Article I-Name
Section 1. The name of the organization
shall be The Maine Masque.
Article II-Supervision
Section 1. The Maine Masque Theatre is
under the jurisdiction and supervision of the University of
Maine's Student Government and is an officially recognized theatre
of the University of Maine.
Section 2. The Advisor of The Maine
Masque Theatre shall be chosen by the voting members of the Maine
Masque. The advisor must be a member of the faculty or staff of
the University of Maine. The advisor will act as a permanent
contact in the event that the student leadership cannot be
reached. The advisor may act as a consultant as required by the
members.
Section 3. The finances of The Maine
Masque Theatre shall be controlled by the Executive Council who
will present financial reports to the membership whenever
requested to do so. The Executive Council will comply with all
applicable laws and policies from all levels of government, the
University of Maine, and the UMSG, Inc.
Article III-Officers
Section 1 - The elected officers of the
Maine Masque Theatre shall be a President, Vice President,
Treasurer, Secretary, and Historian. These officers shall be
elected by written ballot at the annual spring election meeting.
Each office shall be considered separately.
Section 2 - These five offices shall
constitute the Executive Council, and as such carry out the
general business of the Maine Masque.
Section 3 - The President shall act as
Chairman of the Executive Council; they will call all meetings of
the Executive Council and the general membership.
Section 4 - The Vice-President shall
perform the duties of the President in their absence, and shall
act as their assistant in all matters.
Section 5 - The Treasurer shall maintain
the Maine Masque account(s) and supervise and advise on all
financial matters. The Treasurer shall provide up to date
financial reports, in a timely manner, whenever requested by a
member of the Executive Council or general membership.
Section 6 - The Secretary shall keep the
minutes of all Executive Council and general membership meetings.
The minutes from all general meetings shall be posted, in a timely
manner, electronically in the Maine Masque First Class folder, and
in hard copy on the Maine Masque callboard. Minutes from
executive meetings will not be posted, but are available to the
general membership upon request. The Secretary will also keep
track of current membership lists.
Section 7 - The Historian shall maintain
records in the form of an annual scrap book, including membership,
meeting minutes, news articles, photos, programs, and any other
materials needed to document Maine Masque activity. The Historian
will also oversee publicizing of Maine Masque events.
Article IV-Elections
Section 1 - Prior to the annual spring
election meeting, the Executive Council will hold a meeting of the
General Membership for the purpose of nominating candidates for
the offices of President, Vice President, Secretary, and
Historian. Due to the difficult nature of the office of
Treasurer, the current officer is charged with recommending a
single candidate for that office, which the voting members will
later vote on. Any member of the Maine Masque may nominate a
candidate. Candidates may nominate themselves or be nominated by
another member. Another Maine Masque member must second each
nomination. Nominees must be present at the nomination meeting to
accept or decline their nomination. There is no limit to the
number of nominations allowed for each office. Nominations will
only be accepted at the nomination meeting.
Section 2 - The annual spring election
meeting shall be scheduled at least two weeks prior to the Apple
Awards. Each nominee will bring a short statement of no more than
half a page explaining his or her platform. Prior to voting,
candidates will be asked to read their statement to the general
membership. Voting shall be by secret ballot. The ballots will
be collected and counted under the supervision of no less than two
non-nominated officers, or non-nominated members of the Maine
Masque in the event that officers are running for reelection. The
candidate with the most votes for each office will be elected into
that office. In the event of a tie between candidates, there will
be a tiebreaker vote between the tied candidates. If a candidate
running for multiple offices wins the vote for more than one
office they may choose the office they wish to take and the runner
up in the remaining office will become that officer. The meeting
will adjourn when all voting is complete.
Section 3 – Any member of the Masque
shall be eligible for any office, and all officers shall be
eligible for reelection. Nominees may run for more than one
office. All nominees must be planning to attend the University of
Maine on at least a part time basis during the following Fall and
Spring semesters.
