SLUO CHARTER
(drafted by D. Coyne, 11 April 1989)
(revised in Subcommittee 21 April 1989)
(revised in Working Committee 6 May 1989)
(Revisions approved July 2, 1998 by SLUO Membership)
(Proposed revisions April 21, 1999 by Executive Committee, approved September, 1999 by SLUO Membership)
(Proposed revisions October 2007 by Executive Committee, approved November 1, 2007 by SLUO Membership)
(Proposed revisions September 2011 by Executive Committee, approved November 28, 2011 by SLUO Membership)
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
C. Function
1. Meetings
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
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.
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.