Article I: Name |
Section 1: The name of this organization shall be the Ohio University Game Developers Association, hereafter referred to as OUGDA.
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Article II: Purpose |
Section 1: The purpose of this organization shall be to bring together like minded individuals wishing to pursue a career or hobby in any aspect of professional game development. Our aim is to cultivate a community that shares opinions, knowledge, creativity, and resources freely so that we may better ourselves both professionally and personally.
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Article III: Affiliations |
Section 1: This organization is affiliated with and recognized by the International Game Developers Association.
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Article IV: Membership |
Section 1: The membership of this organization shall consist of enrolled Ohio University students and Athens community members. After active participation in the community for a semester, members shall be granted alumni status, allowing them to stay in continued contact with the undergraduate members of the organization to expand OUGDA’s professional game development network, and permanent admittance to general body meetings. What is considered active for alumni status shall be determined by incoming and outgoing officers based on current club, university, and worldly circumstances.
Section 2: This organization and its members shall not discriminate against any person because of race, color, religion, age, national origin, ethnicity, national ancestry, sex, pregnancy, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, military service or veteran status, mental or physical disability, or genetic information. This is per the Ohio University Office of Equity and Civil Rights Compliance. For more information about Ohio University’s policies prohibiting discrimination and harassment, and for a description of Ohio University’s grievance procedures, please visit the webpage for the Office of Equity and Civil Rights Compliance at http://www.ohio.edu/equity-civil-rights/ Section 3: Harassment and/or discrimination in our organization shall not be tolerated. Such actions will be taken seriously. Any harassment should be taken to the officers and shall be handled on a case by case basis. It is not the responsibility of OUGDA to contact higher authorities, but we may. The officers only reserve the right to restrict people from attendance to any OUGDA sponsored event in the case of any violation(s). There shall be a 2 strike system in the organization. Meetings with the harasser, survivor, and bystanders may be necessary to fully understand a situation. Regardless of misunderstanding or investigation, an apology shall be necessary moving forward from the original strike, as well as an understanding from the harasser of the severity of their actions. If a member garners 2 strikes, they shall be terminated from the organization. If an act is severe enough, a complaint shall be filed with the Equity and Civil Rights Compliance Office. Strikes shall be given out at the officer's discretion. Officers may bypass the 2 strike system if an act is particularly severe. Section 4: The International Game Developers Association will be recognized as a potential resource for members. The President, Vice President, and Treasurer are required to obtain membership on April 30th of each year to make sure Officers always have membership in the organization. Section 5: All registered Ohio University student members of OUGDA are required to be a member of the affiliated BobcatConnect group. Section 6: All members, officers and advisors shall complete hazing education training as per Ohio Legislature Senate Bill 126. In addition to abiding by the guidelines set forth in Ohio University's Hazing Prevention policy, Policy 23.010, members of our organization shall complete Ohio University's mandatory hazing prevention training, which can be found here. Any advisor, member, or potential member who has not completed training shall be removed from the organization by Ohio University and prohibited from participating in organization events. |
Article V: Officers |
Section 1: Officers of OUGDA must fulfill Ohio University requirements.
