The name of this organization shall be H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences OnLine.

H-Net is an international consortium of scholars in the humanities and social sciences that creates and coordinates electronic networks, using a variety of media, and with a common objective of advancing humanities and social science teaching, research, and outreach. H-Net not only serves existing networks but also encourages the development of new networks, whether through the initiative of scholars, teachers, advanced students, and related professionals who come to H-Net to seek assistance or through the initiative of H-Net in identifying unserved or underserved communities of scholarly, pedagogical, and professional interest.

Section 1. H-Net offers several classes of membership: Voting Memberships, Free Memberships, and Donor Memberships. In all cases, membership will not be denied on the basis of race, nationality, ethnic origin, creed, political belief, nationality, sexual orientation, or age. The H-Net Bylaws will define qualifications for all membership levels, and in all cases, membership in H-Net is regulated exclusively by the H-Net Council. The Council will also determine, with proper notification and consultation and pursuant to existing agreements and applicable laws, any membership fees, benefits, levels of service, or considerations given or exchanged for memberships. Individual networks may have different criteria for accepting new subscribers, subject to H-Net's constitutional, legal, and codified proscription against discrimination, above.

Section 2. Voting members: Members of this classification are entitled to vote in elections for H-Net officers, on amendments to the constitution, and on measures placed before them by the Council that require a vote. Voting members are also eligible to serve on H-Net policy, governance, and advisory committees, task forces, and special projects as determined by the executive director, to run for and serve as officers of the organization, and exercise other privileges granted by the H-Net Council as specified in the bylaws.

(A) All editors, officers, staff, and persons so designated by the H-Net Council become voting members of H-Net upon certification, endorsement, or other favorable action by the Council.

(B) Voting members retain their membership until they formally resign their respective positions.

(C) Voting members who resign their positions remain eligible for other forms of membership they care to apply for.

Section 1. The elected officers shall be the president, the president-elect, the past president, three vice presidents, and the staff editor. Any unexpired term of office over three months will be filled with all due speed by a special election. The appointed officers shall be the executive director, treasurer, and secretary.

Section 2. The president shall serve for a one-year term. It shall be his or her responsibility to chair the Council and to formulate policies and projects for presentation to the Council to fulfill the obligations and purposes of the organization. The president shall also work with the other officers to plan the development of H-Net and represent H-Net in its dealings with other organizations. At the end of his or her term, the president shall automatically succeed to the office of past president.

Section 3. The president-elect shall serve for a one-year term. He or she shall serve on the Council and shall serve as chair of the Elections Committee. If the office of the president shall, through any cause, become vacant, the president-elect shall thereupon become president. At the end of his or her term, the president-elect shall automatically succeed to the presidency.

Section 4. The past president shall serve for a one-year term. He or she shall serve on the Council.

Section 5. Each of the vice-presidents shall be elected for two-year terms and serve as a member of the Council. The Vice President for Networks will chair the Editorial Affairs committee and will be responsible for formulating policies and projects for H-Net's Networks and submitting these to the Council on behalf of his or her committee. The Vice President for Teaching will chair the Teaching Committee and will be responsible for formulating policies and projects and submitting these to the Council on behalf of his or her committee. The Vice President for Research and Publications will chair the Publications Committee and will be responsible for formulating policies and projects for H-Net publications, including reviews, and submitting these to the Council on behalf of his or her committee.

Section 6. The executive director of H-Net shall be the chief administrative officer of H-Net and serve a renewable three-year term. The H-Net Council will appoint him or her. It shall be his or her duty, under the direction of the Council, to oversee the affairs of H-Net, to have responsibility for the continuing operations of H-Net, to supervise the work of committees, to assist in the formulation of policies and projects for submission to the Council, to execute instructions of the Council, and to perform such other duties as the Council may direct. The executive director will coordinate the external representation of H-Net with the other officers and will work in cooperation with the other officers and Council in planning H-Net's development. The executive director may appoint associate and assistant directors to assist in the day-to-day management of H-Net. These appointed officers must be approved by the Council and will serve in one-year renewable appointments. The executive director shall track all committee appointments and terms of office, inform the elected officers of committee positions to be filled, and notify committee members of their appointments.

Section 7. The editor of HNET-STAFF shall be elected by the staff for a two year renewable term. No H-Net officer (other than the elected editor of HNET-STAFF) may serve as editor or assistant editor of HNET-STAFF. The editor shall appoint an assistant editor to handle the list during brief absences or indisposition of the HNET-STAFF editor and during election campaigns when the current editor is a candidate for re-election. In the case that both the assistant editor and the editor are announced candidates for H-Net office, the Council shall select a non-candidate staff member to serve temporarily as HNET-STAFF editor during the campaign.

