The Georgetown Voice Constitution
Preamble
The Georgetown Voice is the student-run weekly campus newsmagazine at Georgetown University, and was founded in March 1969. The debut editorial, published March 4, 1969, explained the organization’s goals and purposes.
“Our editorial policy will view and analyze issues in a liberal light. We shall not limit our editorial content to campus topics. We promise to present and analyze national and local issues of concern to the student, whose concern should spread beyond the campus.
“We shall attempt with all our energy to inform the community, to make the community conscious of controversial subjects by an open presentation and discussion of relevant issues, to communicate a culture, and to entertain our readers.”
Article I
Section 1
Membership in the Georgetown Voice shall be open to any member of the Georgetown University undergraduate community.
Section 2
The sovereign body of the Georgetown Voice is the General Board. This Board determines all policy of the paper. This Board shall consist of an Editor-in-Chief, a Managing Editor, a Head of Business, Section Editors, Business Managers, Assistant Section Editors and Contributing Editors.
This Constitution grants specific powers and responsibilities to certain members. The General Board gives these specific responsibilities to certain members only insofar as necessity dictates. The Board sets down guidelines, and in extreme cases may intervene and exercise its judgment over that of any given member. The General Board may obligate certain Board members to fulfill specific responsibilities by simple majority.
Article II
The basic duties and responsibilities of the members of the General Board are as follows:
Section 1 – Editor-in-Chief
A. To call and preside at meetings of the General Board.
B. To represent the Georgetown Voice to the community.
C. To coordinate the functions of the managing editor.
D. To assume the duties of either managing editor in such cases that s/he is unable to fulfill his/her responsibilities. In such cases, the Editor-in-Chief may at his/her discretion appoint a member of the Voice to assume the duties of that position until such time that a special election can take place or the Managing Editor can resume his/her responsibilities.
E. To make any determinations of policy (editorial or otherwise) when it is impractical to call the entire Board to meet and make a determination. This includes but is not limited to editorial policy, story and photo selection. Whenever the Editor exercises this authority, s/he must formally notify the General Board of this decision, and explain it to the Board at its next meeting. If the General Board disapproves o the exercise of editorial authority, it, by simply majority, may take whatever action it sees fit. Any such action would be binding upon the Editor-in-Chief.
Section 2 – Managing Editor
A. To coordinate the various sections, photography and layout.
B. To be responsible for copy editing.
C. To assume all duties of the Editor-in-Chief when the Editor-in-Chief cannot fulfill them, or upon the impeachment or resignation of the Editor-in-Chief, until a special election can be held.
D. To assume the duties of a Section Editor in cases where the Section Editor is unable to fulfill his/her duties or the position is vacant, until a special election can be held.
Section 3 – Head of Business
A. To be responsible for advertising and financial matters in general, and to report regularly on the financial status of the operation.
B. To advise the Editor-in-Chief in the determination of the annual budget proposal. The annual budget proposal must be approved by the General Board before its submission.
C. Hire employees (typists, managers, advertising salespeople, etc.) with the advice of the General Board. Unless the General Board explicitly disapproves, the Head of Business may fire any employee with the consent of the Editor-in-Chief.
D. Assumes the duties of the Editor-in-Chief if both the Editor-in-Chief and the Managing Editor are unable to do so, until a special election can be held.
Section 4 – Section Editors
A. To be responsible for the content of their sections. The Section Editors are to assign stories, photos, etc., and do editing and layout as is necessary.
B. The senior-most Section Editor (in terms of length of time on the General Board) shall assume all the duties and responsibilities of the Editor-in-Chief in the event that neither the Editor-in-Chief, the Managing Editor nor the Head of Business can serve as Editor-in-Chief until a special election can be held.
Section 5 – Business Managers
A. To assist the Head of Business in carrying out his/her duties and responsibilities.
Section 6 – Assistant Section Editors
A. To assist the Section Editors in carrying out their duties and responsibilities.
Section 7 – Contributing Editors
A. To edit copy and assist any of the other members in fulfilling their duties and responsibilities.
Article III
Associate Editors are members of The Georgetown Voice, but are not members of the General Board.
Article IV
Section 1
Meetings are to take place at a regularly scheduled time and place, as determined by the General Board.
Section 2
A meeting may be called by the Editor-in-Chief or by one-third of the General Board. Any meeting that is not regularly scheduled must be announced in a conspicuous manner at least 24 hours before the scheduled start of the meeting.
Section 3
A majority of the General Board constitutes a quorum. No meeting may take place without a quorum present.
Section 4
All meetings are open to the entire Georgetown community. Particular individuals (Board members excepted) may be excluded from any given meeting or meetings by a majority vote of the Board.
