Guidelines for the Election of Officers to the Fordham Philosophical Society

            In order to ensure that the Fordham Philosophical Society (FPS) continues in its efforts to advocate for graduate student issues, to foster dialogue and community within the philosophy department between faculty and graduate students, and to organize and sponsor programs and events that aid in the professional development of graduate students, we, the FPS Council, have drawn up guidelines regarding term lengths and the election of officers to the Fordham Philosophical Society. 

1.      There are four offices in the FPS to be filled by philosophy graduate students: President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer.  The President of the FPS will also serve as the department’s representative to the Graduate Student Association (GSA).  The Vice President assists the president in the execution of her/his duties as GSA representative and helps preside over FPS general meetings.  The Secretary is responsible for taking the minutes at FPS meetings, and for organizing both FPS Council meetings and general meetings.  The Treasurer is responsible for the FPS bank account at Fordham First Federal and must monitor the use of funds for FPS activities (such as Symposia, the National Conference, and FPS meetings). 

2.      To ensure a smoother transition of leadership and continuity of institutional memory, each elected officer will serve a term of two years on the FPS Council.  Each elected officer will serve one year as either Secretary or Treasurer and then one year as President or Vice President.   

3.      Elections will be held once a year, in the Spring Semester, for the offices of Secretary and Treasurer.  The graduate students who hold the offices of Secretary and Treasurer at the time of the annual election will serve as either the President or Vice President the following year and step down from the FPS Council after their second year of service is complete.   

4.      Because the office of President doubles as the GSA Representative for the department to the GSA and, therefore, carries the greatest amount of duties and responsibilities, the current Secretary and Treasurer will decide who will serve as President the following year. Should the Secretary and Treasurer be unable to agree as to who will serve as President, a special election will be held, with the Secretary and Treasurer as the two nominees, for the office of President.  This election will follow the same procedure as the election for Secretary and Treasurer outlined in this document.  It should be noted that the incumbent President will be required to attend at least TWO GSA meetings during the Spring Semester before her/his term begins.  This will allow the incumbent President to familiarize herself/himself with GSA procedures and issues. 

5.      Nominees for the offices of Secretary and Treasurer will be taken in two ways.  There will be an initial period in which volunteers are asked for to run for the offices.  At the end of this period, we will ask for people to nominate their peers.  All volunteers for nomination and nominations of others for offices should be sent to the FPS President via e-mail.  Note, anyone volunteering to run for an FPS office is agreeing to serve on the Council for two years, with possibility of having to serve as the FPS President the second year. 

6.      Once nominees have been accepted, it is the responsibility of the FPS Council to announce these nominees via e-mail and fliers posted in the department.  Before such posting of the nominees take place, the Council should consult each nominee to make sure that she/he understands the terms of service for the FPS Council outlined in paragraphs 1 and 5 above. 

7.      After the nominees have been announced, the election of officers will take place via e-mail.  Each graduate student may cast one vote for each office, only voting for those graduate students who are nominees (no write-ins).  The votes will be collected and tallied by the FPS President.  The election should take place over one week, with no votes being accepted after the election period has terminated.  Should the FPS President at the time of the election be a nominee for the position of Secretary or Treasurer, then the Vice President will serve to collect and tally the votes.  Should the Vice President also be nominated for an office, then an impartial graduate student who is not running for office will be selected by the Council to collect and tally the votes.

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