Equipment Fund Bylaws

ENGINEERING UNDERGRADUATE SOCIETY OF MCGILL UNIVERSITY EQUIPMENT FUND Bylaws Adopted December 1993 Amended January 1997, January 1999, March 2005, March 2010, October 2013, October 2015, November 2015 by the EUS Council August 2017 by EUS Board of Governors

Article 1: Definitions & Purpose

1.1 The Engineering Undergraduate Society of McGill University (hereafter referred as “ EUS ”) is the registered name of the non-for-profit corporation representing the engineering and architecture undergraduate students at McGill University
1.2 The Board of Governors of the EUS is the administrative board of the Engineering Undergraduate Society of McGill University which is composed of Administrators as defined by the EUS Constitution
1.3 The EUS shall recognise all Departmental Societies, Clubs, and Design Teams set forth in the relevant articles of the EUS Constitution as EUS Groups
1.4 The Engineering Undergraduate Equipment Fund (“Equipment Fund”) is a fund composed of fees paid by Engineering undergraduate students and of other contributions, whose purpose is to provide those students with additional laboratory equipment to that normally supplied by the University.
1.5 The Equipment Fund Committee (“ EFC ”) is a committee of the EUS that normally administers the Equipment Fund.
1.6 These bylaws govern both the Engineering Undergraduate Equipment Fund and the Equipment Fund Committee.

Article 2: Function of the Equipment Fund Committee

2.1 The Equipment Fund Committee shall coordinate the expenditure of the Engineering Undergraduate Equipment Fund monies in such a manner that it most benefits the Engineering Undergraduate Society’s members in their academic environment.
2.2 The Equipment Fund Committee shall determine a list of proposals for equipment acquisition in the manner outlined in this document .
2.3 The Equipment Fund Committee’s deadlines shall be as follows:
2.3.1 The deadline for the preliminary awarding of funds by the Vice President Academic shall be the third Monday in the month of March.
2.3.2 The final deadline for submission of proposals by the departments shall be the second Monday in April.
2.3.3 The latest possible date for the EFC to meet and vote on proposals shall be the second Monday in May.
2.3.4 The deadline for spending the money allotted to a department or to the faculty is the second Monday in April of the year following that in which the money was awarded.

Article 3: Members of the Committee

3.1 The eight (8) departments recognized by the EFC are:
3.1.1 Bioengineering.
3.1.2 Chemical Engineering.
3.1.3 Civil Engineering.
3.1.4 Electrical and Computer Engineering.
3.1.5 Mechanical Engineering.
3.1.6 Mining Engineering.
3.1.7 Materials Engineering.
3.1.8 School of Architecture.
3.2 The EFC shall be composed of twenty-seven (27) members as follows:
3.2.1 The Vice President Academic of the EUS (“Vice President Academic of the EUS”), who shall chair the EFC (“Chair”).
3.2.2 The Dean of the Faculty of Engineering (“Dean”).
3.2.3 The Chairperson of the Department of Bioengineering.
3.2.4 The Chairperson of the Department of Chemical Engineering.
3.2.5 The Chairperson of the Department of Civil Engineering.
3.2.6 The Chairperson of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
3.2.7 The Chairperson of the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
3.2.8 The Chairperson of the Department of Mining and Materials Engineering.
3.2.9 The Director of Mining Engineering.
3.2.10The Chairperson of the School of Architecture.
3.2.11The President and VP Academic from each of the eight (8) departments defined in
3.1 (“departmental student representatives”)
3.2.12One (1) student representative to deal with proposals for the Faculty of Engineering
(“Faculty student representative”), who shall be appointed by the Vice President Academic of the EUS, subject to ratification by the Executive Committee.
3.3 All student representatives identified in §3.2 and its subsections shall be full time undergraduate students in their respective departments, with the exception of the Faculty student representative who shall be a full time undergraduate student in any one department of the Faculty of Engineering.
3.4 The faculty (i.e. non-student) members may appoint another faculty member to represent them. Article 4: Duties of the Committee’s Student Members
4.1 The Vice President Academic of the EUS shall:
4.1.1 Chair the EFC meetings.
4.1.2 Set and distribute the agenda for the EFC meetings, and inform all members as to the dates and times for these meetings at least five (5) school days in advance.
4.1.3 Coordinate all actions taken between meetings, and keep all members informed as to these actions.
4.1.4 Advise and instruct all members, to insure that they are able to perform their duties, and enable the EFC to be as effective as possible.
4.1.5 Oversee the financial management of the Equipment Fund Accounts.
4.1.6 Verify and channel the requisitions made as a result of approved EFC proposals.
4.1.7 Verify that the previous year’s purchases have been made.
4.1.8 Take action in the event that the equipment purchased in any previous year is not used for its intended purpose.
4.1.9 Report all EFC actions to the EUS Council, including budgeting, proposals, voting results, and expenditures.
4.1.10Present to the first regular EUS Council meeting of each November a description of the previous year’s expenditures in the Equipment Fund accounts.
4.2 The departmental student representatives, working in pairs by department shall:
4.2.1 Determine what equipment is needed by the undergraduate students in their department. This determination shall be done in consultation with the chairperson of the department, or his or her appointed representative.
4.2.2 Write up and present to the EFC members the proposals for their department.
4.2.3 Verify and identify the purchases made through the Equipment Fund from the previous year to ensure that:
4.2.3.1 The purchases have arrived at their intended destination,
4.2.3.2 The purchases are directly benefiting undergraduate students in that department.
4.2.3.2.a If irregularities are found, they shall promptly be reported to the VP Academic, in agreement with §:4.1.7 and §:4.1.8 .
4.2.4 Before February 15, obtain from their department a list of the departmental expenditures of the previous year and a proposed list of expenditures for the current year for undergraduate laboratory equipment (but specifically excluding purchases made by the Equipment Fund, furniture and non-undergraduate research equipment).
4.3 The Faculty student representative shall have similar responsibilities as outlined in §4.2, but shall act on behalf of all students of the Faculty of Engineering. The consultation shall be made with the Dean of Engineering or his appointed representative.

