Constitution

Preamble

A defining characteristic of our generation's citizens is political cynicism. The low levels of participation among younger generations in the formal political process indicate a loss of faith in political progress. This cynicism, fuelled by the jaded mainstream media, is disempowering. We have forgotten that politics is the domain of the citizenry; that as citizens, we are entitled to enter the public domain and make our case for a better world, There is a need for intelligent political analysis composed by young citizens for young citizens; a political analysis which, deeply rooted in our educated understanding of socio-political realities, is also committed to a creative imagination dedicated to the vision of a better world. We are one of the last remaining forces of inspiration against this all-consuming culture of cynicism and apathy.

l. mandate

The mandate of the Caucus is to spur educated political debate and reflection among University of Ottawa students and beyond. Its content is therefore exclusively socio-political in nature and includes extensive commentary and opinion pieces on contemporary political and social issues, reflecting a wide gamut of political convictions. All articles must be compatible with this mandate.

Caucus encourages citizenry involvement in politics.

Caucus is a bilingual (French and English) publication.

Caucus does not accept any form of paid advertisement.

Caucus does not tolerate injurious speech.

Caucus affirmatively seeks out staff and writers from equity-seeking groups, fostering a

diversity of gender, gender identity, ethnicity, ability, sexual orientation and class in its

organization.

II. Organizational Structure

A Managerial Board composed of an OPIRG representative, a PIDSSA representative, Caucus Manager and Caucus Editor-in-chief, will be responsible for making decisions regarding expenditure, planning the publication year, approving event organization, seeking other funding resources, managing the distribution, and exploring opportunities for further growth of the project. The managerial Board will be required to meet a minimum of twice per semester, and will have access to the PlDSSA office space;

however, the Manager and the Editor-in-Chief will be the sole Board members that hold keys to the office.

The Board will be chaired by the Manager. She/he is responsible for leading the board toward consensus on every issue. Should measures fail to break a deadlock in decision-making, the Manager may request a vote on the matter, which has to win ¾ of support from the Board in order to pass.

In case of a realest for another body to enter this joint-venture and be represented on the managerial Board, the decision can be approved only by unanimous consensus.

For terms beginning in even years, the PIDSSA Representative will put forward a nominated candidate for the position of Editor-in-Chief and the OPIRG Representative will put forward a nominated candidate for the position of Manager. The nomination is subject to ratification by the PIDSSA executive and the OPIRG board.

For terms beginning in odd years, the OPIRG Representative will put forward a nominated candidate for the position o. f Editor-in-Chief and the PID5SA Representative will put forward a nominated candidate for the position of Manager. The nomination is subjected to ratification by the PIDSSA executive and the OPIRG board.

Should any nominee be Rejected, the rejection must be clearly and openly justified by compelling and appropriate reasoning.

Any changes to the constitution of the Caucus must be voted on by the Managerial Board and be ratified with unanimous consent.

III. Distribution

The manager is responsible for purchasing or renting stands for 20 locations. It is also responsible for justifying the locations of stands, and later on evaluating the efficacy of those locations in distributing the magazine.

The Manager is also responsible for the actual distribution of the published product, using volunteer power.

IV. Production

The manager is responsible for composing a time-table for the production of the magazine, The Manager will put together strict deadlines for the Editorial Team to submit the magazine to the publisher.

The Manager is also responsible for managing the relations with the publishing company, including, but not limited to, handling the financial aspects of the production

V. Content

The Editorial Board, comprised of the Editor-in-Chief, the French Editor, and the English Editor, will be responsible for assigning, gathering, editing and organizin9 the content and layout of both the paper magazine and the website, e-caucus.ca. The Editorial Board is responsible for living up to the editorial guidelines of this constitution.

The PIDSSA and OPIRG will have their own assigned spaces (see section viii). The editorial board is responsible for accepting the submissions made by the PIDSSA and OPIRG representatives and publish them in the assigned area.