Section 5
Parliamentary procedure, as detailed in Robert’s Rules of Order, or some modification thereof that the Board finds efficient shall be followed at all meetings.
Section 6
All members of the General Board shall have one vote, except the presiding officer who votes only to break a tie. All votes are to be public unless a member of the General Board requests that a secret ballot be used. Secret ballot must be used whenever one member requests it. In this case, the presiding officer tabulates the votes and announces only the result, and not the vote total.
Section 7
The Editor-in-Chief is the senior-most member of the General Board, followed by the Managing Editor, the Head of Business, Section Editors in order of seniority, and other members of the Board in order of seniority.
Article V
Section 1
Members of the General Board are to serve one-semester terms of office. Anyone elected to the General Board at a special election will serve from the date of election until the end-of-semester elections.
Section 2
In all elections, anyone who was a Managing Editor, Section Editor, Business Manager, Contributing Editor or an Assistant Section Editor who has served four production weeks on the General Board prior to the day of the election has a vote. The four production weeks must fall within the publication date of the first and last issue of each semester, but does not need to be in one semester alone. In the election for Section Editors, Business Managers, Assistant Section Editors, Contributing Editors and Associate Editors, the outgoing Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor and Head of Business shall have votes, except in those races where they are candidates.
Section 3
All elections are to occur by secret ballot. The Editor-in-Chief is to count the ballots with the Managing Editor present. If the Editor-in-Chief is a candidate, both of the Managing Editor and the Head of Business count the ballots. If the Managing Editor or Head of Business is a candidates, the senior-most Section Editor who is not a candidate counts the ballots.
Section 4
A majority vote of the General Board is needed to win an election. If no majority vote emerges on the first ballot, run-offs are held until a candidate receives a majority vote. This is to be done by continuing to eliminate the candidate who receives the least votes from consideration, until one candidate is able to win a majority.
In the case of an uncontested election, the General Board shall vote yes or no on the candidate, with a majority of yes votes required for election.
Section 5
The presiding officer votes only to break a tie, but is required to break any and all ties. No one may preside in his or her own election.
Section 6
Special elections are to be called by the Editor-in-Chief and are to take place whenever a vacancy occurs.
Section 7
The General Board, by simple majority, may make provisions regarding the conduct of all elections.
Section 8 – Elections
A. At a time at the end of each semester, to be chosen by the Editor-in-Chief with the advice and consent of the General Board, the Georgetown Voice will hold general elections.
B. The first election is to be that for Editor-in-Chief. Candidates may declare their intention to run for Editor-in-Chief at any time prior to the election.
C. Elections will take place in two phases. In the first phase, the three executive positions will be elected (Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor, Head of Business); in second phase, all remaining board positions will be elected. all elections for executive positions will be open. Candidacies must be declared no later than the start of the election, with the exception of losing Editor-in-Chief candidates, who may run for another position if they choose. The outgoing Editor-in-Chief asks at the beginning of the election for official declarations of candidates. The Editor-in-Chief will be elected first by a simple majority of the General Board. Once an Editor-in-Chief is selected, that person is the Editor-in-Chief-elect until the beginning of the second phase. The outgoing Editor-in-Chief presides over the Managing Editor elections. The Editor-in-Chief-elect has a vote in both elections, but the outgoing Editor-in-Chief breaks any and all ties. Managing Editor candidates are voted on through the same procedure as above. If either or both Managing Editor positions are left unfilled at the end of the first phase, the outgoing Editor-in-Chief asks if anyone wishes to run. If candidates are interested in running, then elections proceed as usual. If no one decides to run for the unfilled position(s), the General Board must vote by simply majority to suspend the vote on Managing Editor candidate(s) until the start of the second phase of the elections. If no one is elected at that time, the General Board continues with the rest of elections. At the end of the meeting, the new General Board must vote by a two-thirds majority to end the meeting with one or both of the positions left unfilled. If the vote fails, other Editor position(s) are assumed by the new Editor-in-Chief or a person(s) appointed by the new Editor-in-Chief with a majority vote of the new General Board until such time that a special election may be held. The special election must occur no later than the first regularly-scheduled meeting of the General Board after the elections.
D. All Section Editor and Business Manager elections are open. This election, as well as the election of Assistant Section Editors, Contributing Editors and Associate Editors will occur on a date after the elections of the Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor and Head of Business, but not after the beginning of the next semester.
The Section Editor position with the most candidates is to be held first. After this election, anyone who fails in their election bid may re-apply of for a Section Editor position that is yet to be elected. The Section Editor position that then has the most candidates is held next, and this process continues until all of the Section Editor positions are filled.
The General Board may, however, choose a Section Editor position to be elected after the other Section Editor positions, regardless of the number of candidates.
E. Business Managers are elected separately. Any candidates wishing to be considered must announce their candidacy before Business Manager elections begin. Each candidate must receive a simple majority to be elected.
