2017-2018 Undergraduate Bulletin

Section 2 - The Membership of the Student Council

  1. The Student Council has twenty-five ( 25) positions for student representation. The Student Council shall consist of the following: President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, four Freshman Representatives, four Sophomore Representatives, four Junior Representatives, four Senior Representatives, four Graduate Representatives and one Council-at-Large representative. In addition to these elected student representatives, the Student Council will appoint, after taking applications and conducting open interviews, a non-voting Parliamentarian and a non-voting Marketer to the Student Council. These positions cannot be held in conjunction with any other position within Student Council.
  2. The four executive officers of Student Council: the President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary cannot simultaneously hold office as a class representative. The four executive officers shall possess all the powers, privileges, responsibilities and obligations of a class representative in addition to those special to his or her position.
  3. All members of the Student Council must be students in good standing at the time of their election and maintain such standing throughout their term of office. All undergraduate class representatives and executive officers who are undergraduates must have grade-point averages of at least 2.5 at the time of their election and throughout their term of office. Graduate class representatives and executive officers that are graduate students must have grade-point averages of at least 3.0 at the time of their election. Graduate students without a John Jay GPA are eligible if the transcript of their previous school demonstrates a final grade point average of at least 3.0. Graduate and undergraduate transfer students are also eligible to hold office, provided transcripts of their previous schools may be verified and the above grade-point average requirements may be satisfied.
  4. All members of the Student Council shall be required to attend all meetings of the Student Council and of the committees to which they are assigned. Repeated non-attendance or lateness for meetings by elected members shall be considered valid grounds for impeachment and removal from the Student Council. Any members of the Student Council with more than two unexcused absences from the regular monthly meetings of the Student Council will be suspended from office automatically. An absence may be excused if there is written prior notification. Student Council must review the suspension within thirty days after the suspension began. Within those thirty days of suspension, a majority vote of Student Council must vote on whether the suspended member is reinstated or not. If after thirty days, the Student Council fails to vote on the suspended member then the suspended member has seven days after the expiration date of the thirty days to make an appeal about the suspension to the Judicial Board. If the Judicial Board fails to review the suspension and vote within seven days from the date the appeal was filed, then the suspended member has seven days to appeal to the Dean of Students in writing. The sole decision to reinstate or not will then rest with the Dean of Students. The notification of the Dean of Students, decision will be made within two weeks of the appeal and sent to the entire Student Council and Judicial Board. Members suspended more than once from Student Council are deemed impeached and may never hold a position within the Student Government.
  5. Each class representative on the Student Council shall be expected to devote at least four hours per week to his or her official responsibilities during the fall and spring semesters, in addition to their duties with College Council. During at least one designated hour of this time per week, they shall be available at the Student Council offices for consultation with their student constituents. Class representatives are responsible for developing two events or programs per semester within their respective representative group, individually, or in a committee, that will address the needs and concerns of their constituents. Failure to comply with office hours and developing two events or programs will result in an automatic suspension after the last day of class for the semester. In addition, repeated violation of rules established by the executive officers of Student Council will be grounds for suspension.
  6. The Council-at-Large representative is responsible for addressing college-wide policies and will be expected to devote at least four hours per week to his or her official responsibilities during the fall and spring semesters, in addition to his or her duties with College Council. He or she will serve as the chairperson of the Town Hall Committee, will be an ex-officio member of the Campus Safety Advisory Committee, and serve on the permanent Committee on General Activities. The College Council-at-Large representative shall also create a monthly report by the end of each month of all policies implemented or changed that will affect the John Jay student community. The report will be reviewed by the executive officers of Student Council to then be disseminated to the John Jay student body. Office hours can be used to create the monthly reports and attend meetings.
  7. In addition to the elected members of Student Council, there will also be a Marketer and a Parliamentarian position, which will be selected individually by a simple majority of the Council from a pool of candidates solicited from the full student body and individually interviewed. The Marketer will be responsible for creating all marketing materials for Student Council. The Parliamentarian will attend all Student Council meetings and oversee the training and implementation of Robert’s Rules, newly revised, for all members of Student Council.
  8. At the time of a student’s nomination for the office of class representative, each candidate shall have sufficient credits, including the credits registered for during the current semester (in progress) and excluding all other credits such as INC credits, to be a member of the class he or she will represent. A student’s status shall be determined and certified by the Vice President of Enrollment Management or his or her designee, the criteria of which are as follows:

Freshman 1.0–29.9 Credits

Sophomore 30.0–59.9 Credits

Junior 60.0–89.9 Credits

Senior–90 or more Credits

Seniors who are candidates for executive positions shall have their eligibility for office determined by their status. A senior candidate for graduation, may satisfy the enrolled requirement by providing proof of acceptance to a John Jay College graduate program by June 1st. Bachelor of Arts/Masters of Arts students are classified according to their undergraduate class codes.

Representative class eligibility is based on the credit range specified above.