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PAES/PATE Constitution & By-Laws

New text of the PAES/PATE Constitution & By-Laws, yet not accepted by the Society's General Assembly:

Preamble

We, the Polish Immigrants and Americans of Polish descent, filled with respect for the achievements of Polish humanistic thought, and for the accomplishments of our great Anthropologists and Historians, feeling a duty to maintain the magnificent tradition of our culture, and also a necessity to work for its development, unite here, on this Indian land, in the United States of America, into a society, which will conduct a honest research, unbiased by the political duplicity of conquerors, and will study of the history and cultures of the Native Nations of this land. We will also propagate the anthropological sciences among Polish Americans; help the Polish Social Sciences in our native country; and widely cooperate with the American scholar institutions.

We do this with hope of better understanding the multicultural achievements of humanity, and to attain the level of brotherhood among all the inhabitants of our planet, embodied in the motto e pluribus unum.

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Aricle I
Purpose of organization

1. The full name of the organization shall be the Polish-American Ethnological Society in Memory of Bronislaw Malinowski. The abbreviated name will be PAES/PATE. The English title is considered official and will appear on all correspondence, decisions, scholarly works and publications of the organization. The unofficial name, in Polish, preserving its initially proposed, historic title, is Polsko-Amerykańskie Towarzystwo Etnograficzne im. Bronisława Malinowskiego, PATE. PAES/PATE documents and correspondence will be official in both English and/or Polish languages.

2. Headquarters of the organization will be the United States of America. Branches of PAES may be formed wherever required by current research programs or the organization’s business. These branches will be subordinate to the headquarters, but with the administrative autonomy and the right to function in accordance with local law.

3. The objectives of the organization will encompass:
a) works in ethnology/ethnography, cultural anthropology and general history with an emphasis on native cultures of the Americas;
b) pursuit of history of Polish immigration and colonization in the Americas;
c) pursuit of acculturation (transculturation) processes among ethnic groups in the United States;
d) dissemination and generally making accessible ethnologic/ethnographic studies to the both academic and non academic members of Polish society in the United States;
e) coordination of these scholarly and cultural activities with all other Polish organizations in the United States;
f) creation of a scholarship fund for promising cultural anthropologists from Poland and of Polish descent residing in the United States and other countries;
g) creation of a scholarship fund for promising American cultural anthropologists interested in Slavic studies;
h) subsidizing internal recreational and hobbistic activities such as organizing clubs, vacation trips, entertainment, etc.;
i) publishing of the results of the annual Anthropological Seminars, and of the PAES/PATE scholarly magazine;
j) publishing of an internal informative bulletin.

4. The above objectives are to be realized through any and all forms of scholarly activities that may enrich knowledge in the cultural anthropology, and the general history.

5. The results of the research carried out either by PAES/PATE individual members or PAES/PATE research teams will be made available to the general public on a nondiscriminatory bases. In addition, PAES/PATE archives will be open to all scientific institutions and private researches.

6. PAES/PATE as an organization is politically neutral and will not engage in any political activity. It must be stressed that no correspondence, nor publications of PAES/PATE, nor any person officially representing PAES/PATE may be involved with any political propaganda or political pressure. The political preferences are allowed only as the private matter of the member (see: Art.V, p.2).

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Article II
Governing body

1. The General Assembly of regular members is the highest legislative body of this Society. It is mandated to meet once every 4-year period, in the December of the Election Year, but may be called to meet in any emergency. The General Assembly rights encompass:
a) the acceptance of the Constitution & By-laws of PAES/PATE, and the acceptance of its amendments;
b) the election of the 5-person Board of Directors of PAES/PATE;
c) the decision making concerning all matters concerning the membership;
d) the disbanding the Society in the United States.

The General Assembly decides these by simple majority of votes.

