► SEARCH BISHOPGSU.CO.UK
► TAKE A LOOK INSIDE
► HELP ON BGSU
Advertise
Bishop Grosseteste University College Students Union has various student marketing and student advertising tools that can promote your services direct to our students.
For all our student
marketing & advertising opportunities click the media pack button.
► Constitution
Bishop Grosseteste University College
Students’ Union Constitution
1. Name:
The name of the Association shall be Bishop Grosseteste University Lincoln College Students’ Union (hereafter referred to as the ‘Union’).
2. Aims:
The function of the Union shall be to foster the educational and social welfare and interests of the students, and to campaign nationally in liaison with external bodies on issues reflecting Union policy and students’ interests.
3. Membership:
Every registered student of the UniversityCollege engaged in any approved course shall be eligible for membership of the Union at a fee approved from time to time by the Council, unless specifically excluded under section 17a. Part-time students will pay the full-time fee determined by the Executive. Students will have the right to opt-out of joining the Union annually. There will be a ten-day trial period at the beginning of each academic year at the end of which students have the option of terminating their membership and receiving the appropriate proportionate refund on the surrender of their membership and Union card. After the ten-day period, a student may not opt out of membership until the same trial period in the next academic year. Any student who chooses to opt out of membership will not be unfairly disadvantaged and will not be excluded from the services that the Union offers. The Students’ Union Executive must produce annually a document outlining those services for which the entitlements of non-members are reduced. This document is included as an appendix to the Constitution.
4. Council:
The affairs of the Union shall be conducted by the Council of the Students’ Union. This shall consist of:
a. Executive: (refer to paragraph 9).
b. Representatives:
Each teaching group may elect one of their numbers to represent them.
On the 3 +1 BA / BSc Hons (QTS) one member shall be taken from each subject group in each year.
On the 3-year BA Hons (QTS) and the Arts & Humanities degrees one member shall be taken from each teaching group in each year.
On the P.G.C.E course one shall be taken from each teaching group.
The RAG Chair shall also be a member of the Council.
There will also be five extra members from each year group.
Elections for the extra five places per year group will be held in the Autumn term by course leaders who will hold an informal election process in which all members are entitled to vote for those nominated in their own year group. Once elected, the term of office shall last until the second week of the next autumn term.
Also one member from each society shall be a member ofcouncil and therefore must attend.
c. In the Autumn term, before elections, the Council shall consist of the new Executive, the previous year’s Executive and all the previous years Council representatives.
d. In the Spring and Summer terms, the Council shall consist of the Executive, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th year and P.G.C.E. representatives.
5. Meetings of the Council:
a. Shall be held every week,at the discretion of the Students’Union President and Executive.
b. Minutes will be taken of all the meetings and signed by the Chairperson of the Council after the Council has signified that these are a true record of the proceedings. These minutes will be distributed to students via the systems provided by the IT and Knowledge Services departments within the limits set by acceptable use policies, in order to ensure that such documents are made as accessible as possible.
c. The President shall submit to the Principal, and to members of staff concerned, any issues or concerns raised within said meeting.
d. Any member of the Union may bring matters to the notice of the Council in the following ways:
i) Matters of Formal Business: by writing or email to the President or Vice President.
ii) Any Other Business: by bringing the matter to the attention of a representative of the Council, or by personal attendance at Council during a meeting, or including the matter for discussion at the next Council Meeting.
e. All current Union members who are not Council members, and non-members, may attend meetings of the Council as observers but they may not vote. They may only address the meeting by permission of the Chairperson.
f. A quorum of the Council shall not be less than one third of its members.
g. Apologies for absence from a meeting of the Council should be submitted to the Secretary and Services Officer by 4pm on the day of the Council Meeting in person, by telephone or email. The Secretary and Services Officer shall record the apology.
h. If a Council course representative member is absent from three consecutive Council meetings, without recorded apologies being presented, the Secretary and Services Officer shall send a letter to the said representative. If the said representative is again absent without sending apologies the matter may be referred to Council who will, if it is considered necessary, refer the matter to the year group, as in 17c.
i . If a Council society representative member is absent from two consecutive Council meetings, without recorded apologies being presented, the Secretary and Services Officer shall send a letter to the said representative informing them that the society account is frozen. If the said representative is again absent without sending apologies the matter may be referred to Council who will, if it is considered necessary, refer the matter to the year group, as in 17c.
