Standing Rules

Society of American Archivists
College and University Archives Section 

STANDING RULES

ARTICLE 1.  NAME

This group shall be known as the College and University Archives Section of the Society of American Archivists (SAA).

ARTICLE 2.  MISSION

The mission of the College and University Archives Section is to serve as a forum for discussion of concerns related to the professional status of academic archivists, and for bringing our collective experience to bear on the problems faced by individual archivists; to advocate action which meets the needs of college and university archival programs and which advances their professional quality; and to stimulate the professional growth of academic archivists through SAA and other organizational and educational means.

ARTICLE 3. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The Section’s goals and objectives are: 

1.  To promote greater communication among academic archivists through annual meetings, the Section’s electronic listserv, the Section’s website, and publications, including a blog reporting on Section activities and matters related to college and university archives;

2.  To represent academic archivists to the rest of SAA and related professional groups;

3.  To promote and facilitate planning and execution of task-oriented projects of importance to academic archivists; and

4.  To promote research, publication, and exchange of ideas on problems and developments in academic archival practice.

ARTICLE 4. AREAS OF ACTIVITY 

The Section’s activities include:  

1. Facilitating the planning of high quality annual meeting sessions for SAA which address concerns and needs of academic archivists,

2.  Recommending to SAA Council through memoranda or formal papers an action or a position the Section believes appropriate for SAA,

3.  Suggesting program sessions for the SAA Annual Meeting and, with the advice of the Executive Director, plan Section functions for the SAA Annual Meeting, and

4.  Communicating Section activities to the Society at large by publishing information about their work on the Section website and on SAA’s main website.

ARTICLE 5.  MEMBERSHIP

Membership is open to anyone with an interest in the records, archives or manuscript collections of any academic institution.

ARTICLE 6.  Governance

A. Bylaws and Standing Rules

These standing rules of the College and University Archives Section shall serve as a supplement to the SAA Section Bylaws, which govern all SAA sections. Please refer to Section IX. Sections of the SAA Governance Manual for information on membership, section election procedures, reporting requirements, and more. 

B.  Officers

The Section shall be governed by a Chair, Vice-Chair/Chair-elect, Immediate Past Chair, and a six member Steering Committee.

 C.  Terms of Office

1.  Chair. Vice-Chair/Chair-elect, and Immediate Past Chair.  The Chair shall serve a term of three years, the first as Vice Chair/Chair-Elect, the second as Chair, and the third as Immediate Past Chair. The close of the annual section meeting shall mark the beginning of each of these rotating, one-year terms.

2.  Steering Committee Members.  Each Steering Committee member shall serve a term of three years.  They shall take office at the close of the annual Section meeting following their election, and shall serve until their successors take office.  Steering Committee members shall not be eligible for immediate re-election.

D.  Method of Selection

1.  Chair

1.  
   1.  
      
      1. The Vice-Chair/Chair-elect becomes Chair after a year of service. 
      2. In the case of a vacancy in the office of Chair, the Vice Chair/Chair-Elect shall assume the office for the remainder of the unexpired term.

2. Immediate Past Chair

a. The Chair becomes Immediate Past Chair after a year of service.

b. In the case of a vacancy in the office of Immediate Past Chair, the position will remain vacant until the next rotation at the end of the annual section meeting.

3. Vice-Chair/Chair-elect

a.  The Vice-Chair/Chair-elect shall be elected annually.

b.  In case of a vacancy in the office of Vice-Chair/Chair-elect, the Steering Committee shall conduct an election to fill the remainder of the unexpired term. 

4.  Steering Committee

a.  Members of the Steering committee shall be elected by the Section membership.  Two members are to be elected each year. 

b.  If a vacancy should occur on the Steering Committee, the Chair, with the advice and consent of the other officers, may appoint a Section member to fill out the remainder of the unexpired term. 

E.  Duties of Officers

1.  Chair.   The Chair shall preside over Section meetings and over meetings of the officers,
and, with the assistance of other Section officers, direct the Section's activities.

2.  Vice-Chair/Chair-elect.  In the absence of the Chair, the Vice Chair/Chair-elect shall assume the Chair's duties. The Vice Chair/Chair-elect will be responsible for working with the Society of American Archivists's Publications Editor to complete the review process for any new Campus Case Studies, an ongoing series of articles published by the Society of American Archivists in conjunction with the College and University Archives Section.

3.  Steering Committee Members and Immediate Past Chair.  Steering Committee members and the Immediate Past Chair shall advise and assist the Chair and Vice-Chair/Chair-elect regarding Section activities including policy formulation, study/discussion groups, goal-oriented projects and the blog.

