Hello, new friends! I have been spending a lot of hours with my Robert's Rules book and my grad school's constitution and bylaws (C&BL) of the student body, but I need your help, please. Nominations are ramping up for our school's student leadership board open, and I have a mess on my hands. Currently, our C&BL allow for "A President of the Student Body," that is "A Member" of the school. However, we have two nominees that wish to run in our annual election as co-presidents to share the work load. As moderator and current president, I know this is in conflict with the language of our C&BL, not to mention a potential mess affecting a lot of students.
Our time table is like this:
April 2: Nominations Open
April 9: President election begins
April 14: Voting Closed
April 16: Election Results Announced
April 25: Student Body Regular Meeting
With this time table, an amendment to the C&BL would not moved and voted into record until 2 weeks after a potentially illegal election.
The Student Senate is split on the issue, and a few are considering calling a special meeting of the entire student body to vote to amend the C&BL to allow for co-presidents...retroactively, but with our mandated 10-days notice, that meeting could not be held until April 10, after the ballots have already been distributed. Even then, there is no guarantee the amendment would pass and that the allowance of a co-presidential ticket would be in compliance. I hate to ask a question that should be so common-sensical, but I am having trouble finding the exact verbiage in my Robert's Rules to discourage the idea that "they are our bylaws, we can amend anything at any point in time...even in the past."
Any help is greatly appreciated! I have the 11th edition in front of me, so feel free to holler page numbers at me, if that's easiest. Thanks so much!
