second unexcused absence. 4. Any hall affected by the loss of a representative through his/her failure to comply to this policy shall be notified by the RHA Vice-President and will have three weeks to fill the vacancy. See by-laws ARTICLE I, Section A representative shall have a valid excused absence when he/she notifies the RHA executive board, either directly or through another representative, prior to the meeting he/she is absent, and pending the decision of the RHA executive board to accept the excuse given as valid. If the executive board does not accept a representative s excuse as valid, then that representative shall be considered absent from that meeting. 6. Only two proxies will be accepted each semester as an excused absence, any more than two will be considered an unexcused absence. 7. Any RHA member shall be considered tardy if he/she enters a meeting after the meeting is called to order. One tardy shall equal one-half absence. 9. Validity of an excuse shall be considered a legislative endeavor and validity will be determined by a majority vote of the Executive Board. Each hall shall determine the voting status of their Residence Hall Representative at Hall Council. ARTICLE II: OFFICERS President: The powers and duties of the RHA President shall be as follows: 1. To preside at all RHA meetings. 2. To enforce the RHA constitution and by laws. 3. To act as an authority to interpret the RHA constitution on behalf of the membership. 4. Any decision made by the President pertaining to interpretation of the RHA constitution may be overridden by a 2/3 majority. 5. Any decision made by the President pertaining to RHA business may be overridden by a 2/3 majority. 6. To cast a tie breaking vote. 7. To keep RHA informed on any matter which affects the residence hall system and to provide representation at any meeting where such information may be gained. 8. To represent RHA at all public occasions where RHA should be represented. 9. To maintain five office hours per week, Monday through Friday. 10. To act as Co-Chairperson of the Special Events Committee. 11. To notify all representatives of their attendance status if an issue should arise. 12. To notify any hall that has lost a representative by either noncompliance with attendance policy or by removal of that situation. 13. To arrange all meeting room reservations for RHA. Vice-President: The powers and duties of the RHA Vice-President shall be as follows: 1. To perform the executive duties of the RHA President in that person s absence. 2. To help the President in carrying out the executive duties. 3. To act as Chairperson of the Issues and Concerns Committee. 4

5 4. To carry out those responsibilities that the RHA President and/or the RHA business assembly delegates. 5. To maintain four office hours per week, Monday through Friday. 6. To oversee all internal committees and all representatives to external committees. 7. To appoint Residence Hall Representatives to positions on the committees of RHA. 8. To appoint RHA members to positions when vacancies occur among committee chairpersons. 9. To take accurate minutes of all RHA business meetings. 10. To take accurate attendance at all RHA business meetings and notify the RHA President if an attendance policy becomes an issue with any hall. 11. To distribute RHA minutes to: all Residence Hall Representatives, Resident Directors, central housing staff, executives of RHA, the Assistant Chancellor of Students Affairs, and other appropriate persons. 12. To post the agenda 24 hours prior to the meeting and minutes 24 hours after meeting in the official designated location, in an area accessible to all members. 13. To review and confirm Residence Hall Representatives academic standings once a semester in compliance with article 1 section 7 of by-laws and notify the RHA president if action is necessary. 14. To act as Co-Chairperson of the Special Events Committee 15. To serve as the appointee to the SCAC committee if no one else on RHA volunteers to chair it Section 4 follows: Treasurer: The powers and duties of the RHA Treasurer shall be as follows: 1. To collect all monies due to RHA. 2. To promptly process all purchase requests approved by the business assembly or executive board. 3. To keep accurate and current accounts of all financial transactions. 4. To attach an accurate and current Treasurer's report to the minutes twice a semester. 5. To carry out those responsibilities that the RHA President and/or the RHA business assembly delegates. 6. To maintain three office hours per week, Monday through Friday. 7. To act as photo historian at all RHA sponsored hall events as delegated by the RHA Executive Board. 8. To act as Chairperson of the Communications and Development Committee. Communications Coordinator: The powers and duties of the Communications Coordinator shall be as 1. To keep RHA informed of all business or pertinent information associated with any affiliate school, conference or group of which RHA is a member. 