The Constitution | LGBT & Friends Society, University of Essex

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The Constitution

UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX LGBT AND FRIENDS SOCIETY CONSTITUTION

NAME
1. The Society shall be called the University of Essex L.G.B.T and Friends Society
AIMS
1. To give the opportunity for self-defining Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (Transgender, Transsexual and Transvestite) as well as Queer, Bi-gendered, polysexual, FTM, MTF, MSM, WSW, epicene, and gender queer persons to meet and get to know each other, as well as those who do not self-define as any of these or who otherwise self-define, through the regular holding of social events and furthermore to play an active role in working towards an equal opportunities environment in which the interests of our members are respected and considered.
MEMBERSHIP
1. The Society shall be open to all persons and all members shall be treated fairly and equally, regardless of gender, ethnic, national, regional or racial origin, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs, socio-economic background, family circumstances, health; including HIV status, spent offences, Trade Union membership, age or physical appearance or any other irrelevant distinction, in accordance with the Students’ Union Equal Opportunities Policy as outlined in Schedule 10 of the Union’s Constitution.
2. Full membership of the Society shall be open to members of the Students’ Union on payment of an annual subscription, as decided upon by the Treasurer. This money shall be paid into the Union Cashiers for crediting to the Society’s account.
3. Associate Membership of the Society shall be available to individuals upon receipt of the appropriate forms and fees in accordance with the relevant regulations agreed by both the Society’s Executive Committee and the Societies Guild.
4. Honorary Membership.
  1. A General Meeting of the Society shall be entitled to confer honorary membership of the Society in recognition of outstanding service or as a token of esteem. Such honorary members shall not be entitled to vote at any meeting nor be elected to any Executive office.
  2. Proposals for candidates to receive honorary memberships can be made by any full member of the Society. A two-thirds majority at any General Meeting shall be required to confer honorary memberships. Any successful candidates shall be informed by the President of the Society in writing.
5. All members must also be members of the University of Essex Students’ Union Societies Guild.
THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
1. The Committee shall consist of;
  1. The President
  2. The Women’s Officer
  3. The Secretary
  4. The Treasurer
  5. The Social Secretary
  6. The Media Officer
  7. The Society Rep
2. If the Society is run on a co-operative basis at least one contact name must be supplied.
3. The Committee shall be elected annually under the terms of Appendix A of this Constitution.
4. The Committee shall be responsible to General Meetings of the members of the Society, for the day to day running of the Society and for their individual responsibilities outlined in Section 5, below.
5. The Committee shall formally meet at least twice every month.
DUTIES OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS
1. All Committee members have the responsibility to act in the best interests of the Society.
2. The Society’s President shall have the following responsibilities;
  1. To coordinate the activities of the Committee and to be primus inter pares.
  2. To represent the Society at all times in matters affecting its interests or those of its members.
  3. To ensure that all Society officials do the job that they have been assigned to do and to maintain a high standard.
  4. To chair all meetings of the Society at which they is present, unless inappropriate for them do so.
  5. To be the Society’s main point of contact between the Societies Guild, the Students’ Union and the University.
  6. To arrange all elections within the Society and chair them in a professional and impartial manner; ensuring that each member has a fair and equal opportunity to vote.
  7. If it is inappropriate for the President to chair an election then the responsibility shall fall to the Vice-President, and will continue to pass onwards if they are also excluded, in the order of Secretary, Treasurer and Social Secretary.
  8. In the event that no suitably impartial chair is available, the President must appeal to the VP Sports & Societies to find an appropriate Chairperson.
  9. To be ultimately responsible for arranging the Society’s stall and promotional material at the Freshers’ and Re-Freshers’ Fairs.
  10. To assist the Secretary with general recruitment.
  11. To be a point of contact for all new members.
  12. To support all other officials in their roles as far as is possible.
  13. To be responsible for the planning, coordination and running of training for new members of the Society’s Committee in addition to the training run by the Students’ Union.
  14. To be the members’ representative, listening to all members’ grievances, and, where appropriate, communicating these to the Society’s Committee, the Societies Guild, the Students’ Union or the University.
  15. Other duties as agreed by the Society’s Committee.
3. The Society’s Women’s Officer shall have the following responsibilities;
  1. To ensure that all members are represented equally and fairly.
  2. To promote the interests of Society members who are women.
  3. To operate and recruit members onto the Society’s Buddy system.
  4. Other duties as agreed by the Society’s committee.
4. The Society’s Secretary shall have the following responsibilities;
