USC APIFSA By-Laws
I. Mission/Purpose
Our mission is to create a safe space and a strong voice to advocate for API faculty and staff across the USC community.
Our purpose is achieved through six actions:
1. Advocacy/Social Change
To understand the historic and systemic challenges experienced by the API community and strive to create the language and tools needed to turn action into impact, advocacy and social change.
2. Allyship/Coalition Building
To build solidarity within the API community and form coalitions with other affinity groups and allies to address systemic racism and educate the wider community.
3. Representation/Caucus
To express our collective voice and significant presence on campus to ensure the API community is visible, represented, and valued in all levels of leadership at USC.
4. Support/Community
To provide a safe space to share, express and support one another without judgment while listening and acknowledging all voices in the mission to heal, inform and create change.
5. API Awareness/Outreach
To engage the wider community and build awareness of diverse API lived experiences to shed light on API’s history, contributions and struggles with structural racism.
6. Professional Development/Networking/Mentorship
To foster professional relationships and mentorship between API faculty, staff and allies, and to build a network that promotes and equips API faculty and staff with professional development skills and opportunities.
II. Membership and Eligibility
USC APIFSA welcomes any and all USC employees who identify as API or wish to be an ally to the API community.
All APIFSA members are eligible to serve on the Executive Board or other committees, vote in APIFSA elections, and nominate candidates to serve on committees.
III. Organization of the Executive Board
The Executive Board is the governing body of APIFSA and consists of the following
members:
• Chair
• Chair-elect
• Executive Secretary
• Executive Secretary-elect
• Treasurer
• Vice Chairs – head of each of the five committees
• Ex-Officio Board Members (2)
Vice Chairs-elect will attend Executive Board meetings but do not have voting privileges and
are not official members of the Executive Board. See Section IV for roles and responsibilities
for each board member.
Each member is elected for two years by vote of the APIFSA general assembly or
committee membership (see Section VI for election details).
The Executive Board calendar runs concurrently with the fiscal year (July 1 – June 30).
However, each member serves in a specific role for only one year. For instance, a Vice
Chair-elect serves in that role for one year, then the following year becomes Vice Chair.
No member of the Executive Board may serve more than four (4) consecutive full terms, or
eight (8) consecutive years, on the Board. No member of the Executive Board may serve
more than two consecutive terms in any combination of offices of the Board.
At times it may be necessary to elect Board members for terms of less than two years in
order to maintain total Board membership. Should a Board seat become vacant with more
than six months of service remaining, a special election of the APIFSA Members or
Committees will be held to fill that vacancy (in the case of the Secretary, Secretary-elect,
Treasurer, Chair, and Chair-elect), or the committees will meet to fill the vacancy (in the
case of Vice Chairs and Vice Chairs-elect). Otherwise the seat will be left vacant until the
next election. A specially elected Executive Board member serves only for the time
remaining in the vacated term.
The Executive Board establishes its own time, place, and frequency of meetings. A
quorum of one more than 50% of Executive Board members must be in attendance to
hold an official Board meeting. All APIFSA Members can request to attend an Executive
Board meeting to present or bring topics to the Board.
IV. Responsibilities
Executive Board
The Executive Board reports regularly to APIFSA Members on APIFSA procedures and
guidelines, University policies, opportunities available to Members, and other pertinent
matters as they may arise. The Board speaks on behalf of APIFSA Members in all matters
which concern APIFSA. The Board meets with and advises USC Leadership regarding
APIFSA viewpoints on planning, policy, goals and objectives, priorities, budget, resource
allocation, the appointment of special committees and task forces, and other APIFSA
concerns. The Board oversees the work of the standing committees, fills certain vacancies
on these committees as necessary, and appoints special task forces to study issues and
make recommendations on matters that concern our API community.
Chair
The Chair conducts all meetings of the APIFSA General Meetings and the Executive
Board, and acts as principal voice of the Board in all discussions with APIFSA Members,
USC Leadership and with other groups or individuals.
Chair-elect
In the absence of the Chair, the Chair-elect has the same responsibilities as the Chair. In
the absence of both the Chair and Chair-elect, the same responsibilities are delegated by
the Chair, or by the Chair-elect acting as Chair, to another member of the Board.
Executive Secretary
The Executive Secretary keeps an accurate record of all decisions and recommendations
of the Executive Board and reports them to the APIFSA Members in a timely manner. Any
meeting minutes from meetings attended by non-APIFSA guests must be approved by the
guests prior to distribution. The Executive Board Secretary prepares agendas and keeps
minutes for all general meetings of the APIFSA Members, ensuring that minutes of the
previous meeting are available at or before each meeting. The first order of each
Executive Board meeting is to approve the previous meeting’s minutes. The Executive
Secretary is also responsible for the retention and proper management of all records of
the Executive Board and General Meetings, including uploading all records to the USC
APIFSA cloud drive.
Executive Secretary-elect
In the absence of the Executive Secretary, the Executive Secretary-elect has the same
responsibilities as the Executive Secretary. In the absence of both the Executive Secretary
and Executive Secretary-elect, the same responsibilities are delegated by the Executive
Secretary, or by the Executive Secretary-elect acting as Executive Secretary, to another
member of the Executive Board.
Treasurer
The Treasurer manages the budget and keeps financial records for APIFSA.
Vice Chairs
The Vice Chair conducts all meetings, provides strategic leadership, oversees all
activities, and acts as principal voice of their respective committees.
Vice Chairs-elect
In the absence of the Vice Chairs, the Vice Chairs-elect has the same responsibilities as
the Vice Chairs and will assume the Vice Chairs’ Executive voting privileges for the
duration of the Vice Chair’s absence.