6. Extraordinary meetings:
Extraordinary meetings of the Council shall be called at any time on the authority of the Chairperson, or at the request of six members of the Council by written notice to the Vice President.
7. Sabbatical President:
a. The post of Sabbatical President shall be open to all final-year students who have completed the full length of their course, and to the existing President who may stand for re-election, but their term of office shall not exceed two years. In the event of no final-year student standing, and in consultation with the Principal and Directorate, the Sabbatical post shall be open to students going into their penultimate year of study.
b. In the event of there being no Sabbatical President the Executive shall be extended to include two other members. These members share the role and title of President, one of which will have the casting vote and be the Chairperson of Council. This will be decided at Hustings where the members will be required to vote as to which candidate takes on these extra responsibilities. Their individual responsibilities and job descriptions shall be specified by the outgoing Sabbatical President.
8. Sabbatical Vice President:
a. The post of Sabbatical Vice President shall be open to all final-year students who have completed the full length of their course, and to the existing Vice President who may stand for re-election, but their term of office shall not exceed two years. In the event of no final-year student standing, and in consultation with the Principal and Directorate, the Sabbatical post shall be open to students going into their penultimate year of study.
b. In the event of there being no Sabbatical Vice President the Executive shall be extended to include two other members. These members share the role and title of Vice President, one of which will have the casting vote and be the Chairperson of Council, in the event of the president being absent. This will be decided at Hustings where the members will be required to vote as to which candidate takes on these extra responsibilities. Their individual responsibilities and job descriptions shall be specified by the outgoing Sabbatical Vice President.
9. Executive:
a. Members of the Union may stand for a position under the following guidelines:
i) Students on the Arts and Humanities programs may stand in their penultimate year only.
ii) Students on the BA/BSC (hons) ESS, may stand in either their second year, or their third year.
Membership of the Executive shall be decided by election in a secret ballot in which all members are entitled to vote.
The Executive shall represent the Union in all matters and shall be empowered to take emergency actions and decisions which shall be reported to the Council as soon as possible, for information.
b. The members of the Executive shall be ex-officio members of the Council, and will be:
i) The Sabbatical President - who shall be the chairperson of the Council and shall be responsible for matters affecting internal college affairs. The Sabbatical President has the right to attend and vote at all committees of the Union.
ii) The Vice President Democracy and Education, , who shall be responsible for Academic welfare, support and representation and shall represent the President when absent. They shall also promote NUS and Union campaigns.
iii) The Student Activities Officer, who shall be responsible for the general management and all societies, sports and volunteering opportunities within the Union.
iv) The Finance Officer, who shall be responsible for the financial business of the Union. This person will also become Vice President in the event of the President being absent.
v) The Welfare Officer, who shall be responsible for the general welfare of the students, liaison between the Union and College welfare services and campaigns.
vi) The Entertainments Officer, who shall be responsible for the social events of the Union and shall be Chairperson of the Entertainments Committee.
vii) The Secretary and Services Officer who will be responsible for the minuting of Students’ Union Council, room bookings, the people carrier and the organisation of the University College’s photograph.
viii) The Rag Chair who shall be responsible for the overall running of RAG.
c. The Sabbatical President, Vice President and the other Executive Members should be elected during the Spring Term and a By-election held if necessary shortly after.
d. All of the Executive Officers shall become familiar with their positions late in the Summer Term.
10. Meetings of the Executive:
The Executive shall meet at least once a week during term time. Meetings shall be called by the Sabbatical President, or by two members of the Executive. The quorum shall be four members. The rules for apologies shall be the same as under 6g, except that apologies must be handed in at least six hours before the meeting.
11. General Meetings:
a. These will be held at the discretion of the Executive or the Council on written request delivered to the Sabbatical Vice President,signed by not less than 10% of the Union membership.
