Of the National Association of Student Anthropologists
a Section of the American Anthropological Association
(as amended effective June 2019)
Section 1.01 The Section shall be known as the National Association of Student Anthropologists (NASA), a Section of the American Anthropological Association (AAA).
Article II. Purpose
Section 2.01 Its purpose shall be to stimulate and encourage the interests and involvement of both graduate and undergraduate students in anthropology.
Article III. Powers
Section 3.01 The Section shall be autonomous in all matters of student concern that are not reserved by the Bylaws of the AAA, inimical to the AAA’s interests, or prohibited by law.
Section 3.02 The Section shall have elected or appointed officers as set forth in these Bylaws.
Section 3.03 The Section is empowered to determine membership dues.
Section 3.04 The Section shall determine voting requirements on all Section matters.
Section 3.05 The Section may engage in publishing and program activities; may appoint editors, committees, and other agents; and may set publication and program policies appropriate to its purposes.
Section 3.06 The Section shall adopt and maintain Bylaws or Rules of Procedure consistent with the Bylaws of the AAA. The Section shall file with the AAA Secretary a copy of its current Bylaws, Rules of Procedure, and Table of Organization.
Article IV. Membership
Section 4.01 Membership in the Section shall be open to any student in good standing with the AAA who supports the above purposes, subject to the payment of dues stipulated by the Executive Committee of the Section.
Section 4.02 A member in good standing shall be eligible to hold elective or appointive office, participate in the Annual Meeting, receive publications, and have one vote in nominating and electing officers and the transaction of other business of the Section.
Section 4.03 Students shall remain members of the Section as long as they maintain student membership status in the AAA.
Section 4.04 Should an Executive Committee member cease to meet AAA student membership criteria during their term of office, they shall be allowed to continue as a Section member and an Executive Committee member until the next regularly scheduled election.
Section 4.05 For just cause, a member may be deprived of membership by two-thirds vote of the Executive Committee, subject to appeal to the members at the Annual Meeting.
Article V. Dues
Section 5.01 The Executive Committee shall set the annual dues of members and may establish rates for special categories.
Section 5.02 Members in arrears in the payment of dues shall lose all membership privileges.
Article VI. Officers
Section 6.01 The officers shall be President, President-Elect, Secretary-Treasurer, Student Anthropologist Editor, and Anthropology News Contributing Editor.
Section 6.02 The President will serve a one-year term as President-Elect, followed by another year as President. The President shall be the presiding officer of the Section and, should the Section be entitled to such representation, its first representative on the Board of Directors of the AAA and its representative on the Executive Committee of the AAA. The primary duties of the President shall be to assure the external affairs of the Section and to chair the NASA Executive Committee.
Section 6.03 The President-Elect will serve a one-year term as President-Elect, followed by another year as President. The President-Elect is responsible for internal communications within NASA, coordinating the activities of committees, and facilitating NASA’s transition into the following year.
Section 6.04 The Secretary-Treasurer shall have charge of the records of the Section and shall submit a draft budget for the approval of the Executive Committee not less than sixty days before the Annual Meeting. The Secretary-Treasurer will also be responsible for handling Section financial affairs, including travel reimbursements and award money disbursal. Additionally, they will be responsible for taking and disseminating minutes from NASA Business and Executive Committee meetings.
Section 6.05 The E-Journal Editor will be responsible for editing and producing NASA’s web-based journal. The editor will solicit articles and work with the E-Journal committee and the AAA Publications representatives to create and disseminate the journal.
Section 6.06 The Anthropology News Contributing Editor is responsible for NASA’s presence in Anthropology News. The editor will solicit contributions for the student column in addition to using the column for NASA information dispersal.
Section 6.07 Each officer will have one vote in matters involving the Executive Committee.
Section 6.08 The terms of all officers shall be two years, except as noted above for the President and the President-Elect, commencing at the end of the Annual Meeting of the AAA.
Article VII. Executive Committee
Section 7.01 There shall be an Executive Committee consisting of the officers and four members elected at-large from the membership of the Section.
Section 7.02 The four members elected at-large will consist of two graduate students and two undergraduate students. This designation will be determined by student status at the time of election to the Executive Committee.
Section 7.03 All members of the Executive Committee will have one vote each in matters involving the Executive Committee.
Section 7.04 Subject to directives and limitations imposed by the members of the Section, the Executive Committee shall have the authority to execute on behalf of the Section all powers and functions defined by these Bylaws.
Section 7.05 The Executive Committee shall meet at least once annually, at the time of the Annual Meeting, and may meet additionally on the call of the President or a majority vote of the Executive Committee.
Section 7.06 The Executive Committee shall make all non-elective appointments and may make interim appointments to fill vacancies in any elective office until the next regularly scheduled election.
Section 7.07 The terms of office of all Executive Committee members shall be two years, except for the President and President-Elect, who will serve one year as President-Elect and one year as President.
Section 7.08 All terms of office will commence at the end of the Annual Meeting of the AAA.
Section 7.09 In the event that an elected officer does not commence their duties within one month of the Annual Meeting, the Executive Committee reserves the right to remove this officer and make an interim appointment to fill the vacancy.
Article VIII. Annual Report
Section 8.01 At the time of each Annual Business Meeting, the Executive Committee shall report its activities to the members and to the Board of Directors of the AAA. The report shall include the reports of the Secretary-Treasurer, editors of the publications, committees, and other agents representing the Section.
Article IX. Meetings
Section 9.01 The Section shall hold an Annual Business Meeting at the time of the Annual Meeting of the AAA.