2.The Five Person Board of Directors represents the General Assembly and is chosen every four years. The functionaries of the outgoing Administration and the Research Council may be elected to the new Board of Directors. Immediately after the election both chairmen of the General Assembly call for the first meeting of the Board of Directors to establish its chairperson. At the same meeting the Board of Directors chooses the new Administration, the new Research Director, and the directors of the regional and foreign branches.

The rights and duties of the Board of Directors encompass the decision making in regard to all matters of the organization, which are not reserved for the General Assembly, including disputes over the competence. The Board of Directors decides with the simple majority of votes. In case of the loss of one or more board member(s) the Board supplements its composition by internal decision.

3. The Administration of PAES/PATE represents the organization in the outside matters. It is responsible for official correspondence, for recruiting new members, for editorial works, for PAES/PATE finances and for managing periodic meetings of members. The Administration is composed of the following:
a) General Secretary;
b) Executive Director;
c) Deputy Director;
d) Treasurer.

The Administration functions during the four-year roster. After its term in office the same members of the Administration may be elected again.

4. The Research Council of PAES/PATE is responsible for planning the research projects, editing written materials, cooperation with other research centers, organizing the annual seminars/symposiums, the editorial projects, and the selection of the scholarship recipients. The amount of each scholarship is proposed by the Treasurer and decided by the Board of Directors. The Research Council is composed of the following:
a) Director;
b) Director’s Secretary (by his nomination);
c) Supervisors of Departments (by his nomination).

The Research Council functions for a four-year term. After a term in office any members of the Research Council may be elected again.

5. Rights and duties of the directors of Administration and Research Council.
a) Both directors regulate the activity of their respective bodies and may issue the internal regulations.
b) Directors have right to make a motion addressed to the Board of Directors to suspend or terminate a member, who’s activity is determined being in contrary with rules of this Constitution and By-laws or endangering the interest of organization or its good name.
c) The additional functions in both bodies (Administration & Research Council) are set by the respective directors.
d) The Director of the Research Council presides over all scholarly meetings, and the Director of Administration, together with the Secretary General, manage the meetings of General Assembly.

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Article III
Come into being of PAES/PATE

1. The first governing body of the PAES/PATE is to be when the originator/members decide in writing on officers who would hold their posts until the first election could be held.

2. The meeting of General Assembly, and the election of a new Board of Directors, will be for December of the election year..

3. First point of the Article III lost its validity at the time of the first meeting of General Assembly, and the first election held in December 1990.

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Article IV
Election procedure

1. The General Assembly of regular members will be called upon every 4 years in December, beginning with 1990, by the General Secretary of PAES/PATE. Letters containing the election program and a voting card must be sent out three weeks prior to the date of election to the members. The incumbent General Secretary is required to secure the proof of their sending, and, who, along with the incumbent Executive Director, shall be responsible for administrative duties during the meeting of the General Assembly. In case the General Assembly can not be called in a timely fashion the incumbent bodies will perform their duties until such General Assembly will be successfully called to order.

2. Right to elect or to be elected belongs to regular members of PAES/PATE. The election shall be by secret ballot, and shall be conducted in two phases:
a) The General Assembly will elect a three member Election Commission by individually nominating candidates in writing.
b) The Election Commission determines the order of voting, and records the minutes of General Assembly, which are to be signed by all Commission members, the General Secretary, and Executive Director. Candidates for the Board of Directors will be nominated by secret ballot in writing. The Election Commission announces five names with the largest number of votes as the members of the new Board of Directors. Should there be a tie vote between the candidates, the Election Commission will arrange a second secret ballot. If this ballot does not resolve the election, the Election Commission will appoint the fifth name by drawing.

3. Every regular member of PAES/PATE may cast their own vote in person, but may instead send his vote in a sealed, anonymous envelope addressed to: The Election Commission of PAES/PATE. Only the Election Commission have right to open this envelope and to place its contents in the voting urn. The vote is valid if it was registered by the Election Commission at the time of voting, and was determined as having been placed on the original voting card that was sent by mail to every member together with information about time of the General Assembly. The vote sent to the Election Commission will be counted in both phases of election. However, in case of eliminating its candidate in the first phase, it will be invalid in the second phase.