A quorum of a general meeting shall be 10% of the students in all years.
All Union members may attend but no other person must be present, unless by invitation that follows a majority vote of the members present and voting. The Chairperson shall be the Sabbatical President of the Union and shall exercise only a casting vote.
b. Annual General Meetings:
An Annual General Meeting shall be held at the end of the Summer Term, on a date decided by the Executive at that time. Union members shall receive, in writing, notice of such a meeting not less than seven days beforehand. In the event of there being no business, this meeting need not take place, but this should be at the discretion of the Executive.
12. Minor Executives:
The procedure for the election of the Entertainments Executive, Welfare Executive and the RAG Executive, shall be defined by the Standing Orders. Their term of office should coincide with the academic year.
13. Representation on other bodies:
Where the Union is granted membership of University College Committees and other bodies, the Sabbatical President shall act as the representative of the Union.
See Appendix 2 for the current Union membership on other bodies.
14. Finance:
a. The financial year shall be from the 1st August to the 31st July.
b. The Students Union will comply with any arrangements, approved by the governing body, for the monitoring of its expenditure and will:
i) keep accounts and accounting records in accordance with the normal professional accounting principles;
ii) maintain the sound system of internal financial management and control. All cheques will be signed by any two of the President, Vice President or Finance Officer;
iii) plan and conduct its financial affairs so as to ensure, as far as possible, that its total income is at least sufficient, taking one year with another, to meet its total expenditure and that its financial solvency is maintained;
iv) check and clear any contracts being entered into with financial implications to the UniversityCollege management before signature;
v) obtain the prior written consent of the UniversityCollege to the borrowing of any money;
vi) not give any guarantees or indemnities incurring contingent liabilities other than in the normal course of business;
vii) maintain adequate insurance to cover the liabilities and assets of the Union.
c. In terms of approval of budgets, the Finance Officer will:
i) prepare budgets for the following financial year at least two months before the commencement of the financial year;
ii) obtain the approval of the Union Council to such budgets and submit them to the UniversityCollege within two months of the commencement of the financial year for approval.
d. In terms of the monitoring of expenditure, the Students’ Union will:
i) prepare audited annual accounts in accordance with the generally accepted accounting principles within three months of the end of the financial year. These accounts are to be audited by a suitably qualified independent auditor;
ii) obtain the approval of the Union to such accounts, making them available to all students and to submit them to the Autumn meeting of the Governing Body immediately following the end of the financial year;
iii) provide (termly) reports of income and expenditure against budget for consideration by the Council and the UniversityCollege at such time and for such periods as the Governing Body may from time to time determine, and make them available to all students. Provide a report at council for the income and expenditure.
iv) include, within its annual accounts and financial reports, a list of the external organisations to which it has made donations in the periods to which such reports relate, and details of any such donations;
v) make available the books and accounting records to the UniversityCollege for inspection on request.
15. Societies:
a. Any UniversityCollege society wishing to become affiliated to the Union shall make application by letter and a constitution signed by the nominated President, Secretary and Treasurer of the society, alongside the signatures of at least five additional members of BishopGrossetesteUniversityCollege to the Student Activities Officer of the Union.
The Council shall consider such requests for affiliation. The procedure for allocating resources to societies must be written down and freely available to all students. It should be published at least once a year in the Union Handbook.
b. Applications may be made by each affiliated society for a financial grant, using a grant request form available from the Finance Officer of the Union. There will be a level of grant available to each society which will be agreed annually by the Executive in the Summer term. Grant request forms must include an estimate of the society’s annual income and expenditure and must be submitted by an agreed date by the Student Activities Officer and the Finance officer. Any request forms submitted after that date will be rejected. After that date, the Executive will, in the presence of an appointed observer, allocate the grants as they see fit. The award of such grants shall be subject to the approval of Council in the following week and the governing body through the annual budget. In the event of any disagreement, the Students’ Union Executive will have the final ruling.
Any grant request from societies formed after that date will be dealt with in the same way at the beginning of the Autumn term.
