Preamble
We, the Students, Faculty, and Administration of the University of California, Los Angeles, by authority of the President of the University and the Chancellor of the Los Angeles campus, and subscribing to the regulations and policies of the University, so establish this Constitution to promote, maintain, and regulate student communication media. The Communications Board recognizes the vital importance of a free college press under the First Amendment and will uphold and protect this freedom.
ARTICLE I. Name
The name of this body shall be the ASUCLA Communications Board. In this Constitution, it shall be referred to as the Board.
ARTICLE II. Purpose
SECTION A: THE INDEPENDENT OPERATOR OF THE STUDENT COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA
This Board is the independent publisher, manager, and operator of student communications media, hereafter referred to as communications media, at the University of California, Los Angeles, hereafter referred to as UCLA.
SECTION B: INTEGRAL PART OF THE ASSOCIATED STUDENTS
The Board is an integral part of the Associated Students of the University of California, hereafter referred to as ASUCLA, and is distinct from the other parts of ASUCLA, including the Board of Directors, the Graduate Students Association, and the Undergraduate Students Association.
SECTION C: PROMOTES AND ADVANCES THE STUDENT COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA
The first and foremost responsibility of the Board is to promote and advance its student communications media.ARTICLE III. Membership
ARTICLE III. Membership
SECTION A: MEMBERS
1. There shall be nine members who are students: four graduate students and five undergraduate students, one of whom will be an undergraduate transfer representative.
2. There shall be one member from the faculty.
3. There shall be one member from the administration.
4. There shall be one member representing the alumni.
5. There shall be four members who are professionals in the media, previous professionals in the media, or Student Media alumni.
6. The ASUCLA Media Director shall be a member without a vote, shall have all the duties and rights of other members except the right to vote, shall be counted as a member to call meetings and constitute quorums, and shall not be counted as a member in votes on amendments to this Constitution.
SECTION B: QUALIFICATION OF MEMBERS
1. Each undergraduate student member must have and maintain not less than a cumulative grade point average of 2.0. Each student must be registered at the University of California, Los Angeles, during each quarter or semester of service except that the registration requirement need not be met during the summer period.
2. No member of the Board shall receive compensation from Board media. Communications Board members may contribute editorial material occasionally, but may not serve as staff members of the Board media.
3. No member shall be an official of the Graduate Students Association (GSA) or of the Undergraduate Students Association Council (USAC) elected campus-wide.
4. The Alumni member shall not be employed by ASUCLA or the UCLA Alumni Association.
5. The professional media members need not be members of the Greater Los Angeles Press Club.
6. No sitting member of the Board shall seek, or apply for, a staff position in the student media.
7. Excluding the professional representatives, no sitting member of the board shall receive monetary compensation from a medium competing with one of the ASUCLA media. A professional representative in receipt of monetary compensation from a competing medium shall, however, recuse him/herself from Board votes in which a conflict of interest might exist or be perceived to exist. A competing medium shall be defined as being based in Westwood, Brentwood or otherwise nearby competing with the ASUCLA representatives for the advertising dollar and targeting a similar readership and/or listenership (UCLA students, the Westwood and Brentwood communities).
8. No sitting member of the Board shall hold another USAC or GSA appointed position while sitting on the Board.
SECTION C: APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS
1. Graduate student members shall be nominated and appointed to the Board according to the procedures set forth in the Constitution of the Graduate Students Association.
2. Undergraduate student members shall be appointed by the Undergraduate Student Body President and their appointments shall be approved by USAC.
3. Student members appointed by USAC or GSA can elect to serve for a one or two-year terms from the date of appointment. The length of term that the student can serve should not be a consideration in their selection.
4. In the event of any vacancy on the Board, the Vice Chairperson shall include, with a request for new members, a job description in order to inform both potential candidates and those who will appoint them what is ordinarily demanded by the position. The contents of this letter are to be reviewed biannually by the Board.
5. Appointment or approval of a member of the Board constitutes acceptance of this Constitution and By-Laws of the Board. A person who accepts an appointment as a member of the Board also agrees to abide by the Constitution and By-Laws of the Board.
6. The Faculty member shall be appointed by the Academic Senate, for one year, and may be re-appointed.
7. The Administration member shall be appointed by the Chancellor, for one year, and may be re-appointed.
8. The Alumni member shall be appointed by the Executive Director of the UCLA Alumni Association, for one year, and may be re-appointed.
