Bylaws

Overview

The Computer Science Graduate Students Association (CSGSA) is a student organization run by and for graduate students from the Computer Science Department at CU Boulder. Its main goal is to foster community amongst graduate students in the Department of Computer Science and other affiliated departments/institutes. To encourage such a community, the CSGSA will arrange social events, and serve as a central forum of representation for graduate students, representing graduate students’ interests to the department and broader university administration. In addition, the CSGSA will inform and support graduate students throughout their program of study.

Responsibilities

The CSGSA has the following main responsibilities.

Social

  • The CSGSA arranges and promotes events each semester in coordination with department leadership
  • Events will be varied and appeal to a variety of audiences.
  • Members will be notified of events with plenty of notice and guidance given as to expected atmosphere (e.g. family friendly)
  • Promote awareness of CSGSA activities to current students

Graduate Student Representation

  • The CSGSA shall appoint representatives to the Graduate and Professional Student Government (GPSG), Computer Science Executive Committee, Computer Science Graduate Committee, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Committee, and other organizations as appropriate.
  • The CSGSA shall act as advocate for the views and opinions of its membership.

Personnel

Executive Committee

The CSGSA has a four person executive committee: a Chair, Vice-Chair, Treasurer, and Antiracism and Inclusion Chair. The responsibilities of these members are outlined below.

  1. Chair
    • Manage all open projects
    • Run meetings of the CSGSA
    • Arrange meetings and develop agenda
    • Represent graduate students to Department and University where appropriate
    • Assign responsibilities to members as appropriate
  2. Vice-Chair
    • Run CSGSA meetings in the chair’s absence
    • Manage and maintain organizational documents
    • Manage regular email communication with members and student body
    • Be responsible for minutes of meetings
    • Assist the Chair where necessary
  3. Treasurer
    • Handle any and all financial matters
    • Apply for funding each year from multiple sources
    • Submit reimbursement forms when needed
    • Assist the Chair where necessary
    • Report regularly on financial status of the organization
  4. Antiracism and Inclusion Chair
    • Facilitate student-led discussions on making CU Boulder CS more inclusive and proactively anti-racist (in continuity)
    • Hold CSGSA accountable for actions we plan to take on community inclusivity
    • Advocate for graduate students in inclusion and equity issues and provide input and feedback to the department, college, and/or campus as appropriate.
    • Serve on the department Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Committee
    • Work with the Associate Chair of Inclusive Excellence and our undergraduate leadership to ensure CSGSA efforts are in conjunction with the department efforts on antiracism. These tasks may be delegated to other members.

All four members of the executive committee should be elected no later than the last day of classes in the spring semester. The elected term begins the first day of classes in the fall semester. It is the responsibility of the outgoing CSGSA executive committee to coordinate the handoff to the incoming CSGSA executive committee at some point after the election and before the first day of the fall semester.

Typically, potential candidates self-nominate before an election. If there are no nominations for an executive committee position, if a member is given a vote of no confidence, or if a member of the executive committee is unable to complete their full term, the incumbent CSGSA executive committee may take reasonable actions to include:

  • Suspending or reducing CSGSA operations until a suitable candidate can be found
  • Holding additional election(s) outside of the voting timeline established in the bylaws as long as the election occurs while Spring or Fall semester is in session
  • Appointing an interim executive committee position to an un-elected CSGSA member or extending the term of an incumbent CSGSA executive committee member until one or more suitable candidates may be found for the unfilled position and an election may be held.

The CSGSA may take similar actions in helping other organizations to appoint interim student representatives or hold additional elections if this is requested by the organization (e.g., Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Committee).

Volunteer Coordinators

The CSGSA executive committee may appoint student coordinators to help run CSGSA activities. Coordinators are expected to work with a level of autonomy, but the CSGSA executive committee is responsible for supporting these positions. The CSGSA executive committee and the coordinator should come to an agreement for coordinator responsibilities through the existence of a handbook document made available to the coordinator. It is the joint responsibility of the coordinator and the CSGSA executive committee to keep handbook documents up to date. It is the responsibility of the CSGSA executive committee to ensure a smooth transition when a new coordinator is appointed.

Coordinators should be publicized on the CSGSA website pending the permission of the CSGSA member fulfilling that position. Open coordinator positions should be advertised to all CSGSA members via email and/or a Commonly Accepted Public Forum (CAPF) so all have an opportunity to volunteer. Any CSGSA member is eligible to be a coordinator. Coordinator selection is done at the discretion of the CSGSA executive committee. The following coordinator positions can be changed without bylaw amendment:

  • Web Admin
  • Tea Time Coordinator
  • MS Admissions Ambassador(s)
  • PhD Admissions Ambassador(s)

Committee Representatives

There are representatives to external organizations who will also be elected by the membership of the CSGSA. These organizations include, but are not limited to:

  • GPSG representative
  • CS Department Executive Committee representative(s)
  • CS Department Graduate Committee representative(s)

Ad Hoc Committees

At any time the formation of an ad-hoc committee may be appropriate (e.g. a certain event, or issue). These shall be formed at the discretion of the executive committee.