2. To accurately represent the opinions and decisions of RHA to individual schools and organizations that RHA is associated with. 3. To uphold the duties listed in the job description of a NCC/WCC or similar post of any organization with which RHA is associated. 4. To carry out those responsibilities that arise throughout the term of office that the RHA President and/or the RHA delegates as the responsibilities of the NCC/WCC. 5. To maintain three office hours per week, Monday through Friday. 6. To sit on the Communications and Development Committee. 7. To sit on the Issues and Concerns Committee. 8. To act as Parliamentarian of RHA. 9. To act as photo historian at all conferences and to fill in as photo historian at other RHA events where the RHA Treasurer cannot make it. 10. To act as mentor to and to train the NCC/WCC Elect. 5

6 Section 5 Communications Coordinator-Elect: The duties of the Communications Coordinator-Elect shall be as follows: 1. To serve as an understudy to the current Communications Coordinator. 2. To increase publicity and awareness of RHA by all possible means. 3. To sit on the Communications and Development Committee. 4. To sit on the Issues and Concerns Committee. 5. To carry out those responsibilities that the RHA President, Communications Coordinator, and RHA business assembly delegates. Section 6 RHA officers shall not be Residence Hall Representatives, Hall Council executive board members, or hall staff members. Exceptions may be made by the executive board concerning positions concurrently held. Section 7 RHA officers shall not have voting rights at business assembly meetings of RHA, except for the President who may cast a vote to break a tie. See ARTICLE II,. Section 8 follows: Section Selection of RHA officers: The selection of the RHA officers shall be done according to this section as 1. The elected officers of RHA shall be the President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Communications Coordinator, and Communications Coordinator-Elect. 2. The election of officers shall be done by the voting members of the business assembly of RHA in accordance with Appendix II. Officer Vacancies: The policy by which a vacated RHA officer position is filled shall be as follows: 1. A vacancy of the officers of Vice-President, Treasurer, Communications Coordinator, and Communications Coordinator-Elect shall be filled by an appointee of the President with the approval of a 2/3 majority. 2. The vote of the business assembly to approve a Presidential appointee shall be by a ballot vote. 3. A vacancy of the office of President will be filled by the Vice-President, for the remainder of that term. All elected or appointed officers of RHA shall currently reside in the Residence Halls. Officer terms: The policy by which RHA executive positions will be served are as follows: 1. President, Vice-President, NCC/WCC and Treasurer terms will be served from the last business meeting of the spring semester until the last business meeting of the following spring semester. 2. NCC/WCC Elect shall serve from time elected in fall semester until the last business meeting of the spring semester. 2 Training: The outgoing officers of RHA will train and advise the incoming officers who attend the last two RHA business meetings before their term of office ends and by describing in detail the duties and responsibilities of their position. Additional training by the RHA Advisor(s) may also be required. 3 Qualifications: The qualifications of RHA officers shall be as follows: 1. Must be a registered full time student at UW-Platteville. 2. Must be living in the residence hall system of UW-Platteville. 3. Must have a cumulative grade point average of If an officer s grade point average falls below 2.25 he/she has one semester to raise his/her cumulative grade point average to 2.25 or above. Officer may assume position pending confirmation of GPA. 4. Must be in good standing in the residence halls and absent from any probationary listing. 5. Must be planning to serve the full term as defined in section 12. 6

7 6. An executive board member cannot hold the same office for more than two consecutive terms. Serving more than one semester is considered as serving a full term if the officer was appointed. 7. RHA Representatives may serve on the Executive Board or Business Assembly of any of the other governance groups outlined in the UW-Platteville s Implementation Plan for Wisconsin Statute (5). It is suggested that RHA Representatives review the expectations and time commitments related to their RHA role and the desired position prior to seeking/accepting other positions that may conflict with the ability to effectively fulfill the RHA Executive Board Member s job duties. 