A Cappella Club
Last active term
Club Name
The name of the club will be A Cappella Club. We are not agent or representative of the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA), and our views and actions in no way represent the WUSA.
Governance
The club will uphold the values, mission, and mandate of both the University of Waterloo (UW) and WUSA through following the directives outlined in the WUSA Clubs Manual, all WUSA By-Laws, Policies, and Procedures, as well as all policies and procedures outlined by the UW Secretariat. Furthermore, the club will abide by all laws of the Region of Waterloo, Province of Ontario, and Government of Canada. All club matters will ultimately be governed by the WUSA Clubs Manager.
Purpose
The purpose of the club is to gather University of Waterloo students, staff, faculty and members of the UW community at large to
1) Enrich the experience of the local and campus communities through a cappella music;
2) Provide a creative outlet for members through singing and creating a cappella music together, including performance opportunities;
3) Provide opportunities for skills development for members;
4) Foster the development of a cappella on campus.
Club events, activities, and/or initatives will include
- 1~2 practices per week to learn an approximately 16-minute choreographed set;
- Social events as well as workshops run by club members and professional musicians;
- The End of Term (EOT) concerts held every term at a large venue, such as the Theatre of the Arts in Modern Languages;
- Numerous performance and gig opportunities on campus and within the K-W area where the groups get to interact with the community at large.
Membership Structure
The club will be fully inclusive and welcoming to both its current and potential membership. New membership is welcome and accepted at any time during a club’s active term. Eligible club members may be current: WUSA Members, as outlined by the WUSA By-Laws; UW graduate students; UW staff or faculty; and/or members of the UW community at large, as defined in the Clubs Manual.
Only current UW students (graduate or undergraduate) may hold voting membership within the club. UW Staff, faculty, and members of the UW community at large may hold non-voting membership within the club. (If Applicable) UW undergrad students who are eligible to obtain voting membership in the club who do not wish to pay the club membership fee at the time of joining may hold non-voting membership within the club. Voting membership can be obtained for said members by paying the membership fee.
At least two thirds of the club's membership must be current UW students (graduate or undergraduate).
Membership Fee
Executive Officers
The majority of executives will be current UW students (graduate or undergraduate). The club president will be a current UW undergraduate student. All club executives will be elected, not hired or appointed. The term of office for all executive positions is one academic term, as outlined by the UW Registrar’s Office. All club decisions will be determined by executive vote, as no executive officer (not even the President) holds decision making power for the collective.
The Chair ensures that:
- The club operates according to the guidelines of its constitution and some agreed upon guidelines for running a meeting, such as Robert's Rules of Order;
- The club works towards its objectives as agreed upon by the membership; and
- Their successor is trained.
- The Chair is responsible for completing administrative tasks related to being a FEDS affiliated club such as maintaining meeting minutes and completing joint event forms. The Chair is the main point of contact between UWACC and FEDS and is responsible for maintaining a good relationship with them. The Chair coordinates and assists the Main Group Representatives, functioning as an integral component of the Representatives’ Council, as well as chairing the Acassembly and sitting in on all other established councils within UWACC. In the event that the Council is unable to agree on a decision that affects the Club, the Chair is to make an informed judgement and final decision on that matter. The Chair represents, promotes, and speaks on behalf of UWACC to external parties.
The Chair is a signing authority.
The End of Term Concert Coordinator ensures that:
- Records of what the group has done are maintained, distributed, and are accessibile to all the members;
- Meeting minutes/notes are recorded and made available to all voting members;
- All club correspondence is monitored and brought to the attention of the appropriate person(s);
- Their successor is trained.
- The End of Term Concert (EOT) Coordinators are responsible for overseeing and delegating all the tasks relating to the End of Term Concert. Responsibilities include venue reservation, setlist, sound tech, film crew, ticketing and front of house. Coordinators are encouraged to enlist volunteers and form an End of Term Concert Committee. Up to two EOT Coordinators are elected per term.