ARTICLE 7. ELECTIONS

Elections shall be conducted online with the assistance of the SAA staff and in accordance with guidelines for section elections as specified in Section IX. Sections of the SAA Governance Manual. Availability of the online ballot and deadline for voting shall be announced by the Chair to all section members via the section’s official email discussion list and website.

 ARTICLE 8: MEETINGS

A.  The Section shall meet once a year at the time of the annual meeting of SAA.  The time of and agenda for this meeting shall be announced in the newsletter, on the Section website, and the Section’s electronic listserv immediately preceding the meeting.

B.  Additional Section meetings during the annual meeting of SAA may be scheduled.  Any such additional meeting shall be announced before the end of the regularly scheduled Section meeting.

ARTICLE 9.  COMMITTEES

A. Nominating Committee

1.  A Nominating Committee of three members shall be appointed by the Chair, one member of this committee shall be an outgoing member of the Steering Committee. Members of this committee shall serve for a term of one year, and shall not be eligible for immediate reappointment.

2.  The Nominating Committee shall prepare a slate of candidates for election.  They shall obtain from these candidates brief biographies and/or campaign statements for publication with the announcement of the slate of candidates on the Section’s website and in the newsletter immediately preceding the annual meeting.   The Nominating Committee should ensure that the ballot for the Steering Committee  reflects the diversity of the Section's membership, especially in terms of location, size and type of employing institution. The committee shall present a report of their activities at the annual Section meeting. 

B. Section Blog

Consistent with the Guidelines for SAA Sections, to promote communication of Section activity within the Section and to the Society at large, there shall be a College and University Archives blog. The blog is the responsibility of the newsletter editor who shall be appointed by the chair, with the advice of the Steering Committee, for a term of two years, renewable with approval of the Steering Committee. The blog editor serves as a non-voting member of the Steering Committee, unless the editor also holds elected membership in which case the editor shall have all voting privileges. The editor should not serve concurrently as chair of the Section. The blog editor is responsible for coordinating, editing, and posting blog content. All steering committee members are responsible for contributing to regular blog content.

C. Section Website

The Section’s website is maintained by a webmaster who shall be appointed by the chair, with the advice of the Steering Committee, for a term of two years, renewable with approval of the Steering Committee.  The webmaster serves as a non-voting member of the Steering Committee, unless the webmaster also holds elected membership.  The webmaster should not serve concurrently as chair of the Section.

D.  Study/discussion Groups

Topics for study/discussion groups are to be solicited from the Section members.  Selection of study/discussion topics to be included in the Annual Meeting shall be made by the Section officers, and leaders for such groups shall be appointed by the Chair (with the advice of other Section officers) far enough in advance of the annual meeting of SAA to allow the formation of such groups to be announced on the Section’s website and in the newsletter immediately preceding the annual meeting.

E.  Other committees and working groups 

The Chair, with the advice of the Vice-Chair/Chair-elect and the Steering Committee, shall appoint other committees or working groups as needed.  The formation of such committees or working groups shall be announced on the Section’s website and in the newsletter.  In addition to review and approval by Section officers, major projects (those involving substantial portions of the Section's resources, people outside the Section, and/or products to be distributed beyond the Section) also must be approved by the Section's membership either at the annual meeting or through electronic voting.  Approval shall require a majority vote of those voting, except that electronic voting to be valid must result in a total number of votes cast equal to at least 50% of the Section membership as verified by the SAA Executive Director as of the day the ballot is opened.  Each committee or working group shall have a written charge, a specified period of service, and a date by which a final report must be submitted to the membership.

ARTICLE 10.  AMENDMENTS TO THE STANDING RULES

Amendments to these standing rules may be proposed by any Section member.  

Such amendments must be submitted in writing to the Section officers. The proposed amendment shall be published on the Section’s website and in the next two blog posts, with the opportunity for membership reaction provided with the second blog posting.

To ensure alignment with SAA’s governance documents, any amendments to the section’s standing rules should be reviewed by the executive director (or her/his designee) and the section’s Council liaison by May 1, before they are put forward in a referendum for vote by the section membership. Proposed amendments to the section’s standing rules will appear on the section’s annual election ballot for final approval by a simple majority of voters. Any adopted amendments should be posted promptly to the section’s official microsite and be noted in the section’s next annual report to the Council. Any revisions to the section’s name or mission/description must be submitted to the Council for final approval. For more information on amendment procedures, see Section IX. Sections of the SAA Governance Manual.

The following text is the bylaws published in the September 1985 Academic Archivist, proof read for direct and complete compliance with the text of the bylaws held by the SAA Executive Director as of October, 2000, amended by Section vote at the 2003 Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, and amended in 2011 by Section Steering Committee to comply with SAA guidelines.

Updated per the member affinity group transition approved by the Council, August 2016. Revisions approved by section membership, July 2017.