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Policies governing Caucuses

I. Creating and Maintaining Caucuses

All Caucuses are required to have a purpose or mission statement that defines the goals and activities of the caucus, and proposed bylaws. Any change in the mission statement of a Caucus must be approved by a two-thirds majority of its members, and then by a majority of the SCMS Board of Directors.A proposal for a new Caucus should be submitted in draft form to the Caucus Liaison Board member, then, on approval, to the Board for approval by a majority vote.

All members of caucuses must be members of the Society who are in good standing.

Members must affiliate themselves with Caucuses by joining the pertinent

Caucus group page on the website.

SCMS members are not restricted in the number of Caucuses and/or Scholarly Interest Groups (SIGs) with which they wish to affiliate.

Caucuses may request time and space for a meeting of their membership at the annual conference. The Program Committee cannot guarantee the availability of meeting time and/or space.

Caucuses prepare regular minutes of meetings for circulation to their members. They also submit an annual report of activities for the year and attendance figures for their last meeting to the Caucus Coordinating Committee one month prior to the annual conference. The Caucus Coordinating Committee forwards these reports, and its own report, to the Board of Directors of SCMS two weeks prior to the fall meeting of the Board.

Each Caucus is allocated $600 per year. These funds may be used to cover travel expenses for invited speakers at the group's annual meeting or at screenings accepted as part of the conference, exhibit tables for the conference, receptions, etc. If un-expended, these funds revert to the general SCMS fund at the end of each fiscal year.

Caucuses must report elections of Co-Chairs and (if any) Graduate Student Representatives to the Caucus Coordinating Committee and the Board of Directors in a timely fashion. Any Caucus that fails to provide the names and e-mails of new Co-Chairs to the Board of Directors for three consecutive years will be considered inactive.

II. Conditions Under Which Caucuses Will Be Considered as Inactive

As above, Caucuses that do not provide the names and e-mails of new Co-Chairs to the Board of Directors for three consecutive years will be considered inactive.

Caucuses that do not provide an annual report to the Caucus Coordinating Committee for two consecutive years are assumed to be inactive and their status as Caucuses within SCMS will be considered inactive.

Any Caucus that fails to hold a yearly meeting, whether scheduled at the conference or on their own in some manner for two consecutive years will be considered inactive.

The use of the SCMS name (or other branded material) without approval by the Board of Directors in advance of an event or activity, or that is otherwise not allowable under the Bylaws, can be considered grounds for revoking the Caucus's funding and, potentially, its status more broadly (subject to the decision of the Board). Requests to use the SCMS brand must be submitted to the Board of Directors at least one month in advance of the proposed usage.

III. Reactivation:

A Caucus will be considered reactivated when the Board (through the Caucus Liaison) is presented with: 1) a list of at least 10 current SCMS members who affirm their commitment to being active within said Caucus, including at least one person agreeing to act as Chair (and to perform all of the responsibilities of that position); and 2) a submitted request for a meeting time during the next SCMS conference.

SCMS Bylaws pertinent to caucuses:

ARTICLE VII, SECTION 2. CAUCUSES. Any group of Members of the Society may petition the Board of Directors to form a caucus, which petition shall state the purpose of the caucus and list its members, including alternate members, if any. The members making up the caucus must be Members of the Society who are in good standing. The Board of Directors, in its sole discretion, may approve or deny the formation of a caucus. Each caucus shall take such actions as are necessary to further its purposes, subject to any guidelines established by the Board of Directors and subject to the review of the Caucus Coordinating Committee. Each caucus shall appoint two (2) of its members to serve as Co-Chairs for staggered terms of two (2) years each. In the event of the disqualification of a member of a caucus, the members of the caucus may appoint another individual to replace the disqualified member, which individual must be a Member of the Society who is in good standing and whose appointment shall be subject to the approval of the Board of Directors. A caucus may submit a request to the Caucus Coordinating Committee for conference time and space to meet at the annual meeting of the membership. Each year the Caucus Coordinating Committee shall notify the caucuses of the submission date for such requests. No member of a caucus may vote by proxy. Where alternates have been appointed, an alternate may vote in the absence of the member for whom he or she has been designated as an alternate. No caucus shall have the power or authority to (i) amend the Articles of Incorporation of the Society, (ii) adopt an agreement of merger or consolidation, (iii) recommend to the Members the sale, lease or exchange of all or substantially all of the Society's property and assets, (iv) recommend to the Members a dissolution of the Society, a revocation of a dissolution, or a cessation of the business of the Society, (v) amend the Bylaws of the Society, or (vi) fill vacancies in the Board of Directors.