- The above listed responsibilities do not apply to the End of Term Coordinator. They will be duties of the Club Chair.
The End of Term Concert Coordinator is a signing authority.
The Treasurer ensures that:
- The club's WUSA bank account and all financial transactions for the club are monitored and verified;
- All club revenues are collected, deposited into the club's WUSA bank account, and reconciled correctly and within a timely manner;
- Club cheque requests are submitted correctly and in a timely manner; and
- Their successor is trained.
- The Treasurer is the administrative authority of all group finance sheets and the maintainer of the UWACC Club Finance Aggregate sheet, which includes the club-wide budget. The Aggregate Sheet contains transactions from the club across all groups, as well as any club-wide expenses. They are responsible for updating the UWACC finance sheet and the Club Aggregate sheet, as well as monitoring the individual group finance sheets. Since all cheque request forms will be sent to the club email, the Treasurer is responsible for collecting the cheque request form files for future reference.
The Treasurer is a signing authority.
The Media and Promotions Director ensures that:
- The Media and Promotions Director will be responsible for managing the A Cappella Club’s website and all social media accounts owned by the Club and keeping them updated. This individual is responsible for promoting and marketing club-wide events. They will prepare posters and other promotional materials for the End of Term Concerts. The UWACC branding materials and all associated Main Group logos used in UWACC promotions are to be curated and updated by the Media and Promotions Director. They will work with the Main Groups to generate consistent branding.
- Ensures that the next Media and Promotions Director is trained.
The Representatives’ Council Member ensures that:
- Each representative is also responsible for ensuring that their group’s section of the Club’s repertoire list is updated regularly and archived. This task is to be performed at least once at the end of every term.
- The Representatives’ Council is responsible for maintaining the overall well-being of the Club and its Main Groups. The Representatives are responsible for assigning tasks and overseeing the efforts between all the UWACC Elected Officers and ensuring the completion of tasks. The Representatives are responsible for approving the club budget and unbudgeted expenses. The Council works closely with the Chair to ensure the goals and responsibilities of UWACC are upheld.
- The Representatives’ Council is part of the Club Executive and is made up of one representative per Main Group. One member cannot hold two Representative positions in a single term. They are executive officers, along with the Elected Officers. The Representatives’ Council is the executive voting body, when a vote is needed. The chair will vote along with the Representatives’ Council, and in the event of a tie vote, the Club Chair’s vote will break the tie.
- Ensures that the next Representatives’ Council Member is trained.
The Conductors' Coordinator ensures that:
- - Determine rules for the admin of small groups, due dates, submission formats and so on.
- - Foster the generation and development of small groups;
- - Make the End-Of-Term Concerts the best it can be through the generation and execution of a group song;
- - Incentivize shorter small group performances so that more groups have a chance at performing at EOT. But do not unduly penalize long performances;
- - Make the End-Of-Term Concerts the best it can be through fair and reasoned selection of small groups;
- - Support the 5 main groups. Defer to the decisions of the Conductors' Council (CC), which you may be part of, act as a tiebreaker if necessary;
- The Conductors' Coordinator is responsible for:
- The Conductors’ Council is an administrative committee formed at the beginning of each term. It is formed of one musical director position (Musical Director, Assistant Musical Director, Co-Musical Director etc.) from each of the main groups.
- Ensures that the next Conductors' Coordinator is trained.
It is important to assure that the person with the most information and/or knowledge in the club is not the full-time chairperson. Therefore, the club will occasionally rotate the role of chairperson among voting members.
Executive Support Structure
The Social Convenor ensures that:
- The Social Convenor will be responsible for organizing club-wide socials throughout the term. This includes coordinating the scheduling and booking of socials with Acassembly members and Representatives' Council, organizing any food arrangements for the socials, coordinating with the Treasurer to set a budget for each social, and coordinating the promotion of each event with the Media and Promotions Director.
- Ensures that the next Social Convenor is trained.