Section 9.02 The Executive Committee shall appoint a Program Chair, who shall organize the Section’s events at the Annual Meeting.
(a) The Program Chair should have served at least one year previously as a member of the Program Committee. In the event that there is no eligible individual to fill the position, the Executive Committee shall appoint an individual to fill the position.
Section 9.03 Special meetings may be called by the Executive Committee or upon written request of five percent of the members.
Article X. Quorum
Section 10.01 Five percent of the members in good standing shall constitute a quorum at the Annual Business Meeting.
Section 10.02 A majority of the voting members of the Executive Committee shall constitute a quorum for transacting business.
Section 10.03 The business of the Section shall be transacted by majority vote unless otherwise provided by these Bylaws.
Article XI. Nominations and Elections
Section 11.01 Candidates for any elective office may be nominated by the Executive Committee, by the Nominations Committee, or by the members. All candidates shall be members in good standing of the Section.
Section 11.02 A Nominations Committee of three members shall be elected by the Executive Committee. The terms of office shall be two years and terms will commence at 9 o’clock p.m. on the third day of the Annual Meeting of the AAA.
Section 11.03 The Nominations Committee shall nominate two persons for each vacant office. However, if the Nominations Committee is unable to identify and nominate two persons for each vacant office, it will be empowered, in consultation with NASA’s Executive Committee, to submit to the AAA Executive Director a slate which may include some or all offices for which there may be only one candidate. If no candidates are identified or nominated by the Nominations Committee, then the Executive Committee of NASA shall act according to Article VII Section 6 of the Bylaws. When possible, these nominations shall be made known to members at least one hundred days before the Annual Meeting.
Section 11.04 Five percent of the members in good standing may nominate an additional candidate for any office, provided the nomination is received in writing by the Secretary-Treasurer at least ninety days before the Annual Meeting.
(a) The Secretary-Treasurer shall inform the prospective nominee of the probable extent of the burden of office. A nomination becomes effective only upon filing with the Secretary-Treasurer a statement of willingness and ability to devote such time to the affairs of the Section as necessary to the effective execution of office.
Article XII. Balloting
Section 12.01 A member in good standing shall be entitled to cast one ballot in any election or referendum.
Section 12.02 Ballots shall be secret. Balloting methodology shall be determined by AAA policy and should be congruent with accepted AAA balloting practices.
(a) The Executive Committee shall have the authority to examine the eligibility of any voter.
Section 12.03 Thirty days shall be allowed for the return of ballots. Ballots must be received by the Secretary-Treasurer no later than the stated returned date to be counted.
Section 12.04 A service agency (the AAA) may be engaged to tally the votes and certify the results to the Executive Committee.
Article XIII. Referenda
Section 13.01 Referenda may be conducted by ballot at any time upon initiation of the Executive Committee or upon receipt by the Secretary-Treasurer of a petition signed by five percent of the members in good standing. A majority of votes received shall constitute a favorable vote.
Article XIV. Finances
Section 14.01 The fiscal year of the Section shall be that of the AAA.
Section 14.02 The Section shall submit an annual operating budget to the AAA Board of Directors, which, when approved, shall govern Section activities.
Section 14.03 The income from annual dues, investments, and other sources shall constitute a working fund, available for operating, publication, and current expenses consistent with the purposes of the Section.
Section 14.04 No financial obligation in excess of funds available in the treasury shall be assumed by the Executive Committee or by any officer on behalf of the Section except that for the purpose of this Section, estimated receipts from annual dues and other accounts receivable for the current year may be considered as available funds.
Section 14.05 The Section may establish special funds to be administered by the AAA for purposes the Section may designate.
Section 14.06 All members of the Executive Committee, including both incoming and outgoing members who travel to meetings on official NASA business, shall be eligible for partial reimbursement of their travel costs.
(a) The Executive Committee, by majority vote, may declare specific other persons traveling on official NASA business to be eligible for reimbursement, as well.
(b) The amount of funding available for travel reimbursement each year shall be included in the annual budget, and may not exceed fifty percent of the total budgeted amount in any given year.
(c) The Secretary-Treasurer shall collect receipts for any legitimate travel-related expenses at the end of each fiscal year. Applicants for reimbursement must declare any outside sources of travel funding when submitting receipts.
(d) The reimbursement amount for each claim shall be equal, determined by dividing the number of eligible claims for reimbursement by the budgeted reimbursement amount.
(e) No person shall receive a reimbursement greater than the value of the receipts submitted, including outside sources of travel funding.
Article XV. Publications
Section 15.01 Anthropology News shall serve as a publishing platform to share Section news and student writing contributions.
Section 15.02 Student Anthropologist shall be the official journal of the Section.
Section 15.03 The Section may initiate additional publications and appoint additional editors, subject to the approval of the members or the Executive Committee.
Article XVI. Liaison
Section 16.01 The Section may establish a liaison with other organizations with overlapping objectives.
Article XVII. Amendment
Section 17.01 These Bylaws may be amended by the members by ballot, provided that a proposed amendment is approved by two-thirds of the votes cast.
Section 17.02 Amendments may be proposed by the Executive Committee or by five percent of the members in good standing. The Executive Committee shall have the proposed amendment circulated to the members and it shall allow thirty days for the return of ballots.
Section 17.03 The amendments and provisions of these Bylaws shall be effective immediately upon adoption and shall supersede and nullify all previous amendments and provisions.
Article XVIII. Dissolution
Section 18.01 The Section may decide, through a vote of its members, to dissolve in accordance with the Bylaws of the AAA.