4 RHA Officer Attendance Policy: The attendance policy for the RHA officers shall be as follows: 1. Attendance is mandatory for all scheduled RHA business meetings, committee meetings assigned and for RHA executive board meetings. 2. Any more than two unexcused absences per semester from RHA business, assigned committee, or executive board meetings will be grounds for impeachment of that officer from RHA. 3. The office of any officer removed due to noncompliance with attendance policy shall be filled in accordance with ARTICLE II, Section An officer who is absent from a committee or executive board meeting shall give a written excuse to the executive board, which then will make a decision as to the validity of the excuse. If the excuse is not held as valid, it will then be counted as an unexcused absence. The business assembly has the right to reverse the decision of the executive board as to the absence of any officer by a majority vote. 5. An officer, who knows in advance of their absence, from an RHA business meeting shall give a written report, to include the officer's report and excuse for absence, to another executive board officer to be read by that officer at the business meeting. ARTICLE III: EXECUTIVE BOARD The members of the executive board of RHA shall be the President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Communications Coordinator, and Communications Coordinator Elect in the second semester. The RHA advisor shall be an exofficio member of the executive board. The RHA President shall preside over all executive board meetings. The powers and duties of the RHA executive board shall be as follows: 1. To meet prior to RHA business meetings for the purpose of discussing organizational business and setting the agenda for the upcoming RHA business meeting. 2. To recommend, for approval by the business assembly, the establishment of any committees of RHA. 3. To make emergency decisions pertaining to policy and finances of RHA in the absence of the voting members of the business assembly, with the approval of their advisor. The executive board can only make emergency decisions according to the guidelines agreed upon by the voting members of the business assembly. No decisions regarding the constitution shall be made by the executive board. The executive board shall report in full any such decisions made at the next full meeting of business assembly. 4. To maintain accurate files of each executive office. 5. To propose state and RHA checking account budgets to the general assembly for the following academic year at the first meeting following spring officer elections. The budget proposals provided should be agreed upon by the current and newly elected RHA officers. 6. To carry out those responsibilities which arise throughout the term of office which the President and/or RHA delegates to the executive board. 7

8 ARTICLE IV: MEETINGS 7. To assist in facilitating the direction and investigation of residence hall concerns by the membership. 8. To have a budget of $200 to be used at the executive board s discretion with the approval of the RHA advisor(s). 9. To delegate events at which the Treasurer/Communications Coordinator should act as photo historian. Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Section 8 Quorum: A quorum of 2/3 of the total voting members of the business assembly of RHA must be present to vote on matters of business. 2/3 shall also be present to vote on by-laws. The total number of voting members shall be 24, two RHA representatives per hall. See by-laws ARTICLE I,. Voting: Only Residence Hall Representatives of RHA or their proxies may vote at RHA business meetings. The President may vote in the case of a tie between the voting members of the business assembly. See ARTICLE I,, Number 6. Proxy: In order to vote at an RHA business assembly meeting a proxy shall meet the following requirements: 1. Must be a member from the hall of the absent representative. 2. The President has the right not to recognize a proxy status. Visitors: All RHA business meetings are open to visitors. Visitors may speak only when recognized by the President. Closed Meetings: A closed meeting may be called by any member of the business assembly and will take effect upon approval of a majority, in accordance with State Statute. Special Meetings: Special meetings of the RHA business assembly may be called by the RHA President or by any voting member of the business assembly with the approval of a majority. Regular Meetings: The conditions and requirements for regular meetings of the RHA business assembly shall be as follows: 1. In order to conduct business a quorum of voting members and (3) executive board members, not including advisor, shall be present. 2. The RHA President shall call the first business meeting of the academic year to order. 