The six regular officers of a chapter must be active members in the technical sense of Constitution Article VI, Section 1. They are usually undergraduates; however, a number of chapters have graduate-student presidents, many have faculty treasurers, and a few have faculty corresponding secretaries. The duties of chapter officers are specified by Constitution Article VI, Sec. 6, and Bylaw V, Sec. 5.03. Although officers' responsibilities often overlap, a typical list of chapter properties and the officer responsible for them is given below:
OFFICER See Bylaw V, Sec. RESPONSIBLE FOR
1. President 5.03(a) President's Book, gavel, initiation equipment, chapter files and records
2. Vice President 5.03(b) Initiation equipment, electees' materials
3. Recording Secretary 5.03(c) Secretary's Book, chapter records, extra copies of Constitution and Bylaws booklets
4. Corresponding Secretary 5.03(d) Reports to headquarters, current addresses of active members
5. Treasurer 5.03(e) Treasurer's Book, checkbook, financial records
6. Cataloger 5.03(f) Catalog cards, Roll Book, up-to-date alumni records
The full Advisory Board consists of the four alumnus advisors and the president, vice president, and corresponding secretary of the chapter. It draws its authority and responsibility from Constitution Article VI, Section 7(b), which states: "The Advisory Board shall act as an advisory and judiciary committee to determine the advisability of any action taken or proposed by the Chapter . . . by a majority vote, the Advisory Board may forbid any such action or change, subject to an appeal to the Executive Council."
Alumnus advisors need not be members of the faculty, although they customarily are. They serve for staggered terms of four years each, one new advisor being elected each year in the spring when the other chapter officers are chosen.
The advisors have one major function — they provide the necessary continuity in chapter operations from year to year. A chapter's undergraduate membership goes through an almost complete turnover every year. Officers and committee chairs change annually and sometimes more often. It is not the responsibility of the alumnus advisors to supervise the detailed work of the chapters. But it does rest with them to see that policies and practices, especially with regard to the election of new members and finances, are uniform and fair from one year to the next. This is an area in which the alumnus advisors, serving four-year staggered terms, perform their most valuable work.
The Advisory Board should hold regularly scheduled informal meetings, perhaps several times per school term, but at least once per term. Some chapters' boards meet over breakfast or lunch to discuss chapter operations, projects, and problems.
The "Chief" Advisor of a chapter is simply the one designated by the chapter to communicate with the national headquarters during vacation periods and other times. This is vital for communications. He or she may also serve as chair of the Advisory Board. The chair should always be an advisor.
While the chapter Advisory Board has the general responsibility of keeping a judicial eye on all chapter activities, some particular duties are specified by the national Constitution and Bylaws. Chapter bylaws may add other responsibilities of local concern, of course. The following references to the Constitution and Bylaws list the duties of the Board:
•Term of office and time of election: Const. Art. VI, 7(a) Bylaw V, 5.01
•Reports of Advisory Board actions: Bylaw V, 5.03(d)(9)
•Chapter Bylaws: Const. Art. VI, 5, and 7(b)
•Chapter finances, assessments and dues: Bylaw V, 5.04(a)
•Eligibility of engineering curricula:
Night school: Const. Art. VIII, 2(a)
Curricula not under jurisdiction of the dean of engineering: Const. Art. VIII, 2(b) and (e)
Exclusion of non-engineering curricula: Const. Art. VIII, 2(c)
Curricula removed from jurisdiction of the dean of engineering: Const. Art. VIII, 2(d)
Irregular curricula: Const. Art. VIII, 2(m)
•Eligibility of undergraduate-student candidates:
Irregular students: Const. Art. VIII, 2(m)
Transfer students: Const. Art. VIII, 2(l)
Time of elections and initiations: Bylaw VI, 6.01(a)
Special elections and initiations: Const. Art. VIII, 1(e) & Bylaw VI, 6.01(b)
•Eligibility of graduate-student candidates:
Statement of worthiness: Const. Art. VIII, 3
•Eligibility of alumnus and eminent-engineer candidates:
Approval of alumnus electees: Const. Art. VIII, 7(c)
•Election procedures: Bylaw VI, 6.03(c)
•Electee Activities Bylaw VII, 7.01
•Financial inability: Const. Art. VIII, 10(a)
•Inactive members: Bylaw VI, 6.05
•Initiation of ineligible candidates: Const. Art. VIII, 11
•Joint social functions: Bylaw VII, 7.08
•Suspension and expulsion of members: Const. Art. IX, 5
Preferably, chapter advisors should be distributed among the engineering departments, not only one or two departments. If your school has many departments, try to rotate faculty representation on your Advisory Board so that all the departments over a period of years will have contributed the services of at least one person. Consult with your dean, department heads, or friends in industry for suggested Advisory Board candidates.
