Bylaws

PRSA BY-LAWS

Adopted on September 20, 1992 at the founding Conference of the Puerto Rican Studies Association.

I. NAME OF ORGANIZATION: Puerto Rican Studies Association (PRSA)

II. OBJECTIVES

• The Puerto Rican Studies Association is a non-profit professional organization that has as its fundamental objective the promotion and integration of the interdisciplinary research, praxis, and community empowerment of Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico, the United States, and elsewhere.
• The Puerto Rican Studies Association will serve as an international forum for members engaged in diverse forms of scholarship through teaching, study, research, and community empowerment.
• The Puerto Rican Studies Association will encourage interaction between individuals and groups from diverse regions, educational institutions, research organizations, community agencies, and individuals engaged in independent scholarly pursuits.
• The Puerto Rican Studies Association will promote the exchange and dissemination of knowledge concerning materials, methods, and products of Puerto Rican Studies by organizing a conference at least once every two years, and other appropriate activities such as: issuing a journal, a newsletter, a membership directory, and other publications of and for its membership.
• The Puerto Rican Studies Association will encourage and support the growth, continuation, and development of Puerto Rican Studies departments, academic and community-based programs, and other entities and activities designed to further the study and transformation of the Puerto Rican reality in Puerto Rico, the United States, and elsewhere.
• The Puerto Rican Studies Association will foster exchanges with related professional and community-based organizations, including, among others, women’s studies, gay and lesbian studies, racial/ ethnic studies, area studies, and other groups engaged in the study of systems of oppression.

III. MEMBERSHIP

A. Membership shall be open to any person or institution supporting the stated objectives of the Puerto Rican Studies Association.

B. The Puerto Rican Studies Association accepts members from all nationalities, racial and ethnic groups, and excludes no one on the basis of political affiliation, gender, sexual preference, age, religious affiliation, and/or physical disability.

IV. ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE

A. The Executive Council will consist of eleven (11) members elected by the membership at large:

a president
a vice president/president-elect

a secretary

a treasurer

six (6) at large members to the Executive Council consisting of for at large representtives and two students .

the past president of PRSA

B. Executive Council members shall serve a term of four(4) years and may not serve more than one year four year term in the same office. The vice president/president-elect, will serve as vice-president for two years and thereafter will assume the position of president for another two-year term.

C. Recall Procedures. The Executive Council shall establish removal and succession procedures to be ratified by the membership at large as an amendment to these By-Laws.

D. Candidates for election to the Executive Council shall be nominated by the membership at large. The PRSA Executive Council will issue a Call for Nominations and appoint a Nominations Commitee a year prior to the Conference. Any PRSA member in good standing  may nominate candidates for the various Council positions with the consent of the nominee(s). The Nominations Commitee will submit a list of recommended nominees for the various positions to the Executive Council which will approve the final ballot. The ballot will be mailed to the PRSA membership prior to the Conference. This will become effective in the year 2001.

E. The Executive Council shall have among its functions:

• Representation of the Puerto Rican Studies Association and the management of its fiscal resources.
• Designation of Program Committees to organize conferences and membership meetings.
• Designation of a publications editor and of an archivist.
• Designation of Standing Committees and Task Forces, and the development of procedures, to be ratified by the membership at large, for their establishment.Preparation and submission of written annual activities and financial reports.

F. All members of the Puerto Rican Studies Association may create Standing Committees and Task Forces growing out of members’ interests, activities and concerns. Initially, the Puerto Rican Studies Association will establish Standing Committees on women’s issues, students issues, gay and lesbian issues, elections, and the Rosa Estades Memorial Award.

V. MEETINGS

A. There shall be a membership meeting at every Puerto Rican Studies Association conference.

B. The Executive Council shall meet at least three times annually. Council meetings shall be open to all members of the association and other interested parties, the sole exception being those meetings in which personnel action on paid staff is being discussed.

C. All minutes of the Puerto Rican Studies Association meetings shall be published in the official newsletter.

VI. ANNUAL REPORTS

A. An Annual Report, including a fiscal report, shall be submitted to the membership and published in the official newsletter of the Puerto Rican Studies Association.

B. At least once a year, the treasurer shall submit the financial books of the Puerto Rican Studies Association for review and discussion by the Executive Council and, if so requested by the Council, to a certified public accountant for an independent audit.

VII. DISSOLUTION

Upon dissolution, any assets of the Puerto Rican Studies Association will be distributed to the Rosa Estades Memorial Fund.

VIII. BY-LAWS

A. These By-Laws shall constitute the officially recognized procedures governing the Puerto Rican Studies Association.

B. Proposed amendments to the By-Laws shall be circulated to the full membership at least one month prior to the association’s official membership meeting. Amendments must be approved by two thirds (2/3) of the members present and voting at the membership meeting. Including absentee ballots turned in by the time of the meeting.

C. Procedures not provided for in these By-Laws will be governed by Robert’s Rules of Order.