The name of this organization shall be "Balkan Information Project," hereinafter

referred to as BIP. 

The head office of BIP shall be at such place as the President may determine, and may thus change from time to time.

1. To promote understanding of the richness of Balkan, and in particular, Yugoslav culture and history among people who have had limited exposure to it;
2. To thus foster peace and attack the limiting stereotypes that have been widely propagated about the people of the Balkans and, in particular, Yugoslavia;
3. To demonstrate the role that the media and government of the U.S.A. and various international organizations have had in producing these negative images, and to expose their interests in doing so;
4. To support the reconstruction of an economically and socially stable Yugoslavia within a harmonious Balkan peninsula.

1. To provide or promote education about Balkan history and culture, through public venues and private classes.
2. To provide civil and other assistance to Yugoslav students and scholars who wish to come or have just arrived to UC Berkeley;
3. To provide aide, material or otherwise, to projects that work to rectify the individual and civil casualties of the recent Balkan conflicts.
4. To cooperate with organizations that share BIP’s purpose.
5. To solicit, collect and receive by gifts, grants, will or otherwise, money or other property and to hold and administer the same trust for purposes designated by a donor or testator as long as these are consistent with BIP’s purpose.
6. To do those things necessary or incidental to carrying out the foregoing purposes.

Section A.  Eligibility

Any person willing to participate in the organization with the purpose stated in Article 3 is eligible to become a member. There is no discrimination on any basis.

Section B. Activists, Members, and Executive Offices

1. Activists are individuals or organizations that are active, registered, or probational;

2. Members are activists who have successfully (re)registered to one of the seven offices, or member bodies (two headed by the two Vice Presidents, and five headed by the officers);

3. An officer is a member of an office who has been duly elected with simple majority by that member body to head office;

4. Executive Vice President is a member or an officer who has been elected to that position by the President;

5. Vice President of Internal Affairs is a member or an officer who has been elected to that position by the President;

6. Vice President of External Affairs is a member or an officer who has been elected to that position by the President;

7. President is a member or an officer who has been duly elected with simple majority by all member bodies to hold chair;

8. A term is six months;

9. Activists and members hold positions of one term;

10. Officers, vice-presidents and President hold positions of two terms;

Section C. Organization

1. There are five officers: Treasurer, Events Coordinator, Administrative Assistant, Publicity Coordinator, and Recruitment/Retention Coordinator;

2. The Executive Council consists of President, Executive Vice President, Vice President of Internal Affairs, Vice President of External Affairs, and the five officers;

3. The duties of the President include the following:

a. Serve as the chief representative of BIP to the University, City of

Berkeley, state of California, Federal Government of the U.S.A., and other entities that warrant Yugoslav or Balkan representation;

b. Call, attend, and preside over all meetings;

c. Appoint ad hoc committees as necessary.

4. The duties of the Executive Vice President include the following:

1. Represent the organization in lieu of the President when requested.
2. Assume the office of the President for the remainder of the term in the event of the President’s incapacitation, or resignation.
3. Fill other roles as deemed necessary by the President and the Executive Council.

5. The duties of the Vice President of Internal Affairs include the following:

      a. Assure that the BIP and the University are adequately serving the needs and rights of students to know the truth of the Balkan conflicts.

      b. Serve as the chief liaison between BIP and the University.

      c. Meet regularly with appropriate University officials to discuss student needs.

d. Know the BIP constitution and clarify constitutional questions.

6. The duties of the Vice President of External Affairs include the following:

a. Voice the needs of the people dedicated to exposing the truth about the Balkan conflicts, at the local, state, national (USA) and international levels. 

b. Keep abreast of legislation that affects the Yugoslav community and its friends and advance the opinions of BIP in shaping that legislation.

c.   Make connections between BIP and local, state, and national governments and political parties.   

7. The duties of the Treasurer include the following:

a.  Oversee the finances of the organization.

b.  Maintain complete records of all expenditures and receipts.

c. Develop and coordinate reimbursement procedures.

d.  Process applications for ASUC funding and for other grant sources and maintain accounts for each.

e.  Perform duties as necessary that the President or Executive Council

assigns or that are customary duties of a treasurer.

8. The duties of the Events Coordinator include the following:

a. Organize and promote activities that inform BIP members and the

student body at large.

b. Organize at least one event per semester to this end.

c. Coordinate with other on-campus organizations.

d.  Inform members of events of interest occurring on campus and in the

community.  

9. The duties of the Publicity Coordinator include the following:

a.  Ensure that the BIP is visible both on campus and in the community.

b.  Publish and distribute a biannual newsletter detailing the

organization’s activities.

c.  Assist the Events Coordinator in publicizing events of interest to BIP

members or events sponsored by the BIP;

d.  Provide publicity requested by the Executive Council.

Section D.  Removal

Executive Council members may be removed in the following manner:

1. Cause for Removal: Cause for removal is defined as failure to perform

assigned duties due to negligence, being convicted of a felony, or other grounds found by all of the other Executive Council members to constitute good and sufficient cause.

2. Process for Removal: With a week’s notice any Member in Good Standing may charge an officer with an offense punishable by

a. removal from office or

b. revocation of membership.

