Governance of the Cooper Union School of Architecture Student Council

This document is intended to set-forth the rights, duties, and responsibilities of the Student Council Representatives to the Cooper Union Architecture Students and to define the rights and responsibilities of the Student Representatives with respect to the Faculty of the School of Architecture. The governance is intended to provide continuity in student government.

This document is preceded by the Student Governance of The Cooper Union and the Governance of the Faculty of the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union.

Where appropriate, portions of this document are adopted directly from the Student Governance for The Cooper Union.

ARTICLE I: NAME, PURPOSE AND AUTHORITY

Section 1: The name of the Council is the Student Council of Representatives of the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture.

Section 2: The purpose of the organization is to represent the concerns of the students to the Architecture School and Institutional standing committees, to inform the students of issues that arise which affect them, and to bring the issues of the constituency to resolution.

Section 3: This governance shall not be in conflict with other Institutional Governances.

Section 4: The Architecture Student Council is recognized as the representative body of the Students of the School of Architecture by the Student Governance of The Cooper Union and by the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture Faculty Governance.

ARTICLE II: MEMBERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION

Section 1:

a. The membership of the Council shall consist of, in accordance with the Student Governance of The Cooper Union, two (2) elected members from each year, a total of fifteen (10) representatives.
b. In accordance with the Governance of the Architecture Faculty, only those students in good academic standing are eligible to serve as representatives to the Architecture Faculty.
c. Students elected as representatives but not in good academic standing may remain a student representative but may not serve on the following Architecture School committees:

The Committee on Academic Standards
The Administrative Committee
The Curriculum Committee
The Admissions Committee

nor may they serve on the following Institutional committees:

Section 2: Election of Student Representatives

a. Elections will be administered by the Dean of Students and held in the spring semester of each year, except for the representatives for first year who will be elected in the fall. The term of office for each representative is one year. In addition, there shall be an election of a representative to the Senior Council.
b. One of the two representative positions in the fourth year will be a two-year term (fourth and fifth year) to establish continuity in Student Government. Students will run specifically for this position.
c. If elected representatives receive less than a 50% vote during the spring election, their names will be placed on the fall ballot. (According to the Faculty Governance, student representatives with less than 50% of the vote of the student body cannot vote or represent the students on any committees that include faculty members.)
d. Vacant positions on the Student Council at the beginning of the fall semester will be open for a new election concurrent with the first year student representative election.
e. Positions vacated through resignation during or at the end of the fall semester shall be open for election in the spring semester.

Section 3: Election to committees

a. The representatives shall elect from amongst themselves representatives to the Institutional and Architecture School standing committees and all Institutional committees.
b. A Chairperson (one of the Co-Chairs), a Secretary, and a Treasurer shall be elected by the representatives during their first meeting.
c. The Student Council shall hold at least one Student Open forum each semester with the purposes of informing students on standing committee developments and concerns and adoption of special projects and to provide students with an opportunity to voice their concerns on issues that may not have come to the attention of the representatives. Other members of the Cooper Community may request permission to attend or be invited to attend these Open Forums.
d. Student Council meetings are open to all Architecture students. Any student may request to include a topic on the next Student Council meeting agenda by written request submitted to one of the Co-chairs.

ARTICLE III: DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF INDIVIDUAL REPRESENTATIVES

Section 1:

a. The Responsibilities of the Administrative Co-Chair are defined in Article I-A (1-9) of the Cooper Union Student Governance (Quoted in this document Article VII).
b. The Secretary shall be responsible for the recording and distribution of minutes of the councils meetings and the maintenance of the records of the council. These records shall consist in minutes from past years and records pertinent to all standing committees. These records are intended to assist members in the future and to provide continuity between years of student government. Minutes of the council and from the open forums shall be posted not more than one week from the date of the meeting.
c. The Treasurer shall make application to the Joint Activities Committee at the beginning of each semester for funds as determined by the council and shall keep a record of the expenditure of these funds.

Section 2:

a. Each representative shall serve as representative to at least one Institutional or Architecture School standing committee and as an alternate to a second committee (except those on academic probation).
b. Special assignments (see Article IV, Section 1a.).
c.Representatives must attend all meetings of committees to which they are elected or shall notify the alternate for the committee with sufficient prior notice so that the interests of the students of the School of Architecture are adequately represented.
d. Representatives must maintain a dialogue with their constituency, report and represent students needs to the appropriate group as they emerge from the open forums or on-going dialogues and fulfill all duties, particularly those related to accountability.
e. In addition, representatives must fulfill any responsibilities as set forth in the Cooper Union Student Governance not included in this document.