  1. To call all meetings of the Society or the Society’s Committee and to prepare the agenda and the keep and publish the minutes for such meetings.
  2. To conduct correspondence on behalf of the Society and to keep the VP Sports & Societies informed of the names and addresses of officers of the Society and of any amendments to this Constitution.
  3. To maintain and regularly update the Society’s membership list, including email subscription lists.
  4. To maintain general communication within the Society; including a monthly newsletter, as appropriate, on all Society activities.
  5. To support the President with arrangements for the Freshers’ and Re-Freshers Fairs.
  6. To maintain an accurate and up to date list of all former members of the Society that wish to be kept aware of the Society’s status and to send information to Alumni as they wish.
  7. Other duties as agreed by the Society’s committee.
5. The Society’s Treasurer shall have the following responsibilities:
  1. To monitor the Society’s expenditure in accordance with Student Unions’ regulations and be responsible to the Committee and the Society membership for irregularities.
  2. To handle the Society’s petty cash and prepare estimates of expenditure under the general direction of the Committee at such times as shall be required by the Union’s VP Sports & Societies.
  3. Other duties as agreed by the Society’s committee.
6. The Society’s Social Secretary shall have the following responsibilities:
  1. To plan, organise, advertise and carrying out social events for the Society.
  2. To upkeep and maintain the social pages of the Society’s website and on social networking sites.
  3. Other duties as agreed by the Society’s committee.
7. The Society’s Media Officer shall have the following responsibilities:
  1. To arrange and facilitate the Society’s involvement with and appearance in student and other media outlets.
  2. To upkeep and maintain the Society’s website.
  3. To design posters, leaflets and other literature in conjunction with the President.
  4. To design, arrange and publish the Society’s newsletters.
  5. Other duties agreed by the Society’s Committee.
8. The Society’s Society Rep shall have the following responsibilities:
  1. To sit on the Students’ Union LGBT Committee as the Society’s representative.
  2. To portray the Society’s opinion on matters discussed by the Committee and to vote accordingly when invited.
  3. To discuss with the Society’s Executive Committee before an SU LGBT Committee meeting to obtain the opinion they are required to represent and to meet following the meeting to give a description of the proceedings.
  4. Other duties agreed by the Society’s Committee.
9. The Committee may allocate to members such duties as it sees fit, but retains overall responsibility and accountability for the conduct of the Society.
REMOVAL OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS
1. A Committee member can be removed from office if the following procedure is followed;
  1. They resign.
  2. They have been offered the option of resignation by the Committee.
  3. A Vote Of No Confidence is carried at a General, Extraordinary General or Annual General Meeting.
2. A Committee member may resign by sending a letter to the Secretary or President of the Society.
3. If it is deemed that a Committee member has breached this Constitution or the trust of the Society’s membership their position is rendered untenable. Such a member can be removed from office through a Vote Of No Confidence
  1. Gross misconduct by an elected representative, including for example, although not exclusively, corruption, fraud, theft, physical violence, threatening behaviour, persistent harassment, intimidation or bringing the Society into serious disrepute will give rise to a Vote Of No Confidence at a General, Emergency General or Annual General Meeting.
  2. In order for a member of the Society to call for a Vote Of No Confidence the signatories of 50% plus one of the membership must be handed to either the President or the Secretary of the Society.
  3. The member accused will be called to defend their case to a General, Extraordinary General, or Annual General Meeting of the Society’s membership.
  4. A two-thirds majority in favour of the member’s removal is required for the Vote to be carried.
4. A Committee member shall be considered to have resigned if they miss three consecutive Committee meetings without adequate apologies.
5. If a member breaches Section 12 of this Constitution, they are assumed to have resigned from the Executive Committee of the Society unless otherwise stated. If an Executive member is to resign from the SU Committee, thus keeping their position within the Society, it should be done in an open letter to the SU LGBT Officer and must also be addressed to the President of the Society, or Secretary in their stead.
  1. If an individual does not resign from one of the Committees, the member is to be removed following the steps outlined in Sections 6(1) and 6(3) and will be ineligible to contest the position again until the Annual General Meeting at the end of the academic year. A replacement is to be elected within three weeks of this removal.
FINANCE
1. The finances of the Society shall be conducted in accordance with the relevant Sections of the Union Constitution and with any other instructions laid down from time to time by Union Council, the Societies Guild or the VP Sports & Societies.
2. The Society’s accounts shall be available for inspection at all times by the VP Finance & Services, the VP Sports & Societies or persons appointed by these.
3. The Treasurer under Section 5(5) shall be responsible for the finances of the Society and shall be held to account by the membership of the Society and the Societies Guild.
  1. In the absence of a Treasurer, the President or named person will be held responsible and accountable instead.
