Writing a Constitution
Writing or reviewing your organization's constitution allows your organization to refine your mission, officer roles and responsibilities, meeting rules, and membership requirements. A student organization's constitution is important when questions arise about the activities or mission of the group. All Northwestern registered student organizations are required to have up-to-date constitutions.
After SOA reviewed more than 500 submitted constitutions, most have been approved as meeting the university criteria provided in the above writing guide. Here is a list of organizations who must attend a constitution review session or risk forfeiting campus privileges. The representative who submitted their RSO constitution should have received this message from SOA after the end of fall exam week.
If your RSO is frozen but was active at the start of 2025-26 and you do not find the RSO in the list above, please contact studentorgs@northwestern.edu to learn why the org might be frozen.
Tips for Holding a Constitution Review Meeting
- Bring all stakeholders together, including organization advisor
- Start by creating/reviewing mission statement that describes the purpose of the group, along with a list of activities that will accomplish the purpose.
- Define the composition your membership and the requirements for admission into the group
- Write officer descriptions in third person using position titles instead of pronouns, i.e., "The President will."
- Keep the document in an editable digital format (.doc), a permanent digital format (.pdf), and in print