Swarthmore Anime & Manga Club
Official Charter
Contact Information
Name: Xin (Cynthia) Wu '06 Post: President Email: xwu2 Extension: x2752
Mission Statement
The Swarthmore Anime/Manga Club recognizes that many people in the Swarthmore College community share a significant interest in Japanese animation and/or comics (anime and manga). We seek to provide a forum for student, faculty, and staff to share, discuss and explore this interest. We also aim to promote and introduce anime/manga to a broader audience and bring awareness to its growing cultural and social importance in the United States and abroad.
Meetings & Activities
The Swarthmore Anime/Manga Club meets once a week to watch and discuss an anime series. Generally, such meetings will be held in a reserved classroom that has the appropriate A/V capabilities. All members as well as people from the general Swarthmore community are welcome at these meetings and all such meetings are publicized through weekly events emails and the Daily Gazette. Currently, around 18 members come regularly to the weekly meetings. Although the number may fluctuate from semester to semester, an attempt should always be made to choose a series that will appeal to the majority of the membership. Additional planning meetings may be called throughout the semester where members may share their opinions on what kind of activities the club should host. Throughout the semester, there will be three to four movie events that would be well publicized through campus posters. In the past, such events have attracted up to forty people to view such movies as Miyazaki’s Laputa: Castle in the Sky and Rurouni Kenshin. Special events may also be hosted throughout the year to enrich the club and bring awareness of anime culture to the campus. Last semester, Halloween proved to be a great time to host a costume play contest, where members dress up as their favorite anime, manga, or game characters. Anime music video nights and “marathon” showings of a series can also be arranged depending on member interest. All special events should be open to the entire campus and well publicized.
Membership
The Anime/Manga Club is a completely open group. Anyone interested in attending meetings and being a member of the club is free to do so. Only members who have decided to join the Anime/Manga e-mail list may participate in elections, and other group decision-making processes. Any Swarthmore student, faculty member, or staff member is free to join the e-mail list, but the co-presidents reserve the right to monitor e-mail and/or remove people for repeated inappropriate e-mail content. Currently, the club has over sixty members.
Organizational Structure
The club is organized by up to three co-presidents, one of whom (not a senior) may serve simultaneously as the treasurer. At least one of the co-presidents must be a sophomore or junior and at least one of the co-presidents must have already have had one year of experience as a co-president. There should be at least two co-presidents active in any term.
Election Procedure
At the end of each spring semester, an election will be held to fill any position that will be vacated in the coming fall semester. Any club member who has attended at least three meetings in the spring semester is eligible to submit a platform, which will be distributed electronically to all of the members. The vote will most likely take place over email, as all members on the mailing list are eligible to vote. The candidate with a simple majority of votes will win the election. In the case of insufficient voter turn out (less than ten votes), the current co-presidents who will continue serving next year has the privilege of selecting the new co-president since they will be required to work closely in the upcoming term. The co-president who will no longer be serving the next term is responsible for overseeing the election and tallying votes. Once a co-president is elected, he or she is eligible to serve until graduation, but may retire at the end of a term (i.e. a school year).
Responsibilities of Co-presidents and Treasurer
Co-presidents must read, understand, and always act in accordance with this Charter. Co-presidents must represent and serve the interests of the entire membership. Co-presidents must organize and regularly attend all meetings.  Should a co-president miss more than three meetings in a semester, he or she may be asked to resign by the other co-presidents. Co-presidents are responsible for managing the membership list and moderating the mailing list.  Co-presidents may also be responsible for regularly updating the club webpage. Co-presidents are responsible for selecting titles to show each semester, organizing additional activities for the club, and publicizing all events to the campus community. Co-presidents are responsible for ensuring that a strong leadership is available for the following term.  A co-president who knows that he or she will not be serving the next term should not be shouldering any of the major organizational responsibilities.  Instead, he or she should be mentoring and helping a co-president who intends to serve through the next term.  Co-presidents are also responsible for holding fair elections and choosing a new co-president from the candidates, if necessary. The treasurer is responsible for maintaining a record of all transactions pertaining to the club budget and obtaining reimbursements for expenses.  Should a co-president or a treasurer be unwilling or unable to complete their term, they should clearly state their reasons for resignation.  They must also ensure that their current responsibilities are taken care of by one of the other co-presidents before resigning.
Election Procedure
In order to facilitate the promotion and introduction of Anime and Manga to the broader Swarthmore community the club needs funds to publicize events. Additionally some funds are needed to put on a few yearly events, such as the Halloween Cosplay contest, which require prizes of some form. In the past we have received funds from the Japanese department, but it is unlikely that we will be able to continue doing this indefinitely and might require additional funding in the future.
Drafted March 22, 2004 by Cynthia Wu and Alan McAvinney