Article I
THE NAME
This organization shall be called the Association for Computing Machinery University of the Philippines Student Chapter (UP ACM) Student Chapter. In this Constitution it is referred to as the Chapter; the Association for Computing Machinery is referred to as the ACM; the University of the Philippines is referred to as UP or the University.
Article II
THE PURPOSE
Article III
MEMBERSHIP
Any person or institution subscribing to the purposes of the Association and eligible for membership in accordance with this Constitution and Bylaws will become a member upon the acceptance of the application for membership and the payment of dues in accordance with the Bylaws.
Classes of membership and their qualifications and privileges are defined in the Bylaws.
A member may at any time file a resignation in writing with the Secretary, and it shall become effective as of the date it is filed.
A member may be dropped or suspended for nonpayment of dues as provided in the Bylaws. A member of the Chapter may be admonished, suspended or expelled for demonstrating lack of integrity, lack of participation, non-compliance and non-advocacy with the Chapter’s purposes as stated upon Article 2, or for other reasonable cause after a hearing of the case before the Council and by affirmative vote of at least three-fourths of all members of the Council, including the recommendation of the Membership Committee. A former member of the Chapter who was expelled from membership can become a member only after approval of the application by an affirmative vote of at least three-fourths of all members of the Council, including the recommendation of the Membership Committee.
Article IV
OFFICERS
The officers of the Chapter shall be a Chair, a Vice-Chair, a Secretary, a Treasurer, and the heads of each Committee. Each officer of the Association shall be bound by any action taken by the Council or the Association, and shall have such additional authority and duties as may be conferred by the Constitution or resolution of the Council.
The Chair is the principal officer and is responsible for leading the Chapter and managing its activities in accordance with the policies and procedures of the ACM and this Constitution. The Chair shall have the duty of supervising and coordinating all work and activities of the different committees for the efficient working of the Chapter, and consideration of such measures as he or she may deem necessary.
The Chair shall be the official representative of the Chapter, and shall attend meetings or appoint delegates where it necessitates the presence of the Chapter.
The Chair has the power to call, preside over, and adjourn all General Assemblies and Council Meetings.
The Chair has the power to approve or reject project and budget proposals in accordance with the policies and procedures of this Constitution.
The Chair shall be an ex-officio member of all the standing committees.
The Chair shall have the duty of presenting the program of activities to the members of the Chapter at the first General Assembly of each school year, and recommending the consideration of such measures as he or she may deem necessary.
The Chair shall have the power to create and dissolve ad hoc committees, whenever the Chair deems the act necessary.
The Chair has the power to delegate other functions that were not covered by this Constitution to members of the Chapter. On this case, the Secretary shall note the assigned task and the appointed member for record keeping purposes.
The Chair shall act as the head of the Council and shall appoint the heads of all other committees, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution. The Chair shall have the following functions:
In the temporary absence or incapacity of the Chair, the Vice-Chair shall act as chair of the the Council. In the absence of both Chair and Vice Chair, the Council shall elect a temporary Chair from among its membership to act for a period to be determined by the Council.
The Vice-Chair shall be the head of the Membership Committee.
The Vice-Chair shall be responsible to the Chair, and must report to the Chair on a regular basis regarding accomplishments and plans with regards to the Chapter to ensure proper coordination of the Chapter.
The Vice-Chair shall have the following functions and duties:
The Secretary shall ensure that records are kept of all proceedings, actions and meetings of the Chapter and the Council, and that the votes and minutes thereof are recorded to be kept for that purpose. The Secretary/Treasurer shall conduct the correspondence of the Association and shall give due notice of all meetings of members, of the Council, and of the Executive Committee.
The Secretary/Treasurer shall provide for custody of the original of this Constitution and of the Bylaws, and of the amendments thereto.
The Secretary shall be the head of the Records Committee.
The Secretary shall be responsible to the Chair, and must report to the Chair on a regular basis regarding accomplishments and plans with regards to the Chapter to ensure proper coordination of the Chapter.