MEETINGS
1. Meetings shall be conducted in accordance with Appendix B to this Constitution.
RIGHT OF APPEAL
1. Any member may have the right to draw to the attention of the VP Sports & Societies to any irregularities in the running of the Society and ask them to investigate the matter.
2. The Society may accept the decision of the VP Sports & Societies on any matters referred under 9(1) above or else appeal to the Societies Guild or Union Council.
COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
1. All complaints relating to the Society, its activities and its procedures shall be addressed initially to the President through verbal means, who shall respond within ten days. If initial response is unsatisfactory, a written complaint should be made to the President and the Secretary jointly.
2. The President and Secretary shall respond to all written complaints within ten days. If the response received is judged to be unsatisfactory, or if the complaint is about the President, or it is otherwise deemed inappropriate to be addressed by the Society’s Committee then it may be addressed to the President of the Societies Guild (Vice President Sports & Societies). If the response remains unsatisfactory then a further written complaint should be sent to the President of the Students’ Union in accordance with Schedule Eight of the Union’s Constitution.
3. If none of the above has been deemed effective, and the actions of the VP Sports & Societies or the Union President has not been satisfactory then the complaint may be brought before Union Council.
REPRESENTATION OF THE SOCIETY AT SOCIETIES GUILD GENERAL MEETINGS (SGGMs) AND SOCIETIES GUILD FEDERAL MEETINGS
1. Two Full Members of the Society shall be responsible for representing the Society at General Meetings of the Societies Guild and at Federal Meetings of the Societies Guild.
  1. These do not have to be members of the Executive Committee of the Society.
2. In the event that representatives are unable to attend they should inform the President who shall be responsible for appointing replacements.
THE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SU LGBT COMMITTEE
1. A full separation of powers must exist between the Society Executive and the SU LGBT Committees.
  1. Full, proper and written communication will be established between the President of the Society and the SU LGBT Officer, as the chairs of their respective Committees.
    1. They are each responsible for ensuring that the other knows what is being planned and how they can help.
    2. Minutes from meetings of both Committees will be made public.
    3. Agendas will be passed between Committees, so as to allow them to relay their opinions to their Representatives.
      1. These representatives will sit on the alternative Committee; the Society will be represented by the Society Rep and the Committee representative will be invited to the Society’s Executive meetings.
2. No member of the SU LGBT Committee will be allowed to maintain their position on the Society’s Executive Committee without first resigning from their SU Committee post.
  1. Members of the Executive Committee are expected to resign their position within the Society before standing for a position on the SU Committee or as the SU’s LGBT Liberation Officer.
  2. If this is breached, the member in question will be assumed to have resigned from their position on the Executive, as set out in Section 6(5).
SAFE SPACE POLICY
1. Equality and diversity lie at the core of the Society, thus all Society events, information and meetings will henceforth operate under a ‘safe space’ policy. All language and behaviour will be required to conform with this policy to avoid any possible offence to attendees, subscribers or any other persons and to ensure that everyone present can feel safe to be themselves. The policy will conform with that of the NUS LGBT.
2. Complaints should be made to a member of the Executive Committee of the Society and will be dealt with confidentially. Anyone who uses offensive language or displays inappropriate behaviour will be asked to leave an event, preferably after a full apology is given. Further incidents will be resolved, as outlined in the Complaints Procedure set out in Section 10 above.
AMENDMENTS
1. This Constitution and Appendices may be amended at an Annual General Meeting, a General Meeting or an Emergency General Meeting of the Society providing that two thirds of the members are present and provided that the notice to call the meeting contains a statement of the proposed amendment.
2. Any full member of the Society may propose amendments to this Constitution. Proposed amendments should be received by the Secretary a minimum of five working days before the meeting at which the amendments will be discussed.
3. The President must ensure that a copies of successful amendments are passed onto the VP Sports and Societies within five working days of the meeting at which they were ratified.
THE UNION CONSITUTION
1. This Constitution, however it shall be amended, shall at all times comply with the relevant Sections of the Union Constitution and its Appendices, moreover, no Section of this Constitution which conflicts with it shall be valid. If in cases of conflict the Union Constitution takes precedence.
SAFEKEEPING OF CONSITUTION
1. One copy of this Constitution and its Appendices, howsoever amended, shall be kept by the Secretary and shall be available for consultation by any members of the Society at any reasonable time.
2. One copy of this Constitution and its Appendices, howsoever amended shall be deposited with the Students’ Union’s VP Sports & Societies.
3. In the case of dispute the copy of the Constitution and its Appendices described under Section 14(2) above shall be deemed to be the authoritative version.