A chapter may have more than four alumnus advisors if it wishes. Four of them should be selected to serve on the Advisory Board, while the others may be designated as "honorary" advisors. This assures that the Constitutional provision of a four-to-three ratio of alumni to students on the board is met.
A chapter advisor should be deeply interested in the chapter and eager to work with it and for it. Choose those persons who will enjoy serving. And don't forget another qualification of equal importance: Time. Does that potential advisor have time to put his or her experience and willingness to work for the chapter? A prominent older member of the engineering faculty may not have sufficient time for the job. A younger person, not yet overloaded with faculty, civic, and family responsibilities may prove to be a better advisor than your dean or department head with a busy schedule. The chapter may profit from this kind of "glory by association," but generally, the younger advisor can contribute more in the way of informed counseling because he or she is closer to the students and can devote attention to them.
Don't fail to put your advisors to work. Note the plural; it is not uncommon in Tau Beta Pi chapter life for one particular advisor to have taken a keen and deeply understanding interest in the group over a long period of years. Such advisors have usually served on their local Advisory Boards for decades and not only their chapters but the entire Association is in their debt. These advisors have frequently acted in the name of the other three, by mutual consent, because it is known that they are in close touch with the students. Where such dedicated persons exist, chapter operations and service projects are likely to be better accomplished. If your chapter has such an advisor, you are extremely fortunate. But don't forget the other three advisors; take full advantage of their services and advice also.
There are many ways your advisors can help beyond their specified duties. It is recommended that each chapter have one particular advisor whose special business is to keep a watchful eye on finances. It appears to be just good policy to maintain a continuous vigilance over all fiscal matters in an organization as loosely tied together and as ever-changing as a Tau Beta Pi chapter. Some chapters have found it advantageous to have an advisor serve as the chapter's treasurer, reelecting that person year after year as long as the arrangement continues to be satisfactory to the chapter and to the person. In some cases, chapters with permanent treasurers have found it advantageous to have a student serve as assistant treasurer; the student assistant handles routine operations, leaving overall supervision of financial matters to the treasurer.
Other possible duties or activities of the advisors are: Audit the financial record of the chapter at the end of each year and assist in preparation of the annual Internal Revenue Service return (required only if your chapter's income exceeds $25,000 for its fiscal year); serve on initiation teams to support that important ceremony; attend routine chapter meetings, possibly on a rotating basis among the alumnus members of the board; provide space for the chapter files and equipment cabinets when the chapter has no special room of its own; provide wall space for hanging the framed chapter charter — perhaps in the office of the Advisory Board chair, if the charter is not already permanently and properly displayed; and provide the services of a secretary to type chapter correspondence and chapter reports. Most advisors are more than willing to do these things if asked!
A booklet titled Advisor’s Book has been sent to all advisors, and copies are available from the national headquarters. An HTML version is also available at www.tbp.org/advisors/advisorsbook. The booklet explains the basic scheme of chapter operations and the advisors' principal functions within the scheme; and it refers to this President's Book as a source of detailed information on requirements and suggestions (recent edition — 2002).
The presentation of gifts, certificates, or other tokens of appreciation to retiring alumnus members of the Advisory Board is heartily encouraged. Such presentations might well be made when new advisors are installed.
Detailed financial and accounting procedures for chapters have been printed in the Official Chapter Bookkeeping System Instructions and are not repeated here. Below is a listing of facts and suggestions which the president should remember. If your treasurer does not have a copy of the official bookkeeping instructions, he or she should get one from the national headquarters, even if your chapter does not or cannot use the official system. The information is general in nature and will make your treasurer's job easier.
a. The $32.00 national charge for every initiate, effective 2004, includes:
Official gold-plated key |
$7.35 |
4-year subscription to THE BENT |
$8.40 |
Certificate |
$3.40 |
Constitution, Information Booklet, etc. |
$1.90 |
Expenses of the Association |
$8.95 |
Subscription to THE BULLETIN |
$2.00 |
b. Convention expenses are met by a charge to each new initiate of each chapter ($5.00 effective 2004, subject to change after each Convention). Provision should be made in the chapter budget for collecting this amount from each initiate for prompt payment immediately following each initiation.
c. Statements of credits and charges are sent monthly, September to June, to all chapter treasurers by the national headquarters.
a. The average initiation fee is about $64 including the national initiation fee and Convention assessment.
(1) Chapters which do not maintain a system of dues, but which depend upon the initiation fees for operating expenses, may want to consider graduated fees, based on the months, terms, or semesters of academic work during which the member will probably be active. This would appear to call for the lowest fee to be charged to an alumnus member, who usually is not active in the chapter at all. However, most chapters feel that such a person, who can generally afford it, should be charged as much as the average student fee, if not more.
