I. Mission

Community Impact's mission is to advance the public good by engaging Columbia University Students in high-quality service, in partnership with community organizations, that meets critical community needs, develops student leadership, connects service and learning, and fosters an environment of mutual respect in the neighborhoods surrounding the university.

A Candidate Eligibility and Requirements

1. The following groups alone are eligible to run in Student Executive elections: coordinators, volunteers, work study students who have been active for at least one full semester and are still active CI members.

2. Candidates must complete an application by a date to be determined by outgoing Student Executive Board (hereinafter, "SEB").  In the application, the duties and responsibilities of each position must be clearly outlined.

3. Candidates must select one application question or provide an additional personal statement included in their application which will be distributed to all voters.

B. Student Executive Elections

1. Candidates must indicate in their application for which positions they are willing to run in order of preference, and for which positions they are unwilling to run.

2. An election committee will be formed of the retiring or graduating student executives, a number of staff members equal to the number of retiring student executives, and up to five coordinators.  Coordinators will be selected to the committee based on the length and depth of their involvement in CI.

3. The election committee will be chaired by the Internal Affairs Officer. If the Internal Affairs Officer is running for re-election, another Student Executive will be chosen to chair. The chair is responsible for collecting applications and distributing copies to all election committee members, arranging the time and place of the election, selecting coordinators to the election committee, and notifying the candidates of the results.

4. After the entire committee has read all the applications, all applicants will be interviewed by the entire committee, with the chair moderating the interview process.

5. After the interviews are complete, the committee will discuss and vote on the candidates and assign positions based on the specified preferences of the candidates.

C. In Case of Resignation

1. The remaining students on the SEB will take into consideration the date of resignation, the Board's ability to train a new member, and the need for an immediate replacement.

2. The SEB, in consultation with the staff, may decide either to keep the position open or offer the position to a runner-up in the previous election.

III. Student Executive Roles

A. Specific Programmatic Responsibilities

1. Financial Officers will train all Student Executives and coordinators in proper treasury procedures, maintain budget records for all groups, allocate funding for all groups, request funding from Columbia student councils, and serve as CI representative to Inter Group Council.

2. Internal Affairs Officer must plan and facilitate internal events, maintain contact and active relationships between Student Executives, volunteers, and coordinators, plan and facilitate inter-group events, and publicize events as necessary.

3. External Affairs Officer must plan and facilitate external or cosponsored events, recruiting events, or CI events open to outside community members, act as CI liaison to partner agencies and other campus organizations, and publicize events as necessary.

4. Public Relations Officer must plan and facilitate SEB and SEB/Staff meetings, ensure CI groups and other Student Executives are fulfilling their programmatic responsibilities, assign additional or neglected duties as they may arise, and reply to general inquiries to SEB.

5. Operations Officer must maintain and update CI website, train and assist groups in all technical issues, i.e. making websites, mailing lists, etc., track and facilitate volunteer registration, and create and update mailing lists.

B. Mutual and Like Responsibilities

1. All Student Executive in charge of large events are responsible for assigning other Executive roles in planning the event

2. Student Executives must attend the retreat, and must make every effort to attend all CI meetings and events

3. Each Student Executive will be responsible for advising 3-6 groups, working with one or more staff members in advising, approving their groupsÕ treasury requests, and otherwise assisting their groups as needs arise.

4. With meetings, advising, event planning, and additional responsibilities, Student Executives can expect to contribute 10-12 hours a week.

IV. Constitutional Amendments or Addendums

A. An amendment or addendum to a by-law may be proposed by any active CI member by sending his proposal to the SEB.

            B. The proposed amendment must first receive a unanimous vote from the SEB.

C.  The amendment will then be submitted to a vote in a Town Hall, in which it must receive a majority vote of people in attendance, excluding Student Executives or staff.

D. With a unanimous SEB vote and a majority Town Hall vote, an amendment may be enacted.

E. An addendum or by-law may be enacted after receiving an unanimous SEB vote. It need not be submitted to a Town Hall vote.

F. A by-law or amendment may also be removed in the same manner as they are enacted.

V. Expectations for Groups

            A. Coordinators must read and sign the contract in the coordinator guide.

B. Coordinators should attend fall retreat, have one group representative at every Town Hall, and attend the two Open House events.

C. Coordinators should receive and provide appropriate training for their volunteers and ensure that service provided by their volunteers is in concordance with the CI mission.

D. Groups should update their CI manual every year.

E. Groups should provide evaluations for clients and participants and make collected information available to CI.

F. Budget

1. Groups should submit budget by pre-determined date in order to request group funding for the next year.

2. Budget forms will be devised by financial officers as prescribed by student councils and will be given to coordinators one month prior to due date.

3. Treasury protocols and procedures will be made available in the amendable treasury by-laws.

4. Budgets submitted after deadline date will force a group to appeal either to the financial officers or the councils in the fall to obtain funding.

G. Coordinators should ensure that all their volunteers register with CI.

H. Retiring coordinators are responsible for selecting and training replacement coordinators and updating CI of the changes.

I. Coordinators should meet regularly with their staff and student executive advisors.

VI. Accepting New Groups

A. If CI is accepting new groups,

1. A proposal must be submitted to CI Staff and the SEB.

2. The interested party will be asked to speak and articulate their case and their role within the Community Impact model and mission statement.

3. The CI Staff and SEB will vote on submitting a recommendation to the Programming Committee.

4. The interested party may be asked to appear before the programming Committee to defend their case and clarify any doubts or questions the Committee might have.

B. If CI is not accepting new groups due to fiscal constraints or staff/advising shortage, the proposal will kept in file and will be reconsidered by Staff and SEB at an appropriate time.

C. Initially accepted groups may be considered 'projects', whereby they are entitled to a certain reduced budget as specified by the office of the treasury. Projects may become programs through a vote by the Programming Committee.