Operations

Membership

The following will automatically be considered as members:

  • A graduate student in the Department of Computer Science
  • A graduate student in an affiliated Department/Institute
  • A graduate student working in a Computer Science or affiliated Department/Institute lab

Those who don’t meet these criteria may become members by arrangement with the Vice Chair.

Procedures

  • Meeting Frequency: The CSGSA shall hold regular, biweekly meetings during fall and spring semesters. Meetings will be open to all members.
  • Meeting Details: The Chair shall distribute a meeting agenda to members at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.
  • Meeting attendance: Executive committee members and elected representatives are expected to attend all meetings.
  • Social Events: It is expected that at least two social events shall be held each semester and the events be diverse in nature.
  • Commonly Accepted Public Forum (CAPF):
    • currently Slack
    • This can change in future terms. This can be changed without bylaw amendment process given reasonable conditions.
  • Bylaw Amendments:
    • Directly Responsible Individual (DRI): here shall be the proposing member(s) of the executive committee and any proxies designated by these proposing member(s)
    • Proposals: Changes to the bylaws may be proposed by the CS-GSA executive committee at any time. The DRI(s) must be listed on the proposal. The proposal must be published to the CAPF.
    • Discussion period: The discussion period for any proposed change is two academic weeks during a fall or spring semester. During the discussion period, dissenting opinions by CSGSA members must be published to the CAPF, then the DRIs are encouraged to discuss the dissent and consider modifications to the proposal. A change to the proposal triggered by dissenting opinion does not require a new discussion period (however, it may be chosen by the DRI(s) at their discretion).
    • Voting period: Once the discussion period has ended and proposal modifications are complete, then the online voting period may begin. This will take place over one academic week with a verified voting process using surveys or other acceptable online tools distributed to all CS-GSA members through the CAPF.
    • Voting conditions: Quorum is not required, however a simple-majority of submitted votes must agree with the proposal.
    • Background note: quorum is not required as we have never seen quorum met on any survey of our members
    • Background note: hyper-majority is not required as a simple majority is believed to be sufficient in allowing the CS-GSA leadership to execute policies effectively while giving the members a voice
    • Ratification: Once the voting period ends, the CS-GSA chair shall review the results of the vote. If voting conditions are met, then the CS-GSA chair shall ratify the change at the next open meeting. If the CS-GSA chair, the vice chair shall perform this duty. If voting conditions are not met, then the proposal is rejected and can be reconsidered at a later date.
  • Meeting Frequency: The CSGSA shall hold regular meetings during fall and spring semesters. Meetings will be open to all members.
  • Meeting Details: The Chair shall distribute a meeting agenda to members at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.
  • Meeting attendance: Executive committee members and elected representatives are expected to attend all meetings or let the Chair know when they cannot attend on a special occasion.
  • Social Events: It is expected that at least two social events shall be held each semester and the events be diverse in nature.
  • Commonly Accepted Public Forum (CAPF):
    • currently Slack
    • This can change in future terms. This can be changed without bylaw amendment process given reasonable conditions (like slack is expensive and we need to change immediately)
  • Bylaw Amendments:
    • Directly Responsible Individual (DRI): here shall be the proposing member(s) of the executive committee and any proxies designated by these proposing member(s)
    • Proposals: Changes to the bylaws may be proposed by the CSGSA executive committee at any time. The DRI(s) must be listed on the proposal. The proposal must be published to the CAPF.
    • Discussion period: The discussion period for any proposed change is 2 academic weeks during a fall or spring semester. During the discussion period, dissenting opinions by CSGSA members must be published to the CAPF, then the DRIs are encouraged to discuss the dissent and consider modifications to the proposal. A change to the proposal triggered by dissenting opinion does not require a new discussion period (however it may be chosen by the DRI(s) at their discretion).
    • Voting period: Once the discussion period has ended and proposal modifications are complete, then the online voting period may begin. This will take place over one academic week with a verified voting process using surveys or other acceptable online tools distributed to all CSGSA members through the CAPF.
    • Voting conditions: Quorum is not required, however a simple-majority of submitted votes must agree with the proposal.
      • Background note: quorum is not required as we have never seen quorum met on any survey of our members
      • Background note: hyper-majority is not required as a simple majority is believed to be sufficient in allowing the CSGSA leadership to execute policies effectively while giving the members a voice
    • Ratification: Once the voting period ends, the CSGSA chair shall review the results of the vote. If voting conditions are met, then the CSGSA chair shall ratify the change at the next open meeting. If the CSGSA chair, the vice chair shall perform this duty. If voting conditions are not met, then the proposal is rejected, and can be reconsidered at a later date.

Voting

All votes will be conducted online and published to the CAPF, and voting will be open for one week.

  • Elections for representatives to the CSGSA executive committee, GPSG, the Graduate Committee, and the Department Executive Committee will be held annually, during the spring semester. The elected term begins the first day of classes in the fall semester.
  • The date of the elections will be announced two weeks in advance, during which time members may nominate themselves.
  • Bylaw updates, as described above, will also be conducted online for one week.
  • A vote of no confidence can be initiated by a member at a CSGSA meeting.