Any grant request from societies formed after the agreed date in the Autumn term will be dealt with in the same way at the beginning of the Spring term. The maximum level of grant available to societies formed in the Autumn or Spring terms will be a proportion of the amount agreed at the start of the academic year. In the event of any society having any amount of their grant left at the end of the academic year, this will be returned to the SU account and redistributed the following academic year as decided upon by the Union Executive .
c. Society accounts, including RAG, shall be maintained within the Union accounting ledger. The Finance Officer, Student Activities Officer or Executive Committee shall be entitled to request invoices or receipts before approving any payment on behalf of a society. The Finance Officer or Student Activities Officer may refuse to approve any payment on behalf of a society if the accounting records show that there are insufficient funds available to that society.
d. The Finance Officer and Executive shall be entitled, on request, to examine all receipts and other documents of an affiliated society.
e. Non-members of the Students’ Union are not eligible to hold a decision-making post of responsibility within a society funded or supported financially by the Students Union.
f. If there are members of a society who are not affiliated to the SU, they have to be passed through Student Council with a written request for the stated person (s) to be eligible to be part of that society.
g. Wednesday afternoons in the weekly timetable are set aside for the use of societies to function. During this time societies are obliged to hold meetings, rehearsals, training sessions or matches. If meetings are held then minutes must be received by theStudent Activities Officer. The Student Activities Officer will ensure that this is the case and societies are using the afternoons to the benefit of the Students.
16. External affiliations:
a. When making an affiliation, notice of the decision must be published in the minutes of the Council, including the name of the organisation and the level of subscription or fee.
b. At least annually, a list of affiliations including the same information must be approved by a majority vote at Students Union Council and the list published on the Union Website. This list must also be presented to the Governing Body annually.
c. Any group comprising five percent of Students Union members may request a referendum on any particular affiliation in any one academic year. The decision whether or not to continue the affiliation will be taken by a secret ballot in which all members are entitled to vote.
17. Liability:
a. Members may be expelled from the Union if this is considered necessary for the welfare and smooth running of the Union. An extraordinary Council meeting shall be called to consider the motion for expulsion of a member after a public notice has been displayed for seven clear working days in advance of the meeting, giving clear indication of the proposal to expel, and the grounds for expulsion, in accordance with section 6 of the Constitution. Otherwise procedures will follow those laid down in the Standing Orders. The member proposed for expulsion may attend the meeting and speak on their own behalf.
b. Members of the Executive may be expelled from office by the same procedure.
c. Representative members of the Union Council may be expelled from the Council if, at any time, the year group that they represent considers there is good cause, and after a majority vote of two thirds of the year group represented by Council members.
18. Complaints Procedure:
The complaints and disciplinary procedure is in place to ensure that all complaints against the Union and its members are dealt with promptly and fairly and that where the complaint is upheld there is an effective remedy.
If a student feels dissatisfied in their dealings with the Union or any non-member feels that they have been “unfairly disadvantaged”, they should take their complaint to any member of the Executive of the Students’ Union, who will, within ten working days, respond to and act upon the complaint. If the complainant is not satisfied, after that period, they should then approach the appointed member of the UniversityCollege. If they are still dissatisfied, an independent person appointed by the Governing Body shall deal with the complaint. All persons dealing with complaints must respond to and act upon the complaint within ten working days. At any stage, the complainant shall be entitled to make their case in person to the person considering the complaint.
19. Archives
The Students’ Union is to hold financial records for at least ten years. Nine years are to be kept inside the Students’ Union Archive in the Council Chambers and the previous Executive Committees are to be stored within the Main Executive Office Archive for reference purposes. If a case arises when records are kept dating back further than ten years then the Record retention Policy in the Standing Orders and the University College Archivist consulted to decide on the disposition of the documents.
20. Standing Orders:
Procedure at election and Council meetings shall conform to the Standing Orders. They may only be amended with the approval of the Council. One weeks notice must be given to Council if amendments are to be made. All amendments are subject to the approval of the Governing Body and shall be reviewed at intervals of not more than five years.
