Bylaw 500

Bylaw 500 – A Bylaw Respecting Meetings and Open-Governance.

  1. Meetings

    1. Board Meetings:

      1. President shall chair the Board Meetings;

      2. The Board standing orders shall govern the procedures of the board meetings;

      3. Board Meetings shall be conducted weekly with exceptions agreed upon by the board;

      4. The President shall call for an emergency/special Board Meeting with a minimum of six (6) hours email notice;

      5. If a matter pertaining to the undergraduate students shall be voted only by the undergraduate board members, and a matter pertaining to the graduate students shall be voted only by the graduate board members; and,

      6. The quorum shall be 50% of elected Board Members.

    2. Council Meetings:

      1. Respective Chancellors shall chair the Council Meetings without voting rights.

      2. The Council standing orders shall govern the procedures of the council meetings;

      3. The Board shall call an emergency/special Council Meeting with a minimum of twenty-four (24) hours email notice.

      4. Council Meetings shall be conducted monthly, with the exception of a few months at the Council’s discretion.

      5. All general members are eligible to attend the Council Meetings as guests with the exception of in-camera meetings.

      6. If a council member is absent for more than one (1) council meeting in every trimester without an excused absence from the Chancellor, then they are automatically expelled from the ISA.

      7. A matter pertaining to the undergraduate students shall be voted only by the undergraduate council members, and a matter pertaining to the graduate students shall be voted only by the graduate council members.

      8. The quorum shall be 50% of the respective elected voting Council Members.

    3. Annual General Meeting (AGM)

      1. A minimum of one (1) Annual General Meeting shall be conducted on or before April 30 every year, the date(s) shall be decided by the Councils.

      2. All general members shall be invited by email a minimum of three (3) business days prior to the AGM.

      3. If a special resolution must be presented in the AGM, then a minimum of twenty-one (21) days of email notice shall be required with a substantive majority vote in the AGM by all general members present.

      4. The quorum of the AGM shall be 50% of internal members of the ISA.

      5. The ISA shall present at the AGM a financial statement setting out its income, disbursements, assets, and liabilities, audited and signed by the ISA’s auditor.

  2. Open-Governance

    1. Public Records:

      1. The ISA shall make its Council and Board meeting minutes public before the beginning of subsequent board or council meeting or otherwise timeline decided by the respective Councils/Board with the exception to in-camera meetings;

      2. The ISA shall make its annual budget and financial statements public to its members upon request;

      3. The Bylaws, political policies, and standing orders/terms of references shall be public to all members;

      4. Once a record is public, it shall never be removed from the public domain;

      5. The ISA website or any other publicly available source shall serve the purpose for all documents being made public to its members; and,

      6. The ISA shall operate in an accountable and transparent manner.

    2. Annual Strategy and 5 yr Strategic Plan

      1. ISA shall every year prepare an annual strategy outlining the theme of the year for the ISA, and the goals of its executives. The annual strategy shall be in alignment with ISA's mission, vision, values, and 5 yr strategic plan.

      2. ISA shall every five (5) years prepare a strategic plan that shall direct its operations for the upcoming five years. The strategic plan shall be aligned with ISA's mission, vision, and values.

    3. Archived Records and Transition Documents:

      1. Every year the ISA shall archive all the documents/records/files of the year on or before April 30.

      2. Every year the ISA Board members shall draft their respective transition documents before April 30 and pass them to the incoming board members. Transitions documents of the previous executives shall also be made accessible to the incoming board members.

      3. Archived Records and transition documents play a vital role in the institutional memory of the ISA, thus they shall never be deleted, altered, or made inaccessible to the current or future executives.