(2) Chapters which do have a system of dues usually charge a base fee sufficient to cover the national initiation fee, the Convention assessment, and perhaps the banquet at which the member is initiated.
b. At the first or second meeting in the fall, the budget as set up by the chapter the previous spring or the president or a committee during the summer, should be fully considered, and the dues — if any — should be fixed to cover all probable chapter expenses for which special assessments are not made. These include the Convention charge, luncheons, dinners, dances, picnics, back debts if any, and other chapter needs, activities, or desires for the year.
c. Financial Refusal of Membership — See "Refusals of Election" section in this book regarding electees who are unable to pay the initiation fee (page B-l8).
a. The official Tau Beta Pi bookkeeping system is recommended.
b. The chapter officers sitting as a committee with the treasurer as chair, should prepare and submit to the chapter each year, a budget for the upcoming year of the probable receipts and expenses of the chapter. This budget should be approved then and checked at the first meeting of the chapter in the fall. No changes should be made in the budget except for the most urgent reasons and after careful and thoughtful consideration.
c. If a chapter advisor is elected treasurer, in order to relieve him or her of the bother of handling small amounts, a petty cash fund might be established and placed in charge of a student assistant treasurer or the chapter president. About $50 is placed in the petty cash fund and operating expenses not in excess of, say $10, are paid from this. Duly signed and approved vouchers or receipted bills replace the cash so expended. When this fund is nearly exhausted, the vouchers, etc., are presented to the treasurer, who writes a check for their total amount, which is used to bring the petty cash fund back to its original value. Thus the treasurer pays, by check only, those expenditures amounting to over $10.
d. Itemized reports should be presented to the treasurer with every request for money. The president should keep copies of these.
e. No expenditures whatsoever should be made without the approval of the president.
f. It is absolutely necessary to make all records, vouchers, reports, etc., complete and in order. When money is handled, it is essential to leave no room for doubt or suspicion.
a. Each chapter should try to establish a surplus for future use provided that in order to expend any of it the chapter should, at two meetings at least one week apart, authorize such expenditure by a three-fourths vote of the active membership. Such action is subject to the approval of the Advisory Board.
b. When any accumulated surplus reaches $100, it might well be invested by the Advisory Board in federally-insured savings institutions.
c. Chapter funds should be deposited only in a bank or savings institution which carries deposit insurance.
d. In case of any debts of a chapter caused by bank failure, over-expenditure, mismanagement, or worse, on part of the chapter or its officers or an advisor, the facts should be placed before the Advisory Board and with its approval be brought to the attention of the members or alumni who possibly created the debt, with requests for financial assistance. The balance of such debts should be pro-rated among the members of the chapter for the next few years and the chapter dues increased so as to liquidate the indebtedness.
e. A chapter should never be in arrears with the Association for more than the charges for the last group of initiates, and that only for a few weeks. Large unfavorable balances against a chapter on the national headquarters' books are unusual.
The national Association is classified as a non-profit, charitable, educational organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, meaning that its income is not taxed and gifts made to it are tax-deductible by the donor.
Tau Beta Pi chapters are classified as non-profit organizations under Section 501(c)(7) of the code. This means that chapter income from initiation fees, gifts, ticket sales, etc., is not subject to income tax. However, donations and gifts made to a chapter are not tax-deductible to the donors.
Only a chapter whose income for the fiscal year exceeds $25,000 is required to file an annual IRS form 990. If your chapter's income normally exceeds $25,000, you must obtain a copy of form 990 from your local IRS office and mail it directly to the IRS shortly after the close of your fiscal year. A sample completed 990 is available from the national headquarters. Keep copies of anything you send to the IRS.
Even if your chapter's income is greater than $25,000 for the current year, you may not need to file if this income amount is unusually high. Refer to the form's instruction book which defines the criteria of having gross receipts not normally more than $25,000.
Tau Beta Pi chapters are required to pay all local and state taxes and federal excise taxes.
The job of corresponding secretary ranks second in importance only to that of chapter president, as far as national Headquarters relations are concerned. The corresponding secretary is responsible for preparing and submitting all chapter reports to Headquarters quickly and accurately. Each chapter president is given a user name and password to access the on-line report system. The corresponding secretary should use these to submit reports on-line. If he or she errs in carrying out this responsibility, keys and certificates may be delivered late (or worse, with misspelled names), the chapter account with Headquarters may carry incorrect entries, and members may not receive their copies of THE BENT, among other consequences. Fines are required to be levied by the Secretary-Treasurer for failure to submit Eligibility, Election, and Final Action Reports promptly. (See national Bylaw VIII.) It's not about the money; the Secretary-Treasurer is charged with maintaining membership records for Tau Beta Pi nationwide and with seeing that newly-elected members receive their keys, certificates, and copies of THE BENT as quickly as possible. To aid you and your corresponding secretary in completing these three vital reports, a necessarily detailed and time-consuming job, a sample set of reports is included in Section B of this book. Please see that this job, above all others, is performed promptly and accurately. The various reports called for under Bylaw V, 5.03(d) are as follows:
Bylaw V, 5.03(d)(1) —- Officer Information Report
It is a requirement
to send promptly in October each year lists of the names, post-office addresses,
phone numbers, and email addresses of the officers of the chapters and to report
promptly all changes in this information which may occur during the year.