Article 5: Replacement of Members

5.1 If for any reason a member cannot continue his or her term, he shall be replaced as follows:
5.1.1 The Dean and Chairperson (including the Director of Mining) shall appoint representatives to represent themselves.
5.1.2 The EUS Executive Committee shall appoint a replacement for the VP Academic.
5.1.3 The Vice President Academic of the EUS shall appoint a replacement for the Faculty student representative.
5.1.4 The departmental societies’ presidents shall appoint replacements for the departmental representatives of their respective department.
5.1.5 The VP Academic may appoint replacements for the departmental representatives, provided that consent of the appropriate departmental society president is given.
5.2 Appointments made under §:5.1.2, §:5.1.3, §:5.1.4, and §:5.1.5, must be ratified by the EUS Council.

Article 6: Voting Procedure

6.1 Each member as defined in §3.2 shall have one vote on the EFC
6.2 Quorum shall consist of twelve (12) members of the EFC, provided the Dean (or his or her representative), one student representative from each of the departments, and the Vice President Academic of the EUS, are all in attendance.
6.3 Proposals from a department may only be voted on if that department’s chairperson (or his or her representative) is present.
6.4 Proposals for the Faculty purchases may only be voted on if the Faculty student representative is present.
6.5 A two-thirds (2/3) majority is required for a departmental proposal to pass, otherwise the proposal is rejected for the current year.
6.6 A unanimous vote is required for a Faculty proposal to pass, otherwise the proposal is rejected for the current year.
6.7 Proposals dismissed in §6.5 and §6.6 may be submitted again, with or without modifications, in subsequent years.