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Article V
Membership

1. Persons wishing to become a members of the PAES/PATE have an interest in cultural anthropology regardless of his scholarly preparation. PAES/PATE is open to every person regardless of sex, race, color, religion or religious indifference, age, political belief or sexual orientation.

2. Membership of PAES/PATE begins with on the date of the decision by Administration to accept the new, regular or supporting member. The General Assembly may grant the honorary membership to a person who rendered good service to PAES/PATE. The membership terminates with the death of a member; by a submitted written resignation; or by an administrative decision to remove the person’s name from the membership list by the Administration, unless this decision was appealed and overturned by the General Assembly.

3. Regular as well as supporting members pay the membership dues at a time and in the amount decided by the General Assembly for both the members living in the United States and for the members abroad. Members who default in their payment of dues for two consecutive years will be suspended or have their names crossed off the membership list.

4. A regular member of PAES/PATE is a person who fulfills the requirements of the Constitution & By-laws, who takes part in scholarly undertakings or administrative works, and who pays membership dues. The regular member has right to elect and to be elected.

5. A supporting member of PAES/PATE is a person who pays membership dues, but who doesn’t participate in scholarly nor administrative works.

6. A regular member has the right to call an ordinary meeting of regular members.

7. By a written motion of 1/3 of the regular membership of PAES/PATE, the General Secretary is required to send out, within the next 10 days, a notification calling in an Emergency General Assembly, which is to take place during the next four weeks. The notification must include the reason for calling an Emergency General Assembly. The procedures of debate and the undertaking of resolutions remain the same as at the regular General Assembly.

8. The PAES/PATE badge is issued to both regular and supporting members on their personal request.

9. Affiliation to the Society is understood as member's declaration of mutual loyalty, friendship and respect for dignity of others.

10. Every member of PAES/PATE, under the auspices of Society, may undertake the production of scholarly or creative works. In such cases, the producer of such works, while retaining all rights, grants the Society the unrestricted right for using these works.

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Article VI
Finances of PAES/PATE

1. The Society gains its financial resources from membership dues, gifts, donations, the sale of publications, and other means permitted by law. These resources must be allocated for realization of scholarly or cultural projects, and cannot be distributed among members.

2. The Society's Accounting is managed by the Treasurer.

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Article VII
Constitution & By-laws

1. Constitution & By-laws of PAES/PATE are legal documents designating the functioning of the organization. Any use of male pronouns in these by-laws shell be construed to refer to either male and female members.

2. Constitution & By-laws of PAES/PATE in the United States constitutes a basis for editing constitutions & by-laws of the Society’s branches abroad. Changes or amendments of this constitution & by-laws will be accepted only in case of the necessity to comply with the local law.

3. Change of this Constitution & By-laws or its amendments may be accomplished only by a vote of the General Assembly, called to order in emergency or in regular roster. Simple majority of votes is required. Motion of changes/amendments must be submitted to the members in writing together with the notification about calling to order the General Assembly.

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Article VIII
Disbanding of PAES/PATE

1. The Society terminates its activity by a resolution of the General Assembly which indicates the time and terms as are defined in this resolution.

2. In the event that the Society is disbanded in the United States its assets are to be allocated for one of the purposes described in Article I, p. 3 of this Constitution & By-laws, or for such purpose as may be determined in a resolution of the General Assembly. Disbanding PAES/PATE must be done in accordance with rules of the Internal Revenue Service for the non-for-profit organizations.

3. The disbanding of PAES/PATE in the United States is not tantamount to the disbanding of its branches abroad. These branches may evolve into independent entities in accordance with local law.

Article IX
Legal validity of this Constitution & By-laws

This Constitution & By-laws will be implemented in time and terms determined by the resolution of the General Assembly.

John J. Beatty
Irena Jarmoszuk
Ewa Kondracka
Henryk Paterak
Andrzej J.R. Wala

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