Constitution: Western Association of Registrars of the Universities and Colleges of Canada Amended June 1975,1977, 1981, 1983,1985, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993 ,1995, 1997, 1999 and 2009 Assemblies)

Articles

Article I: Name
The name of the organization shall be The Western Association of Registrars of the Universities and Colleges of Canada (WARUCC).

Article II: Purposes
The Western Association of Registrars of the Universities and Colleges of Canada is not an accrediting organization nor is accreditation implied by membership. The purposes of the organization shall be to:

1. Provide a forum for the exchange of information on matters of mutual concern.
2. Provide for liaison between members of the Association and other organizations performing similar or related tasks.
3. Provide leadership for the generation of ideas and the administration of professional development among its members.
4. Provide a continuing review of the functions performed by the Registrar and the impact occasioned by technology and organization structures. Assemblies, workshops, seminars, publications or whatever other such devices are deemed by the membership as appropriate shall fulfill these purposes.

Article III Membership

Ordinary Membership
Ordinary Membership shall be:

a) Institutional, and
b) Individual

with the proviso that institutional membership must be obtained by those institutions wishing to nominate persons for Individual membership. (Voting rights within the organization attach only to the institutions holding Institutional membership. Each institution holding such membership shall designate one Individual member to cast the institution's single vote on any question.)

Associate Membership
Associate membership shall be extended to interested persons accepted by the organization from an agency not eligible for Institutional membership. (No voting rights accrue to such members.)

Service Award
Granting of a Service Award shall be to those members of the Association who have provided lengthy and dedicated service as a member of the profession. This Award will be granted to individuals who have retired or resigned from the profession and shall be determined by majority vote of the Executive Committee.

Honorary Membership
Any institution or individual member may recommend individuals to the Executive Committee for either a Service Award or for Honorary Membership. Granting of Honorary Membership shall be to those individuals who have provided lengthy and dedicated service to the profession and have played an active role in the association, either as a member of the Executive or in some other significant way. This Award will be granted to individuals who have retired or resigned from the profession and shall be determined by majority vote of the Executive Committee.

Nominations for Service Awards or for Honorary Membership should normally be received six months prior to the general assembly of the Association.

Corporate Membership
Corporate Membership shall be two year, non-voting, entitling members to booth space at the Biennial Conference and to be listed in the Membership directory.

Article IV: Officers

Section I
The officers of the organization shall comprise:

A President
A Vice-President
A Past-President
A Secretary & A Treasurer

Section II
The officers listed in Section I, together with four Members-at-Large, shall constitute the Executive Committee with power to conduct the business of the organization within such restrictions as may be placed upon them by the membership from time to time.

Section III
The Newsletter and Website Editors shall be non-voting members of the Executive Committee.

The Western Regional Representative to the Executive Committee of the Association of Registrars of the Universities and Colleges of Canada (ARUCC) shall be a non-voting member of the WARUCC Executive Committee for any period of his/her ARUCC term in which he/she is not a WARUCC Officer or Member-at-Large.

Article V: Amendments
This Constitution may be amended at any regular General Assembly by a two-thirds majority of institutions present and voting. (Abstentions shall not be considered in determining this majority.)

By-laws

By-law #1: Fees and expenses
At each General Assembly of the organization, the membership fee schedule shall be considered and either lowered, held, or increased by a simple majority of votes cast.

A fee shall attach to each institutional membership, which shall include one individual membership. while a further fee shall attach to each additional individual membership whether Ordinary or Associate. There shall be a separate corporate membership fee.

Fees assessed(except for Corporate memberships)shall be due and collectible within sixty (60) days following the first General Assembly, and annually thereafter on each anniversary of that assembly. Institutions not paying fees by the opening of the General Assembly of the Western ARUCC shall relinquish their voting privileges for that assembly meeting.

They shall provide an income such as to support the operation of the Executive Committee, provincial Professional Development Workshops as authorized under By-Law #8. or any activity deemed by the Executive to be an appropriate charge upon such income, save that all other assemblies, workshops and similar gatherings shall be as independent and self-sufficient as possible, so as to place little or no burden on membership fee income.

Corporate Membership fees shall be set in advance of each biennial meeting in conjunction with the conference organizing committee. Revenue derived from corporate memberships shall be used to offset expenses at the biennial conference.

The Executive members of the Western ARUCC shall have reasonable travel and associated expenses paid from Association funds to attend executive meetings, where the home institution cannot or will not bear the expenses.

By-law #2: Meetings
A meeting of all member institutions and individuals able to attend shall occur either annually or biennially, with the interval between such meetings to be determined by the wish of the membership as expressed by Vote. This meeting shall be called The General Assembly of The Western ARUCC and shall be the general arena for the transaction of the organization's business, including the regular election of officers to the Executive Committee.

The location and dates of a General Assembly shall be determined in advance of the immediately preceding General Assembly and announced at that prior Assembly.

At the call of the Executive Committee, or upon petition by not less than twenty (20) individual members representing at least seven (7) institutions, an Extraordinary Assembly may be called to discuss items of mutual interest and extreme urgency.

The Executive Committee shall, in the case of an emergency, have the power to postpone or cancel such a meeting.

By-law #3: Terms of office and duties of officers

No officer shall be elected or continue to serve in a position unless he/she holds Ordinary membership in the organization. With the exception of completion of a term as Past-President, all officers shall serve for two consecutive "two year" periods, with approximately half of the officers retiring from the Executive Committee at each General Assembly.

