U-M OXE Chapter By-Laws

Article I – Name and Objective

Section 1 – The name of the organization shall be "The Beta-Theta Chapter of Omega Chi Epsilon, Chemical Engineering Honor Society."

Section 2 – The objective of this chapter shall be to recognize and promote high scholarship, original investigation, and professional service in Chemical Engineering.

Section 3 – This Society is organized exclusively for charitable, educational, and scientific purposes including, for such purposes, the making of distributions to organizations that qualify as exempt organizations under Section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (or the corresponding provision of any future United States Internal Revenue Law).

Section 4 – No part of the net earnings of the Society shall inure to the benefit of, or be distributed to, its members, officers or other private persons, except that the Society shall be authorized and empowered to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and to make payments and distributions in furtherance of the purpose set forth in the above Section 3 of article I hereof. No substantial part of the activities of the Society shall be the carrying on of propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation, and the Society shall not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distribution of statements), any political campaign on the behalf of any candidate for public office. Notwithstanding any other provision of these articles, the Society shall not carry on any other activities not permitted to be carried on (a) by an organization exempt from Federal income tax under Section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (or the corresponding provision of any future United States Internal Revenue Law) or (b) by an organization, contributions to which are deductible under Section 170 (c) (2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (or the corresponding provision of any future United States Internal Revenue Law).

Article II – Officers

Section 1 – The officers of this Chapter shall be the President, Internal Vice President, External Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Community Service Chairs (2), Social Chair, Tutoring Chair, Newsletter Chair, Media Chair, Initiation Chair, UMEC Representative, Graduate Student Representative, and Faculty Advisor.

Section 2 – All active members of the Chapter shall be eligible to hold any office, except that no member may simultaneously hold more than one of the offices named in Section 1. The Faculty Advisor must hold the rank of Assistant Professor or above.

Section 3 – No member may hold the same office for more than one full year. A member succeeding to an unexpired term in any office is eligible for election to a complete term in that office.

Section 4 – The duties of the officers shall be as follows:

a. The President shall preside at all meetings, act as an official representative of the Chapter at any function requiring such a representative, and shall see that the other officers of the chapter perform their duties in accordance with the By-Laws. The President shall issue written orders for all disbursements.

b. The Internal Vice President shall supervise all activities of the Society that need no counsel from outside sources. The Internal Vice President shall assume and fulfill the duties of the President in the absence of or in case of resignation of the President.

c. The External Vice President shall supervise all activities of the Society that directly affect any outside source.

d. The Secretary shall issue all notices, and shall be responsible for all records of the Chapter, including an official copy of the Chapter's By-Laws. The Secretary shall furnish all members with an unofficial copy of these By-Laws, shall keep the roll of active members which shall be called at each meeting, shall keep the minutes for the Chapter meetings, and shall handle routine correspondence of the Chapter. Upon leaving office, the Secretary should leave a written report of Chapter activities and recommendations for improving the Chapter operation for the incoming Secretary.

e. The Treasurer shall collect and care for all money, properties, and financial records of the Chapter and shall make payment only upon written order of the President. This position is a yearly commitment.

f. The Community Service Chairs shall organize service projects for the initiates and actives. They shall provide enough opportunities for initiates to meet their requirements.

g. The Social Chair shall organize social events for the initiates and actives and provide enough opportunities for initiates to meet their requirements.

h. The Tutoring Chair shall organize tutoring for sophomore chemical engineering students:

i. The Newsletter Chair shall write a newsletter for every general meeting. This newsletter shall be titled "substance" and shall provide Chapter information to members.

j. The Media Chair shall publicize meetings and events, as requested by other officers. The Media Chair shall also be in charge of the webpage.

k. The Initiation Chair shall organize the initiation ceremony and following banquet.

l. The UMEC Representative shall act as the liaison between the Society and the University of Michigan Engineering Council (UMEC). This Representative shall attend meetings – including the general UMEC meetings and the committee-specific meetings, such as those for Tech Day, Engineering Week, and Springfest – and report back to the Society.

m. The Graduate Student Representative shall act as a liaison between the Society and the graduate students.

n. The Faculty Advisor is an ex officio member of the Council. The Faculty Advisor shall serve as liaison between the Chapter and the school and shall guide the Chapter in its actions and activities.

Section 5 – Officer Meetings

a. The officers shall conduct whatever business it deems necessary to facilitate the Chapter's regular business meetings.

b. The President shall have the authority to call meetings of the officers.

c. A majority shall constitute a quorum for a meeting of the officers.

d. The officers shall keep a record of their meetings and the business conducted. This record becomes a part of the minutes of the Chapter.

Article III – Election of Officers

Section 1 – Officer elections will be held every term (twice a year) except that for treasurer, which will be held only at the end of the fall term.

Section 2 – The new officers shall take office following the initiation ceremony.

Section 3 – Nominations for office shall be made by the active members at a regularly called meeting of the Chapter. Each nomination must be accompanied by the pledge of the nominee to serve in the office if elected.

Section 4 –A majority of those present shall be required for election. If no nominee receives a majority on the first ballot, a second ballot shall be held between the two leading candidates.

