Iota Epsilon Alpha - Preamble and Constitutional By-Laws
WHEREAS the St. George’s University School of Medicine has established a medical educational program of distinction;
WHEREAS the need has arisen to promote the pursuit of academic excellence and integrity, to encourage the highest standards of character, conduct, leadership, ethos and compassion, and to improve the overall morale among medical students and graduates locally and worldwide.
WHEREAS the public health and welfare of the underprivileged and medically indigent must be improved, internationally;
BE IT RESOLVED that the Iota Epsilon Alpha Honor Medical Society shall be organized for the St. George’s University School of Medicine, and for the International Community at large.
Article I
NAME AND EMBLEM
SECTION 1. The name of this organization shall be Iota Epsilon Alpha Inc., Honor Medical Society. These three Greek letters, IEA, represent the following motto:
“iasis kai eleos pasi tois anqrwpoisi”
“Healing and compassion for all people”
SECTION 2. The emblem of the Society shall be composed of the following symbols. The periphery shall be limited by one ring. Within the upper half of the ring shall be written the English translation of the motto of the Society. Within the lower half of the ring shall be written the motto of the Society, in Classical Greek. Within the circle enclosed by the ring and completely filling it shall be a white shield, outlines with a red border and divided into four quadrants by a red cross. Entwined about the red cross shall be a singular snake, green colored, with its head facing the upper right quadrant, mouth open and tongue extended. Within the upper right quadrant shall be a globe which displays all the continents of the world. Above the globe shall be a white dove with an olive branch held in its beak. Within the upper left quadrant shall be a human heart, the anatomical representative organ of the Society, to represent the quality of compassion for humanity. Within the lower right quadrant shall be the initials of the Society, “IEA”, under which is written “1992”, the year of inception. Within the lower left quadrant shall be an Arabic style oil lamp emitting a flame from its spout, to represent the qualities of diligent learnedness and intelligence. Below the emblem shall be the name of the specific chapter of the Society followed by the date of founding.
Article II
PURPOSE AND MEMBERSHIP
SECTION 1. The Society is a non-profit educational and humanitarian institution. The purposes are: (a) to promote the pursuit of academic excellence and integrity in scholarship and research; (b) to recognize outstanding achievements in the study, practice, and science of Medicine; (c) to encourage the highest standards of character, conduct, leadership, ethos, and compassion; (d) to improve the overall morale of medical students and graduates locally and worldwide; (e) to promote and, where possible, provide for the public health and welfare of the underprivileged and medically indigent, locally and worldwide.
SECTION 2. The Society shall consist of: (a) medical students, who have demonstrated academic excellence and outstanding character, consistent with the purposes of the Society; (b) student members who have graduated from medical school (c) alumni members who were elected into the Society after having already graduated from medical school and who have also demonstrated academic excellence and outstanding character.
Article III
ORGANIZATION
SECTION 1. The Society shall have three levels of organization and administration consisting of: (a) a local chapter composed of student officers, general faculty and student members; (b) an Executive Committee (when the Society has the need for this level of organization) composed of student, graduated student and alumni officers, general student, graduated student, alumni, faculty, and honorary members; (c) an International Committee (in the event of having a multiplicity of chapters) composed of student, graduated student, and alumni officers and general student, graduated student, alumni, faculty, and honorary members. The command of authority and supervision among the three levels increases in the sequence as listed above.
SECTION 2. Each level of organization and administration shall consist of a Cabinet of Officers and a General Assembly of members.
Article IV
MEDICAL STUDENT MEMBERSHIP
SECTION 1. To be eligible for nomination for membership, the student must have at least a 90% in each first term course, and at least a 90% cumulative WMPG (weighted mean percentage grade) every term thereafter (Affecting students graduating Spring 2018 and after)
SECTION 2. Permanent (life) membership will be granted upon graduation from an affiliated medical school that has an IEA chapter with over 90% cumulative WMPG.
SECTION 3. Society members who transfer to another medical school will be eligible for permanent (life) membership upon graduation from the medical school of transfer with over 90% cumulative WMPG and without having had any disciplinary action imposed upon them by their medical school of transfer due to deficiencies of conduct, character or behavior.
SECTION 4. Honor Medical Society Steering Committee members receive automatic permanent (life) membership.
SECTION 5. Elections. All student members present for elections are entitled to full voting privileges, one vote each in all general election.