Section 8. The treasurer of H-Net shall be appointed by the Council and shall serve a renewable one-year term. The treasurer shall work with the executive director and designated members of the Council in crafting a budget for H-Net activities. The treasurer is charged with reporting quarterly to the Council. Amended November 2003, see amendment 1

Section 9. The secretary of H-Net shall be appointed by the Council and shall serve a renewable one-year term. The secretary is charged with recording and maintaining records of all decisions made by the Council. The secretary is responsible for ensuring that regular two-way communication exists between the Council and all of the various constituencies of H-Net, including the staff, editorial boards, and subscribers.

Section 1. There shall be an H-Net Council constituted as follows:

(A) The president, for a term of one year, the president-elect, for a term of one year, the past president, for a term of one year, and three vice-presidents, elected for staggered terms of two years.

(B) Elected members, nine in number, chosen by ballot in the manner provided in Article VI. These members shall be elected for a term of three years, three to be elected each year, except in the case of elections to complete unexpired terms.

(C) The HNET-STAFF editor.

(D) The executive director.

(E) The secretary and treasurer, serving as non-voting members, unless the Council chooses to appoint an elected Council member to one or both of these positions, in which case that person shall retain his or her regular vote as a member of the Council. Amended November 2003, see amendment 2

Section 2. At the request of any one member of the Council, a formal vote shall be taken on any matter before the Council. A minimum of nine affirmative votes is necessary and sufficient for the Council to pass any measure. Amended November 2003, see amendment 2

Section 3. The Council shall care for the general interests of H-Net and make all policy decisions. The Council shall constitute and approve all H-Net committees. The Council shall set standards for agreements with host institutions and partner organizations, approve all such agreements, and periodically review such agreements.

Section 4. The Council shall approve the mandate for each H-Net Network and control admission, suspension, and abolition of all H-Net networks. The Council shall certify all H-Net editors and editorial board members. The Council shall endeavor to nurture and provide support for the various H-Net networks and projects.

Section 1. The HNET-STAFF shall elect all elected officers and Council members.

Section 2. Elections will be held annually with calendar-year appointments. The election process will be overseen by an independent committee appointed by the President with the approval of the Council for the purpose of ensuring fairness, due procedure, and a closed ballot. The nomination and voting period shall be between October 1 and November 15. Newly elected officers shall assume office the following January 1.

Section 3. All certified staff members are eligible to be elected to any H-NET elective office. Any editor may nominate any editor, including him or her self. Any person so nominated must formally submit a statement for HNET-STAFF explaining her or his candidacy prior to being placed on the ballot. The independent election committee shall be responsible for establishing the date by which this acceptance must occur. Any candidate may post a position statement to the appropriate list within the time frame established by this article and articulated by the election committee.

Section 4. Voting will take place over a seventy-two hour period in all elections. Each member of the voting staff may cast one vote for each seat up for election. In the event that a staff member will be offline during the balloting period, he or she shall notify the Election Committee and the committee shall determine an appropriate course of action based on preserving the staff member's right to vote. Council members shall be elected by plurality. Officers must be elected by a majority of the votes cast. If no candidate gets a majority of votes on the first ballot, then a run-off shall be held the two candidates for each office who received the largest number of votes in the first round of voting. Run-off voting shall take place after a three-day period of further discussion.

Section 5. Decisions made by the Council may be appealed to the entire voting staff. To do so, any member of the voting staff may notify the Council that he or she intends to seek an appeal. Such a notification must be within two weeks of the official publication of the decision. Within two weeks following such publication, the Council must receive a petition of twenty-five members of the voting staff supporting the appeal. Council decisions can be rescinded only by a sixty-percent vote of those participating in the election. Such votes shall be held on a day set by the Council with notice of one week to all staff members.

Section 6: A member of the Council or an officer may be removed from office upon the recommendation of a two-thirds vote of the Council and the approval of sixty percent of the voting staff

Section 1. The Vice-President for Networks shall chair the Editorial Affairs committee. The Editorial Affairs Committee is responsible for coordinating the development, oversight, and support of new and existing H-Net networks and for establishing and monitoring support services for editors and subscribers. The committee advises the Council on policies and practices that relate to H-Net subject-area Networks.

Section 2. The Vice-President for Teaching shall chair the Teaching Committee. The Teaching committee is responsible for coordinating the development and support for H-Net's teaching initiatives. The committee advises the Council on policies and practices that relate to teaching.

Section 3. The Vice-President for Research and Publications shall chair the Publications Committee. The Publications Committee will coordinate and assist in the recruitment and training of review editors, and advise the Council on matters relating to research and publications, including reviews, within H-Net.

