The document outlines the constitution for the Meredith Herald student newspaper. It establishes the name, purpose, membership, organization, meetings, skill building, quorum, editorial policy, finance, amendments, and approval process. The organization is comprised of various officer roles including editor-in-chief, layout editor, copy editor, business manager, and others. It details the duties of each officer and establishes rules regarding staff meetings, workshops, decision making, budgets, and the process for amending the constitution.

1. Meredith Herald Constitution
Article I
Name
The name of the publication shall be Meredith College Herald, hereinafter referred to as the
Herald.
Article II
Purpose
The purpose of the Herald will be to inform, entertain, educate, provoke thought and discussion,
serve as a forum, and serve as a record for the Meredith community. The Herald staff will
produce a weekly paper.
Article III
Membership
The membership shall be comprised of those Meredith students who sign up for the one credit
hour Pass/Fail Herald apprenticeship or any students who wish to work on the Herald as an
extracurricular activity.
Article IV
Organization
Section I. Officers
A. The officers shall consist of an editor-in-chief, a layout editor, a copy editor, a
business manager, a news editor, a features editor, a photography editor, reporters, contributing
writers and an adviser.
B. The editor-in-chief shall be appointed by the Publications Board each semester and
other officers shall be elected by editor-in-chief.
C. The other editors shall be determined at the last meeting of the semester by the current
staff and the adviser.
Section II. Duties of Officers
A. It shall be the duty of the editor-in-chief to:
1. be responsible for all editorial policies and make the final decision in all cases
of news judgment and content;
2. supervise weekly production of the paper;
3. be involved in long-range planning and rules on newsroom policies;
4. be responsible for the management of staff;
5. choose her support staff (desk editors);
6. be responsible for hiring and firing newsroom personnel;
7. oversee the paper layout and paste-up, reading pages, making corrections, and
overseeing copy;
8. represent the paper at official functions;
9. serve as a non-voting member of the Publications Board;

2. 10. coordinate the training of all reporters and editors;
11. oversee the distribution of the paper;
12. hold weekly meetings with the entire staff;
13. create story ideas, assign stories at weekly meetings, and make sure reporters
complete them;
14. act as a liaison between the Herald staff and the Meredith community;
15. oversee processes of subscription solicitation and weekly mailings;
16. complete the end-of-year report with the Business Manager;
17. submit requested information to the office of Student Leadership and Service.
B. It shall be the duty of the layout editor to:
1. coordinate production and assist the editor-in-chief and, in the event of a
vacancy, to assume the role of the editor-in-chief until a new editor-in-chief can
be appointed;
2. be responsible for graphic design/layout of the newspaper;
3. work with the editor-in-chief to create a basic design that is aesthetically
pleasing as well as representative of Meredith;
4. act as a final proofreader;
5. manage computer layout;
6. manage the staff that works on the layout of the newspaper.
C. It shall be the duty of copy editor to:
1. read all articles after they have been entered into the computer, looking at
content, grammar, journalistic style, factual accuracies, etc.;
2. write headlines for articles and cut lines for photographs;
3. meet with reporters (when time permits) to discuss articles, research, contacts,
writing styles, etc.;
4. make sure reporters submit their typed stories on time.
D. It shall be the duty of the business manager to:
1. review with the editor-in-chief, prior to publication, her expectations and what
is required of the advertising staff for the paper to remain solvent;
2. act as treasurer;
3. inform the editor-in-chief of the Herald’s financial status as needed;
4. submit requisitions for reimbursements;
5. pay bills and send invoices;
6. meet with the director of Student Leadership and Service with a prepared report
once per month;
7. design, type, and implement the rate card;
8. market the Herald as a product and solicit advertising;
9. maintain existing accounts;
10. manage advertising staff;
11. assist the editor in completing the end-of-year report.
E. It shall be the duty of the news editor to:
1. cover community events that affect Meredith or would be of interest to the
College;
2. cover campus news, events, campus organization, student government, faculty,
staff, administration, sports, traditional, and non-traditional age students;
3. create and maintain a network of sources relevant to campus news;

