► Socs Handbook (Governance)

For any questions of queries on governance, contact the SSC member for societies elections on socelect@st-andrews.ac.uk

                                                                              
 
Constitutions
 
Each society has a constitution, which is the legal basis for its existence. A copy of each is kept by the Societies Committee. It is vital that committee members are familiar with their constitution, and that you work within its framework.
 
A model constitution is available, which societies are free to use, or you can use it as a basis to make your own unique constitution, although  conforming to the structure laid down on the model constitution is a requirement of affiliation. You are not allowed to delete anything from the model constitution or add anything which contradicts it. For example, you could decide to have a second position of president, but you couldn’t have a constitution where there was no president.
 
Constitutions, and any amendments to them, have to be passed in the following way:
 
·         Firstly, passed by a 2/3 Majority of the executive committee,
·         Secondly; passed by a 2/3 Majority of a general meeting.
·         All constitutional changes must also be approved by the Societies Committee.
 
 
Membership
 
Ordinary membership must be open to all matriculated students who have not opted out of their membership to the Students Association. In order to become an ordinary member you have to pay a fee, which is decided by the society, although no less than £3 a head.
 
Associate membership is open to anyone not eligible for ordinary membership (For example; members of university staff, members of the public, etc.). It is up to you whether associate members need to pay a fee. As an associate member, you have no right to vote on society matters, and you cannot become a member of the executive committee. 
Honorary Membership is granted to various people who are involved with society governance, such as the SSC Societies Officer, SSC member for Societies Grants, SSC member for Societies Elections, and the Director of Student Development & Activities. The SSC Music Officer and the SSC Performing  Arts Officer are honorary members of all music and performing-arts related societies respectively.
 
 
Committees
 
Committees consist of executive members elected at AGMs by the society membership, and non-executive members which may be elected at AGMs, or else appointed by the executive committee.
The President, Secretary and Treasurer are all executive committeepositions, as well as other posts as defined by a society constitution; on matters requiring a vote, only the executive members get to vote. Executive posts must be elected at a general meeting, and can only be held by ordinary members of the society. Executive posts also cannot be left vacant. If an executive post ever does fall vacant, an EGM must be convened within two weeks; either to fill it, or to strike the position from the constitution. The positions of President, Secretary, and Treasurer cannot be struck from society constitutions.
 
 A committee can also have non-executive posts. Anyone can become a non-executive committee member, including associate members, honorary members and non members.. They don’t need to be elected at a general meeting, and they can be created and disbanded by a majority vote. Non-executive posts also needn’t be mentioned in the constitution.
 
 
Committee Positions
 
Below are the standard remits for the three most common committee positions
 
President
 
The president is basically responsible for the society and its conduct.
Specific presidential responsibilities include calling and chairing committee meetings. 
 
 
Secretary
 
The secretary is responsible for all of the society’s non-financial administration, and for making sure minutes are taken during meetings. Minutes need to be a precise and accurate account of what has happened at your meeting. 
The Secretary is also in charge of making sure that the membership lists are complete, accurate and up to date. 
The Secretary is responsible for checking the society’s pigeonhole (these are arranged alphabetically on the first floor of the Union, across from the General Office). Your address is:
 
‘The Name of Your Society’
The University of St Andrews Students’ Association
St Mary’s Place
St Andrews, Fife
KY16 9UZ
 
 
Treasurer
 
The treasurer is responsible for the financial administration of the society, i.e. keeping the books in order, signing cheques, the society’s money, handing in the societies account books for audit at the end of the year etc.
  
If at any time, you have problems with the society’s accounts, please contact the SSC Member for Societies Grants as soon as possible (socgrant@st-andrews.ac.uk). You can also speak to someone in the Students’ Association’s cash office. Their door is always open. For more information, please see to the financial handbook.
 
 
Committee Meetings
 
 Societies must hold at least 3 committee meetings per-semester
 
Below are some guidelines on how to structure meetings.
 
People:
 
Chair: the chair is responsible for coordinating the meeting and making sure it flows properly. The chair is normally the president, although someone else can be it if the president is absent. 
Minutes Secretary: responsible for taking minutes of the meeting. This is usually the secretary.
 
Before a Meeting:
 
You need to give a week’s notice to your committee members.
If you are unable to attend a meeting you should send your apologiesto thesecretary in advance, and people who are absent without having sent an apology should be noted separately in the minutes.
 
·         Ideally a committee meeting should follow an agenda drawn up before the meeting by either the president or secretary. Ideally an agenda should be emailed out early, so that officers get the chance to add things to it.     
 
 
During the Meeting:
 
·         You firstly need to recap the last meeting, and make sure the minutes are right.
 
·         You then need to discuss each item of business, and decide what the plan of action is, voting on it if necessary. 
 
Voting:
 
·         When considering a motion, you should vote on it. The chair is responsible for conducting this vote, and only executive committee members have voting rights. When there is no objection, no vote need be carried out. 
 
·         Most votes are decided by a simple majority(i.e. over half those present rounded up).
 
·         Certain items of business, such as constitutional amendments, require a supermajority (i.e. over 2/3 of those present). In the event of a tie, the chair has the casting vote.
 
·         In certain circumstances, where committee members might feel pressured to vote one way or another a vote can be conducted in camera. In these circumstances all non-voting members present are required to leave while the vote takes place. In these circumstances, no minutes are taken, and only the result of the vote should be recorded in the minutes. A secret ballot should also be used to decide the votes
 
After a Meeting 
  • The minutes of the meeting should be typed up and emailed around to all the members of the society, so they can be checked for inaccuracies. After that, they should be emailed to socs@st-andrews.ac.uk, for the Societies Officer’s records (no less than 14 days after the date of the meeting)and submitted to the general office.
 
