The Constitution of the Bates Model United Nations Club
Name and Purposes
This organization shall be known as the Bates Model United Nations Club (BMUNC), whose
conduct shall be supervised by a member of Bates College Faculty.
The object of BMUNC is to:
Provide interested members of the Bates community an opportunity to explore and
become engaged in international affairs and the concept of the United Nations.
Spread awareness regarding international affairs throughout the Bates College campus.
To educate members in both the UN procedures and the essential skills of debate, public
speaking, and conflict resolution.
Provide opportunities for students interested in international politics to explore possible
future careers.
BMUNC Goals:
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To participate avidly in at least one Model United Nations conference per academic year.
To hold at least one on campus forum regarding international affairs
To sustain a minimum of 10 active members each academic year
Membership:
All members of the Bates community, student, faculty or staff is eligible to be a member
ofBMUNC. To be eligible for participation at the conference, a member must fulfil the
following conditions:
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The member must not acquire more than three unexcused absences.
The member must be a student at Bates College.
The member must express hislher wish to be a delegate.
Meetings:
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BMUNC will hold one official meeting per week, not including special events arranged
by the club or extracurricular classes.
The first meeting ofBMUNC each semester will convene within the two weeks after
class officially begins to ensure maximum membership.
Meeting times will be determined by the administration of the club on a circumstantial
basis.
The goal of club meetings is to prepare delegate members for the conference and discuss
international affairs.
Structure
The BMUNC officers will consist of a President or Co-Presidents, Secretary and Treasurer.
If any officer is to become vacant during the academic year, elections will take place at the next
and soonest possible meeting. In the interim, the President will use his/her discretion in
choosing a substitute. If the President(s) is to vacate his position, leader ship will fall to the CoPresident, then Secretary, then Treasurer.
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Co-Presidents: Responsibilities include presiding over all scheduled meetings, sponsored
events, and tending to the overall welfare of the BMUNC. The President has the primary
responsibility of co-ordinating and directing the topics and activities that will be covered
during meetings as well as co-ordinating alumni visits and presentations. The CoPresidents will serve as the liaison to the Office of Communications and Media Relations.
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Secretary: Responsibilities include organizing and keeping permanent records of
BMUNC, such as statistics on club membership, member attendance and participation.
The Secretary shall organize all voting sessions and conduct fair and secret balloting.
The Secretary is also responsible for keeping a record of proposals presented during
BMUNC meetings and keeping record oftopics covered during meetings.
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Treasurer: Responsibilities include determining the amount of money necessary for the
BMUNC to attend conferences or to organise events on campus. The Treasurer is also
responsible for keeping track of all financial information and seeing to it that the
Secretary can maintain those records.
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Faculty Advisor: There shall be one advisor from the Bates Faculty who monitors all
BMUNC activity and reporting, and ensures that the stated policies are maintained. The
faculty advisor serves as the liaison between BMUNC and the Bates Administration. The
Faculty Advisor has the authority to resolve any and all disputes within the BMUNC,
including but not limited to voting rights and participation on the MUN Team.
Preselection
All willing members will be delegates as well. However, ifthere are more delegates than
available spots, a series of evaluations will take place to determine those who will be on the team
and the alternates. This preselection will occur once the school has been registered for a
conference and has been assigned a country. Firstly, those who wish to become delegates need to
take a 10 question quiz about the presented material. Afterwards there will be interviews held by
the Co-Presidents and Treasurer to determine the intentions and qualifications of each
prospective delegate. The prospective delegates.will also need to participate in a debate exercise
which will be counted towards their results. Finally the delegates will need to write a short twoparagraph personal position paper on a real world problem. All the results (measured on a scale
from 1-10) from all the tests will be averaged and based on this average the officers will
determine the top 10 delegates that will be part of the team. The members who do not make the
team will not be discarded from the club. They will be able to make the team if they show a
greater commitment than selected delegates, or in case a spot opens up. More so, all members of
the club not just delegates will be responsible for participating and holding forums and
presentations to raise awareness of international affairs on campus.
Absences
If a member of BMUNC cannot get to a meeting he/she must contact anyone of the
officers by any means prior to the meeting. In this case, he/she will receive an excused absence.
If not, he/she will receive an unexcused absences. After three unexcused absences a member will
be removed the right to be a delegate (if already will be pulled out from the team) and in case
he/she holds an officer position this position will be revoked from him/her and there will be a
new member of the club appointed in his/her place.
Elections
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Elections for student officer positions will be held on BMUNC's second meeting of the
academic year. For an election to be valid, there must be a presence of at least 10 members at
voting-meeting. Any member of the club can run for any of these positions. If a member wishes
to candidate for a student officer position, he/she must address one of the Co-Presidents or the
Treasurer before the beginning of the second meeting ofBMUNC of the academic year. There
will be a vote held during this meeting. Any member present at this meeting will be able to vote.
A member may run for one position only. A candidate for a student officer will be declared
winner if he/she will amount the biggest number of votes. The newly appointed officer will hold
and be responsible for that position until April 27 when the club will cease its activity for the
academic year.
Funds
The BMUNC will use its allocated budget to cover travel, registration and participation fees for a
conference and if possible part or the full accommodation of the delegates. Also remaining funds
will be used to organise events on campus such as forums, presentations and debates on
international affairs. Moreover, if the budget allows, BMUNC will try to bring UN-related
speakers on campus.
Adoption
This constitution shall become effective upon the approval of the majority of the active members
present and upon the approval of the ORB
Amendments
A. This constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the membership present at any
meeting with a quorum.
B. Notice of the said amendment will be included in a written call for the meeting.