3. 4. assist with production as needed;
5. manage new staff;
6. assist with proofreading of campus news stories.
F. It shall be the duty of the features editor to:
1. work with the editor-in-chief to generate ideas for feature stories (profiles,
reviews, etc.);
2. seek input from campus;
3. ask professors to encourage students to submit articles relevant to her section;
4. review submissions and decide when articles will run;
5. write and edit features stories;
6. manage features staff.
G. It shall be the duty of the photography editor to:
1. be responsible for giving assignments;
2. manage photography staff.
H. It shall be the duty of reporters to:
1. develop a beat (i.e. health, sports, cultural, student organizations);
2. receive and fulfill assignments on a weekly basis;
3. meet deadlines;
4. attend workshops relevant to the Herald and the improvement of journalism
skills;
5. complete 10 articles to be submitted in a portfolio to the adviser for one hour of
credit;
6. serve as a liaison between the student body and the Meredith community;
7. attend weekly meetings.
I. The duties of contributing writers shall be to:
1. develop a beat (i.e. health, sports, cultural, student organizations);
2. meet deadlines;
3. inform editor-in-chief of expected contributions to the Herald;
4. provide editor-in-chief with all contact information regardless of
whether the contributed article is published anonymously.
Section III. Adviser
A. The adviser will be chosen by the editors of the Herald and approved by the director of
Student Leadership and Service.
B. The duties of the adviser shall be to:
1. review staff portfolios and give Pass/Fail credit to those staff members who
complete all requirements;
2. assist in the production of the Herald as needed.
Section IV. Removal
A. The editor-in-chief can remove a staff member from her position if she fails to
comply with her job description responsibilities.
B. Prior to dismissal of a staff member, the editor-in-chief shall give written notice of
removal and rational, and applications will be taken to fill that position.
C. The editor-in-chief may be removed from her position for failure to fulfill her job
responsibilities.

4. D. Prior to dismissal, the Publications Board will hold a conference with the editor-in-
chief and give written notice and rational for her removal.
Section V. Resignation
A. Should a staff member resign from her position due to failure to comply with the job
description, applications will be taken to fill that position.
B. The editor-in-chief shall appoint a staff member to fill that vacant position
temporarily until all applications are interviewed and a successor is named.
C. The applicants shall be interviewed by the editor-in-chief.
D. All appointments shall be made by the editor-in-chief who will choose the applicant
who is best qualified to fill the position.
E. Should the editor-in-chief resign from her position, she must submit her resignation to
the Publications Board. The Board will then appoint an editor-in-chief.
Article V
Meetings
The Herald shall hold regular meetings. The staff will meet every week. All staff members
will be expected to attend all meetings. Staff members will be allowed two unexcused absences
per semester and she must give a 24-hour notice to the editor-in-chief prior to missing a meeting.
Editors will be expected to attend bi-monthly editorial meetings.
Article VI
Skill Building
Before the fall semester, the editor-in-chief shall organize a workshop to cover journalism skills
and team building exercises. All staff members must attend this workshop which will be held in
September. The editor-in-chief shall organize workshops during the semester as needed. The
editor-in-chief should send representatives to other leadership conferences throughout the
semester.
Article VII
Quorum
The editor-in-chief reserves the right to make all final decisions on the content of the paper as
stated in the Editorial Policy. The editor-in-chief reserves the right to make any alterations in the
final layout of the paper. Two-thirds of the staff members constitute a quorum when a vote must
be taken on issues other than the content and layout of the paper.
Article VIII
Editorial Policy
The Meredith Herald is published weekly by students of Meredith College during the academic
year. The paper is funded by Meredith College and through advertising. The Meredith Herald

5. will not print material containing libelous statements. All letters to the editor must be signed. If
the author wishes to remain anonymous, he/she may request that his/her name be withheld.
Article IX
Finance
The newly elected editor-in-chief, in cooperation with the business manager, will submit a
proposed budget to the director of Student Leadership and Service who will designate the
school’s budgetary allocation to the newspaper. Any additional funds must be raised annually by
the paper. Any surplus of funds at the end of the spring semester may be used to buy materials
for the paper. Funds acquired through sale of off-campus subscriptions may be allocated to the
benefit of the Herald at the editor-in-chief’s choosing.
Article X
Amendments
This constitution may be amended at any regular staff meeting of the Meredith Herald by a two-
thirds vote of the newspaper staff, which will then be subjected to a two-thirds vote of approval
of the Publications Board and the SGA Senate.
Article XI
Approval
The constitution shall become effective immediately upon approval by two-thirds of the voting
organization members and by the SGA Senate.
Approved: _____________________________________ Date: _____________________
Signature of Organization President
Approved: _____________________________________ Date: _____________________
Signature of Adviser
Approved: _____________________________________ Date: _____________________
Signature of SGA Senate Chair