APPENDIX A

ELECTIONS
1. The Committee shall be elected in the final term of the academic year and shall take office once the academic year comes to a close. The members of the Committee will serve for a year unless removed under Section 6 of the Constitution or until such time as they are no longer registered students, whichever is soonest.
2. A member elected to fill a casual vacancy shall take office immediately and hold office until the next annual election, their position is vacated under Section 6 of this Constitution, or until such time as they are no longer registered students, whichever is soonest.
3. Members of the Committee must be full members of the Society.
4. The meeting at which the annual elections take place shall be referred to as the Annual General Meeting. Quorum for this and all other General Meetings, including Extraordinary General Meetings are detailed in subsection 5 below.
5. Quorum requirements.
  1. If membership stands at 20 – 30, the quorum is to be 10 members in attendance.
  2. If membership stands at 31 – 50, the quorum is to be 15 members in attendance.
  3. If membership stands at 51 – 75, the quorum is to be 20 members in attendance.
  4. If membership stands at 76 – 100, the quorum is to be 25 members in attendance.
  5. If membership exceeds 101, the quorum is to be 30 members in attendance.
6. Minutes and a list of members present shall be delivered to the VP Sports & Societies not more than one week after the meeting for ratification by the Societies Guild.
7. The President shall stand as an impartial Chairperson for any election, and shall be responsible for the free and fair conduct of the election or vote.
  1. If it is inappropriate for the President to chair an election, the responsibility shall fall to the Vice-President, and will continue to pass onwards if it remains inappropriate, in the order of Secretary, Treasurer and Social Secretary. In the event that no suitably impartial chair is available, the President will appeal to the VP Sports & Societies to find an appropriate Chairperson.
8. Notice of elections shall be posted and sent by the Secretary to all members at least ten days before the Meeting and shall contain;
  1. The date, time, place of the Meeting.
  2. The posts for which nominations are invited.
  3. The form nominations shall be received in.
  4. The closing date for nominations.
  5. The person(s) to whom nominations shall be delivered and the mode of delivery.
9. Nominations shall be in writing and include the name of a proposer and seconder who must be members of the Society.
10. In the event that no nominations are received for an election for any particular position, nominations, proposers and seconders will be taken from the floor.
11. No person shall propose or second more than one person for the same office nor may any person nominate any other person for a post for which they, themselves, are standing.
12. Elections shall be by Alternative Vote. In the case of a tie a second vote shall be taken between the tying candidates. A second tie shall be resolved by an additional round of speeches followed by a final vote, if there remains no victor then the winner shall be drawn by lot, coin toss, splitting a deck of cards or any other random system of selection.
13. In all elections there shall be the option to vote for ‘RON’ or Re-Open Nominations. This serves as a ‘none-of-the-above’ option. If the candidate with the highest number of votes receives less votes than RON than that candidate shall not take up office and another election will be called for at the nearest available opportunity.
14. Only members of the Society defined under Section 3 of this Constitution shall be entitled to vote in Society elections, and there shall be no proxy voting.
15. Only self-defining women who are members of the Society may be eligible to vote for the Women’s Officer.
16. A by-election to fill a casual vacancy shall be held within three weeks of the post falling vacant.
17. Complaints about the conduct of elections or the actions of candidates or others which might be considered to be detrimental to the fair conduct of the election may be made by any member of the Society, in writing, within seven days of the election to the VP Sports & Societies who may order a re-election if they are satisfied that the conduct of any person was such that the results of the election may have been affected.

APPENDIX B

MEETINGS
1. Annual General Meetings, Emergency General Meetings, General Meetings and Committee Meetings shall be called by the Secretary on the instructions of the President except under subsection 2 below.
2. The Secretary shall call an Extraordinary General Meeting on receipt of a request to hold one, signed by ‘n’ members of the Society (‘n’ being the number of members required to hold a quorate General Meeting, outlined under Section 1(5) of Appendix A of this Constitution) specifying business to be discussed at such a meeting.
3. The President shall sit as the Chairperson for all meetings, and shall be responsible for the conduct of debate at said meetings.
  1. In the event where it is inappropriate for the President to Chair meetings, the responsibility shall fall to the Vice-President, and will continue to pass onwards if it remains inappropriate, in the order of Secretary, Treasurer and finally Social Secretary. In the event that no suitably impartial chair is available, the President will appeal to the VP Sports & Societies to find an appropriate Chairperson.
  2. All members shall be informed of the date, time and place of meetings a minimum of three working days beforehand.
  3. At least one General Meeting of the Society’s membership shall be held per term. The Society’s Committee shall be subject to the direction of these meetings.