The Conductors' Council Member ensures that:
- The Conductors’ Council may be given more duties on a term-by-term basis as deemed appropriate by the Representative’s Council.
- 5) Inform Feds of the current Small Groups operating for a given term.
- 4) Administration of the EOT Group Song Rehearsals;
- 3) Selecting and proofreading the EOT Group song;
- 2) Administration of the Small Group EOT Video Auditions;
- 1) Administration of the Small Group EOT Sign-Up Form;
- The Conductors’ Council is an administrative committee formed at the beginning of each term. It is formed of one musical director position (Musical Director, Assistant Musical Director, Co-Musical Director etc.) from each of the main groups. It is not a voting body and none of its members need to be Club Executives. The Conductors’ Council reports to both the Acassembly and the Club Executive as needed. In the event of a deadlocked decision by the conductor’s council, the UWACC Chair can be asked to step in and mediate to come to a final decision. The Conductors’ Council is tasked with:
- Ensures that the next Conductors' Council Member is trained.
The Small Group Ensemble ensures that:
- - Liaises with UWACC and the Conductor's Council via the Conductor Coordinator
- - Must submit a request to the Conductor's Council to be considered an ensemble for that term
- - Can be formed and disbanded termly based on a decision by the Conductor's Council
- - No size restriction
- - Each Small Group Ensemble has a unique name
- - Formed for the purposes of performing a specific piece of music for that term
- Ensures that the next Small Group Ensemble is trained.
Meetings
General Meetings
The club will hold termly general meetings. Quorum for general meetings will be 15 voting members of 20% of voting membership (whichever is more).
Executive Meetings
The club will hold monthly executive meetings. Quorum for executive meetings will be 2 executives or at least 51% of the executive body (whichever is more).
The first meetings (both general and executive) of the following term will be arranged by the outgoing executive. At said meetings, subsequent meeting dates and locations will be set. Meeting dates and times will be forwarded to voting members by:
Emergency meetings can be called by an executive via:
and must be sent to the appropriate members at least 48 hours prior to the meeting time.
ELECTION PROCESS
Elections shall take place at the end of each term for the following academic term. Only University of Waterloo students who are members of the club can vote. Club members must be notified, by email, two weeks in advance of the meeting where executive elections will take place. The term of office shall be for one term. An executive can only hold office (any position) for a total of up to three terms.
Nominations for executives can be made from any club member. The majority of executives must be undergraduate University of Waterloo students. The successful candidate will be the one with the most votes. In the case of a tie, a re-vote will take place until the tie is broken.
IMPEACHMENT AND DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURES
A movement to impeach an executive officer may be made by any executive officer or by petition of at least five voting members. When the motion is made the Clubs Manager will be informed. An emergency general meeting will be called as soon as is reasonably possible. No club funds will be spent until the issue is resolved.
At the impeachment meeting, the individual(s) who initiated the process will state their case. Afterwards, the officer(s) under impeachment will have an opportunity to defend their position(s) on the matter.
There will then be a question and answer period followed by the selection process for a Chief Returning Officer (CRO) who will oversee the voting process to ensure the decision is fair and democratic. Any executive officer who is neither the initiator nor subject of the impeachment may volunteer as CRO. If there is no such officer, then any voting member of the club present at the meeting may volunteer. If there are multiple volunteers, then the CRO will be selected based on a simple majority vote cast by secret ballot and tallied publically by the chairperson of the meeting. If there is no such volunteer for CRO, then the meeting will be at a standstill until either an eligible executive officer or voting member volunteers.
The vote will be by a “YES/NO” secret ballot, tallied publically by the CRO. If at least two thirds of the votes are for impeachment, then said officer will immediately be stripped of their position. The remaining executive may choose to call an immediate by-election to replace the newly vacant executive officer position.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
A claim against any executive officer or club member regarding a potential conflict of interest can be made by any executive officer or by petition of at least five voting members. If such a claim arises, then said individual(s) under suspicion have the opportunity to remove them self (or themselves) from said potential conflict without acknowledging intention of wrongdoing. In the event the claim is contested, then the Clubs Manager will be informed and an emergency executive meeting will be called to determine the validity of the claim. Executive officers who have a claim against them cannot vote to determine the validity of said claim. If executive quorum is not possible due to the removal of said vote(s), then an emergency general meeting will be called and the same proceedings described for impeachment will be used to determine the validity of the claim.