Vl. Potential for growth

The Caucus us has the potential to become a network of student-run political magazines across Canada's universities. This is an opportunity that the Managerial Board should continually pursue in the coming years, cultivating contacts at other Canadian universities and around the world.

Vll. Caucus financial accountability

The Caucus is responsible for meeting its commitments both in production and content to the PIDSSA and OPIRG. The Manager will be responsible for keeping accurate and transparent records of financial expenses and gains, and be ready to be audited by either the PIDSSA and/or OPIRG at any time. Since payments to the managerial Board will be made in quarterly installments, the Managerial Board will be required to submit a financial report to PIDSSA and OPIRG quarry as well.

In case the Caucus should fail to meet the above commitments, the PIDSSA executive and/or the OPIRG board should submit a complaint to the Managerial Board, in which case the current manager would be required to justify his/her decisions to the two bodes. Should the Manager's justification be deemed invalid, he/she will be dismissed and the body that originally nominated him/her will nominate a new Manager. The chosen replacement Manager must be ratified unanimously by the Remaining members of the Managerial Board. Should the nominee be rejected, the rejection must be justified.

The above process applies to the Editor-in-Chief as well- Should the content of the Caucus not meet the standards set in this constitution, the Editor-in-Chief will be held accountable by PIDSSA and/or OPIRG through the same process.

Vlll. PlDSSA and OPIRG Spaces in the Caucus

Both the PIDSSA and the OPIRG representatives will have their input regarding the composition of the editorial guidelines, ensuring that the final product is oriented to serve the interests of their membership, Both organizations will also have representation on the managerial board, holding a significant vote on every decision made by the board. Each will a also be granted a particular space in the magazine {generally a half-page each) for the purpose of advertising its events, updating its membership on ongoing projects, or any other use it desires, other than selling the space for advertisement. These rules must be flexible, i.e. if justified to the Editorial Board, the organizations may request extra space in one issue, for no space in another one.

The PIDSSA and the OPIRG are responsible for the management of the content of their particular spaces, meeting the due-dates for that particular issue, and, for ensuring that the content lives up to the editorial guidelines and the mandate governing the Caucus.

The Editorial Board is responsible for notifying the two organizations of the deadlines for submission and providing reasonable time for the composition of material for the assigned spaces. The Editorial Board is to consider the requests from the PIDSSA and the OPIRG representatives for extra space; should the request be justifiable, the Editorial Board is to grant more space to the organization for publication of its material.

let it be clear that besides the assigned space, PIDSSA executive members and OPIRG board members may also submit PIDSSAIOPIRG-related or non-PIDSSA/OPIRG related content to the Editorial Board for publication outside the assigned space for these organizations. That material, however, will be subject to the editorial decisions made solely by the Editorial board.

IX. Bilingualism Commitment

Evey effort should be made for, the managerial Board to be as bilingual as possible without impeding its function. The Editor-in-Chief must identify his/herself as being functionally bilingual, and the French Editor must identify his/herself as being functionally bilingual and francophone. The Board as a whole must make an effort to actively seek out francophone participation.

This constitution will be made available in both of Canada's official languages.

X. Editorial guidelines

All content covered in the Caucus must fall within the bounds of the Caucus' mandate (see section l). Caucus does accept articles written about controversial socio-political issues, as spurring political debate is the publication's goal; however, injurious speech that is to say, discriminatory comments based on age, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, mental or physical disability, etc.-- shall not be tolerated and will not be published in print or on the Caucus website.

The Caucus will aim to be fair regarding the publication of articles about controversial topics, showing the issue from as many different angles as possible, The Caucus will also encourage responses to articles and allow them to be published both on the website and in print.

The decision to publish any submissions to the Caucus in print or on the website is the sole discretion or the Editorial Board , led by the Editor-in-Chief; however, should any submissions be particularly contentious, they should be forwarded to the Managerial Board for ratification on a case-to-case basis.