The Constitution of WMBR

Preamble: The Mission of WMBR

• To provide MIT students with the opportunity to manage, organize, and operate an all-volunteer organization; and,
• To provide unique, innovative, quality radio programming as an alternative to that which is found on commercial radio stations.

Article I: General Manager

Section 1. Definition

Section 2. Eligibility

Section 3. Term

1. The General Manager's term will always end on the last day of February.
2. The General Manager is obligated to call elections sufficiently early that they may take place before her/his term expires.
3. The General Manager may resign by calling an election. His/her term will then end on a date of her/his choosing, no sooner than the election process is finished, and no later than two weeks after the election process is finished.

Section 4. Elections

1. Elections must be held prior to March 1st of each year.
2. Election date must be announced at least two weeks prior to that date.
3. When the election date is announced, members will announce their candidacy in The Book.
4. A student will be disqualified from running for General Manager if she/he will no longer be a full-time MIT student with more than one half of their term remaining and there are other candidates for General Manager.
5. If the General Manager intends to run for re-election then she/he must appoint an election commissioner to run the entire election process, including announcing the election date.
6. If the General Manager is unavailable, then the Technology Broadcasting Corporation will appoint an election commissioner and an interim General Manager.
7. Election will be by secret preferential ballot. Each member of WMBR will be entitled to one ballot. Non-members will not be entitled to a ballot.
8. The ballot box will be maintained at WMBR for a twenty-four hour period.
9. If only one person announces their candidacy before the election date then an affirmation vote will be taken at the next meeting and balloting will not take place.

Section 5. Removal

1. The General Manager may be removed at the concurrence of two thirds of the membership.
2. Removal must take place at a meeting called for that purpose.

Article II: Management Board

Section 1. Purpose

Section 2. Composition

1. The Management Board shall consist of the General Manager and her/his appointees, who will assist the General Manager in the operation of WMBR.
2. Among those appointees, there will be a Program Director.
3. The General Manager must publicly post a list of all of the current members of the Management Board.

Section 3. Formation

1. All members of WMBR shall be eligible, within the guidelines set forth in Section 2, to apply for all Management Board positions. The positions and manner of application shall be specified by the General Manager.
2. After considering those applications, the General Manager shall appoint members to Management Board positions at his or her discretion.
3. The General Manager may remove members from the Management Board at her or his discretion.

Section 4. Meetings

Article III: Operating Plan

Section 1. Definition

1. The Management Board shall maintain, in writing, an Operating Plan for WMBR.
2. The Operating Plan shall specify organizational structure, the procedures for joining and maintaining membership in WMBR, and the duties and responsibilities of members of management.
3. A copy of the Operating Plan shall be publicly posted at all times.

Section 2. Programming

1. The Program Director shall publish, in the Operating Plan, an explicit set of guidelines by which programming decisions are to be made.
2. A Programming Board, consisting of the Program Director and six members of WMBR shall be appointed by the Program Director before the start of each new program cycle for the purpose of forming the new program schedule.
3. The six appointees shall be selected from a pool of applicants. The Program Director shall issue a call for applications at a suitable time in a form which he or she shall specify.

Section 3. Amendment

1. The Operating Plan may be amended by the membership at a meeting called for that purpose (see Article V, Section 2).
2. A quorum of half of the current members is necessary for a vote to take place. A favorable vote of half of the members present is necessary for the change to be implemented.
3. Once implemented, the Operating Plan amendment cannot be changed without another vote taking place to overturn it.

Article IV: Budget

Article V: Membership

Section 1. Application

1. The rules and procedures for becoming a member of WMBR, as outlined in the Operating Plan, must be publicly displayed at WMBR.
2. A current list of all active members must also be publicly displayed at WMBR.

Section 2. Meetings

1. General meetings of the membership will be called by the Management Board.
2. Meetings may also be called by petition of one third of the membership.

Section 3. Removal

1. A member of WMBR shall be declared Inactive by the Management Board if he or she has been absent from WMBR for a period of at least six months. An Inactive member may be reinstated by attending a Management Board meeting and stating his or her intentions.
2. WMBR membership may be revoked by decision of the Management Board.
3. Any person who has had his or her membership revoked by the Management Board may appeal this decision to the membership-at-large by assembling a quorum of at least 1/2 of the active members for public debate. The General Manager shall appoint a non-Management member as moderator.
4. Reinstatement shall occur by an affirmative vote of at least 1/2 of the members present at this meeting.
5. WMBR will not discriminate based on any characteristic listed in the MIT non-discrimination policy.

Article VI: Amendment

1. The Constitution may be amended by the membership at a meeting called for that purpose.
2. A Constitutional Amendment meeting may only be called by petition of one half of the membership.
3. A quorum of half of the current members is necessary for a vote to take place. A favorable vote of two-thirds of the members present is necessary for the proposed amendment to be ratified.

Article VII: Treasurer

Section 1. Definition

1. The treasurer shall assist the comptroller with the financial obligations of the station and be a representative for WMBR to the rest of campus.

Section 2. Eligibility

1. The treasurer must be a student member of WMBR that is not the General Manager.

Section 3. Appointment

1. A. The treasurer will be appointed by the General Manager.

Article VII: Oversight