If the claim is validated and there is suspicion of intentional wrongdoing, an immediate impeachment proceeding may be called by any executive officer or by petition of at least five voting members, of whom are not named in the claim. If it is determined that a club member is involved in intentional wrongdoing, the impeachment proceeding will be called to determine said member’s club status.
AMENDMENTS
Constitutional amendments may be proposed by any executive officer or by petition of at least five voting members. The amendment will then be voted on by referendum. The voting procedure will be the same as for the impeachment process. If the vote passes, the amendment and the vote will be forwarded to the Clubs Manager for final approval. If the Clubs Manager approves, then the constitution will be amended and any changes will be inserted into the constitution.
A motion to officially close the club will follow the same procedure as a constitutional amendment. If such a motion passes, then the club will be purged from the clubs system.
AFFILIATIONS
Internal Affilations
The club is affiliated with A Cappella Ensemble (ACE). The nature of the affiliation, including the conditions required by both parties, is outlined as follows:
The A Cappella Ensemble (ACE) is an entity under UW A Cappella Club (UWACC). It is one of five Main Groups that are fully established within the club. Main Groups should be permanent fixtures, and perform in every EOT Concert. They have the highest level of representation and responsibility of any UWACC group.
The club is affiliated with The Water Boys. The nature of the affiliation, including the conditions required by both parties, is outlined as follows:
The Water Boys is an entity under UW A Cappella Club (UWACC). It is one of five Main Groups that are fully established within the club. Main Groups should be permanent fixtures, and perform in every EOT Concert. They have the highest level of representation and responsibility of any UWACC group.
The club is affiliated with The AcaBellas. The nature of the affiliation, including the conditions required by both parties, is outlined as follows:
The AcaBellas is an entity under UW A Cappella Club (UWACC). It is one of five Main Groups that are fully established within the club. Main Groups should be permanent fixtures, and perform in every EOT Concert. They have the highest level of representation and responsibility of any UWACC group.
The club is affiliated with The Unaccompanied Minors. The nature of the affiliation, including the conditions required by both parties, is outlined as follows:
The Unaccompanied Minors is an entity under UW A Cappella Club (UWACC). It is one of five Main Groups that are fully established within the club. Main Groups should be permanent fixtures, and perform in every EOT Concert. They have the highest level of representation and responsibility of any UWACC group.
The club is affiliated with The Musical InterDudes. The nature of the affiliation, including the conditions required by both parties, is outlined as follows:
The Musical InterDudes is an entity under UW A Cappella Club (UWACC). It is one of five Main Groups that are fully established within the club. Main Groups should be permanent fixtures, and perform in every EOT Concert. They have the highest level of representation and responsibility of any UWACC group.
Acassembly Voting Body
For each of the active main groups during the term, the following number of votes will be allotted to them:
5 votes if the main group is an open main group
4 votes if the main group is an auditioned main group and consists of more than or equal to 15 members
3 votes if the main group is an auditioned main group and consists of less than or equal to 14 members
1 vote to each Elected officer(s) who is not an Active Main Group Executive
Each member of Acassembly must only hold a maximum of 1 vote of equal weight.
In the event where the number of votes exceeds the number of main group executives representing that group, they may proxy the missing vote(s) to current member(s) from that group.
In the event where a person has taken on more than one role between being an executive of different groups and/or an elected officer, their vote may only be counted once towards the main group that they declare to represent before a vote is conducted. The UWACC Chair will be an exception to this rule and they will hold a single vote that is separate from their home main group’s allotment.