By-Laws

of the

New York Eta Chapter

of the

UPSILON PI EPSILON ASSOCIATION

at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

An Honor Society for the

Computing and Information Disciplines

Article I:  Scope of the By-Laws

1. The Chapter By-Laws shall govern conduct on matters not specifically treated in the Constitution.
2. By-Laws Provisions shall be subordinate to the Constitution Provisions.

Article II:  Elections of the Officers and the Faculty Advisor

1. The Officers and the Faculty Advisor of the Chapter shall be elected during a General Body Meeting of the second to last month of the academic year, after the election of new Members and before their initiation.
2. The Officers of the Chapter shall be elected by secret ballot without proxy voting.
3. The Faculty Advisor shall be elected from the Computer Science teaching staff immediately following the election of the Officers.
4. Installation of the Officers and the Faculty Advisor shall take place following the end of the academic year, wherein they shall assume their respective duties.

Article III:  Attendance

1. Members shall attend a General Body Meeting through one of the following: being present in person; being present remotely via video conference; or reading the published Meeting Minutes within 2 weeks of the meeting.
2. The Officers and the Cabinet Members must attend all General Body Meetings of the Chapter.
3. Members shall attend General Body Meetings of the Chapter. Any Member absent from 4 or more meetings over a single academic semester will automatically be marked as Inactive.
4. Members shall participate in voting for the election of new Members into the Chapter. Any Member who does not participate will automatically be marked as Inactive.
5. Restoration of a Member to Active status shall occur through attending General Body Meetings such that, over the span of an academic semester, they are neither absent from four or more meetings, nor derelict in payment of outstanding Chapter dues.
6. Upon receipt of a written application setting forth cause, the Officers may grant a Member excusal from attendance of General Body Meetings for a period of time. However, an excused Member remains liable for all dues.

Article IV:  Meetings of the General Body

1. The Chapter Members shall meet a minimum of twice per month during the academic year for General Body Meetings, scheduled by Upsilon.
2. Should Upsilon be unable to attend a General Body Meeting, another Officer or Cabinet Member will preside over the meeting following this chain of succession: Pi, Epsilon, Treasurer, and any Cabinet Member. Should all Officers and Cabinet Members be unable to attend, the meeting shall be rescheduled.
3. All meetings of the Chapter shall have formal minutes taken with attendance.
4. Special Meetings may be called by Upsilon, the Executive Council, or by petition of one-half of the Active Members of the Chapter.
5. The quorum shall consist of two-thirds of the Active Members of the Chapter in the conduct of the business of the Chapter.
6. All forms of Chapter ballots shall be won by a simple majority vote of the Active Members.
7. The order of conduct of a General Body Meeting shall be as follows:

1. Call to order
2. Roll call
3. Officer reports
4. Cabinet and Committee reports
5. Action Items
6. Announcements
7. Adjournment

8. Initiation of new Members occurs through a General Body Meeting or Special Meeting called for the purpose.
9. A Special Meeting shall only occur with at least 1 week prior notice, made by Epsilon. The notification must state the purpose of the meeting. No business other than the stated purpose shall be conducted at a Special Meeting.

Article V:  Eligibility and Election of Members

1. The eligibility of students and faculty for membership in the Chapter shall be determined as follows:

1. A graduate student must be a candidate for a graduate degree in a computing and information discipline, with minimal completion of 15 credit hours. Further, they must have a grade point average of at least 3.5, excluding research and seminar courses.
2. An undergraduate student must be a candidate for an undergraduate degree in the computing and information disciplines and must have completed at least 45 credit hours for undergraduate credit, including 16 credit hours in the basic courses in the computing and information disciplines, excluding research, seminar, independent study, transfer, and Advanced Placement credits. Further, they must have a grade point average of at least 3.0, with a grade point average of at least 3.3 in all computer science coursework.
3. A graduate or undergraduate student must also have completed CSCI 2300: Introduction to Algorithms or an equivalent.
4. Courses in which a student is enrolled in at the time of their most recent application shall be considered as counting towards the credit minimums specified in subsections (a), (b), and (c) of this section.
5. The basic computing and information discipline courses are as follows:

