Constitution

Preamble

The journalism departments of two-year colleges hereby establish the Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC) to exchange ideas and opinions, to develop and maintain effective curricula, to provide enriching educational experiences for members, to render mutual aid, and to develop and maintain a free student press.

It is the philosophy of the Association to encourage equal student and faculty participation.

In 2006, JACC incorporated as a nonprofit corporation.

Article I: Name and Membership

Section 1: The name of this organization will be the Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC). Any accredited community college may become a member of JACC, and any person or organization interested in community college journalism may become an associate member. All members must pay annual dues and agree to abide by the JACC Constitution, the Canons of Community College Journalism and the Annual Convention Guidelines.

Section 2: College dues will be established for the ensuing academic year at the Annual Convention. Upon payment of dues by a college, all student publications produced as part of the journalism program and all journalism students and faculty of the college are JACC members.

Section 3: The association will include a student section and a faculty section, and members will convene in a General Assembly at the Annual Convention.

Article II: Geographic Sections

JACC will consist of two or more geographical regions. Assignment or The Association will consist of a Northern Region and a Southern Region. Assignment or reassignment of a member college to a given region will be at the discretion of the college upon approval of the Board of Directors.

Article III: Directors
Section 1: The elected student directors will be a student president and one student director from each geographical region, who will serve as vice presidents. The region electing the state student president will alternate annually. At the time of election and throughout the director’s term of office, the student will be in a journalism program of a JACC-member college and adhere to the JACC Canons of Journalism.

Section 2: The elected faculty directors will be the JACC president and one faculty director from each geographical region, who will serve as vice presidents, and a faculty member at-large.

Section 3: At the time of election and throughout the director’s term of office, the faculty member will be a teacher in a journalism program of a JACC-member college and adhere to the JACC Canons of Journalism.

Section 4: Two additional voting directors from outside the organization –one representing industry and one representing four-year colleges or universities—will be appointed by the Board of Directors.

Section 5: The Board of Directors may accept proxies from directors who cannot attend board meetings if directors request them. Only faculty members may serve as voting proxies for faculty directors and only students may serve as voting proxies for student directors.

Section 6: The Secretary, the Treasurer and the Communications Director will be appointed nonvoting directors.

Section 7: Appointed non-voting associate directors will be the Events Director and the immediate past faculty and student presidents.

Article IV: Election of Student Directors

Section 1: Election of the three student directors will be by college student regional delegations at the Annual Convention. Candidates for election will be nominated from the floor. Only one student from each school will be eligible to take office as a student director.

Section 2: Each college delegation will have one vote per office. The candidates from each region receiving a plurality of votes will be elected.

Article V: Election of Faculty Directors

Section 1: Election of the faculty president will be by faculty members at the Annual Convention. The president in office will appoint a statewide Nominating Committee no later than the Winter Faculty Conference to nominate one or more candidates for the next presidency. The Nominating Committee will consist of an equal number of faculty members from each region. Nominations may also be made from the floor at the Annual Convention faculty meeting, where the election will take place.

Section 2: The president will rotate among the regions each term. Each faculty delegate will have one vote, and the election of the president will be by a majority of delegates voting.

Section 3: The two regional directors will be elected at the fall regional conferences by a majority of faculty delegates voting and will take office at the conclusion of the ensuing Annual Convention. The regions each may elect from their faculty members a regional vice president and a regional secretary to conduct region-specific business and to help operate the fall regional conference which each region’s finances.

Article VI: Appointed Directors

Section 1: The Secretary, the Treasurer and the Communications Director will be appointed by the incoming Executive Board at each third Annual Conference.

Section 2: The Events Director will be appointed by the Board of Directors.

Section 3: An Annual Convention student chairperson may be nominated by the coordinator for that conference and appointed by the student directors. If the student chairperson is not from the same school as the Conference coordinator, it is strongly recommended that the student chairperson be from a member school of close proximity.

Section 4: Two outside directors, one representing universities and one representing industry will be appointed as voting members for three-year terms.

Article VII: Term of Office, Removal, Vacant Positions

Section 1: Elected faculty directors will serve for two years and will take office at the conclusion of the Annual Convention. Elected student directors will serve for one year and will take office at the conclusion of the Annual Convention.

Section 2: The Secretary, the Treasurer and the Communications Director will each serve for three years and will take office at the conclusion of the State Conference in which the appointment was made.

Section 3: By two-thirds vote of the Board of Directors, any director may be removed from office for non-performance of duties or for nonattendance at meetings.

Section 4: Student directors of the Board of Directors will fill any vacant student position by appointment, and faculty directors of the Board will fill any vacant faculty positions by appointment. A vacancy of the Secretary, Treasurer or Communications Director will be filled by appointment of the Board of Directors.

Section 5: Directors may also be removed for not upholding the JACC Canons of Journalism.

Article VIII: Board of Directors

Section 1: The JACC Board of Directors will be composed of the student president, the regional student directors, the faculty president and the regional faculty directors, an elected at-large faculty member, and two appointed outside directors.

Section 2: In Board of Directors meetings each director will have one vote. The Secretary, the Treasurer, the Communications Director and the Events Director will not vote. A quorum for conducting official business will be a majority of the voting members of the Board of Directors.

Section 3: Associate directors will be invited to attend meetings on an “as needed” basis.

Article IX: Duties of the Board of Directors

Section 1: To meet at least four times during the term of office. To pass legislation necessary to fulfilling the functions of JACC and to carry out the duties that serve member colleges, member individuals and the journalism profession.

Section 2: To establish and distribute JACC-wide a list of objectives for JACC during its term of office and to report on progress toward the objectives to members at the State Conference.

Section 3: To review and evaluate Annual Convention planning and guidelines at each Board of Directors meeting.

