Constitution

ARTICLE I

The name of this association shall be "The Cum Laude Society Incorporated." Its
object shall be to promote learning and sound scholarship in secondary schools.

 

ARTICLE II

SECTION 1. The Society shall consist of Chapters established in
public high schools and incorporated secondary schools which are not conducted
for financial gain and which do not discriminate on the basis of race, color,
or national and ethnic origin in the administration of their educational
or admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs and athletic and other
school-administered programs. New Chapters shall be constituted by the Board
of Regents, in schools designated by the General Convention or by a majority
of the Regents. Each charter shall be signed by the President General and
the Secretary General of the Society, and attested by the seal of the Society.

 

SECTION 2. The General Convention shall have authority to revoke
the charter of any Chapter by a two-thirds vote, provided that notice of
the proposal of such action shall have been sent to the Chapter not less
than thirty days before the date appointed for the meeting of the General
Convention at which the proposal is to be presented. The Board of Regents
shall have authority to suspend the activity of any Chapter at any time,
but this suspension shall be valid only until the next meeting of the General
Convention.

 

SECTION 3. Members of the Chapters shall be elected by ballot,
and a three-fourths vote shall be necessary for election. The members shall
be of four classes, as follows:

 

CHARTER MEMBERS shall be elected under authority given by the Board
of Regents in granting charters, but the right to elect charter members shall
not be extended beyond two years from the establishment of the Chapter.

 

HONORARY MEMBERS: Each Chapter may elect two honorary members each
year.

 

FACULTY MEMBERS: Each Chapter may elect to membership teachers or
administrative officers of the school who are members of Phi Beta Kappa,
and other members of the faculty who in the judgment of the voting members
of the Chapter have suitable qualifications. At no time should the number
of active faculty members fall below three.

 

STUDENT MEMBERS: Each Chapter may elect as members those students
of the senior class in the college preparatory curriculum who have had an
honor record up to the time of election and stand in the first fifth of their
class, choosing the whole number at the end of the senior year, or not more
than the first tenth of the class at the end of the junior year or at any
time during the senior year and the remainder at the end of the senior year.
Each Chapter shall determine the method in which an honor record and class
standing shall be ascertained. Any exception to the foregoing provisions
as to the election of student members may be made by a Chapter only with
the prior written consent of the District Regent. Each member shall have
one vote at the meeting of a Chapter, except student members, who may, however,
by action of the Chapter be given the right to vote.

 

SECTION 4. The officers of the Chapter shall be regularly a president
and a secretary. The president may be either a student member or a faculty
member of the Chapter. The secretary shall be drawn from the active faculty
members of the Chapter, with the responsibility for all records and communications
with the Regents and the central office.

 

ARTICLE III

SECTION 1. The supreme legislative authority of the Society shall
be vested in a General Convention, to consist of the general officers of
the Society, the Board of Regents, and delegates elected by the Chapters.
Each Chapter shall be entitled to three delegates.

 

SECTION 2. Each Chapter shall have one vote in the General Convention.
The general officers of the Society and the members of the Board of Regents
shall have no vote, unless as delegates from their Chapters. Each Chapter
may cast its vote in person (through a representative) or by proxy in writing
filed with the Secretary General before being voted. Such proxy shall entitle
the proxy named therein to vote at the meeting of the Convention designated
in such proxy and at any adjournment thereof.

 

SECTION 3. The General Convention shall enact laws for the government
of the Society; shall elect by majority vote the general officers of the
Society and such District Regents and additional members of the Board of
Regents as the General Convention shall deem appropriate; shall determine
the insignia and the form of admission; and shall have jurisdiction over
all matters not provided for in this Constitution.

 

SECTION 4. The General Convention shall meet at such times and
places as may be fixed by the previous General Convention or the Board of
Regents.

 

SECTION 5. At any General Convention, a majority of all the Chapters
of the Society represented in person or by proxy shall constitute a quorum.

 

ARTICLE IV

SECTION 1. The general officers of the Society shall be a President
General, a Deputy President General, a Secretary General, a Registrar General,
and such other officers as the General Convention may determine. They shall
hold office for three years, or until their successors shall be chosen.

 

SECTION 2. The Secretary General, under the direction of the Board
of Regents, shall have supervision of the Chapters, and shall have charge
of the correspondence, records, reports, and publications of the Society,
except as otherwise provided.

 

SECTION 3. The Registrar General shall have charge of the membership
roll of the Society, and shall be custodian of the seal. He shall issue to
each member an official certificate, signed by the President General of the
Society, the Registrar General, and the President of the Chapter, and attested
by the seal of the Society, and this certificate shall be authority for initiation.
The Registrar General shall be the Treasurer of the Society. He shall collect
and hold the funds of the Society, and pay them out under the direction of
the General Convention or the Board of Regents.

 

SECTION 4. The Secretary General and the Registrar General shall
make a full and detailed report of their official acts to the General Convention.

 

SECTION 5. Any other officer shall have such duties and powers
as may be designated by the General Convention or by the Board of Regents.

 

ARTICLE V

In the interval between meetings of the General Convention all the powers
of the Society, except as otherwise provided, shall be lodged in the Board
of Regents, which shall consist of the general officers of the Society, Regents-at-Large
and such District Regents and additional members as the General Convention
may determine. Each District Regent shall be in charge of the Chapters in
a District. All Past Presidents General shall be Regents-at-Large with all
privileges pertaining to the office of Regent. Each member of the Board of
Regents shall be elected for three years, except that Regents-at-Large shall
serve at their pleasure.

 

ARTICLE Vl

SECTION 1. The General Convention shall have the authority to raise
money by assessments upon the Chapters.

 

SECTION 2. No certificate of membership shall be issued nor shall
a member-elect be initiated into the Society until there shall have been
paid to the Registrar General a membership fee, the amount of which shall
be fixed by the General Convention. Honorary members shall be exempt from
this requirement.

 

SECTION 3. Each Chapter shall be responsible for the dues of its
members to the general treasury, and shall determine its own dues.

 

ARTICLE VII

Amendments to this Constitution may be adopted by the affirmative vote
of not less than three-fourths of the Chapters represented in person or by
proxy at any General Convention at which a quorum is present, provided that
a copy of the proposed amendment shall have been submitted in writing to
the Chapters at least thirty days before the Convention and that no amendment
shall authorize or permit the Society to be operated or its assets to be
expended otherwise than exclusively for and in furtherance of the purposes
specified in ARTICLE VIII hereof.

 

ARTICLE VIII

SECTION 1. The Society shall be organized and operated exclusively
for charitable and educational purposes within the meaning of Section 501(c)(3)
of the Internal Revenue Code and shall not engage in activities not permitted
to be carried on by an organization described in said Section.

 

SECTION 2. All of the assets of the Society shall be held and applied
exclusively for charitable and educational purposes described in Section
501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, and, upon dissolution, shall
be disposed of only in furtherance of such purposes.