1. Computer Science (CSCI) Courses:

1. CSCI 1100: Computer Science 1
2. CSCI 1200: Data Structures
3. CSCI 2200: Foundations of Computer Science
4. CSCI 2300: Introduction to Algorithms
5. CSCI 2500: Computer Organization
6. CSCI 2600: Principles of Software

2. Information Technology & Web Science (ITWS) Courses

1. ITWS 1100: Introduction to Information Technology and Web Science
2. ITWS 2110: Web Systems Development

3. Electrical & Computer Systems Engineering (ECSE) Courses

1. ECSE 2610: Computer Components and Operations
2. ECSE 2660: Computer Architecture, Networks, and Operating Systems

6. The computer and information disciplines grade point average includes the following coursework:

1. All Computer Science (CSCI) courses
2. All courses taken in another discipline which are cross-listed with Computer Science (CSCI) by the Institute registrar.
3. All Information Technology & Web Science (ITWS) courses.
4. All Electrical & Computer Systems Engineering (ECSE) computing coursework.

7. A faculty member must be teaching in the computing and information disciplines or in a field closely related to the computing division at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for at least 1 year for eligibility. They must be in charge of development, preparation, or presentation of courses, or of research in the computing field. Achievements in research and teaching shall be considered when determining eligibility for a faculty member.
8. Former students, who at the time of degree requirement completion within the computer science program, must satisfy the grade point average and class rank requirements of subsections (a) or (b) as well as subsections (c) through (f) of this section for eligibility in an election for membership.
9. Students, former students, and faculty members who do not qualify under the provisions of the previous subsections, but whose achievements in and contributions to the computer science field qualify them, in view of the Membership Committee, shall be eligible for election to membership.

2. All candidates for election to membership, qualified according to the previous section, shall be reviewed by the Officers and Membership Committee.  Those reported favorably by the Committee shall be proposed for elections.
3. There shall be 2 elections of new Members each academic year during a General Body Meeting held after the Drop deadline of that given semester.
4. The Membership Committee shall prepare a list of all eligible candidates and the applications of eligible candidates shall be submitted to the Members of the Chapter for final screening.
5. All candidates must be discussed individually by name, and the balloting for their election shall be carried out simultaneously with all other candidates during the General Body Meeting regarding New Member Review.
6. Election of a candidate to membership shall be by a 5-point likert scale, with 1 being strongly disagreeing, 3 being neutral, and 5 being strongly agreeing with electing the candidate to membership.
7. Voting for candidates shall take place before a meeting pertaining to New Member Review.
8. When candidates are discussed individually, any current Members shall express a concern or affirmation regarding the candidate such that would make them unfit or fit for Membership of the Chapter. As character is an important membership consideration, concerns regarding Academic Integrity or Title IX are of especial notability.
9. The maximum number of Members shall not be limited.
10. The names of those elected to membership shall be given to Epsilon and the Membership Committee Chair, who shall then issue invitations to become members of the Chapter.
11. Failure of a member-elect to notify the Chapter of their acceptance of the invitation to membership within two weeks of its issuance will be classified as a notice of refusal.

Article VI:  Finances

1. The minimum cash balance at the end of each school year shall be $1 dollar.  Any deficiency from this amount shall be made up by an assessment of the Active Members.
2. The Chapter dues shall constitute a total of $110, and shall be a one-time payment made on the semester that a Member is initiated.
3. If a new Member is unable to pay the Chapter dues due to financial hardship, payment of dues shall be done in installments or postponed, and will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
4. Each initiate shall be required to pay all dues and initiation fees the semester of their initiation unless they fall under the conditions stated in Section 3 of this Article.
5. Special assessments may be made at any time, upon approval by three-fourths of the active members of the chapter.

Article VII:  Initiation

1. The initiation of new Members shall occur within two weeks after their election.
2. The initiation shall specifically avoid any practice which conflicts with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute regulations.
3. In the case that it is not possible for the Chapter to convene, the initiation of new members shall be postponed or be conducted remotely via video conference, if deemed necessary by the Executive Council.

Article VIII:  Adoption and Amendment

1. These By-Laws shall become effective immediately upon adoption.
2. These By-Laws shall remain in effect until revised or amended.
3. A provision of these By-Laws may be temporarily suspended by a three-fourths vote of the Active Members of the Chapter.
4. A three-fourths affirmative vote of the Active Members of the Chapter shall be required for the adoption of an amendment to these By-Laws.