The Secretary shall have the following functions:
The Treasurer shall ensure that accurate accounts are kept by the Chapter, that dues and other sums are collected, that all properly approved bills are paid, and that financial statements and budgets are prepared.
The Treasurer has the task of preparing the Chapter’s Annual Financial Report for presentation to the Chapter at the Annual Election meeting, and the completing and submitting the Annual Financial Report to ACM Headquarters.
The Treasurer shall assume the leadership of the Finance Committee.
The Treasurer shall render to the Council, as required, an accurate account of all transactions and of the financial condition of the Chapter on a regular basis.
The Treasurer shall have the task of initiating and supervising any fund-generating projects, and shall have the responsibility of presenting the project to the Council and the Chair.
The Treasurer shall be responsible to the Chair, and must report to the Chair on a regular basis regarding accomplishments and plans with regards to the Chapter to ensure proper coordination of the Chapter.
The Treasurer shall have the following functions:
The Committee Heads, with responsibilities and functions as stated on Article 6, shall be considered as officer of the Chapter.
The Committee Heads shall be responsible to the Chair, and must report to the Chair on a regular basis regarding accomplishments and plans with regards to the Chapter to ensure proper coordination of the Chapter.
The Committee Vice Heads and Secretaries, with responsibilities and functions as stated on Article 6, shall be considered as officer of the Chapter.
The Committee Vice Heads and Secretaries shall be responsible to their respective Committee Head , and must report to the Head on a regular basis regarding accomplishments and plans with regards to the Chapter to ensure proper coordination of the Chapter
The Special Interest Group Heads, with responsibilities and functions as stated on Article 7, shall be considered as officer of the Chapter.
The Special Interest Group Heads shall be responsible to the Council, and must report to the Council on a regular basis regarding accomplishments and plans with regards to the Chapter to ensure proper coordination of the Chapter.
The Special Interest Group Vice Heads and Secretaries, with responsibilities and functions as stated on Article 7, shall be considered as officer of the Chapter.
The Special Interest Group Vice Heads and Secretaries shall be responsible to their respective Heads , and must report to the Head on a regular basis regarding accomplishments and plans with regards to the Chapter to ensure proper coordination of the Chapter.
An election, as indicated on Article 7, shall be held for the position of Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, and the Standing Committee Heads. Each position should have vote counts of more that half of the voting population to them to be qualified for the position.
The Committee Vice Heads and Committee Secretaries shall be appointed by their respective Committee Head, upon the qualifications of skill, experience, and fitness in office.
Article V
COUNCIL
The Council shall be the highest policy and decision making body of the Chapter. The Council shall formulate the policies of the Association, and generally supervise their execution by the officers of the Chapter. Each Council member shall represent the members and the best interests of the Association.
The Council shall consist of the Chapter Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, the Student Chapter Sponsor, previous Chair and Vice-Chair, and officers of the Chapter’s standing committees.
Any resolution adopted by majority vote of the members of the Executive Committee after due notice to each of its members shall be deemed and considered the act of the Executive Committee as though adopted at an actual meeting of the Committee whether or not on the occasion of the vote there was an actual meeting of the Committee. The notice and the voting of the members of the Committee may be by mail, telephone, telegraph, electronic mail, or personally, or by any combination of these, and notice by mail or telegraph shall be deemed given when sent to the Committee member’s last mailing address. A record of the notice and of the voting and of the manner in which the action was taken shall be noted in the minutes of the Committee.
In case of issues where the council needs to vote upon, the Chapter Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, the Student Chapter Sponsor, and previous Chair and Vice-Chair are allotted one vote for the issue. One vote is allotted for each standing committee and special interest group. The respective heads, with the advice from their vice heads and secretaries, would represent this vote.
The Executive Council shall meet at least twice a month to discuss all upcoming activities and plans for the semester, year, et cetera, and report on the progress of past and ongoing projects and activities of the organizations.
There shall be a Chapter Sponsor, and s/he shall be a voting member of ACM a member of the faculty of UP. The Chapter Sponsor shall be selected by the Executive Council immediately following the Election Meeting.