Section 4. The Council shall appoint advisory and planning committees as appropriate. These committees, their provenance, and membership, shall be announced to the staff. Committees are advisory to the Council and shall report to the H-Net Council on a regular basis. Advisory committees shall keep a record of their deliberations and may communicate via internal lists and/or web documents.

Section 5. The Council and the staff shall communicate with each other through an official, confidential, moderated list, HNET-STAFF. All H-Net staff members must maintain active subscription to HNET-STAFF. The purposes of HNET-STAFF are to cultivate informed opinion among the staff about H-Net policies; to hold periodic elections for H-Net officers; to publish internal policies, announcements, decisions, and agendas for the Council and internal advisory committees.

Section 1. H-Net subject-area networks shall work within the policies established by the Council in consultation with the editors, editorial boards and (where applicable) the organizations with which the networks have affiliated.

Section 2. Networks may, with the approval of the Council, affiliate themselves with other professional or scholarly organizations.

Section 3. All H-Net networks shall have their own editorial boards.

Section 4. All editors are certified by the Council in consultation with current network editors (if there are any) and the list's editorial board.

Section 5. In managing their networks, editors shall consult regularly with their editorial boards and their subscribers.

Section 6. Each H-Net network will develop and publish guidelines on dispute resolution in accordance with H-Net guidelines developed by the Council.

Section 7. H-Net respects the copyrights of authors whose material is posted on its lists and/or stored in its logs and web pages. Authors who post discussion items to H-Net lists convey to H-Net only the right to electronically reproduce their work on H-Net lists and in H-Net files. All reviews published by H-Net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences are commissioned pieces of work-for-hire and the copyright is owned by H-Net.

Section 8. H-Net owns the name of each subject-area list and web site and its roster of subscribers. H-Net's assertion of ownership is meant only to protect the rights of H-Net and shall not infringe on the copyrights of authors regarding any files or documents they may have made available to H-Net.

Section 9. All issues of copyrights on H-Net material shall be determined by policy established by the Council in accordance with international copyright conventions and pertinent national legislation.

Section 1: This Constitution takes effect when ratified by a sixty percent vote of the voting H-Net staff in a special election called by the H-Net executive committee.

Section 2: Implementation of this Constitution takes place as follows:

A. Upon ratification of the Constitution, all current Executive Committee members shall become H-Net Council members. The terms of Council members originally elected in April 1999 shall be extended to January 1, 2003. The terms of Council members elected to three-year terms in April 1998 shall be extended to January 1, 2002.

B. The H-Net Council shall immediately schedule elections to be run according to Article VI. These elections will fill the positions of president, president-elect, all three vice presidents, HNET-Staff editor, and the seats of the three Council members whose terms expire in April 2000.

C. The president will serve until January 1, 2002, when the president will succeed to the office of past-president. The president-elect will serve until January 1, 2002, when the president-elect succeeds to the office of president. In order to stagger terms, the Vice-President for Networks shall serve until January 1, 2002. The Vice-President for Research and Publications and the Vice-President for Teaching each shall serve until January 1, 2003. In subsequent elections, all three vice-presidents shall be elected to two-year terms. The editor of HNET-STAFF shall serve until January 1, 2002.

D. The term of the executive director will be extended until the elected officers take office and the Council appoints a new executive director under Article IV, Section 6. The term of the associate director will be extended until the Vice President for Networks takes office.

Section 3. The H-Net Council is charged with interpreting the Constitution subject to the oversight provisions in Article VI, Section 5.

Section 4: This Constitution can be amended or replaced by action of the Council when ratified by a sixty percent vote of the H-Net voting staff, and/or by petition from thirty percent of the voting staff when ratified by sixty percent vote of the H-Net voting staff.

Section 5: The H-Net Council should undertake a formal review of this Constitution no later than three years after it is adopted and at five year intervals thereafter.

1. "Article IV, Section 8. The treasurer of H-Net shall be appointed by the Council and shall serve a renewable three-year term. The treasurer shall work with the executive director and designated members of the Council in crafting a budget for H-Net activities. The treasurer is charged with reporting quarterly to the Council." – vote ended November 15, 2003, results announced November 19, 2003.

2. "Article V, Section 1. (E) The secretary and treasurer. In the event that the Council appoints a current Council member as treasurer, the Council seat of the person so appointed shall become vacant and be filled according to the usual procedures for filling a vacancy. If the Council chooses to appoint an elected Council member as secretary, that person shall retain his or her regular vote as a member of the Council.

"Section 2. At the request of any one member of the Council, a formal vote shall be taken on any matter before the Council. A minimum of nine affirmative votes is necessary and sufficient for the Council to pass any measure." – vote ended November 15, 2003, results announced November 19, 2003

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