3. The RHA business assembly shall conduct regularly scheduled meetings throughout the academic year. Parliamentary Procedure: Parliamentary Procedure for all RHA business meetings shall be in accordance with Robert's Rules of Order: Newly Revised with the discretion of the executive board, except where it comes into conflict with this constitution and by-laws in which case this constitution and by-laws shall take precedence. ARTICLE V: COMMITTEES Internal Committees: The provisions for the establishment and maintenance of Internal Committees of RHA shall be as follows: 1. The establishment of an Internal Committee may be proposed by the President and take effect upon approval of a majority. 2. The establishment of an Internal Committee may be proposed by a Residence Hall Representative and take effect upon approval of a majority. 3. An Internal Committee, once established, shall be in existence indefinitely until dissolved by the business assembly. 4. The establishment of an Internal Committee shall be in accordance with the constitution ARTICLE VII,. 8

9 5. The RHA Vice-President shall appoint Residence Hall Representatives to Internal Committees. See by-laws ARTICLE II, Section II, Number 7. and/or Ad Hoc Committees: The following shall be the provisions for an Ad Hoc Committee of RHA: 1. An Ad Hoc Committee may be formed by the RHA President for the purpose of studying any pertinent proposal and/or issue. 2. An Ad Hoc Committee may be formed by a proposal of any Residence Hall Representative with the approval of a majority for the purpose of studying any pertinent proposal issue. 3. The Vice-President or President of RHA shall appoint the members of any Ad Hoc Committee formed. External Committees: The following shall be the provisions of External Committees of RHA: 1. An External Committee is any university / residence hall related group or committee whose activities / business may have an effect upon residence hall policies or residents at UW- Platteville. 2. The RHA business assembly shall send a representative to any External Committee it sees fit. 3. The Vice-President of RHA shall appoint members from within the business assembly of RHA to serve as representatives to External Committees of RHA. 4. There shall be at least one representative to each External Committee of RHA. 5. The RHA executive board shall establish the External Committees to which the RHA business assembly will be represented at the beginning of the academic year. 6. Only Residence Hall Representatives / RHA executive board members shall serve as representatives to External Committees. ARTICLE VI: FINANCES Section 4 Section 5 Salaries: The President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and Communications Coordinator shall each receive an annual salary as prescribed by President s Council. The Treasurer shall maintain the checking account. RHA shall maintain a purchase and order account with housing. All other monies are raised through RHA fundraising. All funding requests from halls shall be properly filed and directed to RHA two business meetings prior to the event. ARTICLE VII: RESIGNATIONS All resignations (RHA representative(s) and officer(s)) shall be in writing and submitted to the business assembly two weeks prior to the designated effective date. All resignations will become effective upon the date designated by the person resigning. ARTICLE VIII: IMPEACHMENT AND REMOVAL Residence Hall Representatives and officers are responsible for upholding this constitution and conducting themselves in a manner consistent with this constitution. Failure to do so may be grounds for removal from the RHA business assembly. Actions by a RHA Representative or Officer which are deemed inappropriate or detrimental to RHA may be grounds for removal from that position. 9

10 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Section 8 In order for a Residence Hall Representative or officer to be impeached, an accuser must have a written statement signed by two other members of the business assembly, with the charges against the accused. This statement must be presented by the President at a RHA business meeting at which the accused is present. Upon hearing the charges, the business assembly will vote on whether or not to impeach the individual charged. A majority vote shall be sufficient to impeach. If the business assembly votes to impeach, the trial shall be at the following regular RHA business meeting and will be held prior to any RHA business. Trial Procedure: The procedure for an RHA impeachment trial shall be as follows: 1. The RHA President shall preside, unless that person is the accused in which case the Vice- President will preside. 2. The charges shall be reread by the RHA Vice-President, unless that person is the accused in which case the Treasurer shall re-read the charges and fulfill the Vice-President s job duties during that meeting. 3. The prosecutor (accuser, or appointed by accuser) shall have 10 min. to present their case. 4. The business assembly shall have 5 min. to question the prosecution. 5. The defender (accused or appointed by accused) shall have 10 min. to present their case. 6. The business assembly shall have 5 min. to question the defender. 7. The prosecution and defense shall leave the room while the business assembly deliberates and makes a decision. 8. The prosecution and defense shall be present when the business assembly's decision is read by the presiding officer. A majority vote of 2/3 of the total voting members of the business assembly shall be required to remove a member from the business assembly. The final trial decision of the business assembly shall be binding. 10

