SLUO Charter

A. Purpose

The SLAC Users Organization (SLUO) is a group of professional individuals with a scientific interest in the particle physics, astrophysics, or accelerator research programs at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
The purpose of the Organization is:

1. To provide an organized channel for communication between the users of SLAC facilities and the management of the Laboratory on matters of operating policy and facilities utilization;
2. To provide a means for facilitating the involvement of its members in specific projects with SLAC;
3. To provide information to its members on matters affecting their relationship to the laboratory;
4. To help promote the utilization of existing SLAC facilities and the approval of new ones, as deemed appropriate;
5. To facilitate interactions among the diverse user community;
6. To participate in organizing educational activities at SLAC, especially as relevant to the user community;
7. To represent the interests of the SLUO community at national/international policy levels.

B. Structure

1. Individual Membership

Individual membership in SLUO is open to all scientists and engineers involved in research and development with SLAC. Application for membership may be made to the SLUO administrator. There are no dues for individual membership.

2. Executive Committee

Activities of the Users Organization shall be conducted by an Executive Committee: This Committee consists of 12 members. The election process is described below. Executive Committee members are elected for 3-year terms. The term of Executive Committee members shall commence with the first meeting after the election of each year. At its first meeting after the election, the Executive Committee will elect its own officers, for terms of one year, from among its members. At any time during the year, if the Executive Committee deems it necessary, it may delegate all or any powers and duties of any office to any other officer or member.

3. Officers

The officers of the Users Organization shall be:

a) The Chair, who shall preside over all meetings, enforce due observance of the rules and perform other duties as directed by the Executive Committee or as the office may require. The Chair or a person designated by the Chair should represent the Users Organization before relevant meetings of organizations such as NUFO, the SLAC SPC, DOE, NSF, etc.

b) The Secretary-Treasurer, who shall keep a complete and accurate record of the proceedings of the meetings of the Executive Committee and post the minutes of all meetings, including reports of subcommittees, on the Web. This officer will oversee the election process and advertise the results to the SLUO membership. This officer shall report on the state of the SLUO finances at each meeting.
The method of election of the officers and their terms of office were described in paragraph 2. Any member of SLUO, whether employed by SLAC or not, may serve in either of these roles.

4. Participating Collaborations

Any group of SLUO members with a common scientific interest can form a Participating Collaboration and petition the Chair of the Executive Committee to grant their collaboration official recognition by SLUO. Participating Collaborations should make their own rules for membership and specify these in the petition. Typically, a Participating Collaboration would consist of members of an experiment or other formal collaboration that is supported by SLAC; however this is not a requirement for recognition.

Once a Participating Collaboration is officially recognized by the Executive Committee, this Collaboration will be entitled to one representative on the Executive Committee. That representative will have the responsibility to communicate between the Collaboration and the Executive Committee, that is, to transmit concerns of the Collaboration to the Executive Committee, to report the relevant actions of the Executive Committee and of the SLAC Laboratory management to the Collaboration, and to organize SLUO-related discussions within the Collaboration.

The Executive Committee is empowered to recognize, and end recognition for, Participating Collaborations. The criterion for any such action is that it should, in the Committee's judgement, improve the communication between the SLUO membership in general and the Executive Committee. A maximum of 8 Participating Collaborations may be recognized at any given time.

5. Elections

The annual election process for membership in the Executive Committee is to be conducted electronically by the Executive Committee prior to the expiration of terms. The election should fill any seats on the Executive Committee that are vacant due to resignations or will be vacated by the end of members' terms. Members of SLUO may petition the Chair of the Executive Committee to be placed on the ballot. The seats of Participating Collaborations must be filled by members of that Collaboration. All other seats may be filled by any SLUO member. All SLUO members are eligible to vote for all Executive Committee positions, including those of Collaboration representatives.

C. Function

1. Meetings

Meetings of the Executive Committee shall be held at intervals of approximately four months, with no fewer than three regular meetings per year. Additional meetings may be called at the chair's discretion or by a majority of the Executive Committee. Announcements of all meetings will be made in advance to all Committee members and should be announced to the Collaborations through their representatives. Any member of SLUO may attend and participate in discussions, though only members of the Executive Committee may vote.

The Executive Committee shall organize and convene an annual general meeting of the full membership. The Chair may call additional meetings when appropriate.

2. Decisions

A meeting of the Executive Committee requires the presence of at least 8 of the 12 Executive Committee members, including at least one of the two officers. On substantive questions before the Committee, an affirmative vote requires a majority of the full Executive Committee. If the members present at the meeting do not produce a majority vote, the issue should be submitted to a vote of the full Committee by email. Officers shall vote as regular members of the Committee. A vote will be recorded by name at the request of any Executive Committee member.

3. Reporting

The minutes of each Executive Committee meeting will be posted on the Web.

4. Subcommittees

The Executive Committee shall appoint subcommittees, standing or special, as and when needed. A subcommittee may draw from the entire SLUO membership. The Chair shall be a voting ex-officio member of all subcommittees.

D. Amendments

This Charter may be amended by a vote of the membership. To be submitted to a vote of the SLUO membership, a proposed charter amendment must first receive an affirmative vote from a simple majority of the full Executive Committee. The members of SLUO will then vote on the amendment and the transition process for its implementation. A two-thirds majority of the members voting is required for passage of the amendment. The vote must be taken within three months of the approval by the Executive Committee.
 

Added: 23 September 2011