The Constitution of the Cambridge University Computer Society

Last revision: 16 June 2004; previous revision 18 June 1996

Section 1: Name

The society shall be known as the Cambridge University Computer Society.

Section 2: Definitions

The following definitions apply for the reading and interpretation of the constitution:

The Society shall mean the Cambridge University Computer Society.
The University shall mean the University of Cambridge.
Day shall mean a day of Full Term as defined by the University from time to time.
The Constitution shall refer to the Constitution of the Society.
The Active Membership shall refer to those Ordinary Members living within the bounds of the University and who have provided the Secretary with an address at which they may be contacted in writing.
A Member shall be any Ordinary or Honorary Member, including Committee Members.
The Financial Year shall be deemed to run from the first of April in a given year till the thirty-first of March in the following calendar year.
A Quorum is defined as the positive square root, rounded down to the nearest integer, of the Active Membership.
The Committee shall be the Committee of the Society.
In the event of doubt the Committee shall have the power to interpret the Constitution.

Section 3: The Bearing of Statutes, Ordinances and Edicts of the University or its officers upon the Constitution.

Where this Constitution is in conflict with the Statutes, Ordinances and Edicts of the University or its officers then the Constitution shall be deemed void insofar as it does conflict.

Section 4: Activities and Policies of the Society

The activities and policies of the Society shall have no political, racial, religious, sexual or social bias. This measure includes the enrolment of members.

Section 5: The Composition of the Society

Membership of the Society shall be available to any member of the University.
Other persons may become members at the discretion of the Committee.
Honorary Members may be appointed by the Committee. The Committee cannot make themselves Honorary Members.
Any person eligible to join the Society under Sections 5:a) and 5:b) will become an Ordinary Member of the Society on payment of a subscription set by the Committee for the period set at that time by the Committee.
Membership entitles a Member to attend all Normal and General Meetings without charge.
Any member may be expelled or suspended for a specified period by a unanimous vote of the Committee if there are reasonable grounds so to do. Persons expelled by the Society are ineligible to rejoin the Society until their written application is approved by a majority of the Committee, or by a majority vote at a General Meeting.

Section 6: Aims of the Society

The Aims of the Society shall include:

to hold Normal Meetings
to hold General Meetings
to encourage and assist Members new to computing
to hold Social Meetings
to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas on all aspects of computing

Section 7: The Annual Journal

This shall be published annually except under exceptional circumstances agreed by the Committee and shall be edited by the Editor. The Society shall be financially responsible for the Journal.

Section 8: Normal Meetings

These shall be to further the Aims of the society and should comprise of either a discussion, or a lecture delivered by a person invited by the Committee, on a topic that is of interest to the society.
Guests may be admitted at these meetings provided that they do not by their presence take seating or facilities required by Members. A fee for guests may be set by the Committee.

Section 9: General Meetings

These may be Annual or Extraordinary. Guests cannot vote and may be excluded at the discretion of the Meeting or failing that the Committee.

All General Meetings are invalid as decision making bodies unless there is a Quorum of Members present.
An Annual General Meeting shall be held once a year during the Lent Full Term as defined by the University.
In the case of any General Meeting, the Secretary, or, failing that, another ordinary committee member, shall, at least 7 days before the meeting is to be held, inform the Active Membership of:
i) the time and place of the meeting
ii) any elections that may be held at the Meeting, including those due to the intent of any existing committee member to resign once elected to some other post.
iii) any motions that have been submitted to the committee member who is informing the Active Membership, at least 10 days before the meeting is to be held. The full text of any such motions should be made available to Members on request.
General Meetings shall be held at a time and place appointed by the committee, within the University. If the meeting is being called under the provisions of clauses (9:f,g) or (11:j) then the time shall be not less than 14 and not more than 21 days after receipt of the declaration or vacancy. For the purpose of this appointment, the committee may operate with less than four voting members.
The business of an Annual General Meeting shall include, but is not limited to:
i) Presentation of the interim accounts of the Society by the Junior Treasurer for the current Financial Year.
ii) Presentation of a report by the Editor.
iii) The election of officers for the next Financial Year.
iv) Motions submitted by the membership. Such motions must be proposed by and seconded by distinct members of the Society.
An Extraordinary General Meeting may be called by any 10 distinct members of the Society or a simple majority whichever is the smaller.
To call a meeting the members wishing to do so must all sign a declaration and hand it to the Chairman together with at least one motion for debate.
The business of an Extraordinary General Meeting shall consist of but is not limited to:
i) The motion(s) submitted by the body calling the Extraordinary General Meeting.
ii) Any motions submitted by the membership in a manner similar to that for the Annual General Meeting.
Any motion at a General Meeting may be one of no confidence in the Committee or any specific member of the Committee. If such a motion is passed then such person(s) shall be required to resign their membership of the Committee immediately and elections shall be held according to Section 12. Unless the Meeting decides otherwise, votes of no confidence shall be held by secret ballot. Motions of no confidence that have been notified to the Active Membership shall also be deemed notice of any elections that should consequently prove necessary, and shall take place before any elections at the same Meeting. In any case the Secretary shall make provision for administering any secret ballot that might take place.
Any motion at a General Meeting may be one to amend the Constitution. Such a motion must be presented at least 10 days before the General Meeting. Such a motion must be approved by at least two thirds of members present to amend the Constitution. The Constitution shall not be amended to remove the post of Senior Treasurer.
The business of a General Meeting shall be minuted by the Secretary or, failing that another ordinary committee member, or, failing that, by a person appointed by the meeting. In the event that the status of the person minuting the meeting changes during that meeting, he will continue to minute the meeting unless the meeting specifically resolves otherwise.
Members at a General Meeting shall be allowed to address the meeting on the motion under debate for up to 10 minutes. If the meeting so votes then further 5 minute slots may be allocated. After half an hour of debate on any one motion then any member present may move that the vote on the motion should be taken. This motion may not be debated. If it is passed then the vote is taken immediately. If not then at least 10 minutes must pass before it can be put again.

