Maroon Constitution

Preamble Pursuant to our commitment to truth, the well-being of our campus and local communities, and democracy, The Chicago Maroon and its members promise to uphold the following Constitution.

Article I: Name Section 1. The name of this organization shall be The Chicago Maroon, hereafter referred to as “The Maroon.”

Section 2. The Editor(s)-in-Chief, Managing Editor(s), Chief Production Officer(s), and Chief Financial Officer(s) shall make up the Executive Board of The Maroon.

Article II: Purpose Section 1. The purpose of The Maroon shall be to process, interrogate, and communicate truths that are relevant to the diverse ecosystem of communities connected to the University of Chicago. The Maroon knows that the truth is easy to assert but hard to capture. The Maroon is therefore committed to a journalism of contextualization, a journalism that approaches the truth from as many perspectives as possible. Our journalism is guided by our strong belief in the positive power accessible information has on free and equitable societies.

Section 2. The Executive Board shall faithfully execute The Maroon’s purpose by leading the paper with decorum and with attention to the needs of staffers, the University community, and the communities connected to the University.

Article III: Membership Section 1. All members of The Maroon must be students at the College at the University of Chicago and/or any graduate or professional school at the University of Chicago. Every member of The Maroon must be actively enrolled at the University of Chicago.

Section 2. All members of The Maroon are responsible for upholding the values enumerated in the statement of purpose. To this end, all members of The Maroon are entitled to the following set of capabilities: the ability to dissent publicly from Maroon leadership without fear of reprisal while upholding The Maroon’s basic values of journalist ethics, respect, and decorum; reasonable access to the attention of the Executive Board; access to relevant information, including but not limited to financial records, justification for certain executive decisions, and relevant legal documents.

Section 3. Membership in The Maroon may be revoked by the Editor(s)-in-Chief, the Managing Editor(s), or the relevant Head Editor(s) of the member’s section(s). Removal from the paper is at the discretion of the aforementioned officers.

Section 4. The Maroon does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender expression, age, national origin, ancestry, disability, marital status, or military status, in any of its activities or operations.

Section 5. In case of removal from The Maroon, individuals are entitled to an appeal process in which the Executive Board will determine, by a simple majority vote, whether the appellant was wrongly removed from the paper. If the officer(s) responsible for removing the student are members of the Executive Board, they will be barred from voting. Both the student who has been removed and the officer(s) who removed the student are entitled to provide the necessary information to make their case. This privilege includes access to information necessary to make a rebuttal.

Article IV: Meetings and Procedures Section 1. The Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor(s) are responsible for hosting at least one meeting for all editors per quarter. This meeting should include the entire Executive Board and all other officers or students with “editor” in their title or an editor level position; this does not include entry level copy editors. All editors are required to attend these meetings.

Consistent failure to attend these meetings may result in demotion or removal from the paper.

Section 2. The Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor(s) are responsible for hosting at least one meeting for all members of The Maroon at least once per quarter. This meeting must be reasonably accessible to all members, with time allocated for members to express their views about The Maroon, its contents, or any editorial decisions made by its staff. The entire Executive Board is required to attend this meeting.

Article V: Officers Section 1. The Maroon shall have the following officers: Editor(s)-in-Chief; Managing Editor(s); Chief Financial Officer(s); Chief Production Officer(s); the Head Editor(s) or the most senior Editors of each editorial section (Arts, Copy, Crossword, Design, Grey City, News, Photo, Podcast, Sports, Video, Viewpoints); and the directors of each Business division.

Section 2. The duty of these officers shall be to uphold the aforementioned mission of purpose and to execute the responsibilities of their respective sections.

Section 3. With the exception of Executive Board members, who are voted into their positions annually, all officers shall be appointed pursuant to their internal section protocol. The Maroon leaves the creation and amendment of these protocols to individual sections. However, the Editor(s)-in-Chief, Managing Editor, and Executive Board may intervene and adjust internal protocols if they deem it necessary.

Article VI: Electing, Appointing, and Removing Officers Section 1. Elections for Executive Board positions must be held at least once per year. Barring extenuating circumstances, elections shall be held in person the Saturday following the fifth week of winter quarter.

Section 2. Up to two people may run for any Executive Board position. However, if two people run for Editor-in-Chief, one must be designated “deputy.”

Section 3. All members who have been eligible to vote for at least two quarters are eligible to run for executive positions. Candidates are prohibited from running for Executive Board positions if, during their term (the following spring, fall, and/or winter quarters), they intend to study abroad, take an official leave of absence from the University or take at least one quarter off from The Maroon. Any member of the Executive Board who takes a quarter off because of unforeseen circumstances must resign from their position.

Section 4. The sitting Editor(s)-in-Chief, Managing Editor(s), Chief Production Officer(s), and Chief Financial Officer(s) shall run the elections for their respective positions. They may not vote except to break ties. Voting shall occur via private ballot.

Section 5. Prior to elections, all candidates must announce to the entire paper their intent to run by the end of the third week of winter quarter. Candidates must make a written platform available to all members of The Maroon by the end of the fourth week of winter quarter.