11 APPENDIX I GUIDELINES FOR RHA REPRESENTATIVE ELECTIONS The following shall be the guidelines for electing RHA representative as provided for in ARTICLE I, of the by-laws. 1. No student in any residence hall, including RAs, shall be barred from voting and shall have ample chance to vote in RHA Representative Elections. The RD of each hall, and or who serves as advisor of Hall Council, shall not have a vote. SAs are also restricted from voting. 2. Any resident may run for an open representative position in his/her hall in accordance with the by-laws ARTICLE I, Section The RHA business assembly shall call the time of the election of the RHA Representatives, and each hall shall have their elections at that time. 4. Candidates may campaign and shall be elected by a plurality of votes in an all-hall election. 5. In order for a person's name to be on the ballot in any individual residence hall, nomination papers must be signed by a minimum of 25 persons from the respective hall and submitted to the RD 48 hours before the start of the election. 6. Any individual meeting the guidelines in ARTICLE 1, Section 7 may qualify as a write-in candidate, as long as they submit the proper nomination papers to that hall's RD prior to the election. 7. Ballots may not be distributed to resident's mailboxes/rooms. Ballots may only be distributed and collected in a designated area. 8. The RD or hall council shall appoint a non candidate to monitor the designated voting area. 9. Ballots which have three or more votes cast shall not be included in the tabulation. Likewise, ballots having more than one vote cast for a particular candidate shall also not be included in the tabulation. 10. If a ballot has only one vote on it, that ballot shall be included in the tabulation. 11. In order to encourage participation, representation and involvement from various populations, election recruitment and publicity will be distributed broadly (i.e. postings in the Residence Halls, PSC Axis TV, MERC Office, Women s Center, Services for Students with Disabilities Office, etc.). APPENDIX II GUIDELINES FOR RHA OFFICER ELECTIONS The following shall be the guidelines for electing RHA officers as provided for in the by-laws ARTICLE II, Section 9, Number Officer elections shall be done by a closed ballot of the voting members of the RHA business assembly. 2. The election of the President, Vice-President and Treasurer shall be completed by the third to the last RHA business meeting of the spring semester. 3. The election of the NCC/WCC shall be a separate election completed at the second to last meeting of the RHA business assembly of the fall semester. The NCC/WCC will serve as an understudy to the current NCC/WCC until taking office at the last business meeting of spring semester. 4. Notification for nominations of open executive board positions must be posted in all residence halls two weeks prior to the close of nominations. 11

12 5. Nominations for elected officer positions shall be open two weeks prior to the day of elections and closed one week before the elections, allowing nominations to be open during two business meetings. 6. Nominations must be seconded in order for a nominee to be a candidate for an office of RHA. 7. All candidates, who accept nominations, shall give an oral presentation the day nominations close. 8. The order in which officers shall be nominated/elected during the spring semester shall be as follows: 1. President 2. Vice-President 3. Treasurer 9. Candidates may be nominated for multiple offices. 10. If a candidate is elected for a position the nominations for lower positions will be canceled. 11. All persons nominated for an officer position shall not vote when the RHA business assembly is voting on that office. 12. If more than two persons are running for an office, there shall be a run-off unless one candidate receives the majority of the vote. The top two vote recipients of the run-off shall be the candidates for that office. 13. Election procedure would be as follows: each candidate will give a 5 minute presentation (non-extendable) followed by a 5 minute question and answer period (Extendable); then will be asked to leave the room so the group can conduct a 5 minute pro/con session (extendable and ending with three unanswered pros or cons). After all candidates for the office have been considered there will be a 5 minute discussion period (extendable) on candidates for that office. Throughout this process all candidates not speaking shall not be present in the room with the business assembly. 