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Section XIII: Student Chapters
I. Mission Statement
Graduate student-level student chapter of the Society of American Archivists:
- Serve as a means of introducing new archivists into the profession;
- Enhance the educational function by providing an additional focus for
the students to discuss archival issues, identify with the profession, and
engage in professional activities;
- Promote communication among student members;
- Develop the leaders of tomorrow's archival profession; and
- Attract new members into the Society of American Archivists.
II. Areas of Activity
Student Chapters are encouraged to broaden their understanding of archival
issues, archival education, and the archival profession by:
- Inviting guest archival educators and others with relevant knowledge, expertise,
and experience from both inside and outside the institution to discuss theoretical
perspectives, practical experiences, or research initiatives;
- Organizing visits to area repositories;
- Eliciting reports from fellow students who have attended regional and
national archival conferences or research initiatives;
- Encouraging professional activities among members;
- Developing and encouraging interaction with other student groups, such
as the student chapters of the American Library Association and the American
Society for Information Science, to promote mutual interests of allied professions;
- Acquainting members with the objectives, policies, programs, ethics, and
publications of the Society of American Archivists; and
- Promoting archival interests within their universities and academic departments,
for example by planning colloquia or serving on curriculum committees.
III. Establishing a Student Chapter
- The SAA Council, acting at one of its regular meetings, approves the establishment
of new Student Chapters.
- Membership:
- All members of an SAA Student Chapter must also be individual members
of SAA.
- The minimum number of members required to form a Student Chapter is
five (5).
- A Student Chapter seeking recognition from SAA must submit the following
information to the SAA Executive Office at least thirty days before the Council
meeting at which the request will be considered:
- The organizing document
- The name(s) and address(es) of the chief officers(s)
- A copy of the letter of recognition from the academic institution
in which the chapter is located, granting the Student Chapter official
recognition as a student organization;
- A letter from the faculty advisor, who must be an individual member
of SAA and either an archival educator or an archivist within the parent
institution
and who as indicated his or her willingness to work with the Student
Chapter.
- A list of all SAA members enrolled as students at the institution
who wish to form a Student Chapter.
IV. Governance
- Organizing Document: The purpose of Student Chapters is to encourage
discussion of archival issues and the archival profession. Student Chapters
may design
an organizing document
as best suits their own needs, but which in all cases meets the requirements
of their own academic institution's and the SAA guidelines for Student
Chapters. Examples of organizing documents from existing Student Chapters
will be available
to student groups contemplating the establishment of an SAA Student
Chapter.
- Internal Leadership
- Student Chapters must have an elected leadership to consist, at a
minimum, of a Chapter chief officer who acts as the liaison between
the Chapter and SAA.
- Each Student Chapter will elect its own chief officer(s) and notify
the SAA Executive Office within thirty days following the election.
- As a member of the Student Chapter, the chief officer must be an
Individual member of SAA.
- Chapter chief officer(s) will take office as outlined in the organizing
document of that Student Chapter.
- Each Student Chapter will have a faculty advisor who is also an
SAA individual member. The advisor will assist the Chapter in its relations
with the SAA Council and Executive Office and assist in planning
local programs for the Student Chapter.
- SAA Liaison
- The SAA Council will designate one or more of its members to serve
as liaison to Student Chapters.
- Student Chapters should submit written requests to Council through
the SAA Executive Office. The Council liaison(s) will be responsible
for addressing the Student Chapter matters, making recommendations
about these matters to Council, and communicating Council actions
concerning Student Chapters to the Chapter chief officer(s).
V. Meetings
- Student Chapters may meet as often as they wish in their individual
institutions.
- At the SAA Annual Meeting
- Space and time will be made available at the SAA Annual Meeting
for a meeting of Student Chapter members and faculty advisors
with their Council liaison(s).
- As a group, neither the Student Chapters nor SAA student members
will form a Roundtable. Rather, they are encouraged to participate
in existing sessions and in Section and Roundtable activities
during the Annual Meeting. Student members and Student Chapter members,
as do other meeting attendees, may plan informal gatherings or social
events.
VI. Annual Report
- Each Student Chapter shall submit an Annual Report to the SAA Executive
Office. This Annual Report will include:
- The names of all members of
the Student Chapter;
- The names and email addresses of the chief officer(s) and the faculty
liaison; and
- A summary list of Chapter activities.
