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Purpose

The martini is a progressive (though politically open minded), alternative, student publication focused on presenting campus, social, American, and world news in a creative and entertaining way. Its goal is to shed light on topics that may otherwise go unseen or are misrepresented by mainstream news organizations. The martini also serves as a public outlet for student expression.

Publishing Articles

• martini encourages articles that constructively critique the campus, not unproductive ranting or articles that simply attack, slander, or accuse without providing facts, positive ways to change, etc.
• We do not and will not cut an articles based on politics or positions
• Reasons for possibly cutting an article: libel, slander, severe factual inaccuracies, severely demeaning to an individual’s character, lack of room in publication, or it’s generally incredibly unreadable. The publication reserves the right to publish any of the above (aside from slander cause it’s illegal) with a rebuttal in the same issue or thereafter.
• Arrange a committee to decide if there is an article one of the editors deems possibly “unprintable.” They will ultimately decide what’s to be printed and in what way.

The Staff

• “The Staff” constitutes any writer/member who has been consistently coming to meetings and/or writing.
• In order to earn a place on the “Guilty Parties List,” one must have contributed at least two written, consecutive articles of a decent length to the martini. One could also be consistently coming to meetings, contributing to copy editing, etc. Once this has happened, the editor will add the writer onto the Guilty Parties List and this writer officially becomes part of staff. Once on this list, the person is kept as staff until they stop contributing. Each past staff member must re-contribute and continue contributing in the beginning of next year to remain on staff.
• The Staff, or those on the Guilty Parties list, make up the voting body of martini.
• Some staff are privy to “Column with Benefits” such as the music column, where this writer gets a free CD of choice each issue. The Editor in Chief reserves the right ot revoke the column from someone not following through. At the end of the year, the current column writer nominates the writer for the following academic year.

The Editors

• The Editor in Chief is chosen through a combination of steps. First, the graduating seniors will choose one nominee. Their candidate then must be approved by a majority rules vote of the current staff. People with issues can bring it up privately to the current Editor in Chief before the vote.
• The Editor in Chief then appoints all other editorial positions (generally a layout editor, a copy editor or two, and maybe a distribution manager) from volunteering staff and then works with them to develop their roles.
• The Editor in Chief is also in charge of any happenings with Student Activities, the BAC, or other matters.
• If an Editor in Chief oversteps their role they can be removed by a ¾ majority vote of every current writer/staff member. Reasons for removal: gross incompetence, not putting out a publication, disregarding this constitution, not showing up, or random non-discussed expenses.

Budget Allocations Committee and Finances

• The proposal will be handled by the current Editor in Chief, who also serves as a treasurer.
• Any expense that is a non-printing cost and/or comes from fundraised funds should be discussed as a staff, but ultimately up to the editor’s discretion.

Advertisements

• Generally, these have been restricted to local area businesses, not corporate chains. All advertisement options will be considered and voted upon as a staff.

Constitution Changes

• In order to ratify a new constitution, there must be a ¾ majority vote of the current staff members.