Article 7: Equipment Fund Finances

7.1 The Equipment Fund shall be composed of two (2) distinct accounts; one account shall receive all monies collected from students and shall serve to make purchases (“main account”), and another account shall receive all other contributions to the Equipment Fund (“contribution account”).
7.2 Equipment Fund fees and the collection of those fees shall be as follows:
7.2.1 Every student registered in an Undergraduate Engineering program and taking nine
(9) credits or more, shall contribute fifty dollars ($50) per semester to the Engineering Undergraduate Equipment Fund.
7.2.2 Every student registered in an Undergraduate Engineering program and taking less than nine (9) credits shall contribute per semester one half of the amount stipulated in §:7.2.1 to the Engineering Undergraduate Equipment Fund.
7.2.3 The fees outlined in §:7.2.1 and §:7.2.2. shall be collected by McGill University as part of the normal payment process, and deposited into the main account of the Equipment Fund.
7.2.4 Any contributions other than those outlined in §:7.2.1 and §:7.2.2 shall be collected by Martlet House and deposited in the contribution account of the Equipment Fund.
7.2.5 Transfers from the contribution account to the main account shall be initiated by the Vice President Academic of the EUS whenever necessary, provided that the transfer is ratified by the EUS Council.
7.3 For a given year, the gross amount available for allocation (“gross amount”) shall consist of the sum of the collected fees as outline in §:7.2.1 and §:7.2.2, of the funds transferred from the contribution account, if any, and of the monies not spent in the previous year(s) that were returned to the main account.
7.4 The gross amount outlined in §7.3 shall be allotted in the following manner:
7.4.1 An appropriate amount shall be set aside for the purchase of identification plaques or stickers.
7.4.2 Thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000) shall be allotted to a Faculty Fund (“Faculty allotment”).
7.4.3 Five thousand dollars ($5,000) shall be allotted to each of the departments of §3.1
(“fixed departmental allotment”)
7.4.4 The net amount remaining after subtracting amounts allocated in §:7.4.1, §:7.4.2, and
§:7.4.3 from the gross amount determined in §7.3 (“net amount”) shall be allotted in a way that each department is provided with a variable allotment corresponding to the fraction of the total number of students in that department over the total number of students in the Faculty of Engineering times the net amount determined (“variable” departmental allotment”). General Engineering students will not count towards the number of students in the Faculty of Engineering or towards any of the departments
7.4.5 The total allotment for a department shall consist of the sum of the fixed departmental allotment of §:7.4.3, of the variable allotment of §:7.4.4, and of surplus and delayed monies forwarded from the previous year, if any.
7.5 No money shall be allotted for the support, upkeep, or business of the Equipment Fund.
7.6 All expenses incurred by members of the EFC for the legitimate business of the Equipment Fund, such as its promotion, shall be paid for by the EFC operating budget as approved by the EUS Council, provided that these expenses have been authorized by the Vice President Academic of the EUS.
7.7 The Faculty allotment shall be used for purchases, which must simultaneously benefit students from all departments.
7.8 The Faculty allotment may not be used to pay for departmental purchases that have gone or will go over their allotted budget.
7.9 If a department agrees to allocate money from its own accounts toward an Equipment Fund proposal, then a letter covering the agreement and signed by that department’s Chairperson must be presented to the EFC before that proposal can be voted on.
7.10 If the Faculty of Engineering agrees to allocate money from its own accounts toward an Equipment Fund proposal, then a letter covering the agreement and signed by the Dean must be presented to the EFC, before that proposal can be voted on.
7.11 In the event that a partially funded purchase can no longer be bought due to budget cuts on the side of the Faculty or department, the monies set aside by the Equipment Fund shall be returned in full to the department or Faculty account for the following year’s purchase. The EFC must verify the Faculty’s or department’s claim before the above is approved.
7.12 Definitions:
7.12.1Surplus Funds are defined as the amount of money awarded to a department for which no proposals are submitted
7.12.2Forwarded Funds are defined as the amount of money awarded to a department which the department decides to save up to purchase equipment that it cannot afford with a single year’s allotment
7.12.3Unspent Funds are defined as funds that arise when approved purchases have not been made by the deadline set in §:2.3.4
7.12.4Misevaluated Funds are defined as funds that arise when an item costs less than the amount approved by the EFC
7.13 Surplus money less than or equal to ten percent (10%) shall be added to the following year’s allotment for that department as calculated in §:7.4.5. If the surplus money is greater than ten percent (10%), then all of the surplus shall be returned to the following year’s main account as outlined in §7.3.
7.14 Departments wishing to purchase a piece of equipment whose cost is greater than that department’s allotted amount for a given year as calculated in §:7.4.5 may forward an amount to the following year for that purpose, provided that:
7.14.1The Forwarded Funds as defined in §7.12. shall be at least ten percent (10%) but no more than fifty percent (50%) of the current year’s total allotment for that department. This amount shall include a provision for inflation and a potential price increase caused by delaying the purchase.
7.14.2An explanation notice shall be included with the proposal, and shall be presented to the members of the EFC before the proposal can be voted on.
7.14.3If a department fails to meet conditions §:7.14.1 and §:7.14.2, then the whole of the amount under consideration in §7.14 shall be returned to the following year’s main account of the Equipment Fund.
7.14.4The procedure outline in §7.14 and its subsections shall also apply to proposals made for the Faculty allotment, by replacing “department” by “Faculty”.
7.15 Unspent funds as defined by §:7.12.3 shall be returned to the main account in the year following the deadline to purchase the items
7.16 Misevaluated funds defined in §:7.12.4 shall be awarded to the department from which the funds arise in the year following the misevaluation

