CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS OF

THE DEEP SOUTH REGIONAL CONFERENCE OF

AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS’

STUDENT CHAPTERS AND CLUBS

 

 

ARTICLE I.   NAME

 

The name of this organization shall be the Deep South Regional Conference of Student Chapters and Clubs of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

 

 

ARTICLE II.  PURPOSE

 

One purpose of this conference shall be to foster desirable relations among the students, chapters and clubs within the regional conference. Another goal is to further the technical, professional, and ethical knowledge of these students as it relates to the civil engineering profession

 

 

ARTICLE III.  MEMBERSHIP

 

SECTION 1.    Qualifications. Student chapters and clubs in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee are eligible for membership. Further, any chapter or club in a state adjacent to these states, and as designated and approved by the ASCE Committee on Student Activities (CSA), is eligible for membership. Only chapters and clubs that are in good standing with ASCE as defined by CSA may be members of the conference.

 

SECTION 2.    Existing Membership. A chapter or club formalizes its membership in the conference by submitting the annual conference registration fee (Article V) to the Secretary-Treasurer of the conference at least two (2) weeks before the annual conference. This registration fee shall validate their membership until the due date of the following year’s annual conference.

 

SECTION 3.   Admittance of New Members. An eligible chapter or club may become a member of the conference by submitting the annual conference registration fee (Article V) to the Secretary-Treasurer of the conference at least two (2) weeks before the annual conference. This registration fee shall validate their membership until the due date of the following year’s annual conference.

 

Section 4.   Modifying Host Rotational System. New chapters and clubs of the conference will be entered in the Host Rotational System (Article VII) as the last chapter eligible for hosting the conference following the host chapter or club for the meeting at which they are admitted to the conference.

 

 

ARTICLE IV.  Conference Representatives and Duties

 

Section 1.    Representation. Each member chapter or club shall be entitled to send three (3) official Delegates to the annual conference. All student members, faculty advisors, and practitioner advisors of the conference’s chapters and clubs may attend the conference, but only official Delegates shall be permitted to vote and conduct the business of the Deep South Conference. The conference officers shall not serve as official Delegates for their chapter or club. Chapter and club faculty advisors shall be Ex-Officio Delegates to the annual conference.

 

Section 2.    Voting. Each official Delegate is allowed one vote on each voting issue. A chapter or club shall have only as many official votes as they have official Delegates present during the meeting. An Ex-Officio Delegate has no vote, and can not substitute for an official Delegate.

 

Section 3.    Duties. During the annual conference business meeting, the official Delegates shall conduct the following business:

 

a.        Determination of the host chapter for the following year’s meeting.

b.       Discuss registration fee for the following Conference.

c.        Matters as required by ASCE-CSA

d.       Other matters not specifically listed.

 

 

ARTICLE V.  Annual Meeting

 

Section 1.    Meeting Date. An annual conference meeting shall be held in the spring. During the early fall prior to the annual conference meeting, the Secretary-Treasurer shall propose to the current conference membership a date for the meeting that is deemed generally acceptable to all members. The exact date shall be determined by the Secretary-Treasurer of the conference upon giving members a reasonable time to comment.

 

Section 2.    Required Meeting Activities. During the annual conference meeting, a business meeting shall be held of the Delegates for the purpose of addressing conference management and business responsibilities as outlined in Article IV. Further, any pre-organized activities as defined by CSA as constituting an official meeting of the regional conference shall be held.

 

Section 3 .    Additional Meeting Activities. During the annual conference meeting, additional pre-organized activities may be held at the discretion of the host chapter and the conference officers. The following activities are routinely organized as part of the Deep South Regional Conference of Student Chapters and Clubs of the ASCE and the conference members anticipate these events will continue to be part of all annual meetings:

 

a.        Concrete Canoe Competition

b.       Steel Bridge Competition

c.        Mead Paper Competition

d.       Surveying Competition

e.        Environmental Competition

f.         Awards Banquet

g.        Lunches During Competitions

 

With the consensus approval of the conference members at least four months prior to the annual conference meeting, pre-organized activities other than those listed above may be organized and included in meeting activities. The following are examples of activities held at meetings of this or other regional conferences during the recent years:

 

a.        Mystery Competition

b.       Geotechnical Competition

c.        Concrete Bowling Ball Competition

d.       Balsa Structure Competition

e.        Concrete Strength Competition

f.         Opening Conference Ice-Breakers

g.        Field Trips to Projects of Civil Engineering Interest

 

Section 4.    Host Responsibilities. The chapter or club acting as host for the annual conference shall be in full charge over conference details, following the guidance of the conference Delegates and as set forth by the constitution and by-laws. Conference activities not required by the conference Delegates or as set forth in the constitution and by-laws shall be at the discretion of the conference officers and the host chapter. To this end, the host chapter shall be responsible for developing, reproducing, and distributing conference correspondence, literature, programs, and souvenirs (e.g., T-shirts) as they deem appropriate. The host chapter shall arrange for judges, speakers, field trips, entertainment, meeting places, meals and lodging as they deem required for a successful annual conference meeting.