The President shall normally assume office after one period as Vice-President and shall preside at all meetings of the organization at which he/she is present, shall act as Chairperson of the Executive Committee, shall be a signing authority for financial transactions, and shall be in full charge of the operations of the organization as well as responsible for the supervision of all assigned and/or delegated duties. The President shall also act as host of the biennial conference, to be held in the President's home province. This does not require that the conference be held at the President's institution.

A Vice-President shall be elected at each General Assembly. As principal assistant to the President, he/she shall assume the office of the President in his/her absence, and fully at the conclusion of the next Assembly following election to the Executive Committee. He/she shall, during his/her term as Vice-President, be responsible for recruitment of members, for the maintenance of the membership roll, and for other duties as may be assigned to him/her. The Vice-President shall also be a signing authority for financial transactions.

The Treasurer shall be responsible for the collection of fees and the maintenance of all records of a financial nature except the membership roll. The Treasurer shall also be a signing authority for financial transactions.

The Members-at-Large, of which there shall be four (4), shall be elected from members so as to ensure that one is resident in British Columbia or Yukon, one in Alberta or Northwest Territories, one in Saskatchewan, and one in Manitoba or Northwest Ontario. Members-at-large shall be the area coordinators of the opinions of the members as these are expressed outside the occasion of the periodic assemblies.

Members-at-Large shall also be responsible, although not necessarily as organizers, for the regular provision of workshops, seminars, etceteras, within the areas of the constituencies.

Financial transactions shall require the signature of any two of three signing authorities (normally President, Vice-President, and Treasurer). The President shall grant signing authority for financial transactions to another Executive member within 10 days of receiving notice that any member of the Executive with such authority is unwilling or unable to fulfill his or her responsibilities, until such time as the vacant position is filled.

The Newsletter and Website Editors shall be appointed by the elected members of the Executive Committee and shall be responsible for the production of the Association's newsletter and website, as the principal vehicle for communication among the Association's members.

The WARUCC Executive Committee shall normally nominate an eligible first-year member of the Committee to serve as the Western Regional Representative to the Executive Committee of ARUCC. The responsibilities of the Representative are to serve as a liaison between the Executive Committees of WARUCC and ARUCC, and are otherwise as described in Article V of the ARUCC Constitution.

The Executive Committee shall have authority, between Assemblies, to fill any post which, for any reason, is vacated. No Executive Committee position shall remain vacant for a period greater than 60 days from the date the President receives notice that any member of the Executive is unwilling or unable to fulfill his or her responsibilities.

By-law #4: Nominating Committee
A nominating committee shall be responsible for the production of a suggested list of names for consideration by each General Assembly. The nominating committee shall consist of the serving President, who shall request assistance from three additional members, so chosen that they are representative of the member institutions.

Nominations from the floor of the Assembly shall be also permitted.

Other members nominated to the Executive Committee shall be so chosen as to provide a balance which (insofar as is possible in conforming to the wish of the Assembly to elect the most able Executive) is representative of the voices of the members of the Association.

Nominations for Vice-President should be made in such a way that no province will be represented by the President for consecutive terms, and that all provinces or regions are regularly represented.

By-law #5: Amendments
Any By-law of the organization may be changed by the wish of one more than half of the institutions present and voting at the General Assembly or by the wishes of two-thirds of Institutional members determined by postal ballot not less than thirty (30) days following dispatch of an amended By-law to each institution by the Executive Committee, using registered mail.

By-law #6: Eligibility for membership
Institutional membership shall be open to all institutions of post-secondary education located in the country of Canada west of the 88 degree (W) longitude, who are approved for membership by a majority of the Executive Committee. Institutional membership granted by the Executive Committee shall be reported to the individual members in attendance at each biennial Assembly.

Individual memberships shall be open to any members of the staff of any institution accepted for membership whose interests, in the opinion of the Executive, are such as to make membership of value to them.

Associate membership shall be open to any individual from an agency whose interests, in the opinion of the Executive, are such as to make membership of value to them.

Institutions eligible for Institutional membership shall not qualify for Associate membership.

Corporate membership shall be open to corporations/companies from which, in the opinion of the Executive, the Association would benefit.

By-law #7: Use of the name
Whereas Western ARUCC is not an accrediting body, but has as its purpose the professional development of its members, the name of the Association may not by used in any form to imply such membership results in official accreditation.

By-law #8: Professional development
Whereas Professional Development is one of the primary purposes of the Association, provincial bodies of WARUCC are therefore eligible to apply for an annual grant for the purpose of hosting a Professional Development Workshop. Application for each grant will be made through the provincial Member-at-Large. Grants will be awarded, provided the proposed Workshop is consistent with the goals and objectives of the Association. The maximum amount of grant will be prorated on the basis of the number of Institutional (paid-up) memberships in that province. The annual grant will not exceed the sum of thirty dollars ($30.00) for each Institutional membership plus $1.00 for each ordinary and each associate member. Any surplus funds from the Professional Development Workshops will be returned to WARUCC.

The Member-at-Large for that province will be responsible for receiving and returning the funds, as well as filing a report to the Executive Committee of WARUCC on the proceedings of each Workshop.

In 1991, the WARUCC executive established an "Assistantship fund" to return WARUCC assets to its members through a professional development program which will benefit both the individual and strengthen the expertise of the WARUCC region.

There exists an assistantship fund named the J. David McLeod Assistanship Fund, in honor of the outstanding contribution made by J. David McLeod to the development of the registrarial profession in Western Canada. The fund serves to encourage members to pursue professional development opportunities, and to strengthen the expertise of the WARUCC region.

|  last updated: 30 June 2010  |  web site inquiries |