21. Termination of the Students Union:
In the event of the Students’ Union ceasing to operate, the Governing Body shall decide how the Union’s funds shall be used.
22. Interpretation:
In the event of a dispute as to the interpretation of any part of the constitution, the decision of the Sabbatical President, advised by the Executive, shall be final.
23. Display of the Constitution:
Copies of the Constitution shall be available in the Students Union Office, and it shall be published annually on the UniversityCollege and Union Websites and also in Student Union handbooks.
24. Amendments to the Constitution of the Students Union:
This Constitution may only be amended with the approval of the Council. One weeks notice must be given to Council if amendments are to be made. All amendments are subject to the approval of the Governing Body and shall be reviewed at intervals of not more than five years.
25. Revocation:
This Constitution shall come into effect on August 1st 2007 and from that day, and from the signing of this Constitution by the Sabbatical President, all previous Constitutions are hereby revoked.
Signed:
Tiffany Thornley
Sabbatical President 2006 / 2007
Nicholas Cox
Sabbatical President 2007 / 2008
1/08/07
APPENDIX 1
REDUCTIONS IN NON-MEMBERS’ ENTITLEMENTS.
(As at June 2005)
1. Representation
Non-members are not entitled to be a representative on the Students’ Union Council and therefore have no voting rights. They are unable to stand for any positions within the Students’ Union and are unable to vote at Hustings.
If a non-member wishes to attend a General Meeting of the Union, they may do so by invitation only (in accordance with clause 11a of the Constitution).
2. Entertainments
Non-members are not entitled to be a member of Entertainments Committee. Members of the Union will have first refusal of all tickets to social events. The Entertainments Executive can determine whether to charge non NUS/SU members a slightly higher price to functions than SU members.
3. Facilities
Non-members are not entitled to take a people carrier test and therefore shall be unable to drive it. This excludes members of the College staff who can only drive it if they abide by the Students’ Union people carrier rules.
Non-members will have to pay a charge for the hire of any rooms within the Students’ Union building for private usage. They will also have to pay for the hire of the disco equipment and DJs if for private usage.
4. Welfare
Non-members’ entitlements will not be reduced in any way with regard to the Students’ Union’s welfare facilities.
5. Societies
Non-members are not entitled to hold a position of responsibility within any society. They will be eligible to become a member of any society but will have to pay an agreed slightly higher subscription charge.
6. The UniversityCollege bar
Non-members of Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln Students’ Union will have to follow the procedure laid down for visitors. They will have to be signed in by a member and pay the visitors fee.
APPENDIX 2.
CURRENT UNION MEMBERSHIP ON OTHER BODIES
(As at July 2007)
The Governing Body:
The Sabbatical President is a member.
The Academic Board:
The Sabbatical President and Vice President are members..
The student will be a member of, and elected by, the Council annually, in the autumn term.
The Health and Safety Committee:
The Sabbatical President is a member.
Academic Services:
Two students, representing the teaching programmes and/or arts and humanities programmes can be members. The students will be members will be elected in Student Council in the autumn term. One Undergraduate Representative and One Postgraduate Representative. These representatives should report back to the Student President and to Student Council.
Academic Standards:
Two Students are elected in the autumn term through Student Council; One Undergraduate Representative, and One Postgraduate Representative. These representatives should report back to the Student President and to Student Council.
Academic Planning:
Two Students to be elected in the autumn term through Student Council: One Undergraduate Representative and One Postgraduate Representative. These representatives should report back to the Student President and to Student Council.
The Recruitment and Retention Committee:
The Sabbatical President is a member.
Diversity and Equality Committee
The Sabbatical President is a member.
Fairtrade Steering group
The Sabbatical president and Vice presidents are members.
The Bar Committee:
The Sabbatical President and the Entertainments Officer are members. Two Student Representatives are elected through Student Council in the autumn term.
It is essential that at least one sabbatical attend the meetings of the University College Committees and apologies submitted where appropriate.
Bookmark with:
Delicious
Digg
Facebook
reddit
StumbleUpon
|