Section 4: To disseminate information about the organization and its members.

Article X: Duties of the Faculty President
(Chair of the Board of Directors)

Section 1: To set the agenda for and preside over all meetings of the state faculty. To work with the student president to set the agenda for meetings of the Board of Directors and the General Assembly. To serve as president of JACC and to serve as chair of meetings of the Board of Directors and the General Assembly. To report regularly to members on the state of JACC.

Section 2: To establish standing and special committees and appoint faculty members to those committees. As requested or necessary, to represent JACC to other groups. To enforce the provisions of this Constitution.

Section 3: To direct, coordinate, and disseminate news of the state organization.

Section 4: To serve as a co-signee on JACC checking accounts.

Section 5: To perform other duties as set forth in the corporation by-laws.

Article XI: Duties of the Student President
(Vice Chair of the Board of Directors)

Section 1: To set the agenda for and preside over student meetings of the region from which the president was elected. To set the agenda for and preside over meetings of the JACC’s students. To work with the faculty president to set the agenda for meetings of the Board of Directors and the General Assembly. To serve as vice chair of the Board of Directors and the General Assembly. To report regularly to members on the state of JACC.

Section 2: To establish standing and special committees and appoint student members to those committees. As requested or necessary, to represent JACC to other groups. To enforce the provisions of this Constitution.

Section 3: To work with the state president to disseminate news of the organization.

Section 4: To work with the regional student directors to announce and to present contest awards at annual and regional conferences.

Section 5: To perform other duties as set forth in the corporation by-laws.

Article XII: Duties of the Regional Student Directors
Section 1: To set the agenda for and preside over regional student meetings and arrange to have minutes recorded and distributed to member colleges of their regions.

Section 2: To be the state student president’s representative to the regions and to represent those regions to the Board of Directors and the General Assembly.

Section 3: To work with the respective regional faculty directors to disseminate state and regional news and to organize regional workshops.

Section 4: To work with the state student president to announce and to present contest awards at all JACC conferences.

Section 5: To perform other duties as set forth in the corporation by-laws.

Article XIII: Duties of the Regional Faculty Directors

Section 1: To set the agenda for and preside over regional faculty meetings and arrange to have minutes recorded and distributed to member colleges of their regions.

Section 2: To be the faculty president’s representative to the regions and to represent those regions to the Board of Directors and the General Assembly.

Section 3: To work with the respective regional student directors to disseminate state and regional news, and organize regional workshops and competitions as well as meetings at which regional student and faculty concerns can be addressed. Bylaws and special or standing rules in keeping with the JACC Constitution may be adopted by each region to govern conduct of the regional meetings.

Section 4: To appoint a fall regional conference coordinator, a fall regional mail-in contest coordinator and an Annual Convention mail-in contest coordinators.

Section 5: To serve as co-signees on respective regional checking accounts.

Section 6: To perform other duties as set forth in the corporation by-laws.

Article XIV: Duties of the Secretary

Section 1: To issue an annual college-member directory of JACC. To furnish the JACC’s continuing address for listing by appropriate agencies.

Section 2: To record minutes at meetings of the faculty, Board of Directors and General Assembly, and to distribute the minutes to member colleges, and complete other related duties that may be assigned by the Board of Directors.

Section 3: The Secretary may be paid an annual salary or stipend to be determined by the Board of Directors and approved by the General Assembly at the previous Annual Convention.

Section 4: To perform other duties as set forth in the corporation by-laws.

Article XV: Duties of the Treasurer

Section 1: To establish, and present for approval by the General Assembly, the JACC’s annual budget. To bill and record dues, to manage the financial records and funds of JACC, and to keep all JACC records in permanent form. To file appropriate paperwork for the nonprofit corporation with state and federal entities and to complete other related duties that may be assigned by the Board of Directors.

Section 2: The Treasurer will be paid an annual salary or stipend to be determined by the Board of Directors and approved by the General Assembly at the previous Annual Convention.

Section 3: To perform other duties as set forth in the corporation by-laws.

Article XVI: Duties of the Communications Director

Section 1: To maintain and manage the JACC’s electronic communication system, including official web sites, e-mail listserves and blogs, and to complete other related duties that may be assigned by the Board of Directors.

Section 2: To serve as a resource person for the organization’s members on use of the JACC’s electronic communication system.

Section 3: To maintain currency in appropriate communication technology and report periodically to board.

Section 4: The Communications Director will be paid an annual salary or stipend to be determined by the Board of Directors and approved by the General Assembly at the previous Annual Convention.

Section 5: To perform other duties as set forth in the corporation by-laws.

Article XVII: Meetings, General Assembly

Section 1: JACC members will assemble during the Annual Convention in the spring of each year.

Section 2: The General Assembly will consist of the delegates from each member college present at the Annual Convention. Each college will have two voting members, with one vote representing student members of the delegation and one vote representing faculty members.

Section 3: The General Assembly may pass legislation necessary to fulfilling the functions of JACC as well as make recommendations to the incoming Board of Directors.

Section 4: Each region of JACC will meet annually in the fall and at such other times as agreed by region members.

Section 5: JACC will establish and adhere to the Annual Convention Guidelines, which may be amended by the Board of Directors or the General Assembly. Changes through the Board of Directors will be enacted no later than November before the Annual Convention. Changes through the Board of Directors not receiving at least a two-thirds vote of the Board of Directors must be referred back to the General Assembly for approval before enactment.

Article XVII: Amendments

Amendments or revisions to this Constitution may be proposed to the General Assembly, with enactment requiring two-thirds of the voting delegates.

Amendments to this Constitution may be proposed to the General Assembly, with enactment requiring two-thirds of the voting delegates.

As amended April 2010

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