F. Each Section Editor may nominate assistants to his/her section. These nominations are subject to the approval of the General Board by simple majority.
G. Any member of the Voice is eligible to be a Contributing Editor. Contributing Editors are elected separately. Any candidates wishing to be considered must announce their candidacy before the Contributing Editor elections begin. Each candidate must receive a simple majority to be elected.
H. Any individual may seek election as an Associate Editor. These nominations require a yes vote from a majority of the General Board in order to be approved.
I. No one may vote in their own election.
J. No member may hold more than one elected General Board position.
Article VI
Section 1
If at any time a member of the Georgetown Voice acts in a way contrary to the best interests of the organization, the General Board, by two-thirds vote may choose to censure that individual. No one may preside in their own censure proceedings.
Section 2
If any member of the Georgetown Voice does such violence to the best interests of the organization that the board finds it necessary to remove that individual from office, a member may be impeached by two-thirds vote. No one may preside in his or her own impeachment proceedings.
Article VII
The General Board may adopt bylaws as it finds appropriate. A majority vote is required to approve bylaws.
Article VIII
This constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the General Board.
Bylaws
Bylaw 1
The following editor-level positions should be established:
A. Editorial – includes the staff box and the editorials as determined by the Editorial Board. The Editorial Board chair is responsible for laying out the page.
B. Voices – letters to the editor and forum for campus opinion
C. News – news and news features on campus, local, national and international topics insofar as they relate to Georgetown students.
D. Cover – the layout of the cover story and the production of the cover (page 1) itself.
E. Feature—the textual editing of the cover feature.
E. Leisure – arts and entertainment, reviews, features
F. Sports – campus sports, other issues in the world of sport that interest Georgetown students.
G. Photography – photographs for the other sections
H. Design- assist in computer layout, paste-up, coordinate all graphics, cartoons, art for the other sections.
H. Back Page – includes the Big Picture, classifieds, announcements, unclassifieds, and advertisements. Advertisements take priority over all other features, and the other features may be eliminated by the decision of the Editor-in-Chief and the Managing Editors. The Managing Editor is responsible for laying out the page.
I. Literary – includes poetic and prose fiction to be solicited by the Literary editor.
J. Blog – daily updated blog to be edited by the blog editor, who will have all the responsibilities of a section editor, including the ability to set the tone of the section, edit for content, and write content. The blog editor is responsible for ensuring that one blog posting is made each day that class is in session at the University.
Bylaw 2
The limits on the number of Section Assistant Editors are to be as follows:
A. Voices – 3
B. News – 4
C. Cover – 1
D. Feature – 0
E. Leisure – 3
F. Sports – 2
G. Photography – 2
H. Design – 1
Bylaw 3
The “Business staff” is under the authority of the Head of Business and consists of the following positions:
Business Managers (up to three)—to act as assistants to the Head of Business.
Publicity Chair—to act as the public relations official of the Georgetown Voice.
Marketing Chair—to act as the chief sales person of Georgetown Voice advertisements and public announcements.
Accounting Chair—to be responsible for the accounting and finances of the Georgetown Voice
Bylaw 4
The Voice hall have the following columns:
A. “Carrying On”- to be written on a rotating basis by at least two members of the General Board, the number and writers as chosen by the General Board in the beginning of each semester. Only those members who have served on the Board as either Editors-in-Chief, Managing Editors, Section Editors, Business Managers, Contributing Editors, or some combination thereof for two full semesters shall be eligible to write for Carrying On. This column is to run in the Voices section.
B. “Union Jack,” “City on a Hill,” and “Saxa Politica”- two of these three will run for a semester, as decided by a vote by the General Board. Alternating news analysis columns will run in the News Section every week. One column will focus on national affairs the second will focus on District affairs and the third will focus on on-campus affairs. The two columnists will be elected by a majority of the General Board during general elections. The column with the most candidates shall be elected first.
E. Leisure column – to be written by two or three alternating writers as chosen by the Board at the beginning of each semester. The name is to be chosen by the Board as well.
D. Sports column- to be written by two or three alternating writers as chosen by the Board at the beginning of each semester. The name is to be chosen by the Board as well.
G. “The Big Picture” – a weekly photograph to be selected by the Photography Editor that can be taken by any member of the Georgetown community, and will run on the Back Page. Captions should be used sparingly, at the discretion of the Managing Editor. The size should not exceed one-half page.
Bylaw 5
The General Board is responsible for choosing the cover story and its writer.
Bylaw 6
The Georgetown Voice will operate under the guidelines set out in the Student Affairs handbook governing all student organizations at Georgetown. Although the University serves as a publisher of the Georgetown Voice, it has a adopted a policy of freedom of expression for student editors, and “grants to the student editors and editorial boards freedom to develop their own editorial and news coverage policies.”