 

Cives Steel has donated 200 pieces of angle iron and six pieces of W-19-4 grating to the Deep South Regional Conference for use in the steel bridge competition. The host chapter shall make this material available to the following year’s host chapter for use in their competition.

 

Section 5.    Host Participation. The host school may participate in any and all competitions, but can only place in nationally-sponsored competitions such as the Steel Bridge Competition, the Concrete Canoe Competition, and the Daniel Mead Paper Competition.

 

Section 6.    Conference Fees. The conference registration fee for membership in the Deep South Regional Conference is One Hundred Fifty Dollars ($150) per year. Registration fees for participants of the conference activities shall be set by the host chapter or club. However, it is anticipated that the host will keep registration fees as low as possible to encourage attendance of the conference and its activities. The host is authorized to request in advance of the annual conference meeting any fees from members planning to attend the conference.

 

 

ARTICLE VI. OFFICERS, THEIR DUTIES AND ELECTION

 

Section 1.    Officers. The officers of this conference shall be Chairman, Vice Chairman, and Secretary-Treasurer. These officers shall constitute the Executive Committee of the Conference, and shall be empowered to administer the affairs of organizing and holding the annual conference meeting.

 

Section 2.    Selection. The officers shall be selected by the host chapter and contact information for each provided to the conference membership at least six months before the annual conference meeting. They shall hold office until the end of the academic year in which the annual conference meeting for which they were responsible was held.

 

Section 3.    Chairman. The president shall be elected from the school that will host the next annual conference and shall preside at the business meetings of the annual conference. The President is responsible for organizing fund raising and sponsor identification activities.

 

Section 4.    Vice Chairman. The Vice President shall be elected from the school that will host the next Annual Conference. The Vice President shall discharge the duties of the President in his absence or as delegated by the President. The Vice President shall make the necessary revisions in the constitution and by-laws as approved during the Conference business meeting.

 

Section 5.    Secretary-Treasurer. The Secretary-Treasurer shall be elected from the school hosting the annual conference meeting. The Secretary-Treasurer shall record the minutes of the conference business meetings. The Secretary-Treasurer shall complete a summary report of the proceedings of the conference and submit a copy, including meeting minutes and a financial statement, to all members and to CSA within one month of the last day of the conference. The Secretary-Treasurer will be given the authority to appoint a person of his choice to assist him and carry the title of Treasurer, with approval of the President.

 

Section 6.    Vacancies. If an officer fails to maintain full-time student status at the host school for any reason, the student chapter of which they are a member shall elect a replacement. Such changes shall be announced to the conference members as soon as practical.

 

 

ARTICLE VII.  Location of the Annual Conference Meeting

 

Section 1.    The Annual Conference shall be held on a rotational basis. The Host Rotational System is as follows:

 

                         School                                                  Year

 

a.        Louisiana Tech                                                       2007

b.       Louisiana State University                           2008

c.        Arkansas State University                                       2009

d.       University of New Orleans                          2010

e.        Mississippi State University                         2011

f.         Southern University                                     2012

g.        Tulane University                                                    2013

h.        University of Tennessee – Martin                            2014

i.          Christian Brothers University                                   2015

j.         University of Mississippi                                          2016

k.       McNeese State University                                      2017

l.          University of Louisiana at Lafayette             2018

m.      University of Memphis                                            2019

 

 

Section 2.   In order to be eligible to host the conference meeting, the host chapter must meet the following requirements:

 

a.           Be a member of the Deep South Conference in accordance with Article III.

b.          Be willing to accept the responsibilities of hosting the annual conference meeting.

c.           Be scheduled to host the conference meeting according to the above host rotational system.

d.          Be represented by a delegation at the conference business meeting preceding the conference meeting they will host.

 

Section 3.    In the event that the above requirements are not met, the remaining chapters will be eligible to accept the conference as dictated by the Host Rotational System. A chapter or club hosting an annual conference meeting early does not change the order of the Host Rotational System. However, if a chapter or club hosts the annual conference meeting in advance of the year they are scheduled to host, they will not host conference in their scheduled year.

 

Section 4.    If a chapter or club is eligible to host the conference under Section 2, but elects to forego the responsibility for the year they should be responsible for hosting the conference due to stated extenuating circumstances, they may petition the conference members to host the annual conference meeting during the following year. No more than a one-year delay will be considered. Delaying the year a chapter or club hosts the annual conference meeting does not affect the Host Rotational System.

 

 

ARTICLE Viii. AMENDMENTS

 

Section. 1    Amendments to Constitution and By-Laws shall be proposed by any member chapter or club attending the conference business meeting.

 

Section 2.    Proposed amendments must be ratified by a two-thirds affirmative vote. At least two-thirds of the member chapters and clubs must be represented in this vote for it to be valid.

 

 

ARTICLE IX – Authority on Procedure

 

Section 1.    “Roberts Rules of Order, Revised” shall be the authority on all points not covered by the Constitution and By-Laws.