Section 3:

a. Students who chose to serve as representative must be prepared to give the time to fulfill the duties of office.
b. In the event that a representative fails to fulfill responsibilities, that representative may be dismissed by a 2/3 vote of the Student Council, and be replaced by the alternate candidate. The Chairperson shall notify the constituency of this change in writing.
c. If the Student Council as a whole is not performing, any student may request a referendum for a no-confidence vote by submitting a petition signed by 1/3 of the Architecture School student body.

Section 4: Representatives to Faculty committees (including all committees listed under Article II, Section 1a) will raise and seek resolution of student concerns relevant to the committees' purpose and governance.

Section 5: All representatives are members of the Joint Student Council and will attend all meetings of this body, which are held at least once per semester.

ARTICLE IV: DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE STUDENT COUNCIL

Section 1:

a. At the beginning of the fall semester, the Student Council shall adopt at least one long-range planning goal to be accomplished during the course of the year.
b. The Dean of the School of Architecture shall receive formal invitation to address the students each fall semester.
c. The Student Council will summarize its unfinished business at the end of the year for the convenience of the new Student Council.
d. The Council will support appropriate student requests for curriculum changes or additions.

ARTICLE V: MEETINGS

Section 1:

a. The Student Council will meet at least four times per semester.
b. Aquorum is to consist of a simple majority of the members of the organization.
c. Special meetings of the council may be called by an Administrative Co-chair.

ARTICLE VI: CHANGES TO GOVERNANCE

Section 1: Changes to this governance shall be formulated by the Student Council and ratified by a 51% majority vote of the Architecture Students.

Section 2: This Governance shall be effective upon adoption through referendum by a clear majority of the students of the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture to be held April 14, 1993.

ADDENDUM

This addendum is a compilation of articles from the Cooper Union Student Governance and the Governance of the Faculty of the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture. The purpose in quoting these documents is to bring together the institutional documents which define the student role in the School of Architecture and the Cooper Union. This addendum is not part of, or to be considered as an article of, the Governance of the Students of the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union.

Section 1. The following is quoted from the Cooper Union Student Governance.

Article I-(1-9). Special Roles of the Administrative Chairs (duties to be shared between them.)

1. ACs will also serve as the Student Representatives to the Faculty/Student Administrative Committee of his/her school. (see details below.)
2. Will prepare the agenda. Items may be submitted by any student or school council representative. Will notify reps of the meetings; chair the meetings; assure that minutes are recorded.
3. Direct problems to resolution: ensure that recommendations are followed up.
4. Assess relevance of emergency meeting requests, and give approval. If chair should deny approval, 2/3 of the representatives may over-ride the denial.
5. Take cross-school issues to the Joint Student Council once discussion with school determines this to be the next step.
6. Call an emergency meeting of the administrative chairs in all three schools if the representative body has identified an issue that cannot wait until the next Joint Student Council meeting.
7. Communicate all information back to the representatives.
8. Oversee that all unspecified duties are carried out by the representative body.
9. At the end of each year, write a two page summary, with input from SCRs, including accomplished goals, unfinished agenda and their next steps, and tips on effective leadership.

Section 2. The following articles are quoted from the Governance of the Faculty of the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture:

Article II, Section 1 (opening paragraph and subsection d):

The membership of the Architecture Faculty shall consist of the Dean, Associate Dean, all Resident Faculty, three members of the Adjunct Faculty, three student representatives, and an Alumnus.

d. Student Representatives. Those students of the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture who are in good academic standing are eligible to serve as representatives to the Architecture Faculty and its standing committees. The elections for student representatives will be held during the spring semester for the following year. The student representatives to the standing committees shall be elected by an election participated in by a majority of the students they represent. This election is to be administered and certified by the Dean of Students. The term of office for the student members shall be one year. The three representatives to the Faculty meetings shall be selected by the student representatives from among themselves.

Article V, Section 1 GENERAL (first two paragraphs). The Faculty shall have standing committees to which it may delegate specific duties and responsibilities. There shall be the following standing committees within the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture:

a. The Administrative Committee
b. The Curriculum Committee
c. The Admissions Committee
d. The Committee on Academic Standards

The students of the School of Architecture shall be represented by one student representative on all standing committees of the school. Each student representative shall be elected according to the terms and conditions of Article II, Section 1 (d) (quoted above).

Section 2. Administrative Committee (first paragraph)

The Administrative Committee shall consist of the Dean of the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, who shall chair, two Resident Faculty, one Adjunct Faculty, one student representative, the President, the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, contingent on reciprocal representation, and one alumnus of the School of Architecture.

Section 3. As an additional document, a LIST OF COMMITTEES (Institutional and Architecture) with descriptions of purposes, intentions and some historical information will be added to this addendum.


Last updated: June 25, 2007.