The Student Chapter Sponsor shall be generally responsible for the activities of the Chapter. Specifically, the Sponsor:
Article VI
COMMITTEES
The Executive Committee shall be the body responsible for the enactment of any decisions made by the Council. The Executive Committee shall also be the body that the Council might consult in situations where brainstorming is necessary.
The Executive Committee shall composed of the officers of the Executive Council, all Committee Officers including Vice Heads and Secretaries, and SIG Heads of the Chapter.
The education committee shall look after the academic improvement of the members of the organization. The committee shall also see to it that activities that are school and academic related are put a priority above any organization activity.
The committee shall be responsible for handling trainings for programming competitions, especially of the ACM International Collegiate Programming Competition (ICPC).
The committee shall oversee seminars and tutorials which aim to transfer knowledge and hone skills. These seminars shall be referred to as Knowledge and Information Sharing Sessions (KISSes).
The committee shall be responsible for the care, promulgation and maintenance of the Chapter’s library which includes academic resources in electronic or printed form.
The committee shall handle matters which require high technical background and/or specialized field, such as database management and network design and implementation among others, and would oversee these matters when the Chapter deems the task necessary to do so.
The Education Committee shall have the following functions:
The External Affairs Committee shall have the following functions:
The Finance Committee shall have the following functions:
The Logistics Committee shall have the following functions:
This committee will evaluate all members according to their performance in every term of their membership in the organization. This includes checking the attendance during organization events and meetings.
The Records Committee shall have the following functions:
Article VII
SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS
Any group of Chapter members in good standing with an initial membership of at least ten (10) members who share a common research or professional interest may organize a Special Interest Group (SIG). The members would seek the approval of the Council for the creation of the SIG. A SIG is official once it has the approval of the Council.
The objectives and purposes of the SIG’s shall be consistent with those of the Chapter and must be approved by the Executive Council.
The SIG may elect among themselves a chair, vice-chair, secretary and treasurer who shall have a fixed term of office. A mechanism for continuity of operations should be established by the SIG.
The Chair or a representative of a SIG shall become an ex-officio member of the Council.
The SIG may maintain its own fund, separate from the main Chapter fund. The fund will include membership fees paid by its members and income derived from its activities. Twenty (20) percent of the income from the activities will be remitted to the main Chapter funds and the remainder will be retained in the SIG funds.
The SIG shall submit to the Council an annual report, which shall include its financial report.
Article VIII
COUNCIL OF ADVISERS
After serving his/her term of office, the Chair of the Chapter shall automatically become a lifetime member of the Council of Advisers. The Council of Advisers shall be composed of the founders and former chairperson.
The Council of Advisers shall have the responsibility to give advice on the Council upon questions regarding the leadership of the Chapter, upon request of the current Council.
Article IX
ELECTIONS
The election period for the organization shall be held in the second semester of the academic year. February shall be the month in which all activities pertaining to the election of the new Executive Council shall be held, unless certain circumstances prevent this requirement from being fulfilled. In such a case, the election season shall be re-set to another month within the second semester.
Every member of the organization is entitled to submit one or more nomination forms, specifying the candidate they wish to elect into office. The nominee shall be informed of such nomination, and a three-day grace period would be given to the nominee to allow him to back out of nomination.
A member running for office must be a member of the organization for at least one semester prior to the current semester of elections.
Officers of the organization can hold positions in other organizations as long as these positions are not the highest ones in their respective organizations.
The term “organizations” refers to duly-recognized organizations either by the Department, College, or University. They do not include ad hoc organizations such as yearbook committees, school papers, or such.
The Miting de Avance shall be held during the next General Assembly from the start of the election season. Candidates shall each be given a chance to present their platform for the organization, if elected. Fellow members shall be given time to interrogate these candidates and make clarifications on their plans.
A person can hold office for a maximum of two terms, consecutive or not, for any two positions.
Article X
TENURE
The Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, all committee heads, and all other officers appointed by votation shall hold officially on the first Monday of the schoolyear. The said officers may not run for the same office for two terms. Prior to being appointed officially, they shall be officers-elect, with the title Chair-elect, Vice Chair-elect, and so on, and would act with the guidance of the current Council members.
