Approved 3/6/2018


Private Illinois Colleges and Universities (PICU) Bylaws Article I. Name

The name of this organization is Private Illinois Colleges and Universities; hereafter referred to as PICU.

Article II. Purpose and Objectives of PICU

The goal of PICU is to increase matriculation of Illinois community college students to Illinois-based private colleges and universities. To accomplish this goal, the following objectives will be implemented:

Section 1 Increase community college awareness of private colleges and universities in the state of Illinois.

Section 2 Educate community college students, counselors and faculty about the value and financial resources available at private institutions.

Section 3 Promote private institutions’ contacts with students, counselors and faculty at community colleges.

Article III. Steering Committee/Appointed Officers

Section 1 The Steering Committee of PICU consists of the President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, and four Regional Chairs. Members of the Steering Committee are elected to two-year terms except for the Regional Chairs whose terms are continuous. The Appointed Officers serve as Chairs of the following committees: Scholarship, Marketing, and Technology. The Steering Committee shall meet at least twice a year, and shall serve as the Nominating Committee in election years (see Article VII).

Section 2 The Steering Committee and Appointed Officers shall carry out the duties specified by the PICU Bylaws and those normally associated with their positions that are not so specified:

  1. President

    The President shall be the chief elected officer of PICU, and shall preside at all general meetings and Steering Committee meetings of PICU. The President sets the agenda of said meetings with the assistance of the Steering Committee and any suggestions from the membership. This office also oversees the membership application process.

  2. Vice President

    The Vice President shall assist the President by increasing and maintaining PICU awareness and outreach, providing content for association publications and media as requested, leading the PICU fair scheduling and invitation process. In addition, he/she will coordinate established committees such as the Scholarship and Budget Committees as well as any subcommittees needed for special projects. The Vice President will conduct and serve the organization in the role of the president in their absence.


  3. Treasurer

    The Treasurer shall have the custody of, and be responsible for, all funds and investments of PICU, and manage all financial business related to the PICU fiscal year (July 1 through June 30). The Treasurer shall approve all expenditures after consulting the President and Secretary, keep receipts and an accurate record of those expenditures and deposit all monies of PICU into such bank or depositories as the Steering Committee may approve. The Treasurer shall provide financial reports to the Steering Committee. The Treasurer also maintains records of all PICU members and sends renewal notices to members.

  4. Secretary

    The Secretary shall keep all records of PICU, take and distribute accurate minutes of the general meetings, notify membership of future meetings and take care of general correspondence. The Secretary shall also work closely with the Regional Chairs to establish and distribute a yearly calendar of PICU events. This officer will also maintain and update needed forms and publications.

  5. Regional Chairs (4)

    The four Regional Chairs of PICU shall plan, in association with the Secretary, all PICU events in their specific regions of Illinois (Appendix A). Regional Chairs shall also ensure that community colleges in their region be made aware of PICU activities and establish relationships with appropriate community college personnel. The Regional Chairs are expected to facilitate the PICU counselor update sessions, as well as record the attendance or absence of registered PICU schools during the scheduled events within their region. If a Regional Chair is unable to attend an event in his/her region, another member must be appointed in advance to perform this function.

  6. Past-President

    The Past-President shall serve PICU during the year following the two-year term as President in the role of mentor and advisor for the new President and Steering Committee, insure a smooth transition of responsibility, and shall conduct business meetings in the event of the President’s absence. The Past- President shall also serve on the Budget Committee – see Section 4 below.

  7. Scholarship Chair

    The Scholarship Chair shall collect all applications for PICU’s yearly scholarship review and oversee the selection process by the Scholarship Committee.

  8. Marketing Chair

    The Marketing Chair is responsible for all publicity surrounding PICU events, scholarships, professional conferences, as well as establishing and maintaining PICU’s presence in various social media outlets. The Marketing Chair will work collaboratively with the Social Media Specialist to develop strategy, content, and designs for all social media accounts. Additionally, the Marketing Chair will work closely with the Technology Chair to continually explore ways to best utilize the PICU website in order to support the goals and mission of the organization.

