BAMN Bylaws
Organizational Description
The Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) is a mass, democratic, integrated, national organization dedicated to building a new youth led mass civil rights movement to defend affirmative action, integration, and the other gains of the civil rights movement of the 1960's and to advance the struggle for equality in American society by any means necessary.
The basic character of the coming period in American politics will be determined by the development of the fight over affirmative action. In historical terms, the struggle for integration and equality in education - K-12 through college - is no more likely to be resolved by court suits and ballot initiatives than were slavery or Jim Crow.
What is necessary now in order to successfully defend affirmative action, integration and to realize the promise of Brown v. Board of Education is the power of a social movement like the one that secured affirmative action in the first place: a new, integrated, mass civil rights movement. We dedicate ourselves to this task.
Organizational Nature
BAMN consists of local BAMN groups, other independent organizations that choose to affiliate or otherwise associate themselves with BAMN and individuals who declare their support for BAMN's principles and express this support in action consistent with the BAMN Principles.
Organizational Structure
Membership: Any student or community member who attends one meeting can consider themselves a BAMN member with voting rights. Weekly BAMN meetings will be the highest decision making body. All organizational decisions shall be made by majority vote.
Leadership: The membership shall elect a chair, whose responsibilities will be to draw up a tentative agenda, and chair each BAMN meeting. The tentative agenda will be open to amendment by the membership, and will be voted on at the beginning of each meeting.
The membership will elect a treasurer, whose responsibilities will be to keep an accurate record of all funds, showing an itemized list of receipts, expenditures and balances. The treasurer will submit a bi-monthly report of receipts, expenditures, and fund balances, of the organization to the membership.
Faculty Advisor
The role of a faculty advisor is to assist student organizing where needed.
