Articles of Constitution

The purpose of the Society for Ethics Across the Curriculum is to stimulate scholarship on ethics and the teaching of ethics in all academic disciplines and to afford an opportunity for the exchange of research.

A member of the Society shall be any person who has paid dues for the current year.

The governing body of the Society shall be an Executive Committee.

1. The Executive Committee shall consist of ten members of the Society; nine shall be persons elected to staggered three-year terms, one of whom shall be the President of the Society. The President serves as Chair of the Executive Committee.
2. No member shall hold more than one office at a time, and no member shall be eligible to serve more than two consecutive terms in the same office. A person elected to be President who is currently on the Executive Committee is entitled to serve two consecutive terms as President if duly elected.
3. The Executive Committee shall elect a Secretary-Treasurer who will serve in that capacity for a once-renewable term of five years or until a successor is appointed. The Secretary-Treasurer shall serve ex-officio on the Executive Committee.
4. Terms shall begin on January 1 and end on December 31.
5. Business of the Executive Committee may be conducted when a meeting, duly called by the President or the Secretary-Treasurer, is attended by a majority of its members.
6. Among its other powers, the Executive Committee shall create such special committees as it deems appropriate, specifying for each its charge, membership, and duration.
7. Elections
   1. Each October the Secretary-Treasurer will circulate to all members of the Society a Call for Nominations to the Executive Committee, allowing ten days for members to return nominations. Any member nominated by at least two other members who agrees to stand for election shall be considered duly nominated.
   2. Every third year the Secretary-Treasurer shall include with the Call for Nominations a Call for Nominations for President of the Society.
   3. Each November an election of at least three persons to serve on the Executive Committee shall be conducted by ballot, each member of the Society being asked to vote for as many of the persons duly nominated as there are vacancies on the Executive Committee and, every third year, for a President. The names of the nominees will appear in alphabetical order, followed by academic affiliation or equivalent information.
   4. The ballots shall be collected and counted by the Secretary Treasurer, except in a year when he or she is a nominee; in such a year, the counting will be conducted by the most recent former President of the Society who is not also a nominee. The duly nominated person receiving the largest number of votes for each vacant position shall be declared elected.
   5. Vacancies in the Executive Committee shall be filled at the next annual election, with the person elected to complete the term of the vacated position. The Executive Committee shall appoint a member to the position until the next election.

No funds of the Society may be used to pay or compensate any officer or member of the Society for services performed for the Society.

The Executive Committee shall select the sites for the Society's future meetings. The selection of the site of a meeting will ordinarily take place at least two years in advance of the date of the meeting, with meetings scheduled at least once every two years.

1. For each meeting of the Society there shall be a Program Committee, at least one of whom shall be a member of the Executive Committee, with the Executive Committee appointing its chair. The Program Committee shall have the responsibility of reviewing submitted papers and for identifying persons to be invited. Decisions of the Program Committee shall be made by the majority of its members. In accordance with the Society's commitment to the principle of the blind reviewing of submitted papers, The Call for Papers shall specify that submissions are to be sent to the Secretary-Treasurer with identifying references to the author or authors removed for blind review.
2. Meetings will normally be held in association with an institution of higher education, with someone from that institution and a member of the Society as the site director, responsible for ensuring the orderly conduct of the meeting.
3. The Program Committee chair will serve as co-director of the meeting with the site director. The former is in charge of the program, the latter in charge of local arrangements, but it is presumed that the directors will jointly choose a theme for the meeting, if they desire, and invite guest speakers, if they so choose.
4. The directors of a conference are not to present papers at that conference without prior approval by the Executive Committee.
5. Time shall be set aside during each regular meeting of the Society for a Business Meeting. The quorum for such a meeting is ten percent of the members of the Society. At this meeting the President and the Secretary-Treasurer shall give reports on behalf of the Executive Committee, and any business of the Society may be conducted at the Business Meeting which is not in these By-Laws specifically reserved to the members or to the Executive Committee. Motions adopted at a Business Meeting by a majority of fewer than thirty percent of the members of the Society are subject to ratification by the entire membership, such ratification to be conducted by mail or by electronic means.

Annual dues shall be $75 until such time as the members of Society vote to change them. Dues include a one-year subscription to the Society's journal.

Teaching Ethics shall be the journal of the Society.

1. Teaching Ethics shall serve the purposes of the Society and shall reflect the full range of interests of its members in all aspects of ethics across the curriculum.
2. The Editor of Teaching Ethics shall be appointed to a renewable five-year term, at least one year prior to the date the current Editor's term expires, by a simple majority of those holding elected positions on the Executive Committee. An editor may not simultaneously be a member of the Executive Committee.
3. The Editor shall be responsible for ensuring that Teaching Ethics meets the highest standards of scholarship and for promoting its reputation within the academic community.
4. The Editor shall supervise all matters regarding the management of Teaching Ethics, soliciting manuscripts, making final judgments about what papers appear in the journal, appointing employees, arranging for printing and mailing, having all the powers and obligations that generally attach to the position of editor.
5. The Society shall provide no compensation for the Editor of the journal.
6. The Editor and the Executive Committee shall agree on appointments for an Editorial Board. Members of the Board shall have staggered six-year renewable terms, shall, when called upon, help the Editor in performing the obligations of that position, and shall assist the Executive Committee in deliberations regarding the journal.
7. An editor may be removed mid-term only by an affirmative vote to remove by at least six of those holding elected positions on the Executive Committee. Grounds for removal include publication of the editor's own work in the journal.
8. The Editor shall prepare an annual report for the Executive Committee and the Editorial Board detailing the financial situation of Teaching Ethics, any changes in editorial principles, and any other matters that the Executive Committee or Editorial Board need to address. This report shall be due May 1st and shall be available for any member of the Society to examine.

The Constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of those voting by mail or electronic ballot, provided that the amendment has been submitted to the membership at least one month prior to the date ballots are due.

Robert's Rules of Order shall govern the meetings of the Society and of its Executive Committee unless changes in the procedure are approved by a two-third's majority of those present.