  9. Social Media Specialist

    The Social Media Specialist is responsible for overseeing all PICU social media accounts. This includes working collaboratively with the Marketing Chair to develop a social media strategy and create unique content to best promote PICU fairs, scholarships, and success stories. In addition to monitoring accounts, the Social Media Specialist will also be tasked with recording data on reach, impressions, and engagements of organic and sponsored posts.

  10. Technology Chair

The Technology Chair shall conduct research as to the various technological methods that PICU can use to research its audience and achieve its goals. This officer is responsible for facilitating updates and overall operation of the PICU website – www.picuonline.org – and shall report such updates to the Steering Committee and membership as needed. This position will also maintain and update the PICU Membership Directory when institutional staffing changes occur.

Section 3 PICU shall not compensate any member or auxiliary party for services rendered to PICU, except for expenses incurred in the performance of duties to PICU that have been approved by a majority vote of the Steering Committee and/or the membership.

Section 4 The Steering Committee shall transact all necessary business of PICU, formulate and recommend policies to the membership, and shall carry out such activities as directed by the membership. They will also serve as the primary members of the Budget Committee – along with the Past-President – to establish PICU’s operating budget for the ensuing budget year.

Article IV. Election of Officers

Section 1 The President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary of PICU shall be elected at the annual spring meeting and shall assume the leadership role immediately following the election. If the election of officers shall not be held at such meeting, an ad hoc election may be held soon thereafter as conveniently as may be. If no other candidate for either office accepts a nomination, and one member runs unopposed, the outgoing President shall declare the election over and the new officers shall assume their leadership roles immediately. Nominations shall be made in the fall prior to the election year or at another time determined by the Steering Committee or the President.

Section 2 In the event that any Elected/Appointed position becomes vacant, the Steering Committee shall appoint someone from the membership to assume that role and serve the remainder of the term. Officers may be removed from office by a majority vote of the Steering Committee and/or the membership for failure to perform the duties of the office or failure to uphold the provisions of the Bylaws.

Article V. Minimum Criteria and Process for Membership

PICU, as a private membership organization, reserves the right to deny membership for any reason, and will consider each application holistically. These minimum criteria are offered as guidelines, not as an exhaustive list of all factors that PICU may consider.

Each application for new membership may, at the discretion of the Steering Committee, be subject to a majority vote of current members. Such votes can take place at one of PICU’s full membership meetings when a quorum (i.e., two-thirds of the total membership) of schools is represented, or via online polling.

Section 1 Member colleges and universities must be non-profit private institutions accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and members of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, or directly accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.

Section 2 Membership is not available to individual departments, programs within an institution, or to stand-alone graduate schools.

Section 3 Member colleges and universities that award technical or vocational degrees must also offer and award Bachelor’s degrees.

Section 4 The representatives of participating colleges and universities must be direct employees of the institution able to provide advising and evaluation of transfer credit, in addition to serving in the traditional recruiting role.

Section 5 New membership is limited to institutions that offer site-based courses within the state of Illinois leading to a baccalaureate degree. Institutions not headquartered in Illinois may be admitted only after a simple majority of current members vote in favor of their applications to join PICU.

Section 6 Membership will not be extended to institutions that have committed improprieties concerning recruiting practices, according to the standards and principles set by the National Association of College Admission Counseling (NACAC) and Illinois Association of College Admission Counseling (IACAC) – see Appendices B and C.

Article VI. Responsibilities of Membership

Section 1 Payment of an annual membership fee shall be $300 for new membership and $200 for renewal membership. The Treasurer will collect renewal dues once a year following the Summer membership meeting. New members may be asked to pay a prorated amount according to the time of year in which they were approved for membership.

Section 2 Invoices for membership dues will be sent late August/early September and will have a due date listed of October 1 each year. Two reminders will be sent requesting follow up and payment. Any institution that does not correspond with the Treasurer or President and does not pay dues in full by the date of the fall membership meeting will not be invited to attend spring term fairs.


Section 3 Members are required to attend at least 10 transfer college fairs during each academic year – including the update session with community college counselors – (those who attend fewer than 10 fairs will be required to attend every fair in their respective region), provide an institutional update in the standard format, and attend at least one of the three general membership meetings.

Section 4 Members are expected to support PICU through participation in the management and development of the organization.