Section 6. All other members of The Maroon are eligible to vote if they have been active members for at least one quarter and hold a position that requires an application.

Section 7. Executive Board members can only be removed with a two-thirds vote from voting-eligible members of The Maroon who elect to vote in the election, or, in special cases by a two-thirds majority vote by the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Board (this process is outlined in the bylaws). A letter calling for the removal of the Executive Board member signed by at least five members of The Maroon must be delivered to the Executive Board. The Executive Board,

upon receiving the letter, must circulate the letter to the entire staff of The Maroon and hold a vote within seven days of receiving the letter. With the exception of the officer(s) up for impeachment, all members who are eligible to vote in a regular Executive Board election are eligible to vote in an removal election.

Section 8. If an elected officer vacates their post during their term, an interim officer shall be appointed by the Editor(s)-in-Chief. The Editor(s)-in-Chief may decide to hold a special election to fill the role, but they are not obligated to do so. If the Editor-in-Chief(s) are all removed or otherwise unable to fulfill their positions, a member of the Executive Board will take their place.

The order of succession shall be: Deputy Editor-in-Chief (if applicable), Managing Editor, and Deputy Managing Editor (if applicable). If no member of the sitting Executive Board is able to fulfill the duties of the vacant position, an emergency election shall be held. This election shall follow the same rules as a regular Executive Board election. The officers of The Maroon shall be responsible for carrying out this emergency election.

Section 9. At the discretion of the Editor(s)-in-Chief, votes for scheduled elections and impeachment may be collected virtually in order to ensure a quorum of eligible voters or if an in-person election is not possible. Voting procedure shall remain otherwise unchanged.

Article VII: Sections Section 1. The standing sections of The Maroon shall be: Arts, Business, Copy, Crossword, Design/Production, Grey City, News, Photo, Podcast, Sports, Video, and Viewpoints. Each section shall be run by one or more Head Editor(s) or Section Head(s) who shall, in addition to running the section as an officer, serve as the main liaison between the section and the Executive Board.

Section 2. The duties of each of these sections shall be to produce or help produce consistent, high-quality content pursuant to their respective scopes. Additionally, each section is responsible for determining its internal membership structure, promotion process, and operational norms.

With the exception of Viewpoints, each section is under the ultimate authority of the Executive Board and the Editor(s)-in-Chief.

Section 3. Viewpoints, as the opinion section of The Maroon, shall have partial editorial independence from the rest of The Maroon. This independence entitles Viewpoints to publish content without fear of retribution from the Executive Board on the basis of ideology. The Maroon shall be able to edit Viewpoints content for clarity, grammar, and ethical and legal standards.

Article VIII: Committees

Section 1. The standing committees of The Maroon shall be: the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Board (DEI); the Editorial Board; and the Advisory Board.

Section 2. The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Board shall ensure equity in The Maroon’s internal operations by ensuring transparent and fair promotions, hearing harassment and discrimination complaints, and strengthening outreach practices to form a more diverse staff.

Any member of The Maroon is eligible to apply for the DEI Board.

Section 3. The Editorial Board shall produce editorials that represent the institutional voice of The Maroon.

Section 4. The Advisory Board shall provide strategic vision, advice, and oversight on business, finance, leadership, management, journalistic standards and practices, and editorial decision-making. An editorial advisor, distinct from the Advisory Board but a member of the University community, will be available to offer The Maroon on-call journalistic advice. The Advisory Board does not have final say over the actions of The Maroon with the exception of budget approval.

Section 5. The Editorial Board shall be composed of no more than ten voting-eligible members of The Maroon. The Editorial Board shall be run by either the Editor-in-Chief or the Managing Editor, who shall be responsible for scheduling bi-weekly or weekly meetings, recruiting new members, and ensuring that editorials are published consistently and with the highest standard of quality. Members of the Editorial Board must attend every meeting. No more than three members of the Editorial Board may dissent from a published editorial. If more than three members dissent, the editorial may not be published. Dissenters are entitled but not required to explain the reason(s) for their dissent at the end of the editorial.

Section 6. The Advisory Board shall be composed of five members of the University of Chicago community, solicited by the Executive Board and confirmed by majority vote of the Editor(s)-in-Chief, the Chair of the Advisory Board, and The Maroon’s Center for Leadership and Involvement Advisor.

Article IX: Bylaws Section 1. Bylaws of The Chicago Maroon shall be established and altered by a majority vote of the Executive Board. Any member of The Maroon may propose a bylaw. In the case of a tie in the voting for a bylaw, the Editor(s)-in-Chief shall decide whether to enact the bylaw.

Section 2. This Constitution and its bylaws shall be made public and accessible on The Maroon’s website, on The Maroon’s Slack workspace, and as a physical copy in the Maroon office. All amendments shall be incorporated into this Constitution in a timely fashion (no longer than two weeks following ratification).

Article X: Amendments Section 1. Any member of The Maroon may request an amendment to the Constitution.

Section 2. In order for an amendment to be ratified, two-thirds of the Executive Board must vote affirmatively.