The Voice, by accepting university funding, has accepted the regulations as stated in the current handbook as legitimate and binding on both the editorial board and the University.
Bylaw 7
If an Assistant Section Editor’s term on the General Board is interrupted, the total time that person served on the General Board will include time before and after the interruption.
Bylaw 8
Minutes of General and Editorial Board meetings will be posted conspicuously for the members of the board to read the week following the meeting.
Bylaw 9
The Editor-in-Chief and Head of Business will review all advertising copy each week. The Editor-in-Chief and the Head of Business will submit for the General Board’s approval any copy that either of them may deem controversial in nature. The General Board may, by majority vote accept or reject the advertisement, or may choose not to vote, in which case the decision rests with the Head of Business.
A. The following are guidelines by which the Editor-in-Chief, the Head of Business, and the General Board may find an advertisement to be controversial:
1. If the advertisement makes fraudulent claims.
2. If the product in the advertisement is harmful to the consumer.
3. If the advertisement is offensive to the Voice’s audience.
4. Anything violating the university’s advertisement policy.
B. The Georgetown Voice cannot reject an advertisement on the basis of the race, gender, or sexual orientation of the advertiser or the advertiser’s targeted market.
C. All controversial advertising copy is due the Monday prior to publication at 5 p.m. and will be posted for the General Board’s review. It is the responsibility of the Editor-in-Chief to review the copy and make a finding by 9 p.m. Monday.
Bylaw 10
Proxy votes are not allowed.
Bylaw 11
In all contested elections, a majority of the General Board can vote to bring back the candidates for further rounds of questioning if it so desires.
Bylaw 12
Any member of the General Board can recuse his or her vote for the course of a semester. Their intention to do this must be made clear before their election, and the vote cannot be reinstated until the next end-of-semester election period.
Bylaw 13 – The Editorial Board
The Editorial Board is composed of members of the General Board to be elected each semester by the General Board. The Editor-in-Chief sits on the Editorial Board ex officio and votes only to break ties.
The Editorial Board is responsible for debating, voting on, writing and editing the editorials on a weekly basis. The Editorial Board should meet at least once weekly to discuss and debate editorials.
Editorial Board meetings are open to any member of the university community. In accordance with rules of order, the Editorial Board may vote to retire as a committee of the whole.
The Editorial Board elects its own chair by a majority vote. The designated chair then goes before the General Board for a confirmation vote.
A majority of the General Board is needed to confirm the chair.
Any member of the General Board can propose an editorial, including the Editor-in-Chief. No second is needed.
The Chair of the Editorial Board may unilaterally bring an editorial before the General Board.
The Chair of the Editorial Board has the authority to assign editorials to members of the Georgetown Voice.
Anyone present at an Editorial Board meeting may motion to bring an editorial before the General Board. That motion must be seconded by a member of the Editorial Board and passed by a majority of the Editorial Board to be successful.
If a motion to bring an editorial to the General Board is successful, the debate continues and the Editorial Board votes on editorials.
The General Board then convenes at an appointed time to debate the editorial in question. A majority of the General Board is needed to pass the editorial. Counter-proposals will be accepted at this meeting.
The emergency meeting of the General Board to discuss editorials in question will occur 24 hours after the scheduled start of the previous Editorial Board meeting.
Bylaw 14
The Georgetown Voice strictly prohibits sexual harassment perpetrated by its members or staff. Sexual harassment is defined as any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favors or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when:
1. advancement at the Voice is conditioned on consent to or participation in such conduct, or
2. this conduct interferes with the individual’s accomplishing his or her work, or otherwise creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.
A. Upon discovering a case of alleged sexual harassment, it is incumbent upon the Editor-in-Chief to discuss the accusation with the complainant and any witnesses as to the nature of the incident(s). If the accuser files a formal complaint with the Editor-in-Chief must then present the accused with the nature of the complaints along with the identity of the accuser, whereupon the Editor-in-Chief shall attempt to mediate between the two parties. It is incumbent upon the Editor-in-Chief to prevent further instances of sexual harassment whether or not a formal complaint is filed.
B. If no agreement can be reached, the Editor-in-Chief shall inform both parties as to their options to pursue the matter further, be it through university adjudication procedures or District of Columbia criminal proceedings.
C. If the Editor-in-Chief is the accused or the complainant, one or both of the managing editors shall follow the procedure outlined above.
D. At his/her discretion, the Editor-in-Chief (or managing editor(s)) may seek the advice of appropriate university counsel.
This version of the Constitution was drafted on December 1, 2007. The changes were approved and adopted on December 1, 2007. This version was updated from the version drafted on December 2, 2006 and approved and revised on December 3, 2006.