| Section # | Link |
|---|---|
| 0. | Definitions of Terms |
| 1. | Mission Statement |
| 2. | Organizational Structure |
| 3. | Core Responsibilities |
| 3.1. | Advocacy |
| 3.2. | Communications |
| 3.3. | Research on Community Needs |
| 4. | Supporting Responsibilities |
| 4.1. | Meetings |
| 4.2. | Asset Management |
| 4.3. | Changes to Constitution |
| 5. | Membership |
| 5.1. | Joining CSPAC - Elections |
| 5.2. | Joining CSPAC - Temporary Membership |
| 5.3. | Leaving CSPAC |
| 5.4. | Member Responsibilities |
- CSPAC :: Computer Science PhD Advisory Council.
- CSPhDs :: The body of all PhD students at Northwestern University who take one of the Computer Science qualifying exams, as outlined in the Graduate Student Manual in order to advance to candidacy in their degree. This includes, but is not limited to, PhD students in the following programs: CS, CSLS, TSB, and CE.
- Board :: Refers to the collection of all current members of the CSPAC board, including interim members.
- CS (program) :: Computer Science PhD program.
- CSLS (program) :: Computer Science & Learning Sciences PhD program.
- TSB (program) :: Technology & Social Behavior PhD program.
- CE (program) :: Computer Engineering PhD program.
The mission of the Computer Science PhD Advisory Council is to promote the well-being of CSPhDs through advocacy and information-sharing. We seek to create and curate an accessible informational repository to connect CSPhDs with the resources they need for a healthy and productive graduate experience. We strive to elevate the voice and power of CSPhD students to address concerns that directly impact student life, including departmental policies and decisions.
All CSPAC board members, whether elected or serving with interim status, have an equal vote. Voting policies and exceptions may be defined in other sections of this Constitution.
The core responsibilities and pillars of CSPAC, in pursuit of the Mission Statement, include Advocacy, Communications, and Research on Community Needs.
It is the responsibility of CSPAC to serve as a voice for CSPhD students in pursuit of the needs and concerns of CSPhD students.
The needs and concerns of CSPhD students include, but are not limited to:
- CSPhD student admissions
- CSPhD student office spaces
- CSPhD program requirements
- CSPhD funding and compensation
- Representation of diverse perspectives and backgrounds at all levels of leadership
- Information on challenges such as resolving conflict or building positive relationships with advisors
Some ways that CSPAC may advocate for the above needs and concerns are by presenting student concerns to the faculty and the department, and by providing information to students.
It is the responsibility of the Board to maintain open, accessible, and regular communications with CSPhD students.
The Board shall maintain and curate a well-organized repository of information for CSPhD students through a wiki-like website. Such a repository must aim to accumulate and organize the breadth of student resources made available by Northwestern University and its subdivisions, including but not limited to: The Graduate School, Student Affairs, and the Office of Fellowships. CSPhD students should be able to navigate the repository to find the desired information. The Board must ensure all CSPhD students are aware of the existence of the repository and how to access it. The current version of this is a wiki linked on the CSPAC website.
The CSPAC email address, cspac@u.northwestern.edu, shall exist to allow for
- CSPhD students to communicate with the Board with respect to the Mission Statement and Core Responsibilities outlined in this Constitution, and
- the Board to communicate with other parties in pursuit of the Mission Statement, Core Responsibilities, and Supporting Responsibilities outlined in this Constitution.
The Board must respond to all help-requests sent by CSPhD students within two weeks.
The Board must ensure that all CSPhD students are aware of the existence of the CSPAC email address and its purpose.
The Board must ensure that all CSPhD students are aware of the existence of CSPAC, the purpose of CSPAC, and the ongoing actions, events, activities of CSPAC. This includes updating the website, sending emails, and posting fliers in places such as the mailroom, restrooms, and kitchen. The Board must also ensure that CSPhD students are aware CSPAC meetings are open to all CSPhD students.
If you send an email to CSPAC that concerns a private matter we will keep it confidential amongst the board. When advocating for student needs unless directly requested we anonymize the feedback when presented to faculty or staff. We will contact the student before deleting any messages when a new board transitions in. However if the message indicates you are in danger of harming yourself or others we will forward it to the appropriate sources.
The Board must maintain awareness of the needs and concerns of all CSPhD students in order to inform the Advocacy work that the Board pursues. Research to identify the needs and concerns of the CSPhD community may include, but are not limited to: regular surveys, conversations, town halls, and affinity group forums.
CSPAC shall meet at least once per week during each academic term for at least one hour during a regularly scheduled time. The recurring meeting time may be determined by the Board to best fit their schedules for the given academic term. The Board may opt not to meet during exam weeks, between academic terms, and during extenuating circumstances that the Board judges will make meeting dangerous (e.g. weather) or unproductive.
Any CSPhD student must be permitted to attend the weekly CSPAC board meeting.
Funding will be used only for purposes of official CSPAC events. No board member is allowed to retain money on behalf of the group. All expenditures, and funding, and budgets for CSPAC will be accounted for in a public document, made available here.
All Data, including emails and documents, collected or created by CSPAC must only be stored on CSPAC-controlled databases. No Data may be stored on any external databases, including databases or accounts controlled by individual Board members, CSPhD students, CS department faculty, or other external parties.