SECTION 6. Grade Probation and dismissal. Student members will be placed on probation if their cumulative WMPG drops below the standard for one semester and will be dismissed from the Society if the cumulative WMPG drops below for two consecutive semesters. However, upon restoration of the required cumulative WMPG student may be reaccepted into the Society automatically
SECTION 7. Any Society member will be expelled from the Society upon failure to graduate from medical school, being convicted of criminal activity or ever, after graduation, having a state license to practice medicine permanently revoked due to dishonorable personal or professional conduct or behavior.
SECTION 8. Honor Points. All society members must complete volunteer Honor Points. Failure of a member to submit the minimum required Honor Points will be placed on probation and required to do double hours the next term. If a student is on probation and fails to fulfill the required hours or if a student fails to submit prior to graduation they will be dismissed from the Society.
SECTION 9. Meetings. All members must attend mandatory meetings or will be placed on probation. If a member is on probation and fails to attend a meeting they will be dismissed from the Society. Notification prior is acceptable as an excused absence.
Article V
ALUMNI MEMBERSHIP
SECTION 1. All graduates of the medical school for which there is a chapter of the Society may be considered fro membership into the Society.
SECTION 2. To be eligible for nomination for alumni election into the Society, the alumnus must have graduated from medical school with the minimum required cumulative WMPG.
SECTION 3. The alumnus must be nominated by members of the Society, by faculty members of the medical school of graduation which hosts the Society chapter, or by the President of the Alumni Association or his designate, of the medical school of graduation which hosts the Society Chapter.
SECTION 4. All Alumni nominated must be approved by an administrative nomination committee (Honor Medical Society Nomination Committee) composed of the Dean of Students or his designate and two other faculty members selected by the Dean of Students and chaired by the Dean of Students. An alumnus disapproved by this committee will not be eligible for election into the Society.
SECTION 5. Once approved by the Honor Medical Society Nomination Committee, the alumnus must be elected by simple majority vote by the Society members present at an Executive Committee general election which may elect the alumni candidates either in groups or each individually, at the discretion of the Executive Committee Cabinet of Officers.
SECTION 6. All alumni members of the Society will receive permanent (life) membership.
SECTION 7. All alumni members are entitled to full voting privileges, one vote each in all matters brought to general election within their respective committees and activities.
SECTION 8. All alumni members of the Society are eligible to participate and vote in Executive Committee General Assembly sessions and in Executive Committee General Conventions.
SECTION 9. In the event of formation of the International Committee, said group of alumni shall elect three alumni delegates to participate and vote in the International Committee General Assembly sessions and in the International Committee General Conventions.
SECTION 10. Alumni members will be expelled from the Society under the following circumstances: (a) conviction of criminal activity; (b) permanent loss of any state license to practice medicine due to any dishonorable personal or professional activity; (c) discovery that the alumnus member committed dishonorable acts of behavior or conduct, while a medical student, which required documented disciplinary action by the medical school and that such discovery is deemed by the Honor Medical Society Nomination Committee to have been so grave that it would have prevented nomination approval had it been known initially.
Article VI
LOCAL CHAPTER ADMINISTRATION - SGU
SECTION 1. The following cabinet offices will be created: President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, two UHP Chairs, Four Grand Marshals, One academic Secretary, Two Social Chairs, PCAG Chair, IT Chair, Red Cross President, and Faculty Advisor. The command of authority decreases in the sequence as listed above. The offices of President or Vice-President may consolidate with the offices of Treasurer, Secretary, two UHP Chairs, Social Chair or Academic Chair, with approval of the President. All offices, except that of Faculty Advisor, which is appointed by the hosting medical school administration, shall be elected to serve for a term of one semester and may be re-elected for one additional semester.
SECTION 2. The General Assembly of members shall consist of all students of the local chapter who are not cabinet officers. The voting body will consist of members that are in the Basic Science curriculum at SGU and present for elections.
SECTION 3. The President shall be the Head of the Cabinet and shall administer all business of the Society. They shall have authority to appoint special assistants, secretaries and committees to the Cabinet as deemed necessary by him/her.
SECTION 4. The Vice-President shall assist and cooperate with the President and preside in the place of the President in cases of absence of the President. The Vice-President shall serve as Acting President for the remainder of the term in case of resignation or death of the President, until a new President is properly elected in the next term’s general election. At such time, the Vice-President shall be automatically nominated for election to the office of President.
SECTION 5. The Treasurer shall manage the financial accounts and shall perform all other duties appropriate to such management. At the end of each semester, the Treasurer shall prepare a written report of the financial standing of the Society (at that respective level), including detailed listing of all funds received and expended during that semester. This report shall be presented to the President and to the Faculty Advisor. The Faculty Advisor shall present this report to the following term’s elected President and Treasurer.
SECTION 6. The Secretary shall perform all duties of record keeping, including minutes of all meetings, compiling complete records of all chapter members with complete contact information and other recording duties as may be required by the Cabinet.