This time interval is necessary to publicize an open meeting of the Executive Council to hear the allegations.  The officer in question must be offered the opportunity to defend himself or herself at that meeting.  If the Executive Council (not including the accused) upholds the charge by a majority, then the membership will vote on the issue two weeks later. Before voting occurs, the administrative assistant or a volunteer designated by the executive council will read the executive meeting disciplinary proceedings.  Then, if a quorum exists, the Members in Good Standing may remove the officer in question by a two third vote.

Article 5 - Meetings

1. A meeting of the members may be called at any time by the President. The President shall call in addition a meeting of the members whenever a written request is made by at least two members of the Council.

2. The President shall call meetings of the Council when necessary, and may be held at any time upon twenty four hours of notice in writing delivered to each member of the Council.

3. Notice of the time and place of a meeting of the members of BIP shall be given by notice of such meeting addressed to each member at the registered (e-mail) address of the member shown by the books of BIP;

3. The accidental omission to give notice of the meeting to any member shall not invalidate any resolution passed at such meeting.

1. Activists have no voting capacity;

2. Members have the capacity to vote on issues that will form the obligations the member body, or office;

3. Officers, Vice Presidents, and the President have the capacity to vote on issues that may contribute to the obligations of their office and the Executive Office;

4. The rights of the members shall be to be informed about the affairs and operation of BIP, to take part in the discussion about the operations of BIP and to advise the directors on any matter of interest to them and to BIP;

5. Members shall be open to all activities who shall make written application and who shall declare in the application the kind of activity and help they shall provide in order to further the purposes of BIP and whose application shall be approved by two-thirds approval of the officers;

6. The duties of members shall be to support BIP with moral and other services as outlined in their application form, and to sustain harmony between all members of BIP. They shall obey the by-laws;

7. A member may at any time resign. The resignation shall result in the waiver, cessation and abandonment of any and all rights and claims of every kind whatsoever by such member to the property and assets of BIP;

8. If a member conducts himself or herself in a manner considered by the Executive Council as detrimental to BIP or its members, the Council may by a two-thirds vote either cancel or suspend the rights and privileges of such member as they see fit, or may expel the member from BIP.

9. No member shall profit or gain from the activities of any article in this document.

10. In the case of contravention by any member(s), the member(s) shall be prosecuted to the full extent of law;

10. In case a member of the Executive Council is incapacitated or ceases to be a member, the vacancy thereby created may be filled by a member of the office in question, who shall be voted in by other members of the office;

11. An officer may retire from the Council upon giving one week’s notice in writing to BIP of the intention to do so, and such resignation shall take effect upon the date in question, or earlier when requested by the officer and accepted by the Council;

12. Any rules or procedures with respect to the Council shall be established by the said Council and such rules and procedures shall be consistent with the by-laws of BIP.

A newsletter will be published each semester and distributed to all Members in

Good Standing, alumni members, and the Yugoslav community and its friends.  The Publicity Coordinator, with the assistance of the Administrative Assistant, is

in charge of publishing and distributing the newsletter, as mentioned in

Article 3, Section C, Clause 9.

1. A bank account shall be kept in the name of BIP in any chartered bank or trust company as the Executive Council may by resolution select. The Executive Council is empowered by resolution from time to time to change the said account from one chartered bank or trust company to another;

2. The Executive Council shall cause true accounts to be kept of the sums of money received and expended by BIP, and the manner in which such receipt and expenditure takes place and on the credits and liabilities of BIP, and of the matters usually kept account of in similar societies;

3. The accounting books shall be kept at the head office of BIP and shall be open to the inspection of the members during reasonable hours;

4. All the costs of and incidental to BIP, including formation and organization of BIP, shall be paid out of the funds of BIP;

5. The financial year of BIP shall end on the 31st day of December, in each year;

6. Contracts, documents, or any instruments in writing (including all banking documents) requiring the signature of BIP may be signed and the seal affixed by the President or Vice-President, together with the Treasurer, and all contracts, documents, and instruments in writing so signed shall be binding upon BIP without

any further authorization or formality. All notes evidencing the borrowing of funds for BIP shall be authorized by the Executive Council and signed by the President or Vice-President together with the Treasurer;

7. Auditors shall be appointed at the annual general meeting of the members, but no member of the Executive Council or a salaried officer of BIP shall be so appointed. Audited financial statements shall be submitted to the general meeting of the members annually;

8. The Executive Council is empowered to establish special funds and special bank accounts which shall be used to further special activities of BIP. These special funds and accounts shall be subject to all the rules and regulations that govern financial transactions of BIP except that the Executive Council can, by a resolution, appoint any two officers of BIP to be signatories on these special bank accounts.

Article 10 - Amendments

Any Member in Good Standing may propose an amendment to the constitution. Discussion and voting concerning amendments take place one meeting following the proposal. A two thirds vote with quorum is required to adopt the amendment.

Upon the dissolution of BIP any assets remaining after the payment and satisfaction of all debts and liabilities of BIP shall be transferred to any Charitable Cultural Society or Institution, designated by a resolution passed by a seventy five percent majority of the votes cast at a specially called meeting of BIP, provided that fourteen days notice of such meeting shall have been given and providing further that the quorum for such meeting shall be seventy five percent in number of the membership.