Any elected member may be recalled if deemed necessary by the Electoral Committee, provided that the committee would provide sufficient evidence for such action. Impeachment may be either by a three-fourth vote of the whole Council. The Council shall promptly direct a special ballot by all Members. Provided that at least onethird of all eligible Members cast ballots, a two-thirds majority of the votes cast will suffice for immediate removal of the Council Member from the Council.
Article XI
AMMENDMENTS
All proposed changes to these Chapter Bylaws shall be approved or rejected by the Chair of the Chapter.
Article XII
MEETINGS
General Assemblies shall be held at least once every month. They must be announced to the whole Chapter by the Membership Committee at least three days before the given date.
Meetings shall be held as planned by the Executive Council. The Chapter shall hold meetings only in places that are open and accessible to all members of the Association.
The Association for Computing Machinery – University of the Philippines Student Chapter is a University-wide Computer Science organization. It is the country’s first ACM Student Chapter.
A four-time winner of the ACM Chapter Excellence Award (Activities, 2007, Community Service, 2005, 2006. Recruitment Program, 2005), it currently consists of 136 undergraduate members from various departments and colleges throughout UP Diliman.
The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is the world’s oldest and largest educational and scientific computing society. It is a major force in advancing the skills of computing professionals and students in more than 100 countries in all areas of industry, academia, and government worldwide.
It was founded in 1947 for the purpose of advancing the sciences and arts of Information Processing (IP), promoting the free inter-change of IP among specialists and the public, and developing and maintaining the integrityand competence of IP practitioners.
Let’s celebrate for UP ACM is now a four-time Chapter Excellence winner for 3 consecutive years! This time, we were able to get the Outstanding Chapter Activities award! Congratulations to UPACM!
Here’s the email received from ACM HQ:
Dear James,
I am pleased to inform you that the University of Philippines Student chapter has been chosen as a co-winner of the Outstanding Chapter Activities award. Congratulations!
The $500 check will be sent to the address you provided in your submission. Please let us know if we should send it somewhere else.
I noted above that you are a co-winner: we recognized two chapters in this category– the other winner is the University of Minho (Portugal).
Again, congratulations on your outstanding chapter program for the year. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Warm Regards,
Lauren Ryan
ACM Local Activities
Go UPACM!
Are you still not informed of the new council for this schoolyear? Here is the official line-up of the UP ACM Executive Council 2007-2008 that shall spearhead the organization for the upcoming projects and events:
Congratulations to the new and reelected board members and good luck in the coming ACM Student Chapter Excellence Program!
Lots of things will be discussed (especially since we won the Student Chapter Excellence Awards), so be sure to attend! See you there!
We just won the Student Chapter Excellence Awards, for the second year in a row! (See email from ACM HQ below, with some spam-prone data removed.) And with last year’s victory, we can now call ourselves a three-time Chapter Excellence winner. Congratulations guys, we all deserve this triumph for our efforts and sacrifices.
Right now the Student Chapter website hasn’t been updated yet with the winners, but I’ll keep tabs on it, for sure.
Go UP ACM!
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: local_activities
Date: Jul 18, 2006 1:37 AM
Subject: winner, student chapter excellence awards
To: “Phillip Kimpo Jr.”Hello Philip,
We are pleased to award you the Student Chapter Excellence award for outstanding community service, the second year in a row!
Please provide a physical mailing address, if different from the one listed on your submission, and a contact name, so that we can send you the cheque and letter from our Chief Operating Officer.
Thank you for your hard work this academic year. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Warm regards,
Lauren
Lauren Ryan
ACM Local Activities
From ACM Local Activities:
ACM STUDENT CHAPTER EXCELLENCE PROGRAM
The ACM Student Chapter Excellence Program recognizes outstanding ACM student chapters in the following areas:
* Chapter Activities
* Chapter Website
* Recruitment Program
* Community Service
* School Service
Winning chapters in each of these categories will receive $500 and a Certificate of Recognition. These chapters will be recognized on the ACM student chapter website and in ACM MemberNet.