9. The professional members shall be nominated by the Operations Committee and appointed by a majority vote of the Board, with quorum, for one year, and may be re-appointed. Candidates will provide a brief summary of their experience and goals to the Operations Committee before their nomination is to be voted upon.
10. In the event of a vacancy, the newly appointed member shall complete the remainder of the vacated term.
11. All new terms shall begin August 1 and end July 31.
SECTION D: REMOVAL OF MEMBERS
1. Members may be removed from the Board for reasonable cause, including deliberate violation of this Constitution, By-Laws, and/or Policy and Procedures Manual; and/or violations of the UCLA Student Conduct Code of Proceedings and/or violations of university policies pertaining to campus activities, organizations and students.
2. Any Board member can initiate a complaint.
3. The complainant involved must give the member involved at least seven days prior notice of the intent of such an action in the way of a letter and a summary of the charges. In addition, there must be a Board agenda item on the matter.
4. The complainant shall give a copy of the letter and the summary of the charges to the Board’s recording secretary for duplication and distribution to other Board members at least seven days in advance of the meeting.
5. A Chairperson and/or Vice Chairperson may not remove an agenda item for a Board meeting that concerns the removal of a member.
6. If the majority of the Board members votes that there is reasonable cause against the member, a hearing is held before the Board with dispatch at a mutually agreed-upon date and time. The procedure for such a hearing shall be according to Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised. The hearing may be in open session or closed session, whichever the member requests.
7. A member facing such a proceeding shall be suspended from official duties and privileges until the resolution of his or her case. Further, a member facing such a proceeding may not be permitted to vote at the hearing.
8. Removal from the Board shall be by a two-thirds vote of those members present and voting either for or against the motion, excluding abstentions and blank votes, and provided that there is a quorum.
9. After removal from the Board, the member involved is automatically ineligible for re-appointment to the Board for the remainder of the academic year.
ARTICLE IV. Duties & Rights of the Board
SECTION A: ESTABLISHMENT AND CONSTITUTION OF COMMUNICATION MEDIA
1. The Board may establish or discontinue a communication medium by a two-thirds vote.
2. Establishment or discontinuation of a communications medium constitutes a revision of the By-Laws.
3. The Communications Board may suspend any medium for up to one year if:
- No applications for editor meet the Board’s approval; or
- The Board has not received any applications for editor of that medium by the applications deadline set by the Board.
SECTION B: SELECTION OF EDITORS AND GENERAL MANAGERS
1. The Board shall appoint a student editor or general manager for each Communications Board medium.
2. All Communications Board appointments shall be made without regard to graduate or undergraduate status and without discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sex, or sexual orientation.
3. A two-thirds quorum of the Communications Board is necessary to select an editor-in-chief or general manager for the upcoming term. This provision is required for contested processes with multiple candidates.
4. Once the editor selection for a publication has been completed, the Chair of the Communications Board is required to write a brief letter explaining the selection choice using publicly-available information. This letter may not contain restricted content nor deliberations from executive session and is only required for contested processes with multiple candidates.
5. During the editor selection process, publications may conduct an optional and internal staff endorsement process, which the Communications Board will use in consideration of its decision for the coming term.
6. The staff endorsement process may not be used as a tool to remove certain candidates or as a vetting tool prior to a hearing by the Communications Board, and efforts should be made by publications to encourage all candidates to continue the process prior to an editor’s or general manager’s selection.
7. The Communications Board will strongly consider the optional staff endorsement and associated qualitative information provided by any publication but remains independent in its decision process and is not obligated to implement the staff endorsement.
8. In contested processes with multiple candidates, the Communications Board shall use a standard list of interview questions for all candidates within a selection for a specific medium, except for follow-up questions based on the candidate’s answers, which are permissible.
SECTION C: BUDGET
1. The Board shall approve its own budget and the budget of each communication medium.
2. The Board shall provide for income as necessary to maintain approved budgets.
3. The Board shall ensure that it and all communications media operate within their approved budgets.
SECTION D:
Upon request of any member of the Board or the editor or general manager or the student staff of any communications medium, the Board shall undertake to seek solutions to problems of the communications medium.
SECTION E: POLICY AND CONTENT REVIEW
1. The Board shall annually review and may revise its publishing policies.
2. The Board shall provide for regular review of its publications and broadcasts in order to ensure the maintenance of the highest journalistic standards. This review shall be guided by the Media Adviser as outlined in the Media Adviser’s job description.
3. The Board may take whatever disciplinary action it deems appropriate including censure or removal of editors and general mangers, in order to enforce Board policy and compliance with this Constitution, By-Laws, and Procedure Manual.