SECTION 7. The Grand Marshals shall be primarily responsible for executing and monitoring all academic development initiatives (article VII) conducted by the Society. They may also take on any other duties as appointed by the President.
SECTION 9: The Academic Secretary is responsible for creating all presentation materials for academic development initiatives held by the Grand Marshals. The Academic Secretary is also responsible for the maintenance and matching of IEA tutoring services. They may also take on any other duties as appointed by the president.
SECTION 9: There are two UHP Chairs who are responsible for all the philanthropic aspects of IEA. They actively seek out and continue partnerships with various local organizations and school clubs to involve IEA with health and education for the local community.
SECTION 10: The two Social Chairs are responsible for marketing IEA positively to the community. This includes social and awareness events, fundraising projects and sponsorship. They shall ensure that the mission of the club is effectively portrayed to the community and the student body.
SECTION 11: The PCAG chair is responsible for organizing the semesterly difficult conversations seminar in partnership with faculty and local clinicians to educate our members on palliative care to further augment our practice of empathy and clinical expertise in preparation for clerkship years.
SECTION 12: The IT chair manages the organization’s official online domain (www.ieasgu.org) and is responsible for updating the website with news, events registrations, and appropriate contact information of e-board members and faculty for not only our members, but the greater student body who request tutoring through IEA. The IT chair will work to maintain a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate.
SECTION 13. The Faculty Advisor shall function to represent the medical school faculty in the Cabinet, however, the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor, Dean of Students and all other primary Deans or their designates are invited to attend all Cabinet meetings. The medical school administration will be responsible for determining who shall function in the role of Faculty Advisor and shall present them to the general organizational and elections meeting.
SECTION 14. The chapter shall meet at least twice each semester for general assembly meetings at times and location determined by the President and Faculty Advisor. During the general member meetings, elections will be held and plans for the term discussed.
SECTION 15. Special Cabinet or general meetings may be called by the President or by a simple majority of Cabinet Officers.
SECTION 16. Each local chapter in entirety shall be eligible to participate and vote in Executive Committee General Assembly sessions and Executive Committee General Conventions.
SECTION 17. The IEA Red Cross President will coordinate with the President of the Red Cross of Grenada to provide volunteering assistance by facilitating IEA members with communication on Red Cross events in Grenada. They will also implement new projects/ideas to fundraise money for the Red Cross.
Article VII
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ADMINISTRATION
SECTION 1. The function of the Executive Committee at each host medical school is to advise and regulate the activities of its local chapter at that medical school, to recruit alumni members, to nominate and elect faculty and honorary members and to further promote the Society by their own agenda of meetings and activities, independent of the local chapter activities.
SECTION 2. The Cabinet of Officers shall consist of Executive President, Executive Vice-President, Executive Notary-Secretary, Executive Treasurer, Executive Marshal, Executive Faculty Advisor, and Executive Alumni Representative. The term of offices shall be for one year and may be re-elected indefinitely.
SECTION 3. The General Assembly shall consist of (excluding all those holding Executive Committee Cabinet posts): (a) all student and graduated student members from the local chapter level; (b) all alumni members affiliated with that chapter, referred to in Article V; (c) all faculty members of the Society; (d) all honorary members.
SECTION 4. The functions of the Executive President, Executive Vice-President, Executive Treasurer, Executive Notary-Secretary and Executive Marshal shall be similar to those described in Article VIII (Local Chapter Administration) above.
SECTION 5. Only student and graduated student members of the Society who have previously held a local chapter Cabinet post would be eligible for nomination for election for the Executive Cabinet positions of SECTION 4 above.
SECTION 6. The Executive Faculty Advisor description shall be identical to that of Article VIII Section 8 above for the local chapter administration.
SECTION 7. The Executive Alumni Representative shall function to represent those alumni members of the Society who were elected post-graduation into the Society (Article V). This representative may be elected exclusively by the respective alumni members of the Society, in conjunction with the Alumni Association, who also did not gain membership into the Society while as medical students.
SECTION 8. General Convention shall be held every year to elect Executive Cabinet Officers, formulate and plan policy and discuss business for the upcoming term of office.
SECTION 9. At the request of the Executive President or by request of a simple majority of Cabinet Officers, special Cabinet or General Assembly may be called into session.
SECTION 10. In the event of formation of the International Committee, each Executive Committee shall elect three delegates and two faculty representatives to participate and vote in the International Committee General Assembly and in the International Committee General Conventions.
