What is our mission?

ARTICLE 1: Name and Objectives

 The objective of the Association shall be:

1. To bring about an awareness and understanding of Ethiopian culture among University of Maryland Eastern Shore students and faculty.

ARTICLE 2: Membership

1. Ordinary Members: All students currently studying at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore may become Members.  All ordinary members have the right to vote and hold office.

2.  Associate Members: All other interested persons may apply to become Associate Members of the association.  All associate    Members shall be allowed to participate in the general assembly   discussion and have the right to vote.

3.  Membership fee: The annual membership fee for ordinary and associate members is $10.00. A semi-annual fee of $5.00 is also applicable.

4. Dismissal of Members: The president and/or the Vice President have the right to dismiss a member based on misconduct and lack of attendance. If any members violate the constitution they will be subject to dismissal.

ARTICLE 3: Duties of Board members

 President

• Be the chief executive and accounting officer of the association.
• Have Knowledge of current events of Ethiopia
• Have knowledge of Ethiopia culture
• Preside over meetings of the ESA and of the Executive Board.
• Call general meetings of the Association and of the executive board whenever necessary or as directed by this constitution.
• Create as many Committees as necessary.  Such Committees will be automatically terminated with the completion or their assignment.
• Appoint the Chairs of standing committees.

Vice-president

• Assist the President in the discharge of his duties.
• Have Knowledge of current events of Ethiopia
• Have knowledge of Ethiopia culture
• Assume the duties of the President in the absence of or at the request of the President.
• Be responsible for the social activities of the Association with the help of the Publicity Secretary.

Secretary

• Record the minutes of all the Association and circulate copies to the members.
• Be responsible for all correspondence of the Association.
• Notify members of meetings.
• Take full attendance of all registered members of the association.

Treasurer

• Collect all dues to the association and pay all bills.
• Be a signatory to the association’s accounts, together with the President
• Be responsible for opening the Association bank accounts.
• Shall not discuss ESA financial matters outside official meetings and may only report to the President and/or vice president.  
• Do bookkeeping of the Association’s financial transactions
• Submit financial statements every two weeks to both president and vice president.
• Be responsible for all financial transactions.
• Shall be the chair of the Fundraising Committee.

Advisor

• Act as Faculty Advisor to the Association.
• Be the liaison officer between the Association and the University.

King/ Queen

• Communicate with other schools that have an Ethiopian Students Association.
• Attend meetings of different associations within the UMES community.
• Coordinate community service activities.

Event Coordinator

• Coordinate and plan different shows and events that ESA will organize.

Communications Officer

• Communicate with all members for reminding purposes. .
• Makes sure all members are aware that there would be a meeting one day in advance thriugh email alert or by telephone.

Web Master

• To effectively design and maintain the official website of ESA and be responsible for the transmission of any information which is approved by the president.
• To update the website at least weekly with different information that could be helpful to the ESA.

Public Relations

• To be responsible for keeping the different contacts that will be required by the ESA
• To coordinate all ESA advertisements including flyers.
• To assist King/Queen in contacting other schools with Ethiopian Student Associations.
• Coordinate ESA activities with other UMES organizations.

ARTICLE 4: Use of the Name of the Association

No person is permitted to use the name of the Association (for meeting, booking of rooms, Placing advertisements in the mass media, etc.) without first getting the approval of either the President, vice-president, Secretary or Treasurer.

ARTICLE 5: Equal rights

The Association shall commit itself to the policy of equal rights and opportunities, and that there shall be no discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex, and/or national origin.

ARTICLE 6: Meetings

• One day out of the week will be selected to have a meeting.
• Under some circumstances meetings or its venue may change. It shall be announced to members at least one week in advance and will be posted on the ESA official website.
• All members are required to attend all regular and special ESA meetings.
• One hour meeting shall be held each week with the exception of summer and winter sessions.
• The meetings shall be conducted in a parliamentary manner.
• Any executive member missing two executives meetings and/or missing three general/special meetings consecutively without genuine reasons and/or prior notification shall be removed from office.
• The conduct at meetings shall be directed by the presiding officer at whose discretion any order and discipline shall be maintained.

ARTICLE 7: Voting right of members.

• The voting power of any member will be determined by their attendance. The more attendance of meetings an individual member has the more power of voting they will be granted on deciding certain matters.
• There will be an attendance sheet that will determine how many percent of meetings each member attended and based on that statistic, the voting power of member will be determined.
• The president, the vice president, the treasurer and the secretary will have voting rights regardless of attendance and points 1 and 2 of Article 7 will not apply to these officers.
• Any voting outcome will be determined my majority rules and will the event of having another vote will not happen.

ARTICLE 8: Behavior tolerance of members.

• There will be ZERO tolerance for misconduct in any ESA meetings.
• All members are required to act like mature adults in all meetings.
• Failure to obey any of the following will lead to dismissal of misbehaving member.

ARTICLE 9: Fundraising Policy

• The organization that the ESA fundraiser profit will go to will be decided before any fundraising activities take place.
• The organization that the ESA will donate to will be decided by voting, the majority of the votes to that organization will win.
• Who ever bids the organization will have to provide sufficient information and present to the rest of the members what that organization does and its mission statement.
• After the donation a bank statement proving the transfer of this donation will be made available to all members. Also to go with that an official receipt of that donation will be made available.