Section 4 - The elected officers as
herein provided, shall take office at the close of the annual
spring apple awards. There will be a transitional period between
the election of the new officers at the annual spring election
meeting and the apple awards where the newly elected officers may
confer with the current officers to prepare for the following
school year. During that transitional period, the current, and
newly elected, officers shall have at least one group meeting.
Section 5 - In the event that the office
of the President shall become vacant, the Vice-President shall
immediately call a special meeting of the general membership, and
shall assume the duties of the Presidency until the office is
filled at the special meeting. Refer to Article IV section 8 for reelection
procedures.
Section 6 - In the event that the office
of Vice-President, Secretary, or Historian shall become vacant,
the President shall either appoint an existing and willing
officer, or appoint a temporary officer from the membership, to
execute the duties of the vacant office until the office is filled
at a special meeting of the general membership. Refer to
Article IV section
8 for reelection procedures.
Section 7 – In the event that the office
of Treasurer shall become vacant, the Executive Council shall
appoint a member to fill that office.
Section 8 - The procedure for officer
replacement shall be as follows. A special meeting of the general
membership shall be called. Announcements for the meeting will
include the need to nominate and elect a member for the vacant
office. To be nominated for a vacant position the member must be
present at the special meeting. Candidates may nominate
themselves or be nominated by another member. Another Maine
Masque member must second each nomination. Nominees will accept
or decline their nomination. There is no limit to the number of
nominations allowed for an office. When no more nominations are
offered, each candidate will be allowed to give a short
statement. Immediately following the statements, ballots will be
distributed for voting. The ballots will be collected and counted
as described in Article IV section 2. The newly elected officer
shall take office immediately following the close of the special
meeting.
Article V -General Membership
Meetings
Section 1. Meetings of the General
Membership shall be called by the President, upon the request of
any members of the Executive Council, or when petitioned to do so
by any five members of the Maine Masque. Written notices shall be
sent one week prior to the date via email on the Maine Masque
folder, and posted on the Maine Masque Call Board outside of the
School of Performing Arts office. There shall be at least one
general meeting each month of the academic year.
Article VI – Membership
Section 1. General membership in the
Maine Masque shall be divided into two categories: general and
voting. General members will not have voting privileges, and
voting members will.
Section 2. General members to the Maine
Masque will be considered voting members based on a semester to
semester point system with the following point values:
-- General meetings: 1 pt.
-- Publicity functions (i.e. Family
and Friends Weekend, Open Houses, etc.): 2 pts.
-- Bake sale bakers: 1 pt.
-- Bake sale table sitters: 2 pts.
-- Other events (i.e. fundraisers,
participation in the Maine Masque production,
etc.) will be awarded a point value at the officers’
discretion.
Section 3. To become a voting member,
the general member must accumulate 10 pts.. Voting membership is
awarded immediately upon reaching 10 pts., and lasts through the
following semester. To maintain voting membership, the member must
accumulate another 8 pts. during each semester after becoming a
voting member. If a voting member does not achieve those 8 pts.,
he or she will return to the general membership at the start of
the following semester. Voting membership will be restored as
soon as he or she accumulates 10 pts., within the semester they
returned to the general membership.
Section 4. The Secretary shall keep a
complete record of general and voting members’ point accumulation,
which will be updated on a weekly basis. It will be each member’s
responsibility to make sure that they are awarded their points.
Section 5. Written requests for funding
may be submitted to any officer and will be discussed at the next
officer meeting.
Section 6. If the membership does not
agree with a decision or action of the Executive Council, any five
members, or more, may call for a special meeting of the general
membership. At the special meeting the membership may call for a
vote to reconsider the decision or action that is in question, if
at least one quarter of the voting membership is present.
Article VII – Amendments
This constitution may be amended by a
two-thirds vote of the voting membership, provided notice of the
proposed amendment has been given in writing at least one week
previous to the meeting at which the voting is to take place.
Article VIII – Ratification
This constitution shall become effective
immediately following its acceptance by a two-thirds vote of the
voting membership.
Approved 3/29/06