SECTION F: MEETINGS
1. The Board shall meet a minimum of 10 times per calendar year.
2. Meetings of the Board may be called, with adequate notice to all members, by the Chairperson or by a majority of the members.
3. Meetings of the standing committees may be called by the respective Chairperson or by a majority of the members.
4. All meetings of the Board and its committees shall be open to all members of the UCLA community, except as otherwise provided for in the By-Laws of the Board.
5. The editors and general manager of all communications media shall be notified of the time, place and agenda of each Board meeting in the same manner as members.
ARTICLE V. Officers of the Board
SECTION A: THE BOARD SHALL HAVE A CHAIRPERSON AND VICE CHAIRPERSON
The Board shall have a Chairperson and Vice Chairperson.
SECTION B: QUALIFICATIONS OF CHAIRPERSON AND VICE CHAIRPERSON
1. Both the Chairperson and Vice Chairperson shall be members of the Board and at least one of these shall be a student.
2. Neither the Administration member, the professional members, nor the ASUCLA Media Director may be Chairperson or Vice Chairperson.
3. No person shall serve more than two years as Chairperson or two years as Vice Chairperson.
4. The Chairperson of the Board shall not serve as Chairperson or Vice Chairperson of a standing Communications Board Committee.
SECTION C: ELECTION OF A CHAIRPERSON AND VICE CHAIRPERSON
1. The Chairperson and the Vice Chairperson shall be elected by the Board by majority vote.
2. The Chairperson and the Vice Chairperson shall be elected at the first meeting of the new Board. The term of the Chairperson and Vice Chairperson shall extend from the first meeting of the new Board and shall serve until new officers are elected, or their term expires. If the term expires prior to a new election, an interim chair will be selected at the end of spring quarter.
SECTION D: DUTIES AND RIGHTS OF THE CHAIRPERSON
1. The Chairperson shall have all the duties and rights of a member.
2. The Chairperson shall preside at all meetings of the Board.
3. The Chairperson shall not have an additional vote in the case of a tie vote at a meeting of the Board.
4. With adequate notice to all members, the Chairperson shall call meetings of the Board.
5. The Chairperson shall receive prior notice of absence from members.
6. The Chairperson shall notify the appropriate appointing agency within three days after a vacancy occurs on the Board for any reason.
7. At the first meeting of the Board each academic year, the Chairperson shall present a summary of the Board’s activities during the previous year.
8. If the Vice Chairperson becomes permanently unable to serve, the Chairperson may call a meeting to elect a new Vice Chairperson to serve the remaining unfilled term.
9. The Chairperson shall assure that all Board members shall remain impartial in student government and in campus politics.
10. The Chairperson shall be strictly impartial in conducting the business of the Communications Board and shall use his or her authority to protect and preserve the equality of members in the exercise of their rights and privileges.
11. The Chairperson shall run meetings that are characterized by fairness and good faith.
SECTION E: DUTIES AND RIGHTS OF THE VICE CHAIRPERSON
1. The Vice Chairperson shall have all the duties and rights of a member.
2. If the Chairperson is temporarily unable to serve, the Vice Chairperson shall serve as Chairperson.
3. If the Chairperson becomes permanently unable to serve, the Vice Chairperson shall serve as Chairperson until the end of the next Board meeting. At the first meeting after the Chairperson is deemed permanently unable to fill his or her term, the Board will elect a new Chairperson to fill the remaining term. The new Chairperson’s term will start at the beginning of the first meeting after his or her election.
4. In the event of any vacancy on the Board, the Vice Chairperson shall include with a request for new members a stipulation of the description of the job, in order to inform both the potential candidates and those who will appoint them what is ordinarily demanded by the position. The contents of this letter are to be reviewed biannually by the Board.
5. The Vice Chairperson shall verify that all appointments to the Board are in accordance with the Constitution and By-Laws of the ASUCLA Communications Board.
6. The Vice Chairperson of the Board shall also chair the Operations Committee.
SECTION F: REPLACEMENT OF CHAIRPERSON AND VICE CHAIRPERSON
1. If both the Chairperson and Vice Chairperson are temporarily unable to serve, the Board shall elect an interim Chairperson.
2. If both the Chairperson and the Vice Chairperson become permanently unable to serve, the Administration member shall call a meeting within one week to elect a new Chairperson to serve until the end of the first meeting of the Board during the following academic year.