To be considered for one or more of these awards, ACM student chapters must submit an application to local_activities@acm.org by May 1, 2006. Applications must include the following information:
• Name and address of chapter
• Names and email addresses of chapter officers and faculty sponsor
• A brief description of your chapter and school including number of chapter members
• Number of students at your school who take computer science and related courses, and typical majors of your chapter members.
• URL for your chapter home page (if you have one)
• An essay of no more than 500 words for each of the categories for which your chapter would like to be considered. Guidelines for these essays appear on the ACM student chapter website:
http://www.acm.org/chapters/stu/essay_contest.html
ACM reserves the right to not make an award if no outstanding entries are received for a given category, and to make multiple awards at the discretion of the judges.
Again, applications are due before May 1 2006.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you,
ACM Local Activities
1515 Broadway, 17th floor
New York, NY 10036
Quezon City, 07 June 2005. The University of the Philippines Association for Computing Machinery Student Chapter (UP ACM) won the 2004-2005 ACM Student Chapter Excellence Awards for Recruitment and Community Service. It has been selected from over 750 student chapters around the globe for its outstanding performance. Congratulations!
In behalf of the UP ACM Executive Council, Executive Committee, and all its members, we would like to thank everyone who contributed, especially the following: the UPD Department of Computer Science (DCS) and the Diliman Computer Science Foundation (DCSF). We dedicate this award to our department, to our college, to our school, to our country, and last but not the least, to our Lord Almighty, who made all these things possible.
I have read the preparations being done by the students and I must say that they are doing a great job. Do not get intimidated by the accomplishments and achievements of the other ACM Student Chapters. Bear in mind that we are just starting up (with a large number of student chapters folding up) but we can catch up.
How about a short seminar on how to create your webpage? I can help get a lab for you but make sure that you teach faculty members. I might be able to get the eMac lab for the training provided that it is free, of course. This may be too simple a topic but believe me, it will be very useful. It is just a matter of how you will market it. If you can find someone (besides me) who can give a short tutorial on Mac OS X, then that’ll be another topic.
I also have a Linux lab that can be used to teach faculty members. I can have my office sponsor it but it should be free and for faculty members only.
To summarize, we can do the following tutorials:
1. How to create an online presence using HTML
2. Mac OS X: testimonials from UP users
3. Managing your email using Open Source tools (Mozilla, Mozilla Thunderbird)
4. Using a low-cost, virus free desktop (Linux desktop tutorial)
5. Living with Open Source and Microsoft Windows (OS apps on Windows platform – Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice.org, etc.)
We can more, of course.
I have read that there was a project involving more than a thousand computers with Linux or was it an anti-virus software of sorts. Anyway, we can also do the same thing with Linux. Schedule a one week install fest and have students and faculty members bring their CPUs for Linux installation. I am sure that we can get a lot of people to participate here. The key thing is – it should be free and voluntary. If we can get a sponsor, the better. Marketing is important, too.
We can do these, people!
The ACM Student Chapter Excellence Program recognizes outstanding ACM student chapters in the following areas:
*Chapter Activities
*Chapter Website
*Recruitment Program
*Community Service
*School Service
Winning chapters in each of these categories will receive $500 and a Certificate of Recognition. These chapters will be recognized on the ACM student chapter website and in ACM MemberNet.
To be considered for one or more of these awards, ACM student chapters must submit an application to local_activities@acm.org by May 1, 2005. Applications must include the following information:
• Name and address of chapter
• Names and email addresses of chapter officers and faculty sponsor
• A brief description of your chapter and school including number of chapter members
• Number of students at your school who take computer science and related courses, and typical majors of your chapter members.
• URL for your chapter home page (if you have one)
• An essay of no more than 500 words for each of the categories for which your chapter would like to be considered. Guidelines for these essays appear on the ACM student chapter website.
ACM reserves the right to not make an award if no outstanding entries are received for a given category, and to make multiple awards at the discretion of the judges.
Again, applications are due before May 1 2005.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you,
ACM Local Activities Department
1515 Broadway, 17th floor
New York, NY 10036