Section 5 – The Faculty Advisor shall be elected in the fall term of odd-numbered years for a term of two years and maybe re-elected. Elections shall be held at the same time as that of other officers in these odd-numbered years.

Section 6 – A special election shall be held to fill any vacant offices occurring before the next regular election, except that a vacancy in the office of President shall be filled by the Internal Vice President until the next election.

Article IV – Membership

Section 1 – Membership shall be restricted to those students, both male and female, who have attained a high scholastic record in their studies and who have those traits of personality and leadership that make them likely to succeed in their chosen profession.

Section 2 – The membership of the Chapter shall consist of active and inactive members.

a. Active members shall be those members of the Chapter (1) who are registered students of the University of Michigan and who are working toward a degree in chemical engineering; or (2) who have received a degree in chemical engineering and who are working toward another degree in some other field and who have expressed the desire to remain active members; or (3) who are no longer students of the University of Michigan but are attached to the University in some professional capacity and who have expressed the desire to remain active members.

b. Members of the Society who are students of the University of Michigan, but have not expressed the desire to remain active members, are inactive members.

Section 3 – A member of another Chapter who transfers to the University of Michigan from another institution and who so desires shall be received into full fellowship of the Society upon presentation of his or her credentials to the President of this Society.

Article V – Election of Members

Section 1 – There shall be at least one but no more than two election meetings per term.

Section 2 – The eligibility of persons for election to the Chapter shall be determined as follows:

a. The President shall appoint an Eligibility Committee to examine the scholastic records of the members of junior, senior, and graduate classes in Chemical Engineering to determine those scholastically eligible for election. Should the problem of student access to records arise, the Faculty Advisor shall supply a list of members of the junior, senior, and graduate classes who are scholastically eligible for election. No one shall be elected to membership in the Chapter who has not completed at least 30 semester hours toward a degree in chemical engineering, including 6 hours of chemical engineering courses.

b. Juniors shall be classified as those undergraduates who have at least 6 semester hours of credit in chemical engineering courses but not more than 20 hours. Those juniors having an overall grade point average of 3.5 or more shall be eligible for election.

c. Seniors shall be classified as those undergraduates who have at least 20 semester hours in chemical engineering but have not yet received a Bachelor’s degree. Those seniors having an overall grade point average of 3.4 or more shall be eligible for election.

d. Graduate students shall be eligible for election upon completion of nine (9) semester hours of courses in chemical engineering, counting toward a graduate degree in chemical engineering. Their grade point average, based on their graduate work, including completed research, must be 6.5/8.0 or higher.

e. The scholastic average of each candidate shall be determined as defined in the Bulletin of the University of Michigan College of Engineering.

Section 3 – New members shall be elected as follows:

a. The eligibility list shall be distributed to the active members of the Chapter by the Chair of the Eligibility Committee at least three days before the election meeting. The eligibility lists must not be displayed to any outsider and must be returned at the end of the election meeting to the Secretary, who shall destroy all except one copy for the files of the Chapter.

b. The first act at the election meetings shall be the reading by the presiding officer of Article V of the By-Laws, "Election of Members."

c. Each candidate must be considered individually, and must be discussed and elected or passed before the next candidate may be considered. Free discussion is permissible, but the proceedings of the election meetings shall be kept strictly secret.

d. Candidates must be considered from the standpoint of scholarship and character. Unless acceptable on both points, he/she shall not be elected.

e. Two-thirds of the active members shall constitute a quorum for election of members. A candidate must receive at least 80% of the votes of the active members present and voting to be elected to membership.

f. A student overlooked shall be considered at the next regular election meeting either upon the basis of the scholastic average that the candidate had at the time the candidate should have been considered, or upon the basis of their current scholastic average, if it should be higher. If the candidate should graduate before the next election meeting, he/she shall be considered at a special election at a regular business meeting.

g. Failure of persons to be elected does not bar them from consideration at future elections meetings.

h. Those elected shall be notified by letter or other acceptable means.

Article VI – Initiation

Section 1 – Each candidate shall be required to bring a written acceptance of the invitation to membership.

Section 2 – Requirements

a. Initiation requirements shall be permissible, but they shall not consume an inordinate amount of the candidate's time to the detriment of school work.

b. Each candidate shall be required to read the Constitution of Omega Chi Epsilon and the Chapter By-Laws and shall be required to make a statement to that effect.

c. No joint initiation exercises of any kind whatsoever with any other organization shall be held.

d. Offense to dignity or decency shall not be tolerated.

Section 3 – Ceremony

a. The President, Internal Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Faculty Advisor, and Initiation Chair shall read the parts for initiation.

b. The External Vice President shall take the place of any of the above officers should they not be able to attend initiation.

c. Other substitutions shall be made as necessary.

Article VII – Finances

Section 1 – The expenses of the Chapter shall be met by the initiation fee if assessed by the Chapter, and by such dues and pro rata assessments as may be voted by the Chapter. A two-thirds vote of the total active membership shall be required to change any fees or dues or levy any assessments.

Article VIII – Alterations

Section 1 – A proposed alteration must be read at one meeting and voted on at the following meeting.

Section 2 – A favorable vote of two-thirds of a quorum is necessary for an alteration.

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