14. The counting of ballots will be done by the advisor and president unless the president is running for the position in which case the next highest non candidate officer will do the counting. 15. Any person contesting the election procedures as defined by the constitution, must submit a written statement to the business assembly. The motion to recall election(s) must be passed by a 2/3 vote of the business assembly. The entire contesting process must be completed prior to the officer(s) elect being sworn in. 16. In order to encourage participation, representation and involvement from various populations, election recruitment and publicity will be distributed broadly (i.e. postings in the Residence Halls, PSC Axis TV, MERC Office, Women s Center, Services for Students with Disabilities Office, etc.). APPENDIX III OPERATING PROCEDURES FOR PERMANENT INTERNAL COMMITTEES Special Events: This committee is concerned with any of the larger RHA Events that take place on the UW-Platteville Campus. Such events have included: Thanksgiving Charity Drive, Campus Blood Drive, and other events decided upon by the committee. Communications and Development: The committee is to act as an additional communication link between RHA and the residents by doing the following: 1. Assisting in any way deemed necessary by the Chairperson in promoting and publicizing the programs and activities of RHA using social media, word of mouth, posters, etc. 2. Publishing the RHA newsletter and updating the RHA web page. Issues and Concerns: 12

13 This committee investigates and addresses the concerns of students living in the residence halls. In past years Issues and Concerns has dealt with such things as MTV, cable TV, lighting on campus, computers in residence halls, ice machines, and in-room refrigerators. APPENDIX IV RHA CONFERENCE DELEGATE SELECTION CRITERIA 1. Due primarily to delegate limits set by conference host committees, it is necessary for the RHA to have a method of determining which individuals will be selected to attend GLACURH, WURHA, and NACURH. It is not the intent of the RHA to arbitrarily limit or prohibit any individual from attending any of these events. For each conference event the delegation shall consist of: a. The Communications Coordinator. In the event circumstances prohibit the Communications Coordinator from attending, a substitute from the RHA will be chosen to fulfill the duties of the Communications Coordinator during that conference. b. The Advisor of RHA. In the event circumstances prohibit the Advisor from attending, a substitute from the Central Housing Staff or Resident Director staff will be chosen to fulfill the duties of the Advisor during the conference. c. Two RHA Executive Officers. In the event circumstances prohibit two Executive Officers from attending, the spots will be filled by the first two names from the RHA Representative Lottery List (see item "e" below) for that particular conference. d. One NRHH Executive Officer. In the event circumstances prohibit one officer from attending, a substitute from NRHH will be chosen. e. An RHA representative Lottery List will be established for each conference from the RHA Representatives interested in attending. Names from the RHA Representative Lottery List who have paid the required deposit by the stated deadline will be used to fill the remaining spaces allotted by the conference hosts. f. An Alternate Registration List will be established with the remaining two Executive Officers names first and second on the list (if circumstances permit their attendance) followed by the remainder of names in the order they appeared on the RHA Representative Lottery List. g. Vacant delegate spaces will be offered to other groups listed below in the order they appear. 1. Hall Council members 2. Residence Hall Students 3. NRHH members 4. Resident Assistants. h. All delegate candidates (Executive Officers, RHA Representatives, and Other Groups) will be required to submit the required deposit by the deadline in order to maintain his/her status in the delegate registration process. (NOTE: This applies to those on the alternate registration list or waiting to be placed on the alternate registration list also.) i. Upon approval of the advisor and WCC/NCC, interpretation of a through h is open in a manner to better utilize resources and represent UW-Platteville. 2. All RHA delegates that attend conferences and receive funding from their Hall Councils will be required to present a program or overview of the conference to the Hall Council and RHA. This presentation will take place within 30 days after the conference, or the following year after a NACURH conference, (Within 30 days of the start of the following semester). 13