Chapter governance documents may include: Articles of Incorporation, Constitution, Bylaws, and Standing Rules. CTA Standing Rule 4-1 requires each chapter to submit a copy of its governance document(s) for review when applying for a charter, when they have amended their current document(s), or when requested to do so for the required five-year review.

The Committee recommends that most chapters use a Bylaws document with appropriate Standing Rules as these provide the most convenient and effective forms of governance documents.

For those chapters not wishing to write their own document, or for those wishing to avoid extensive revision of existing documents, the Committee suggests the following Sample Bylaws:

Sample "A" - for chapters with 20 members or less, or single school chapters.

Sample "B" - for chapters where the membership can conveniently and regularly meet but whose size requires an executive body.

Sample "C" - for chapters wishing to use a representative body.

To help the local drafting committee meet standards expected for a satisfactory document, the Committee offers the following definition of terms:

1. Where a chapter feels it is necessary to have both a Constitution and Bylaws, then:

A Constitution is a broad and general statement of the philosophy, goals, and basic foundation of the organizations governance structure. It should be relatively difficult to change (example: requires prior notice to the membership and an affirmative vote by 2/3 of those voting).

Bylaws are the details of how to implement the constitution and operate the governance structure. They should be relatively easy to change in comparison to the constitution (example: short notice to the membership and a majority vote).

It is further recommended that where both constitution and bylaws are drafted that the two be numbered similarly to make cross referencing easier, i.e., use Roman numerals for the constitution and the corresponding Arabic numerals for like sections in the bylaws.

2. Where the chapter follows the Committee's suggestion of only bylaws, then the document would be drafted so as to combine the basic ideas normally found in a constitution as defined above, and the details usually found in bylaws. The amendment procedure, however, should follow the one found in the Constitution definition above.

3. Standing Rules are the day-to-day rules by which the organization runs its meetings and business. They should be easily changed in order to adapt to changing conditions and policy (example: simple majority vote of the Executive Board).

The Committee requests that a small editorial committee be formed in the interest of making the chore of drafting new or revised governance documents easier, and also to meet standards. This committee’s responsibility would be to proofread the documents looking for contradictions, major omissions, or other errors.

Chapters that have unique problems of size, organization and multiple campuses should contact the Committee directly for assistance in drafting or revising governance documents to meet these special needs.