Electronic lists of active members are sent to chapters
from Headquarters each fall and spring; lists of Advisors are sent each fall.
They list names and addresses from the master records.
Request changes in college or home addresses at every
chapter meeting, and report immediately to the national Headquarters.
Bylaw V, 5.03(d)(2) —- Report of Eligibility
Eligibility, Election, and Final Action report sets for undergraduate students must be submitted electronically at www.tbp.org/tbpelig. Blank eligibility, Election, and Final Action report sets for graduate students and alumni are sent to the chapter president upon request; just ask. Submit the Eligibility Report to Headquarters as soon as possible, preferably within two weeks after the start of the term. Sets of Constitutions, Information Booklets, etc., and bronze Bent castings, if wanted, are sent to the chapter president only after the Report of Eligibility has been received. The Headquarters staff will acknowledge receipt of your report by email and, at the same time, give you a judgment of the technical eligibility of any graduate-student, alumnus, or eminent engineer candidates whose names were included on the special report forms. Much embarrassment and some headaches can be saved if you will wait for this technical judgment of eligibility of these candidates. Chapters sometimes elect a graduate-student, alumnus, or eminent engineer and then find that he or she either is already a member, or worse, unqualified under Constitution Article VIII.
Bylaw V, 5.03(d)(3) —- Report of Election and Catalog Cards
Blank catalog cards are sent to the chapter In September and January. Submit the Report of Election and Catalog Card information and mail the catalog cards as soon as the electees reply to your invitation (within 24 hours, if possible). The sooner this report and the cards reach Headquarters, the sooner keys and certificates for the new electees can be ordered; delivery usually requires three-to-four weeks after the documents arrive. A note of caution; be sure to include your initiation date in the space provided on the report.
Certificates cannot be ordered without the initiation date since it appears on the certificates. Never allow anybody to fill out catalog cards for the electees. This small card is the national Headquarters' permanent record on each member; it should be correct, and the only way to be sure is to have each electee fill out his or her own card immediately after formally accepting your offer of membership.
Approval (by email) of the Secretary-Treasurer for you to hold your initiation, as required by Bylaw VI, 6.04(b), follows receipt of the Report of Election. The cardinal sin in Tau Beta Pi is to hold an initiation without first receiving approval from national Headquarters. If necessary, telephone for approval, but never hold an initiation without it. Receipt of a technical judgment of eligibility of graduate-student, alumnus, and eminent engineer candidates after submission of the special Report of Eligibility does not constitute approval for their initiation; it merely states that records and information submitted to Headquarters show these candidates to be technically eligible. The candidates still must be elected by the chapter, and approval of your Advisory Board must be given.
Bylaw V, 5.03(d)(4) —- Report of Final Action and photocopy of Roll Book Signatures
This report completes the initiation-election report sequence for an election season and is the most vital report. Its purpose is to show which candidates actually were initiated and to provide information on reasons for refusal of membership by electees and proposed date of initiation for any electees who were unable, for sickness or other equally acceptable reasons, to attend your initiation. The Report of Final Action is the last report in the membership trio and is preceded by the Eligibility and Election Reports; please provide complete information on all candidates on the Final Action Report. No one is a member of Tau Beta Pi until his or her initiation is properly reported to the Secretary-Treasurer. The Roll Book signatures must be photocopied and submitted as a part of the Final Action Report.
Bylaw V, 5.03(d)(5) —- Convention Credentials
Delegate's credentials are sent to the president in February. Elect your delegate (usually your new president) and alternate, and return the lower part of the report promptly. This report is not submitted on-line.
Bylaw V, 5.03(d)(6) and 5.03(d)(7) —- Chapter bylaws, news, and Advisory Board actions. Please report these matters when the occasion arises.
Bylaw VIII —- Observe this Bylaw carefully in order to avoid fines charged to your chapter's Headquarters account.
Notes: Headquarters might not send extra blank reports. Ask for whatever you need.
•Keys are delivered by the jeweler directly to the president; certificates are delivered to the president, and his or her signature and the secretary's (either recording or corresponding) signature must be added. If delivery of these materials might be made during a school vacation or the summer, they will be addressed to your Chief Advisor, and notice of such will be sent to the president (in late spring to both old and new presidents).
•Report the election of new chapter officers immediately afterwards on the official report on the website.
PLEASE OBSERVE THE ABOVE CAREFULLY. IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION, EMAIL, WRITE OR PHONE NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS WITHOUT DELAY.
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