D4 Constitution

AFA-NIET District IV Constitution

American Forensic Association—National Individual Events Tournament

Article I: Nature and Purpose

AFA-NIET District IV consists of colleges and Universities in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Its principal purposes are to certify students qualifying from member schools for the AFA-NIET, provide for a District qualifying tournament, promote the health and growth of forensics in the district, and conduct other activities relevant to these purposes.

Article II: Membership

A. Subscribers

All colleges, universities and two-year colleges located within the District are eligible to become subscribers upon payment of AFA-NIET fees, as determined by the National Committee. Subscribers are eligible to send students to the district qualifying tournament and to participate in any other method for qualifying students to compete in the AFA-NIET as determined by the National Committee.

Article III: District Committee Governance

A. Composition and Eligibility

The governing body of the district is the district committee. The committee will consist of seven members, including a chairperson (elected amongst the committee biannually) who receives an automatic second term, a student representative, and a Treasurer (in ex-officio capacity). Any person who is a faculty member or graduate students at a subscribing school during the term of office is eligible for election to the committee. No more than one person from any school may serve on the committee at a given time. No more than two members from a single state may serve on the committee at a given time, unless no nominees exist from a fourth state. The two nominees from a single state with the largest number of votes shall be the only nominees considered for the committee, except under special circumstance. Committee members will serve one year from the end of the AFA-NIET until the end of the next AFA-NIET. The committee chair will serve a two-year term.

B. Nomination and Election

1. Nomination:

Nomination to the district committee will occur at an open meeting of district members held during the qualifying tournament. Written nominations may be submitted to the chairperson for presentation at that meeting.

2. Election:

An alphabetical list of nominees will be circulated to all subscribers within ten days of the district qualifying tournament. Each subscribing school will return one ballot, within one week prior to the AFA-NIET, ranking up to six of the nominees. Results will be determined on the basis of (a) total number of votes, irrespective of rankings, and (b) in the event of a tie in number of votes, the lowest total ranking.

C. Responsibilities

1. Committee Members:

Each member will have one vote, assist in administering the District Qualifier and perform other such tasks as established by the Committee. Members will elect, by a majority vote: a District Chairperson, at the first meeting of the committee in the even numbered years, a Treasurer in the odd numbered years and a Vice-Chair annually. In the event a serving committee member must step down, the member will be replaced by the nominee from the previous ballot with the most votes, regardless of state. Should no nominee be available, the chairperson shall have the authority to appoint an interim member to serve the remainder of the term.

2. District Chair:

The District Chair will be the AFA-NIET representative and must therefore be a member of the American Forensics Association. In addition, the chair will convene at least two meetings of the District Committee annually, including a Committee meeting and an open meeting at the Qualifying Tournament. A quorum will be four members. The chair will also direct the District qualifying tournament, certify member schools and qualified AFA-NIET competitors to the AFA-NIET committee, the National Chair, the NIET Director and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, present District IV concerns to the National Committee and perform other such responsibilities as dictated by the AFA or District IV.

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