Our Mission

Our mission is to help the people of third world countries top live sustainably. We impart our knowledge so that they may maintain the knowledge and improve upon it in the future. Through our mentoring and our support of the National SMRC's building of latrines, we hope to do what we can to give them that initial push.

We stand for setting high goals, working hard to continuously meet those goals, transparency within the goal reaching process, teamwork/team spirit/ caring for the team, and spreading awareness to those outside of our team. In the end we are all human and we share a common need for survival and hope to reach our dreams.

SMRC Chapter Constitution

Constitution for the Student Movement for Real Change
at Georgia Tech
Created January 9, 2009
Revised July 14, 2009

Article I. Name

This organization will be known as Student Movement for Real Change (SMRC) at Georgia Tech and it is a division of the national organization SMRC, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization officially registered in the State of Colorado.

Its stated mission is: To be a leadership development organization that provides students in the United States with a vehicle by which to advocate for positive change in neglected regions of the world. We empower students to become leaders, giving them opportunities to improve health and education in developing communities worldwide.

Article II. Purpose

The purpose of SMRC is to:

A. Promote advocacy of issues facing neglected regions of the world and to offer students opportunities to improve health and education in developing communities worldwide.

B. Raise awareness of global issues among students, faculty, and staff at Georgia Institute of Technology and in the surrounding communities, provide non-partisan aid to neglected regions of the world, and join with students across the United States to take an active role in promoting the improvement of global social conditions.

Article III. Membership

A. Membership is open to all undergraduate and graduate students at the Georgia Institute of technology. In order to be members of Student Movement for Real Change, students must be eligible for participation in extra-curricular activities as defined by the Georgia Tech student handbook and SGA policies. Only Georgia Tech students can vote or hold office.

B. Members are considered active voting members if they attend two-thirds (2/3) of the meetings and/or two-thirds (2/3) of events

C. Membership takes effect after signing roster and paying dues.

D. There is no maximum number of members.

Article IV. Officers

Section I. Only GT students eligible according to the GT Catalog can hold or run for office and they must already be members of the organization.

Section II. The duties of the Executive Board will be as follows:

A. President:

1. Shall make sure the programs/project, as voted upon, are being carried out as intended.

2. Shall preside at meetings.

3. Shall maintain cohesion among chapter Executive Board members, and see that each is doing his or her job.

4. Shall have check signing power alongside the treasurer.

B. Vice-President of Internal Affairs:

1. Shall make the agenda for Chapter meetings (internal affairs).

2. Shall act on behalf of the President in his/her absence.

3. Shall oversee the awareness committee.

4. Shall be present at meetings.

C. Vice-President of External Affairs:

1. Shall work with marketing director to recruit new members.

2. Shall promote awareness to the general public.

3. Shall be primary grant writer.

4. Shall keep the President fully up to date on new regional and local projects and act in conjunction with the President as the outside contact for the organization.

D. Treasurer:

1. Shall be the primary financial officer of the organization, in charge of maintaining and updating all ledgers and monitoring transactions and the budget for any and all accounts.

2. Shall be responsible for facilitating the transfer of reimbursements for organization expenses.

3. Shall have check signing power, together with the President.

4. Shall report all financial activities at each monthly meeting.

5. Shall Chair/Co-Chair fundraisers or appoint substitute chairs and shall oversee a fundraising committee.

6. Shall report all bookkeeping and bank account information to the National Treasurer bi-monthly or as is deemed necessary.

7. Shall help ensure that the member chapter has funding for approved projects, and communicate with the National Treasurer when the member chapter has insufficient funding for projects.

8. Shall report on the financial standing of SMRC at the Executive Board’s request.

9. Shall collect dues.

4. Shall oversee a fundraising committee.

E. Secretary:

1. Shall take minutes at Chapter meetings.

2. Shall oversee all mailings.

3. Shall keep an attendance record of all meetings and events.

4. Shall create a membership directory and ensure its availability to all members.

5. Shall be responsible for the drafting and distribution of regular communications to the members of SMRC, which shall be to inform members of upcoming events, changes to the constitution or bylaws of SMRC, and other relevant information.

6. Shall answer general inquiries of potential members.

F. Marketing Director:

1. Shall advertise the chapter to the campus and be responsible for recruiting new members.

2. Shall oversee a marketing committee.

G. Programming Coordinator:

1. Responsible for chairing a programming committee.

2. Shall arrange transportation and reserve space for projects.

3. Shall oversee the web under www.StudentMovementUSA.org domain name, and report updates to the National Website Manager.

Section III. Officers will be elected in the following manner:

A. General elections shall be held in the fall, by the first week of December.

B. Any person running for any office must be a member eligible according to the Georgia Tech student catalogue, and have attended at least two-thirds (2/3) of the previous semester’s meetings and activities.