Ex-Officio Board Members
AFPISA will appoint the Co-Founders, Grace Ryu and Linda Truong, as Ex-Officio board
members, without voting privileges, when their terms as Co-Chairs end. They will continue
to advise and provide support for Chairs and the Executive Board.
Obligation of all Executive Board Members
All Executive Board members are expected to know and understand APIFSA By-Laws and
actively participate in all Executive Board and APIFSA activities to the best of their
abilities. This includes utilizing all communication tools (including APIFSA Slack, APIFSA
Google Drive) and attending Executive Board meetings and retreats. Any member of the
Board who demonstrates sufficient cause for dismissal may be removed upon a majority
vote of the full Board. Cause shall be defined as, but not limited to, any member who
repeatedly fails to attend regularly scheduled meetings of the Board and/or does not
participate in the work of the Board. A vote occurs only after the Board notifies the
member of an impending vote and allows the member an opportunity to address the Board.
V. Committees
There are five (5) standing committees with the below charges:
1. Advocacy and Policy
• Direct outreach to individuals in leadership roles within the administration and
faculty senate bodies.
• Advise the provost and other executive vice chancellor officers on matters
concerning API needs.
• Review, assess, and provide recommendations on increasing API presence/inclusion
in social justice grants, initiatives, and programs.
• Advocate for diversity recruitment and retention at the central administration and
in various schools.
• Write and promote API experiences and histories at USC through programming,
curriculum changes, and central administration.
2. Communications and Outreach
• Collect and share resources and experiences across APIFSA members/committees,
the USC Community and beyond.
• Create and update communication channels for storytelling and resource sharing
through our website, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Slack and more.
• Educate and enhance APIFSA membership, sustain its growth and leverage its
strengths by highlighting the diversity of experiences in the API community at USC.
• Be a forum to communicate and engage with other affinity and ally groups for
dialogue, programming and partnership throughout Southern California.
3. Education and Resources
• Identify, create and compile Asian and Asian American thematic resources.
• Develop cross-collaborative relationships to further education in issues
surrounding Asians and Asian Americans.
• Engage, support, and educate API students and allies interested in Asian and Asian
American studies.
4. Keck APIFSA
• Serve as the formally established Employee Resource Group for AAPI faculty, staff,
and employees at Keck Medicine of USC
• Expand and connect USC APIFSA to the Health Sciences Campus through shared
programing, events, advocacy, community building, and professional development
opportunities.
5. Programming and Development
• Organize social and educational events geared specifically to staff and faculty that
showcases API history and culture, including AAPI Heritage Month in May.
• Identify and promote professional development opportunities for API faculty and
staff, including the Colleague-to-Colleague (C2C) mentorship program.
• Maintain and update a calendar of events, including ones that are organized by
APIFSA and events that are submitted by the community that are of interest to the
association.
Committee membership shall be on a volunteer basis from among the APIFSA Members.
Committees carry out the functions pertinent to their respective charges and report as
necessary in APIFSA General Meetings or Executive Board meetings. The work of the
committees will be done in coordination with the Executive Board, with APIFSA
Members, and with other groups or individuals within or outside USC.
VI. Elections
All officers and members of the Executive Board are elected by a vote of APIFSA Members
or Committees as outlined below. Candidates for Chair-elect must have demonstrated
current or past participation in an APIFSA committee.
• The Chair-elect and Executive Secretary-elect are elected by APIFSA
membership during the annual general election.
• The Chair and Executive Secretary are not elected, but are filled by the previous
year’s Chair-elect and Executive Secretary-elect.
• Treasurer is elected by APIFSA membership during the annual general election.
• Vice Chair-elects are elected by each respective committee at the same time as
the general election.
• The Vice Chairs of the committees are filled by the previous year’s Vice Chairs-lect.
The regular election for the open Executive Board positions is held in March. Calls for
nominations will go out in February. Recruitment for standing committee members will
occur in tandem with elections or as needed.
Members of the Executive Board assume their duties on the first business day of July,
unless elected to an office that is vacant at the time of their election. In the latter
instance, they assume their duties immediately upon announcement.
Special elections are called whenever required in order to fill vacancies in the Executive
Board. They may also be called at any time deemed necessary by the Executive Board in
order to vote on any initiative proposed by the Executive Board. Notice of a special
election must be given to the Members at least 30 days in advance.
All regular and special elections are conducted by secret ballot under the direction of one
of the Committees (to be chosen on a rotating basis). No member of APIFSA may cast
more than one vote for a single candidate or proposition in any election.
Upon any unforeseen vacancy of:
• Chair – Chair-elect becomes Chair, Special Election called to fill the Chair-elect position
• Chair-elect – Special Election called to fill the position
• Executive Secretary – Executive Secretary-elect becomes Executive, Special Election called to fill the Executive Secretary-elect position
• Executive Secretary-elect – Special Election called to fill the position
• Treasurer – Special Election called to fill the position
• Vice Chair – Vice Chair-elect becomes Vice Chair, committee elects a new Vice Chair-elect
• Vice Chair-elect – committee elects a new Vice Chair-elect
VII. Amendments and Revisions
Amendments to and revisions of the USC APIFSA By-Laws may be proposed by any APIFSA
member. A copy of any proposed amendment or revision must be made available to every
member of APIFSA at least thirty days before any action can be taken.
Any amendment to or revision of the APIFSA By-Laws must be approved by a majority
of the votes cast
USC APIFSA By-Laws, Version Date: 11/17/2022