Preamble: The Learning Sciences Graduate Student Association (LSGSA) is an organization that works to build the Learning Sciences community and support the intellectual, social, and professional development of the graduate students in the Learning Sciences program at Indiana University, Bloomington.

Article I: Mission Statement

The objectives of this organization are:

1. To act as the official representative of all members of the IU LS student body;
2. To address matters pertaining to the general academic, professional, and social aspects of the Learning Sciences program as they affect the life and well-being of the graduate student population.

Article II: Membership

The members of the LSGSA are Learning Sciences graduate students at Indiana University. Current enrollment in the graduate Learning Sciences program is sufficient for membership. Students not enrolled in the Learning Sciences program may participate as associate members but may neither vote in elections nor referenda, nor hold office. No general membership dues will be collected from members, although members may be expected to contribute to the expense of external events. No graduate student at the Learning Sciences program shall be denied the benefits of membership in the LSGSA on account of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation.

Article III: Composition of the Executive Committee

The LSGSA Executive Committee shall be the legislative body of the LSGSA. The Executive Committee will be elected for a year, from December to December , by a plurality vote of the members of the LSGSA. The Executive Committee consists of the following elected positions: 1. President, 2. Vice-President, 3. Secretary,  4. Treasurer.  Additionally the Student Representative is selected through a LS Faculty led nomination of election process.  

Article IV. Eligibility and Term of Office

Only LSGSA members in at least their 2nd year may hold the President or Treasurer positions in the Executive Committee, other positions are open to all currently enrolled students; no individual may hold more than one elected position. No individual may hold the Learning Sciences Student Representative to the Faculty and serve on the Executive Committee at the same time. No individual can be reelected to the same position in the Executive Committee.  All elections will be conducted online, anonymously, and will be decided by a plurality vote of members.   

Article V. Method of Election

The selection process of the officers of the Executive Committee starts with the call of the existing Executive Committee for nominations beginning the first Monday-Friday of October, opening 12:01 am on that Monday, with nominations closing at 11:59 pm that Friday.  Nominations will be for individuals, and may be self-submitted. Nominations should be sent to the existing Executive Committee officers. The Executive Committee will confirm with each nominee that they accept the nomination prior to publishing the list. The candidates shall be announced to all members of the LSGSA by the Executive Committee at the end of each day during the nomination period. If only one nominee exists for any position, the nomination period will be extended by 2 days. Only one extension per election period will be made. The Election period begins the Monday following the nomination week at noon and ends at 5pm that Wednesday.  The Faculty Advisor to the LSGSA will oversee the election process to help resolve issues that may arise.

Article VI. Faculty Advisor

The Executive Committee will have a faculty advisor. 
The faculty advisor will be the faculty selected student-faculty relations chair for each calendar year and will have the following responsibilities:

1. The faculty advisor will meet with the executive committee twice a semester.
2. The faculty advisor will join the LSGSA for meetings whenever invited by the Executive Committee and available; 
3. The faculty advisor will work with the student representative to present any student initiatives, concerns, or questions to the faculty during faculty meetings as-needed. 
4. The faculty advisor will approve financial decisions, if applying for a Student Organization Account.

Article VII. Responsibilities of the Executive Committee

The Executive Committee shall have the following collective responsibilities:

1. to enforce the Constitution;
2. to organize social activities for all interested graduate students;
3. to disperse information about academic and professional topics;
4. to create and organize LSGSA and the Executive Committee meeting agendas and hold the meetings once a month dependent on having an agenda. Agenda            items should be submitted up to one week prior to the meeting. The committee will determine if a meeting will be held dependent on agenda items, and will send     out confirmation of the meeting and the agenda three days prior to the meeting;   
5. to assist LSGSA members;
6. to assist the Treasurer in creating the annual budget;
7. to advise the President on issues of importance to graduate students;
8. to work with the Student Representative to Faculty on issues of importance to graduate students;
9. to work with the GPSO representatives for CEP on issues of importance to graduate students;
10. each member of the Executive committee, in addition to their other duties, will be the chair of a specific sub-committee for the duration of the year.  The                 sub-committees will be composed of volunteers who sign up in the first LSGSA meeting of the year.  Each sub-committee will meet as often as the chair of the      sub-committee deems necessary.  The sub-committees are: social (chaired by the Vice President), business (chaired by the Treasurer), academic advocacy                 (chaired by the President) and professional development (chaired by the Secretary). 

Article VIII. President

The President shall have the following responsibilities:

1. to represent the graduate student body to the university at large;
2. to serve as chair at all Executive Committee and LSGSA meetings;
3. to inform LSGSA members as to the decisions made at the Executive Committee meetings;
4. to perform any other functions necessary to advance the welfare of the LSGSA members.

Article IX. Vice President

The Vice President shall have the following responsibilities:

1. to fulfill the duties of the President when s/he is temporarily unable to perform them;
2. to perform other duties requested by the Executive Committee.

Article X. Secretary of the Executive Committee

The third member of the LSGSA Executive Committee will serve as secretary. The member shall have the following responsibilities:

1. to take minutes during the meetings, and post them to a blog where members of the LSGSA can access them and comment;
2. to report back to the council at the beginning of each meeting on the community commentary and concerns;
3. to record procedures used by the committee (such as tools used for the election process, publishing minutes, etc);
4. to help execute the decisions made at the Executive Committee meetings;
5. to perform other duties requested by the Executive Committee.

Article XI. Treasurer

The forth member of the LSGSA Executive Committee will serve as treasurer. An election for this position will be held at the same time in December as that of the Executive Committee. The Treasurer shall serve one year, from January to January. The treasurer will have the following responsibilities:

1. to record, keep, and maintain the funds belonging to the LSGSA;
2. to apply to university organizations for funds when appropriate and disburse funds to LSGSA members with the approval of the Executive Committee;
3. to prepare the annual budget for review by the LSGSA members in the end of the one year term of the Executive Committee;
4. to perform other duties requested by the Executive Committee.

Article XII. Student Representative to the Faculty

The fifth member of the committee will serve as a liason between the student organization and the faculty. Their attendance in the meetings is to facilitate their ability to represent student issues to the faculty. Within a week of each faculty meeting, the representative will send out an email summarizing the meeting.

Article XIII. Replacing the Executive Committee Officers

1. In the case that the President resigns the Vice-President will become the President, and an election will be held as indicated in (2).
2. If the Vice-President, Secretary, or Treasurer resign their position, a special election will be held immediately, with the call for nominations opening the following Monday and closing that Friday, and election voting occurring during the following Monday-Wednesday. 
3. In the case that all officers serving as the Executive Committee chooses to resign from that position during their term, an election shall be held. The resigning Executive Committee officers are responsible for the carrying of the election and to help transition to new committee. 

Article XIV. Changes in the Constitution

Changes in the Constitution can only be made by suggestions made during the LSGSA meetings with a simple majority of the votes by those in attendance. All changes must be announced and published to the LSGSA community immediately following the meeting.  

Article XV.  The Statement of University Compliance

1. Statement of University Compliance: This organization shall comply with all Indiana University regulations, and local, state, and federal laws.
2. Anti-Hazing Policy: Hazing is strictly prohibited. Hazing shall be defined as any conduct which subjects another person, whether physically, mentally, emotionally, or psychologically, to anything that may abuse, degrade, or intimidate the person as a condition of association with a group or organization, regardless of the person's consent or lack of consent.
3. Personal Gain Clause: This organization shall ethically raise and distribute profits from organizational functions to the organization, not individual members.  Individual students may not receive money from a student organization event for personal gain.