Section 2: The Officers of the organization shall consist of… President – The President shall be in charge of organizing and running the organization's meetings. This includes coming up with the agenda for the meetings and keeping order in the meetings. The President will also serve as liaison between the organization, the International Game Developers Association, and Ohio University. The President will be the primary Officer communicating with the organization’s advisor. The President may not hold another presidential or vice presidential position in another Ohio University organization. To be able to run for president, a member must attend at least 70% of the officer meetings and at least 60% of general body meetings from the whole academic year. To be elected, the President must be able to serve for a full academic year. Vice President – The Vice President shall take on the responsibilities of the President in the event of the President's absence, as well as taking on responsibilities of other officers in the event of their absence, within reason. To be elected, the Vice President must be able to serve for a full academic year. The Vice President may not hold another presidential or vice presidential position in another Ohio University organization. The Vice president also acts as the professional public relations manager for the organization. They will be in charge of communicating with any individual that is not a member of the organization.The Vice President is also in charge of organizing and coordinating events for the organization. All speakers must be in contact with the Vice President prior to speaking. The Vice President will ensure that all speakers understand what is expected from their talk, including content, date, organization, and place. The Vice President is expected to be an ambassador between the organization and the Media School & faculty from the school. The Vice President is to oversee tutors including: schedules, notifications, website updates, etc. Treasurer - The Treasurer shall be in charge of creating and maintaining the organization's budget, as well as organizing fundraisers to meet the needs of the group. The Treasurer will provide an updated budget and safety check at the beginning of fall semester, beginning of spring semester, and end of spring semester at minimum with extra updates as requested by Officers. The Treasurer will control all receipts and disbursements of OUGDA, be responsible for the collection of money, submit recommendations concerning the financial policies of OUGDA as required, sign all checks for money disbursed and be responsible for collecting all money for any applicable fees. The Treasurer is responsible for communicating with the advisor about any financial business. The Treasurer is required to apply for semesterly SAC funding and event SAC funding as need arises. Upon election, the newly elected Treasurer must read the Ohio University Treasurer’s Handbook. Secretary - The Secretary shall record the minutes of the officer meetings. The Secretary is also responsible for sending the minutes to all active members in the weekly email. The Secretary is responsible for emailing the regular and alumni members in association with the historian. The Secretary is responsible for reminding members about important dates and information week to week. The Secretary shall create and maintain the calendar of events on the organization’s website. The Secretary is responsible for documenting the attendance of Officers, presenting that information to OUGDA and notifying the Officers when an Officer is in violation of the rules stated in Article V Section VI. Media Manager – The Media Manager shall be in charge of creating and maintaining the organization's web presence. The Media Manager will be in charge of receiving game builds from OUGDA development teams that wish them to be published and making them available to the public, either on the organization’s website, or on a third party site. The Media Manager is in charge of running the promotional media, and for drafting up plans to reach a wider audience. The Media Manager is also in charge of managing the organization’s BobcatConnect account. Historian - The Historian shall be in charge of keeping records of all OUGDA activities, projects, and officers. The Historian will keep this data in a place that can be accessed by all past, present, and future officers and members. The Historian shall be in charge of organizing all file-hosting services and devices used by the organization, and all files hosted on them. The historian will be in charge of saving all ratified versions of the constitution. Section 3: Officers are allowed to propose a committee to the other Officers should they require more help to accomplish a task. The Officers will vote on whether these committees will be implemented. Committee proposals must include the designated task and a reasoning for forming such a committee. Who will be in the committee shall be decided through interviews by the officer forming the committee. If a committee fails, the officer in charge is responsible for fulfilling the duties of the committee. Section 4: The term of each office shall be for one full academic year at most before re-election. Elections will be held at the end of March to allow the training of new Officers over the course of the remainder of the semester. This will allow new Officers to ask questions. Newly elected Officers come into office on April 30th to align with the IGDA memberships aforementioned in Article IV: Section 4. Section 5: Should the President's position become vacant for an extended period of time for any reason, the Vice President would take over as acting president. Should the Treasurer’s or Vice President’s position become vacant, nominations and elections for replacement Officers will take place. These new Officers will serve until the end of the previous Officers set term. If the positions of Secretary, Media Manager, or Historian are left vacant, Officers may either host an election at earliest convenience or proceed as usual until the beginning of the following semester when an election will be held for the vacant position. These positions are not required to be filled if no members feel they are ready for the responsibility. The President will delegate tasks for the vacant position to the remaining Officers. Section 6: Officers can only miss 3 unexcused meetings from both officer and regular meetings. At the third unexcused absence, the Secretary will notify the remaining Officers who will review the officer in question to determine if they should remain in office, determined by a 3/4ths vote. After the 5th unexcused absence, the Secretary will notify the Officers and the officer is automatically removed from office. Officers must notify the other Officers within 24 hours prior to an absence to be considered excused. All absences will be reviewed case by case. If an officer is more than 15 minutes late their absence will be considered unexcused. In the event of removal of an officer, the removal will be presented by the President to the entire organization via email and at the following regular meeting. Replacement elections will follow the protocol stated in Article V: Section 5. Review of an officer may also be discussed under circumstances of plagiarism, unprofessional representation of OUGDA, and recurring or extreme violation of the law or constitution. Section 7: At the beginning of the academic year, one officer will be decided to be the Prougducer via officer discussion and vote. The Prougducer’s responsibilities will be to advise, maintain communication with and share knowledge of all OUGDA member projects. The Prougducer will inform both officer and general member bodies about the status of the projects, and will be an advocate of these projects. The Prougducer will accept resource requests from member projects. Resources that could be requested include project management, developers, or funding. The Prougducer will discuss these requests with other officers and the club will supply the requested resources, within reason. “Prougducer” is a portmanteau of ‘producer’ and ‘OUGDA’. This cannot be changed. |
Article VI: Advisor |
Section 1: Our organization advisor must be a member of the faculty, administration, or staff of Ohio University.