Article VII. Termination of Membership

Section 1 Members will be dropped from membership for nonpayment of membership fees.

Section 2 Members may be dropped from membership for not attending fairs and/or counselor update meetings. If the stipulations regarding PICU fair/counselor meetings listed in Article VI, Section 2 are not met for two consecutive semesters, the Steering Committee shall convene and decide whether to terminate membership of the institution in question. Said institution will be sent a warning notice from the President after the first semester of non-attendance.

Section 3 Any member of PICU may be dropped from membership for conduct that is contrary to or destructive of its purposes according to the PICU Bylaws, NACAC Statement of Principles of Good Practice (see Appendix B), or to the IACAC Statement of Practices and Courtesies (see Appendix C). Any member charged with engaging in any such conduct shall be given the opportunity to present evidence through witnesses or shall have the right to appear and have a hearing before the Steering Committee, whose decision shall be final. Moreover, PICU may deny or suspend the memberships of any school under investigation for recruiting improprieties, should a simple majority of the current membership vote to do so.

Section 4 Current members that transition to “for-profit” status, and have maintained continuous membership, will be added to an exemption list. As of 11/2/17 those institutions are: DeVry, Kendall, and Argosy. However, any current or future members that terminate membership with PICU, whether voluntarily or not, would be held to the current membership criteria as stipulated by Article V.

Article VIII. Miscellaneous Guidelines Pertaining to Membership

Section 1 To be eligible for membership, potential members must meet all six criteria in Article V unless waived at the discretion of the current membership, and with the approval of the Steering Committee.

Section 2 Current members that do not meet the six criteria in Article V are hereby allowed to remain in the organization, provided that they maintain the standards established in Article VI.

Section 3 New members will be considered on a rolling basis throughout the year.

Section 4 Previous members seeking re-entry to the organization, that left in good-standing and meet current membership criteria, will be brought back at the current “returning member” dues rate and without a vote from general membership. However, previous members seeking re-entry that were dismissed for violating responsibilities of membership (as stipulated in Article VII) would be subject to a vote by general membership and, if approved, would be brought back at the current “new member” dues rate.

Article IX. Social Media Policy

Section 1 The Marketing Committee Chair is responsible for posting PICU fair schedules and event reminders to the PICU Facebook page and, potentially, other social media platforms. The Chair also will create posts promoting the PICU scholarship.

Section 2 Member institutions are allowed the opportunity to utilize the PICU Facebook page to post college/university specific events such as:

  1. Open Houses

  2. Transfer Visit Days

  3. Admission and Scholarship Deadlines

  4. On-site Admission Days

Member institutions can post the aforementioned information directly to the PICU page or tag the page in their own postings. Other types of information not listed above may be considered for posting pending approval of the Marketing Chair.

Article X. Scholarships

In support of the organizational mission, PICU will grant a minimum of two scholarships per term – one

$1000 and one $500 award – to community college transfer students looking to achieve their educational goals at a member institution. The scholarship application collection and review will be lead by the Scholarship Committee Chair. The Chair shall also notify scholarship recipients of their award no later than two weeks after a decision has been made.

Article XI. Annual Meetings

The membership will gather for three annual meetings to discuss business matters related to the organization: Fall (typically held in late October), Spring (typically held in late February), and Summer (typically held in late June on the campus of a member institution).

Article XII. Amendments

Amendments to the Bylaws may be discussed at any PICU membership meeting and need to be presented to the President in writing. The President shall present the proposed amendments to the membership within two weeks of the subsequent business meeting if significant changes are being proposed. Any amendments to the Bylaws require the consideration of a simple majority of the members present.

Article XIII. Non-Discrimination Policy

PICU does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, affectional/sexual orientation, or disability in any of its policies, procedures or practices. This non- discrimination policy covers membership and access to PICU programs and activities.

Appendix A – PICU Regional Breakdown

http://www.picuonline.org/regions

Appendix B – NACAC Statement of Principles of Good Practice http://www.nacacnet.org/AboutNACAC/Policies/Documents/SPGP.pdf Appendix C – IACAC Statement of Practices and Courtesies http://www.iacac.org/about/spc/