Chapter III By-laws - Constitutional Committees

These shall include all committees and boards established by the Constitution.

1. Administrative Committee

1.1. Composition and Selection (IV, 3)
(a)The Administrative Committee shall consist of the President, President-Elect, Treasurer, and four other elected members of the Council appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Council.
(b)No appointed officer shall be eligible to serve on the Committee.

1.2. Powers and Duties
The Administrative Committee shall:
a. Call Council meetings in addition to those called by the Council itself whenever in the Committee's judgment such a meeting is desirable.
b. Solicit suggestions for agenda items from Council members and prepare the agenda for each Council meeting.
c. Prepare the agenda for the Annual Business Meeting.
d. Recommend the annual budget for action by the Council.
e. Make special appropriations from the contingency funds under the conditions stated in Chapter I, 11.3.
f. On behalf of the Council, dispose of policy issues deemed of insufficient weight to require decisions by the Council.
g. On its own initiative or as directed by the Council, from time to time commission reviews and evaluations of Association programs and relationships with other organizations.
h. On the recommendation of the President, establish ad hoc advisory committees, advise and consent to the appointment of their members, and fund them by appropriations from the contingency fund.

1.3. Reporting to the Council
(a) The Administrative Committee shall deliver to each member of the Council at least one week prior to each Council meeting a written report of its actions taken under 1.2(e) and (h).
(b) The Council shall question and discuss any items in this report it chooses, and no action taken by the Administrative Committee under 1.2(e), (f) and (h) shall become Association policy if specifically disapproved by the Council.

2. Nominating Committee

2.1. "After each annual meeting the President shall appoint with the advice and consent of the Council and with due regard to geographical distribution and the fields of professional interest, three members to a Nominating Committee of six, to serve for two-year terms; and the President shall designate the chair. The Committee may canvass the membership directly or indirectly for suggestions, and shall submit to the next Annual Business Meeting one nomination for each elective office to be filled, except the Presidency. These nominations shall be announced to the memberships, by any convenient means, well in advance of the Annual Meeting" (V, 2). Because the President-elect succeeds to the Presidency after a year, the Nominating Committee does not submit a name for the office of President.

2.2. A prospective candidate for elective office of the Association must become a dues-paying member upon filing for office (Rules, 1.4).

2.3. "Nominations for the office of Treasurer shall be from among members of the Association who, at the time of nomination, are serving as members of the Council or who have completed service during the preceding year" (V, 5).

2.4. In selecting nominees for elective offices, the Nominating Committee should give due regard to diversity, geographical distribution, fields of professional interest, type of institution, and academic/nonacademic employment status.

2.5. The Nominating Committee shall make its report to the President no later than April 15. The Chair of the Nominating Committee or his or her designee shall present the Committee's slate of nominees to the Annual Business Meeting.

3. Board of Editors of the APSR

3.1. "There shall be a Board of Editors of the American Political Science Review to assist the Managing Editor, and the Council may determine its size, method of appointment, and tenure" (VI, 2).

3.2. The number of members of the Board of Editors shall be fixed by the Council after it hears the recommendations of the Managing Editor.

3.3. Members of the Board of Editors shall be appointed by the Managing Editor with the advice and consent of the Council. The service of members of the Board of Editors shall not extend beyond the service of the Managing Editor who appointed them.

4. Annual Meeting Program Committee

NB: This section of the by-laws needs a review by the Annual Meeting Committee for recommendations to the Council to conform current practice with this statement.

4.1. The number of members of the Annual Meeting Program Committee shall be fixed by the Council after it hears the recommendation of the Program Chairperson-Designate.

4.2. Members of the Annual Meeting Program Committee shall be appointed by the Council after it hears the recommendations of the Program Chairperson-Designate. They shall serve from the date of their appointment until the close of the official program of the Annual Meeting for which they are responsible. They shall be ineligible to serve consecutive terms.

4.3. The Annual Meeting Program Chair, the chair of the Council Committee on Organized Sections, and the executive director shall meet in the spring of the year before the Annual Meeting to translate the proportions mandated by the Council into a specific allocation of panels among the three major components (official APSA program, Organized Sections, unaffiliated groups) of the program, with APSA-sponsored groups having the largest share, and devise any contingency plans. The number of panels at the Annual Meeting shall be limited by the space available at the headquarters hotel.

4.4. No one may participate on more than two panels listed in the program, including APSA program committee panels, those of APSA's Organized Sections, and those of the unaffiliated groups.

4.5. All participants in the Annual Meeting Program must pre-register by June 1 in order to be listed in the Final Program. Non political scientists who are invited to appear on official Program Committee panels or on panels of unaffiliated groups, and whose only participation in the Annual Meeting is the acceptance of the invitation, may petition the Association for exemption.

5. Trust and Development Fund Board of Trustees

5.1. "The Association Trust and Development Fund shall be administered by a Board of Trustees. The Treasurer of the Association shall serve ex-officio as Chair of the Board. Six other Trustees shall be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Council" (VII, 9).

5.2. "The Fund shall consist of all endowment and trust funds and such other funds as may be assigned to it by the Council, and with appropriate professional advice, the Board of Trustees shall direct the investment of the Fund's resources. Prior to the closing of the books at the end of the fiscal year, the Executive Director shall assign to the Association's general operating fund from the Trust and Development Fund an amount equal to a three-year moving average of four and one-half percent of the market value of the fund. If additional monies are needed for the operating fund, the Trust and Development Fund Board of Trustees may approve an allocation of up to six percent of the market value of the fund, calculated using a three-year moving average. At least once annually, the Board shall publicly issue an official accounting of the Fund's receipts, investments and expenditures. The Council may, at its pleasure, assign any surpluses from the general operating funds to the Trust and Development Fund"(VII, 9).

5.3 "No appropriation shall be made from the Fund's capital except (1) upon a request of the Council approved by at least four members of the Board of Trustees; or (2) if the Council so directs at a subsequent Council meeting, after hearing the position of the Board of Trustees. The Board shall act upon any request of the Council within thirty (30) days of the Council meeting at which the request is first made" (VII, 9).

5.4. Operating Procedures for the Board of Trustees
(a) The Fund was established to enable the Association to explore the desirability of proposed new programs and, on occasion, to seed their initial development so as to maximize chances of securing outside support for their continuation and expansion.
(b) The Board should be kept informed of all requests to the APSA Council for monies from the Fund. (c) All requests for Board action by the APSA Council should be in written form.
(d) The Board will consider only requests for specific purposes and is not prepared to act favorably on general purpose requests (e.g., to balance the APSA budget).
(e) All requests forwarded to the Board should be accompanied by supporting documentation and a summary of APSA Council debate on the request.
(f) The Board may, at its discretion, hold hearings in which those supporting and opposing specific requests may present their views and submit to questions.

5.5. Investment Policies
(a) The Association accepts responsibility for the social and moral implications and consequences of its investment policy, and avoids investments inconsistent with the pursuit of peace and of a democratic and humane social order.
(b) The Association shall not vote proxies from its investment portfolio.

5.6. Board Expenses
Expenses for Board meetings are charged to the Trust and Development Fund.