- Annual Reports are due to the SAA Executive Office one one of two due
dates to be chosen by each Chapter: December 31 or May 31. Each chapter
must submit a report at least once every twelve months.
- Failure to produce an Annual Report will initiate an inquiry, through
the faculty advisor and the Chapter chief officer(s), into dissolution
of the Student Chapter.
VII. Communications
- At minimum, the chief officer(s) and the Student Chapter faculty advisor
of each Chapter must subscribe to SAA's Student Listserv and a means
to ensure that important messages from the SAA Executive Office reach
Student
Chapter members. The chief officer of each Chapter is expected to forward
any messages from the SAA Executive Office (including the Education
Office) and from the SAA Council Liaison to Student Chapters to all members
of
the Chapter. He or she is also encouraged to forward other messages
of interest to Chapter members.
- Student Chapter chief officer(s) or other designated Chapter officers
are responsible for maintaining mailing lists; for the content accuracy
and legibility of mailings; and for distribution of all Chapter communications.
VIII. Announcements of Employment Opportunities
- SAA will provide one free copy of the bi-monthly SAA Employment
Bulletin (also available on the SAA Web site: http://www.archives.org)
to each recognized Student Chapter, to be sent to the faculty advisor.
As Individual members, each SAA Student Chapter member will receive
the bi-monthly SAA newsletter, Archival Outlook, which also
contains employment information.
- Announcements of employment opportunities shall appear only in Archival
Outlook and the SAA Employment Bulletin, and not in any
publication of an SAA Student Chapter. In this way the Society
is able to fulfill
its legal responsibilities (1) to review and, if necessary, edit
or refuse announcements that include discriminatory statements inconsistent
with
principles of intellectual freedom or the provisions of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 and its subsequent amendments; and (2) to provide
the services
contracted for by the institutions and organizations which place
advertisements and announcements in Society publications.
IX. Money for Student Chapter Activities
- Student Chapters may solicit resources (in cash or in kind) from sources within their
academic institutions. SAA Student Chapters must follow all regulations
of their own institutions regarding fundraising by student organizations.
- Monies and other resources derived from fundraising efforts within its
own institution will be the property of the Chapter that raised the resources.
This will be monitored by the Chapter and accounted for in accordance
with the specific institutional guidelines for student organizations in
each institution.
- The SAA Council may include in its annual budget an appropriation to
assist Student Chapters to facilitate communication and/or coordination
among separate Chapters. Funds allocated to a Student Chapter by SAA during
one SAA fiscal year are not automatically carried over to the next fiscal
year. If an allocation
must be deferred to the next fiscal year, the Student Chapter must
formally
request the carry over before the end of that fiscal year.
- Student Chapter chief officers will be informed of SAA appropriations
and will submit requests for reimbursement, together with receipts for
all expenditures,
to the SAA Executive Office.
- SAA's fiscal year extends from July 1 to June 30. Budget requests from
Student Chapters will be submitted by January 1 of each year to be provisionally
reviewed at the winter Council meeting before the budget meeting in June.
The deadline will be strictly adhered to; budget requests received after
the deadline will not be considered.
- Student Chapters are not authorized to seek resources other than as
described above. If a Student Chapter develops ideas for projects that
require support
from other sources, the Chapter chief officer(s) and faculty advisor(s)
will submit a proposal for consideration by the SAA Council.
The use of SAA's name, logo, and auspices for publications, mailings,
meetings, and other activities is available only through specific provision
of Council.
Student Chapters, although they are in the SAA structure, are not empowered
to take action in the name of SAA or request resources except as described
in IX above, without specific prior authorization of Council. This firm
rule is required to protect SAA and its members from potential legal complications.
X. Term of the Student Chapter
The status of Student Chapters can be measured in many ways: by the number
of members, by the vitality of their work, and by the content of their annual
reports. A Student Chapter whose membership falls below five individual members
of SAA (whether at the student membership level or otherwise) or that fails
to submit an annual report will be contacted by the Council Liaison. The Liaison
will then make a recommendation to Council regarding the continuation of the
Student Chapter.
Approved by Council: June 1993
Revised: February 2004
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