C. Each active voting member, except the President, has one (1) vote (see Article III, Clause B).

D. All nominations must come from the floor during the elections meeting. Nominations must be seconded; both must come from active voting members.

E. Self-nominations are allowed; must also be seconded from an active voting member.

F. The president only has a tie-breaking vote.

G. New officers will take office at the first meeting following elections.

H. Election of candidates will come from a plurality of votes. No run off will be necessary. If there is a tie, the outgoing president will cast the tie breaking votes – this cannot be the candidate president. If the outgoing president is up for reelection then the Executive Board casts the deciding vote by majority.

I. The president will run elections as follows:

1. Nominations and elections will follow the order stated in the constitution.

2. Allow two-minute floor speeches for each candidate.

3. Allow two minute question and answer periods for each candidate.

Section IV. Officers will be removed in this manner:

A. If an officer fails to maintain Institute requirements for holding office, he/she shall resign immediately.

B. In the event that an officer is no longer meeting the requirements of the position to which he/she was elected, as stated in this Constitution, an allegation needs to be brought to the board in writing.

C. After the board has reviewed the allegation, the officer in question will have an opportunity to present his/ her case. Following a presentation by both sides, the board must vote by two-thirds (2/3) for removal.

D. If an officer is removed or resigns, an election shall occur within two (2) weeks of the removal of the officer, following the procedures outlined in Article IV-Section III, and will take office immediately.

Article V. Committees

A. The Internal Vice President, the Treasurer, and the Marketing Director each oversees a committee.

B. Members volunteer for the committees.

C. The Internal Vice President shall oversee the Awareness Committee, which creates a monthly newspaper and arranges speakers.

D. The Treasurer shall oversee a Fundraising Committee.

E. The Marketing Director shall oversee a Marketing Committee, which works together with the External Vice President to recruit new members.

Article VI. Faculty/Staff Advisor Appointment

A. The Faculty/Staff Advisor will be a full time faculty or staff member.

B. The Faculty/Staff Advisor will be chosen by the Officers – the President, Vice Presidents, Secretary, Treasurer, Marketing Director, and Programming Coordinator.

1. Only a board member may nominate an advisor

2. Two-thirds (2/3) of the Executive Board must endorse the appointment of a particular Advisor. If a decision of the Executive Board is not reached, the appointment will be referred to a plurality vote amongst all voting members present at the next general meeting.

C. The Faculty/Staff Advisor will have the following responsibilities:

1. The term to which he/she commits to will be one year unless otherwise specified in writing and in cooperation with Executive Board members.

2. Supply the SMRC with needed connections and guidance to implement our projects.

D. During officer elections, the advisor’s term may be renewed by the new Executive Board.

1. Renewal requires a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the board. Any opponent to renewal must:

a. Present a replacement Advisor, whom they explicitly support.

b. Have, in writing, the replacing Faculty/Staff members commitment to the Advisory position.

2. The renewal will effectively account for another year.

3. A particular Faculty/Staff member may continue to renew his/her Advisory status as many times as the Executive Board permits.

E. Removal of Advisor

1. In the event that an Advisor is no longer meeting the requirements of the position to which he/she was elected, it is the duty of the President to present said problem to the board.

2. After the board has reviewed the removal charge, the board must vote by two-thirds (2/3) for removal.

F. Replacement of removed Advisor

1. A new faculty/staff advisor will be nominated and elected by majority vote among the Executive Board.

Article VII. Dues

A. Dues will be determined at the beginning of the year by the Executive Board by majority and voted on by the membership present by majority but will not be less than the required amount designated by the SGA. To be paid by the third week of the fall and spring semester or by the second week of membership.

B. The Treasurer shall prepare a budget for the Executive Board, and the Executive Board shall determine the amount of dues based off the budget.

Article VIII. Meetings

A. Meetings will be held bi-weekly or weekly during the fall and spring semesters if necessary based on the decisions of the Executive Board.

B. Meetings will be conducted under the Robert’s Rules of Order in all instances not covered in the Constitution.

Article IV. Constitutional Amendments

A. All proposed amendments to this constitution must be passed by simple majority vote of the Executive Board of SMRC and must be passed by two-thirds (2/3) vote among the chapter’s membership present at the meeting where vote occurs. Amendments may be proposed by any member of the chapter and shall be presented to the Executive Board in writing for consideration.

B. All current members of the Georgia Institute of Technology chapter of the SMRC will receive an electronic notification of any amendments to the Constitution at least two (2) weeks prior to the voting meeting.

C. All final amendments to chapter constitutions must be presented to the National Board of Directors for records purposes.

D. Amendments are subject to the approval of the Student Government Association and of the Student Activities committee of the Faculty Senate.

If you would like to see the previous constitution, click here.