SECTION G: REMOVAL OF CHAIRPERSON AND VICE CHAIRPERSON
1. The Chairperson and/or Vice Chairperson may be removed from office for reasonable cause pertaining to his or her performance of duties of the Chairperson or Vice Chairperson.
2. Any Board member can initiate a complaint against the Chairperson or Vice Chairperson.
3. The complainant or complainants shall give the office involved at least seven days prior notice of the intent of such an action in the way of a letter and summary of charges. In addition, there must be a specific Board agenda item called “removal of the Chairperson” and/or “removal of the Vice Chairperson.”
4. The complainant or complainants shall give a copy of the letter and a summary of the charges to the Board’s recording secretary for duplication and distribution to other Board members at least seven days prior to the meeting.
5. A Chairperson and/or Vice Chairperson may not remove an agenda item for a Board meeting entitled either “removal of the Chairperson” and/or “removal of the Vice Chairperson.”
6. If the majority of members present votes that there is reasonable cause against the officer, a hearing is held before the Board with dispatch at a mutually agreed-upon date and time. The hearing shall be conducted according to Robert’s Rules of Order, New Revised. The hearing may be in open session or closed session, whichever the officer requests.
7. A Chairperson and/or Vice Chairperson facing such a proceeding involving himself or herself shall not chair the removal proceeding or any other Board meeting until the resolution of his or her case. The person facing the proceeding may vote on the outcome of the proceeding.
8. Removal from office shall be by a two-thirds vote of those members present and voting either for or against the motion, excluding abstentions and blank votes, and provided that there is a quorum.
9. After removal from office, the member may remain a member in good standing on the Board.
ARTICLE VI. Rules of Order
SECTION A:
A quorum shall consist of a majority of the members.
SECTION B:
The Board shall adhere to Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised, in all matters not covered by this Constitution and By-Laws.
SECTION C: MISCELLANEOUS
1. Unless otherwise specified, all Board actions may be accomplished by a majority vote.
2. In the event there are more than two applicants for a position the Communications Board will employ the following voting procedure:
- a. Each Board member shall receive a ballot with the names of all the applicants for a position.
- b. Board members will indicate their preference for “n” number of applicants as follows: (n) points for the most preferred applicant, (n-1) points for their second choice, (n-2) for their third choice etc. the least preferred applicant will receive one point.
- c. An applicant receiving a majority of the points will be selected for the position. A majority is determined by use of the following formula: (Total number of first place points possible+2) + (Total number of second place points possible+2) + 1 Decimal fractions will be dropped to the next lowest integer.
- d. In the event no applicant receives a majority, the applicant with the lowest number of points will be eliminated.
- e. The Board will discuss the remaining applicants further and vote again using the method #b.
- f. The Board repeats steps b-d until a majority is reached
3. Titles to Articles, Sections, and Divisions of this Constitution, the By-Laws, and the Policy and Procedures Manual, are for information only, and do not constitute a substantive part thereof.
4. No Board member shall be allowed to vote by proxy.
5. A two-thirds vote means at least two-thirds of the vote cast by members present and voting either for or against a motion, excluding abstentions and blank votes, at a regular meeting or properly called special meeting at which a quorum is present.
6. A Board member is honor bound not to divulge anything that occurred in executive session. A member may be disciplined if he or she violates the secrecy of executive session. Anyone else permitted to be present during executive session is honor bound not to divulge anything that occurred.
7. Board appointments to media positions will be determined by preferential voting procedure.
ARTICLE VII. Amendments
SECTION A:
Amendments to this Constitution and By-Laws conforming to this Constitution may be proposed by any member of the Board.
SECTION B:
Amendments, By-Laws and revisions must be proposed in writing or digitally to each member of the Board before any meeting held at least one week before the meeting at which the amendments are voted on.
SECTION C:
Amendments, By-Laws, and revisions to the Constitution shall be adopted only by a two-thirds vote of the entire Board.
This Constitution replaced that of October 21, 1970 and was adopted on January 9, 1973 under the Procedure of Amendment, Article VII, of that of October 21, 1970.
This Constitution was declared effective on May 5, 1973.
This Constitution has been amended on January 9, 1974, February 20, 1974, May 30, 1974, May 1975, January 1, 1978, October 13, 1978, June 1982, March 1983, July 1983, March 1984, June 1984, February 1985, April 1985, June 1985, December 1985, June 1986, September 10, 1987, August 1988, July 1990, July 1995, April 10, 1996 May 22, 1996, November 18, 1998, June 3, 2002, February 4, 2019, May 2019, June 2019, December 2020, May 3, 2021, and May 1, 2023.