Article 8: Acquisition Procedure

8.1 Only equipment that benefits the undergraduate students of the Faculty of Engineering in their academic environment shall be purchased through the Equipment Fund. This equipment shall be of primary benefit to only those undergraduate students.
8.2 The procedures leading to an acquisition shall be as follows:
8.2.1 Each pair of student representatives from the departments shall propose to the EFC purchases for their respective department prepared in consultation with the Chairperson of that department, or their appointed representative.
8.2.2 The Faculty student representative shall propose to the EFC purchases prepared in consultation with the Dean, or their appointed representative.
8.2.3 The departments shall fill out requisition forms for ratified proposals and submit them to the Vice President Academic of the EUS who then delivers them to the Purchasing Department of McGill University.

Article 9: Identification Plaques

9.1 Identification plaques shall be acquired with the money reserved for that purpose in §:7.4.1. The wording of the text appearing on the plaques shall be to the effect of: “A Gift from the Engineering Undergraduate Equipment Fund.”
9.2 The EFC student representatives shall attach these plaques to acquisitions from previous year(s) in a reasonably prominent way (i.e. in clear view of the user), if it is possible to physically do so without damaging the equipment.
9.3 Whenever possible, other appropriate means of identification shall be used in lieu of plaques in the case of §9.2. or in the case of intangible equipment (e.g. a message could be displayed for software items).

Article 10: Cyclical Review of the Equipment Fund Fees

10.1 The existence of the Equipment Fund fees shall be put to referendum once every four (4) years.
10.2 Every fourth year, and immediately following the presentation of the annual report outlined in §:4.1.10, the VP Academic shall present a referendum motion to the EUS Council in accordance with §10.1.

Article 11: Termination of the Equipment Fund

11.1 Removed
11.2 If the cyclical review referendum of §10.1 is defeated, or if any spontaneous general referendum to the effect of terminating the Equipment Fund fees is passed, then the following shall apply:
11.2.1 The EFC shall be rendered obsolete and dismissed.
11.2.2 Any proposals that were proposed by the EFC and duly ratified by the EUS Council prior to the dismissal of the Equipment Fund fees shall be honoured.
11.2.3 Any outstanding fees that were assessed prior to the dismissal of the Equipment Fund fees shall be deposited into the main account of the Equipment Fund.
11.2.4 Notwithstanding §:7.2.1 and §:7.2.2, the clause outlined in §:7.2.4 shall remain in full effect.
11.2.5 Notwithstanding $7.9, §7.10, and §7.11 and its subsections, any surplus or forwarded monies shall be returned to the main account of the Equipment Fund.
11.2.6 The administration of the Equipment Fund shall be transferred to the trust of the EUS Executive Committee, who may delegate this function to a Trustee Committee
(“trustee”).
11.2.7 The trustee shall administer the Equipment Fund in agreement with §2.1 and §8.1.
11.2.8 Any actions to be taken by the trustee involving or leading to the expenditure of Equipment Fund monies shall be ratified by a two-thirds majority of the EUS Council.
11.3 A general referendum must be passed to reinstate the Equipment Fund fees in the case that the Equipment Fund fees had previously been suspended as outlined in §11.2.
11.4 In the case of a passing referendum as outlined in §11.3, then:
11.4.1The trusteeship defined in §:11.2.6 shall be rendered obsolete and terminated.
11.4.2The EFC shall be reinstated.
11.4.3Any proposals that were proposed by the trustee and duly ratified by the EUS Council prior to the reinstatement of the Equipment Fund fees shall be honoured.

Article 12: Superseding Clause

12.1 This document completely supersedes any anterior versions of the Equipment Fund Committee Bylaws.

Article 13: Amendments

13.1 Amendments to §2.1, §:7.2.1, §:7.2.2, §8.1, §11.1, and §13.1 must be approved by the EUS Council and ratified by a general referendum.
13.2 Amendments to sections other than those specified in §13.1 must be approved by a simple majority vote of the Board of Governors of the EUS

Article 14: Interpretation

<poem> 14.1 In the case of a conflict between these Bylaws and the following documents, the following documents prevail in the order they are listed in:

14.1.1 The Quebec Companies Act

14.1.2 The EUS Letters Patent

14.1.3 The EUS Constitution