Section 2: The duties and responsibilities of the advisor shall be primarily to co-sign for any financial obligations taken on by OUGDA. The advisor is not required to attend organization meetings. The advisor should be open to offering advice and information pertaining to University policies and procedures. Section 3: Should the position of advisor become vacant during the year, the Officers shall make it a priority to find a replacement advisor as quickly as possible |
Article VII: Meetings |
Section 1: Regular meetings of the organization shall be posted on the organization calendar at the beginning of each semester. This calendar is subject to change. Whenever changes are made, the Officers will notify the members via email and at the next meeting. Officer meetings shall also be held once a week. These meeting times will change from semester to semester depending on the Officer’s schedules. This time should be decided soon before the semester starts.
Section 2: Each weekly meeting shall have an organized structure. This structure should consist of Announcements, Activity, Critique, and Looking for Work. Critiques shall be insightful and promoting rather than harsh and demeaning. Looking for Work shall be a space where students working on projects can search for assistance from other members. Section 3: Special meetings of the organization shall be held as necessary and will be called by the Officers. Notification will be sent out as soon as possible, though attendance to any special case meeting is not required |
Article VIII: Events
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Section 1: Throughout the year, OUGDA will host a number of larger activities such as but not limited to Game Jams, hangouts, expos and job fairs. These activities will be hosted entirely or in-part by OUGDA and its officers.
Section 2: Events will be organized via a discussion between officers, and other interested bodies. An event organizer body will be formed, to which a tentative schedule will be submitted at least two weeks before the event. A final schedule must be solidified at least a week in advance of the event. Section 3: The event may request funding through SAC or other University bodies, in which case a tentative budget must be submitted to the event organizer body at least two months before the event’s scheduled date. Other funding sources such as sponsors, fundraising, and parent organization donations should also be considered. Section 4: During the event, at least three organizers or trusted volunteers must always be on the premises when participants are also on premises. Attendees will be held to be OUGDA and other organizing body’s constitutions. Minors are not allowed to attend OUGDA events unless the matter is discussed and solidified beforehand, keeping in mind requirements for minors at events such as ours. |
Article IX: Funds
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Section 1: Before each semester, all officers shall have together created and submitted proposals for both biweekly and semesterly SAC funding.
Section 2: All members must follow the separate Fundraising Safety Guidelines Document. This document can be changed throughout the year by the Officers. |
Tutoring and Tutor Application
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Section 1: Members may apply to become tutors. Applicants must submit a tutor application.. These applications will be accepted on a rolling basis year round. Applicants will be under the review of the Officers. If a current Officer is applying, they must sit out during the deliberation of their work.
Section 2: Tutors shall have semester duties including but not limited to: teaching individual and small group lessons on their topics, presenting a lecture-series-style class open to members, professional presentation assistance, and answering questions as they are able to. Tutoring status shall expire at the end of every academic year. Tutors will be expected to renew their application at the end of every academic year. A tutor retains the ability to rescind their tutoring status with notification to the officers. |
Amendments
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Section 1: This constitution shall be amended by a vote of 3/4 majority of the membership at any regular or special meeting.
Section 2: Provision for advance notice of amendment shall be one week in advance at the weekly officer meeting. This will allow for parties to prepare to discuss the proposal the following week and vote the topic. Notification shall be in the email of the weekly minutes to active members and also in any place where members aggregate. Special meetings may also be called to discuss the topic, but the matter must be voted on at the regular meeting. |
Date Ratified: April 26th, 2023