 
 
Annual General Meetings
 
Annual General Meetings (AGM’s) are held to make changes that will affect the way the society is managed. Therefore, they must be open to each and every one of the society’s members.
 
Societies must hold an AGMat least once every academic year, during which all committee positions should be open for election. An AGMis also an opportunity to:
 
  • Make any necessary changes to the society’s constitution.
  • Discuss major issues within the society.
  • Finalise the membership fee for the following academic year.
  • Elect any honorary officers or members.
 
 
People:
 
Chair:
This task will usually fall to the outgoing society president. It is identical to the job at a committee meeting.
 
Minutes Secretary:
This task will usually fall to the outgoing society secretary.
 
Returning Officer:
The SSC Member for Societies Elections, or a representative decided by her, will attend to act as returning officer. If a member of the Societies Committee is unable to come, the task will fall to the outgoing society president.
The returning officer will:  
  • Monitor the relevance of questions asked of candidates during hecklings.
  • Conduct the voting: collect the ballots and count them secretly with a member of the society’s outgoing executive committee. If all members of the executive committee are standing for re-election, an ordinary member will be selected.
  • Have the casting vote in the result of a draw.
 
Preparation
 
1.     You will need to decide a date for the AGM, which needs to be within one calendar year of your previous one. Also, no new members are allowed to join the society within two weeks of the AGM, and AGMs cannot be held within the first two weeks of the academic year, or the holidays or revision/exam periods or S.A. elections week.
 
2.      You need to inform the SSC Member for Societies Elections on socelect@st-andrews.ac.uk when you wish to hold your AGM no later than fourteen days in advance. This person (or a Societies Committee nominee) will attend to act as Returning Officer.
 
3.     You should inform all members of the society about the AGM at least seven days in advance. This should be done both through email to university accounts, and a poster should be put up on the societies’ notice board.
  
 
 
 
 
During the Meeting
  
1.      All outgoing Executive Officers need to give a report on what they have done during the year and answer any questions that the society members have.
 
2.      Any constitutional changes are debated and voted upon.
 
3.      You need to decide the membership fee for the following year. This cannot be less than £3 per head.
 
4.      The outgoing committee steps down and executive positions must be opened up for election at an AGM. Non-executive positions may also be opened for election, though this may not be necessary.
 
 
Election Rules
  
1.      An ordinary member of the society may stand for any position, and they will need to be nominated and seconded by two other ordinary members. All nominations received in advance need to be kept secret until the start of the meeting.
 
2.     It is necessary for you to attend the general meeting if you want to stand for election. Only in extreme circumstances will a member be allowed to run for a position if they cannot make it to the meeting; this will be decided by the Societies’ Member for Elections. Proxy votes are allowed, and they need to be given to the President before the meeting.
 
3.     All candidates can give a speech and answer questions when standing for a position, and all other candidates for the same position must leave the room during hecklings.
 
4.      Unsuccessful candidatescan stand for election to any other post.
 
 
Voting
 
Only ordinary members can vote.
·     If a position is uncontested, you don’t need to have a vote, you just need to ask if there is any dissent. 
·     If there is a choice between two candidates you only need to have a simple majority, which can be shown through a show of hands or by a secret ballot.
·       If there are more than two candidates then you need to use the single transferable vote. Everyone voting should be given a ballot paper, and they need to rank the candidates in order of preference. There will also need to be a RON (re open nominations) option provided on the ballot paper. The ballots are then collected by the returning officer and some volunteers from the society. In the first instance a candidate will win the vote if they have over 50% of the votes. If there are more than two candidates and no one has over 50% of the votes, the person with the least votes are then redistributed to the second preference on that ballot paper. The votes are then recounted and the process repeats until someone makes the quota.
 
Quoracy
 
For a meeting to be Quorate (well attended enough to be valid), at least 1/5 of the societies ordinary members, or else 10 ordinary members (whichever is greater), must be in attendance.
 
After the Meeting:
 
         All of the relevant documentation from a general meeting needs to be returned to the Societies Committee within fourteen daysof the meeting. This includes:
 
a.      AGM/EGM form (you can get this from the General Office)
b.      Minutes of the meeting
c.      New copy of the constitution (if there is one)
 
        
If the AGM was aquorate, you need to:
 
·         Put a poster up informing members that the meeting was aquorate, and listing the decisions taken, on the Societies Notice Board on the first floor of the Students’ Association within three days of the AGM/EGM.
 
·         All of the members of the society, and the SSC Societies Officer and SSC Member for Societies Elections, need to be told that the meeting was aquorate and of the decisions taken within seven days.
 
·         Members of the society have fourteen days to appeal to the Societies Committee if they disagree with anything that happened in the AGM, including the election of committee posts. If this happens, the Societies Committee may decide to recall the General Meeting.
 
·         Societies and individuals may appeal against the actions of the Returning Officer. These appeals need to be made to the Societies Committee within fourteen days. 
 
·          If, after fourteen days, no complaint or appeal is made, everything is now ratified and the new committee may take office.
 
Extraordinary General Meeting 
 
EGMsare basically identical to an AGM. They may be held at any time to fill any executive committee positions which become vacant, or to amend the constitution. 
Like AGMs, EGMs cannot be held within the first two weeks of term, or outside of teaching weeks.
 

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