Tau Beta Pi

The Engineering Honor Society

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How and Why Do We Elect Members?

Scholarship isn't the only requirement for joining TBP. All members are required to be of good character, and each chapter requires a means to determine if their candidates meet the character requirement. All chapters are required to hold elections that ensure each candidate has met the requirement.

Your chapter should hold a formal vote at a chapter meeting, which does require a quorum of active members to be present. If the previous officers didn't go over this with you, check your chapter's bylaws for a detailed procedure. You can find your chapter's bylaws in the chapter information page. For most chapters, each candidates is discussed and then voted on, one-at-a-time, until the full list is completed. Chapters usually have some method beforehand to investigate the students' character (see Initiation Tasks below for more details). If not, then the discussion held during the election meeting is the key test for character.

Once you've held your election, inform the candidates of their result and allow them to either accept or decline their election. You should then fill out the Report of Election. Because the Report of Election is due at least two weeks prior to the initiation ceremony, the election must take place more than two weeks before the initiation ceremony.

Initiation Tasks

As mentioned above, most chapters have some method to investigate candidates' character. Here are some common examples:

  • Require candidates to attend chapter events or participate in a chapter committee.
  • Require candidates to attend community service events, either held by TBP or other organizations.
  • Require candidates to submit their resume to show what activities they do outside of class.
  • Hold interviews, where one or more officers or current members interview the candidates. This may be conducted individually or at a large meet-and-greet.
  • Require candidates to complete Q&A's or essays about character-related topics.
  • Require candidates to polish a small Bent or construct one.

In order to serve as proper tests of character, these ideally should usually take place before the election meeting, but some chapters may hold their initiation tasks after the election but require candidates to agree to the tasks in advance. Sometimes schedules can be tricky to manage for these required activities, consider remote support or alternative activities for initiates with different time constraints.

Completing the Election Report

The Report of Election is found in the Membership Reports on the online report system. When you open it, simply go through the list of juniors, seniors, and "Others" (grad students, alumni, and eminent engineers). If the candidate was elected, mark them as "Elected" and (unless they have decided not to be initiated) "Accepted Election". If they were rejected by the chapter vote, put the rejection code that applies for them:

  • A1 - Candidate was known to have no interest in membership
  • A2 - Candidate did not respond (for most chapters, there's a lot of these)
  •  B  - Candidate did not meet requirements (use this if they showed interest but didn't do whatever they needed to or if the chapter chose to vote against them)
  •  C  - Candidate is not technically qualified because of a transfer student rule or other restriction
  •  D  - Candidate was on Co-op "or below chapter deadline and was not contacted"

Once you've filled it all out, go back to the Election Menu and submit the report. Pretty easy, right? Here are a few very common mistakes on the Election Report:

  1. This report is due at least two weeks before you hold your initiation ceremony. If you submit this late, your initiation might not be approved. Holding an unapproved initiation results in fines and potential probation. You also risk having those you initiated be told they will not actually become members of TBP.
  2. Unless you are expecting to initiate every single person on the eligibility list, do not simply "elect" every single person on the list. You should only elect those who you expect to initiate and who have met the requirements for your chapter.
  3. If you are initiating grad students, alumni, or eminent engineers, their eligibility paperwork must be submitted at least two weeks before the election report is submitted. See the section on the Eligibility Report in the "Obtain Eligibility List" page for details. If you don't complete those on time, they will not appear on the Election Report.
  4. If the date of initiation ceremony changes from what you put on the eligibility report, you must let know as soon as possible.

Catalog Cards

Catalog cards are used by HQ for the membership database. Every initiate is required to complete theirs. They're found online and require initiates to enter their contact information, date of birth, whether they want a Bent pin or a Bent charm, etc. There are three ways to access and complete them:

  1. Initiates can fill them out using this link, but they require your chapter's PIN. You can find the chapter PIN on the eligibility report you've submitted (make sure you tell initiates what it is or they won't be able to access their cards). If you haven't held your info sessions yet, or if you still have events coming up that initiates must be present at, you can pull this website up on a laptop at the event so that candidates go ahead and fill theirs out. This is our most recommended method.
  2. If you have filled out the election report (whether you've actually submitted it yet), you can access the catalog cards for each initiate on the online reports system. Get to the Election Menu and click on "Catalog Cards". You can then access the catalog cards for anyone who has been marked as "Elected" and "Accepted Election" on the Election Report. Some chapters have candidates complete the Catalog Card info using another means (for example, a Google Form that has additional required info for candidates) and then transfer the info into each individual catalog card.
  3. On the same page as option 2 above, you can have the online reports system send out emails to electees that give links to their cards. This is probably the most common method. Again, though, this only works for those who have been marked as "Elected" and "Accepted Election" on the Election Report.

Generally, most of the work is on the electee's side in terms of actually filling things out, this can be averted by having everyone fill out their catalog card while in a meeting. The hardest part is getting every electee to fill theirs out on time; often this requires a lot of emails. Catalog Cards are due at the same time as the Election Report - at least two weeks before the initiation ceremony is held. We recommend getting them done earlier than that if possible - if you get them done 3-4 weeks in advance, you have a much better chance that their certificates will arrive by the time of your ceremony.

Here are the two most common errors with Catalog Cards:

  • By far the most common mistake is just not having all the Catalog Cards completed on time. Again, they are due at least two weeks before the initiation ceremony is held. Do whatever you can to get all electees to complete theirs.
  • Make sure these are filled out correctly, especially if for some reason the officers have to fill them out for the students. If a name is misspelled, for example, and the initiate requires a new certificate with a corrected spelled, the chapter will be charged for it.

Key & Certificate Delivery Instructions

In addition to the Catalog Cards and the Election Report, you must complete a quick form that informs HQ on where to send the initiate keys, certificates, and cards. Under the Election Menu, click on "Key & Certificate Delivery Instructions". Complete and submit that form to tell them where you want everything delivered. Please note, there is a (relatively) small delivery fee charged for delivery to specific initiate's homes.