The Tartan Constitution

Preamble

The Tartan is a media organization comprised of students from Carnegie Mellon University. This constitution shall define the structure and mission of The Tartan. The accompanying bylaws shall govern The Tartan’s operations.

Article I: Purpose

Article II: Membership and Definitions

1. Staff member: A staff member is a Carnegie Mellon student who has contributed to The Tartan in the past two semesters and has signed the staff member intellectual property (IP) agreement. A member shall also familiarize himself or herself with the The Tartan’s purpose as defined above, follow The Tartan’s code of ethics, and maintain journalistic integrity at all times.
2. Editorial staff: The editorial staff is the group of staff members elected and appointed to lead The Tartan.
3. Executive committee: The executive committee is a five-member board responsible for governance of The Tartan. The publisher and editor-in-chief shall be on the executive committee, and the other members shall be determined as per the bylaws.
4. Editorial board: The editorial board is a seven-member board responsible for representing the editorial voice of The Tartan. The editor-in-chief shall be on the editorial board, and the remaining membership shall be defined by the bylaws.
5. Senior staff: Senior staff members are staff members who have been nominated and confirmed as defined in the bylaws in recognition of long-term, outstanding contributions to The Tartan.
6. Contributing editors: Contributing editors are staff members who are appointed by the publisher and must have previously served as members of the editorial staff or as members of the senior staff.
7. Contribution: Contribution consists of any and all materials and services created and/or provided for the use or benefit of The Tartan.
8. Content: Content consists of any material that is published in any form by The Tartan, including its layout, excepting advertisements.
9. Issue: An issue is a periodic physical publication of The Tartan newspaper.

Article III: Personnel

Section 1: Publisher

1. The Tartan shall, at all times, have a publisher. The publisher is the chief executive officer of The Tartan, oversees its operation, and represents The Tartan and its interests both internally and externally. The publisher is the final authority for all non-content decisions.
2. The publisher may grant, at his or her discretion, staff membership to any individual not meeting the criteria of a staff member as defined in Article II. This decision must be confirmed by a majority vote of the executive committee and shall last one year from date of issuance.

Section 2: Editor-in-Chief

1. The Tartan shall, at all times, have an editor-in-chief. The editor-in-chief is ultimately responsible for all published content and is the final authority for all content decisions, including the arrangement, design, inclusion, and quality of content in all published media. The editor-in-chief is also responsible for maintaining The Tartan’s journalistic standards.
2. The editor-in-chief shall annually define a code of ethics for The Tartan, which shall be approved by a majority vote of the executive committee.

Section 3: Section Editors

1. The Tartan shall have one or more editors for each section defined in the bylaws. Section editors are responsible for the content, quality, accuracy, and completeness of their sections.

Article IV: Operations

Section 1: Governance

1. The executive committee shall be responsible for taking up matters relevant to The Tartan, bringing these matters to the staff, and calling for votes from the staff to deal with these matters.
2. The executive committee shall make its meeting minutes available to all staff members. All decisions made in executive committee meetings shall be recorded in the minutes.
3. For any major change under consideration, the executive committee shall establish an ad-hoc committee, open to all staff members, charged with studying the change and bringing a proposal to the executive committee.
4. These ad-hoc committees shall work with the executive committee to refine a proposal to be presented to the staff, who will vote on the proposal.
5. Anyone may bring a matter to the attention of the executive committee, which must discuss it at the committee’s next meeting.
6. The staff may, by a majority of the votes cast, veto any executive committee decision or force the executive committee to create an ad-hoc committee at any staff meeting.

Section 2: Editorial Board

1. The editorial board shall be responsible for expressing opinions on topics relevant to the community. The editorial board shall make its discussion topics available to all staff members.
2. Anyone may suggest a topic to the editorial board, which must discuss it at the board’s next meeting.
3. The editorials published by the editorial board are the opinions of the editorial board.

Section 3: Meetings

1. The executive committee shall meet every week during the academic year before an issue is published.
2. The editorial board shall meet every week during the academic year before an issue is published.
3. The entire staff shall meet every week during the academic year before an issue is published.
4. The editorial staff shall meet as determined by the publisher.

Article V: Elections and Appointments

Section 1: Elections

1. The staff of The Tartan shall elect the publisher, editor-in-chief, executive committee members, all section editors, and positions defined as elected in the bylaws. The term of office for each position shall be defined in the bylaws [1, 2].
2. Before each election cycle, an elections officer, who shall not run for any elected position, shall be appointed to oversee the elections.
3. The elections officer shall schedule elections and ensure that elections are run in compliance with the bylaws.

Section 2: Appointments

Section 3: Vacancy

1. If any position becomes vacant, it shall be filled as specified in the bylaws [1, 2], with the exception of the publisher and editor-in-chief.
2. In the case of a publisher vacancy, the editor-in-chief shall become the acting publisher until a special election is called by the executive committee to fill the vacancy as defined in the bylaws. Until such time as the publisher position is filled, the editor-in-chief may appoint an acting editor-in-chief.
3. In the case of an editor-in-chief vacancy, the section editor with the longest service on the editorial staff shall become the acting editor-in-chief until a special election is called by the executive committee to fill the vacancy as defined in the bylaws. Until such time as the editor-in-chief position is filled, the section editor may appoint an acting section editor to fill his or her position.

Section 4: Removal of Editorial Staff

1. Any editorial staff member may be removed from office. The procedure for removal shall be dictated in the bylaws.

Section 5: Performance Reviews

1. The Tartan shall conduct performance reviews for all editorial staff members on a regular basis. The procedure for performance reviews shall be dictated in the bylaws. Any editorial staff member failing to meet the standards defined in the bylaws shall be removed from office.

Article VI: Dossier

1. Dossier is an art and literary magazine published by The Tartan.
2. The operations of Dossier will be governed by the Dossier bylaws.

Article VII: Advising

1. The Tartan shall have an adviser or multiple advisers, who shall guide The Tartan in achieving the purpose stated in Article I.
2. In the event that an adviser is removed or resigns, a new adviser shall be selected within three weeks of the publication of the issue following removal or resignation.
3. The adviser(s) shall be selected by the executive committee through a majority vote.

Article VIII: Finances

1. Financial control of The Tartan is the responsibility of the publisher.
2. The publisher shall prepare the annual budget and submit that budget to the executive committee, which must approve it by a majority vote.
3. All refund and reimbursement applications must be submitted to the publisher or his or her designee(s), including copies of all receipts or invoices for services. The publisher must be a Carnegie Mellon University authorized signer.

Article IX: Statement of Assurance

The Tartan will abide by Carnegie Mellon’s statement of assurance, which can be found at http://www.cmu.edu/policies/documents/SoA.html.

Article X: Amendment

This constitution is a living document and thus, if necessary, the staff members of The Tartan may cause it to be amended. Proposed amendments must be announced to all staff members at least one week prior to voting on the amendment. An amendment shall be passed if it receives at least two-thirds of the votes cast by staff members. Voting must occur at a staff meeting, and absentee votes are allowed.

Article XI: Establishment

This constitution supersedes prior constitutions effective the date of its adoption. This constitution was voted into effect by a two-thirds majority of the editorial staff on April 19, 2011.