Any current CSPhD student may request any Data that has been collected or created by CSPAC. The Board must review each request and vote whether to share the requested data. The vote must be unanimous to permit sharing. The Board must make a good-faith effort to anonymize any Data before it is shared to protect the identities of those individuals who the data pertain to, regardless of their status as a CSPhD student. The Board must communicate to the requesting parties that the parties are not permitted to publish, share, or alter the data in any way.
Any physical assets owned or controlled by CSPAC must be stored in a locking room when not in use by CSPAC.
No physical assets owned by CSPAC may be gifted, sold, or traded unless such assets were acquired by CSPAC for the express purpose of gift, sale, or trade. Physical assets may be put on loan for a maximum of one year with a unanimous vote by the Board.
Access to all CSPAC owned or controlled assets must only be available to current, elected Board members. Access includes, but is not limited to: CSPAC account login information and access to CSPAC storage rooms.
In the event that any unauthorized party possesses access to any CSPAC owned or controlled assets, the Board must remove the party’s access to such assets. Unauthorized parties are any party which does not meet the criteria for Access Privileges outlined in Section 4.2.4a. This includes previous members of the Board, regardless of whether the previous member left by resignation, removal, or the completion of their term.
- Physical access. Physical keys must be collected from unauthorized parties immediately. In the event that retrieval of a physical key is not possible, the Board must ensure that the lock opened by such key is changed. If an unauthorized party possesses any non-physical key that protect physical assets, such as a door code or a card-key, the Board must immediately change the non-physical key.
- Digital access. Any credentials to digital assets owned or controlled by CSPAC that come into the possession of an unauthorized party must be changed immediately.
The CSPAC Constitution must be made publicly available to all current CSPhD students online.
Any change to the CSPAC Constitution must be put to vote. A change may only be made with a unanimous vote by the Board.
The number of members of the board should be maintained between 5 and 9 members.
A candidate must meet the following requirements to run for election to a board member seat in CSPAC:
- The candidate must be a CSPhD student.
- The candidate must not plan to graduate during the term the candidate would be elected to serve during.
- The candidate must have completed two full quarters as a full-time CSPhD student.
- The candidate must not exceed the term limits established by this Constitution.
Each elected member’s term length is four quarters.
No board member may serve for more than three elected terms. Terms, whether whole or partial, where the board member served as an unelected member to an interim position, do not count toward the established term limit.
The Board must facilitate an election as defined in each of the subsections of 5.1.5.
Elections must occur twice per year, in the Fall and Spring quarters.
The Board must, to the best of the Board’s ability, provide all CSPhDs with the following at least two weeks before the start of the Voting Period:
- The mission of CSPAC
- The term length
- The eligibility requirements
- The voting period
- The opportunity to easily nominate themselves or another CSPhD student
All nominated candidates who meet the Eligibility requirements must be listed on the election ballot. CSPAC will host informational sessions that are mandatory in order to apply to the board in order to provide guidance on expected commitments.
Voting must take place over, at minimum, a seven day period.
The winning candidates must be determined by Excellence Voting: Each current CSPhD student may vote for as many candidates as they would like, but may never vote for a single candidate more than once in a single election. Each candidate will be ordered from greatest number of votes received to fewest. For as long as there is an open seat available on the Board, the candidate with the most votes will be awarded that seat and then removed from the ordered list of candidates. In the event of a tie such that one candidate might be awarded a seat on the Board while other candidates with the same number of votes will not be awarded a seat, the Board may vote by simple majority to decide which of the tied candidates will be awarded the seats.
In the event that the Board consists of fewer than eight members outside of an election period, the Board may vote to instate a temporary, or interim, Board member. Interim members are not elected members.
The interim member must meet the same eligibility requirements as specified in section 5.1.2. The Board may grant an exception to this requirement with a unanimous vote by the current Board.
The interim members may hold their seat until the next election.
The interim member holds the same responsibilities as elected members, as defined in Section 6.
Interim members are subject to the limitations placed on them as outlined in other sections of this Constitution.
Any Board member may resign from their position on the Board at any time with written notice to the Board. The resigning board member must provide two weeks of advanced notice to the Board before their resignation takes effect.
A Board member may be removed from their position on the Board with a unanimous vote by the other current, elected members of the Board. To qualify for removal, the member must be found to have failed to meet their responsibilities as a Board member as outlined in Section 5.4 or found to have not met the eligibility requirements for membership as outlined in Section 5.1.2.
The Board member is required to attend the weekly, regularly scheduled CSPAC meeting for the full hour. The Board member may miss up to two weekly meetings for every ten weeks in an academic term for personal or professional reasons without consequence. In the event that a Board member must miss more than two meetings in a ten week academic term, the Board member must appoint themselves a temporary member (as defined in Section 5.2) for the duration of their absence up to the remaining length of their term.
If a member of CSPAC is unable to attend 3 or more consecutive meetings (either from absence or a planned internship or other professional opportunity) the member of CSPAC is expected to appoint themselves a Board-approved temporary replacement by the meeting before their first absence. Board approval shall be earned with a simple majority vote by current Board members.
Board members will be expected to provision for at least 1 additional hour of work outside of the weekly meetings.
The Board member is required to adhere to all elements of this Constitution. No member may act out of accordance with any element of this Constitution.
The Board member, in committing to serve on the Board, must take regular efforts to advance the CSPAC Mission Statement and Core Responsibilities as specified in Section 1 and Section 2 of this Constitution respectively. Every two quarters the Board will conduct a review of CSPAC operations and how they align with CSPAC’s mission. The contents of that review must be made public.