Article VIII
INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE ADMINISTRATION
SECTION 1. This will be the supreme governing body of the Society. The function of the International Committee is to advise and regulate the activities of all the Executive Committees and local chapters, to nominate and elect honorary members and to further promote the Society, especially on the international level, by their own agenda of meetings and activities, independent of lower level Executive Committees and local chapter activities.
SECTION 2. The Cabinet of Officers shall consist of International Chairman, International Vice-Chairman, International Treasurer, International Notary-Secretary, International Marshal, International Faculty Advisor and International Alumni Representative. The term of offices shall be for two years and may be re-elected indefinitely.
SECTION 3. The General Assembly shall consist of: (a) three delegates and one faculty member of the Society elected at each local chapter; (b) three delegates and two faculty members elected at each Executive Committee level; (c) three delegates from the alumni members (referred to above in Article V) elected by their respective group of alumni at each Executive Committee level; (d) all honorary members at all levels.
SECTION 4. The functions of these offices shall be identical to those state in Article IX, Executive Committee Administration (substituting the terms “Chairman” and “Vice-Chairman” for “President” and “Vice-President” as they appear, respectively).
SECTION 5. Only student and graduated student members who have previously held an Executive Committee Cabinet post are eligible for nomination for election for International Committee Cabinet as International Chairman, International Vice-Chairman, International Treasurer, International Notary-Secretary and International Marshal.
SECTION 6. General Convention shall be held every two years to nominate and elect International Committee Cabinet Officers, formulate and plan policy and discuss activities, plans and general business for the upcoming term of office.
SECTION 7. At the request of the International Chairman or by a simple majority of International Committee Cabinet Officers, special Cabinet sessions or General Assembly may be called into order.
Article IX
FORMATION OF NEW CHAPTERS
SECTION 1. A chapter may be chartered at a College, School or Faculty of Medicine, anywhere in the world which meets the Society’s requirements and is accredited by the World Health Organization.
SECTION 2. At the site requesting to form a chapter, there must be present a member of Iota Epsilon Alpha.
SECTION 3. An application for a chapter charter must be submitted and signed by all those members of IEA present who are organizing the new chapter at the candidate host medical school and must be approved and signed by the Dean of the medical school at which the new chapter is being organized.
SECTION 4. This application must be sent to the highest-ranking Officer (Executive President or International Chairman, as applicable) of the Society, who will investigate the merits of the application himself or may form a subcommittee to do so.
SECTION 5. Upon favorable outcome of this investigation, the Executive President (or International Chairman, as applicable) will present this request for a new chapter charter to the Cabinet of his respective Committee for a vote. Upon affirmative simple majority vote of those present at a special Cabinet session, the new chapter charter will be granted.
Article X
SUSPENSION AND WITHDRAWAL OF A CHARTER
SECTION 1. Upon investigation by the Chairman of the International Committee, or by his delegated special subcommittee, the charter of any chapter may be suspended. The International Chairman or the International Notary-Secretary will then inform the local chapter President, in writing, as to the suspension, the reasons why the chapter was suspended, the proposed remedies and the time limits to correct the situation.
SECTION 2. Any suspended chapter may not recruit, elect or induct new members.
SECTION 3. The charter of the suspended chapter may be subsequently withdrawn by a simple majority vote of all those present at a special International Committee Cabinet session, upon determination that the suspended chapter has not resolved the problem which caused the suspension.
SECTION 4. Any chapter withdrawn will be immediately notified by the International Chairman or International Notary-Secretary with a proposed remedy and a grace period or two years to resolve the problem.
SECTION 5. Any chapter withdrawn beyond two years will be disenfranchised.
SECTION 6. Any charter to a chapter in any medical school that loses World Health Organization accreditation shall be withdrawn and then disenfranchised after two years unless the school regains accreditation.
Article XI
AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION
SECTION 1. Proposals to amend the constitution must be presented to the highest ranking Officer (Executive President or International Chairman, as applicable) in the Society. Proposals will be studied by a special committee with results presented to such Officer.
SECTION 2. Said Officer will then present the results of the study to his respective Committee Cabinet and General Assembly. A simple majority affirmative vote of all those present will be required to adopt the amendment(s).
Prepared and written by the Honor Medical Society Steering Committee Chairman, St. George’s University School of Medicine, Grenada, West Indies, December 31, 1992.
Completed and ratified by the Honor Medical Society Steering Committee, St. George’s University School of Medicine, at Kingstown Medical College, Ratho Mill Station, St. Vincent, West Indies, February 13, 1993.
Amended November 8, 2007 by majority vote of the General Assembly.
Amended April 29th, 2015 by majority vote of General Assembly in Grenada, West Indies.