Section 10: Social Meetings

These shall be held for the enjoyment of the Members, and any guests, at the discretion of the committee. The society shall be allowed to charge participating Members, and/or individual guests, for these in order that it not make a loss on these meetings. They need not have computing as their main purpose.

Section 11: The Committee

The Ordinary Committee shall consist, in order of decreasing seniority, of a Chairman, Secretary, and Junior Treasurer.
The Committee shall hold office for no more than one Financial Year.
A Committee member may only hold one post on the Committee at one time.
There shall also be an extraordinary Committee member, the President who shall be appointed by the rest of the Committee. The President shall be able to attend Committee Meetings but not vote.
There shall also be an extraordinary Committee member, the Senior Treasurer who shall be appointed by the Ordinary Committee. The Senior Treasurer shall be able to attend Committee Meetings and vote.
The Committee shall also be able to coopt additional members but these members shall not be able to vote and must resign when the Committee's term expires or if a motion of no confidence is passed that either removes the whole Committee or the coopted member in particular.
The Committee shall meet at least once a Full Term.
A Committee may take decisions only if at least three ordinary Committee members are present and only if the meeting has been notified to all the Committee Members at least 24 hours in advance.
The Committee may call an Extraordinary General Meeting by majority vote.
If any post shall fall vacant, apart from that of the President or Senior Treasurer then the Secretary must call an Extraordinary General Meeting for the purpose of elections. If there is no Secretary then another Committee member may act in the Secretary's stead. If there are no ordinary Committee members then the Senior Treasurer shall arrange elections. If there is no Senior Treasurer then the President shall arrange elections. Failing this any five members may write to the Junior Proctor to seek his advice on the appointment of a new Committee.
Any member of the Committee shall be able to require the Committee to meet within seven Days.
In the event of a Committee post not being filled, the Committee may nominate any of its members as acting officer. If no such appointment is made the next most senior Committee member, or failing that the most senior, shall be the acting officer.
It is customary and recommended that Jaffa Cakes, or other biscuits specified by the Committee, be provided for Committee members at Committee meetings, though not at the expense of the Society.

Section 12: Method of Election

Any Member shall be allowed to stand for the Committee.
Members of the Committee must be Members of the Society. In the event of a committee member ceasing to be a Member of the Society then he shall cease to be a member of the Committee.
On the occasions that elections be called, then to stand for election a Member must present the person arranging elections with a nomination proposing himself and seconded by two other distinct Members of the Society.
Elections, if contested, shall be on a first past the post scheme and, unless otherwise decided by the meeting, shall be by show of hands with the candidates absent.

Section 13: Chairman

The Chairman shall be responsible for the general running of the Society and for arranging regular Normal and Social Meetings. The Chairman shall chair all meetings including Committee Meetings. The Chairman shall also entertain guest speakers and introduce them at Normal Meetings. The Chairman shall inform the membership of any Normal or Social meetings, and shall advertise such events to the general public as deemed appropriate. He shall be responsible for the production, duplication and organisation of distribution of newsletters at least once a term, and of general advertising and recruiting literature.

Section 14: Secretary

The Secretary shall minute all General Meetings and Committee Meetings. He shall also manage all Society resources, including resource allocations on computer systems, and shall oversee the internal business of the society. The Secretary shall be responsible for providing officers of the University and other bodies with any information deemed necessary. The Secretary shall be responsible for providing information about the society to prospective members, and encouraging them to join as necessary. He shall accept membership fees from members, give receipts if requested, and issue membership cards. He shall also be responsible for the maintenance of the membership list, and the list of Active Members. Unless there is evidence to the contrary, an unexpired membership card shall be deemed adequate proof of membership.

Section 15: Junior Treasurer

The Junior Treasurer shall be responsible for keeping day to day financial records of the Society. The Junior Treasurer shall prepare a copy of the accounts for annual approval by the Annual General Meeting and the Senior Treasurer. The Junior Treasurer shall oversee financial aspects of membership and journal production, and shall provide committee members and University officials with information concerning the Society's finances when required.

Section 19: President

The President has no specific duties except where detailed above. The President may not vote except to cast the deciding vote at General and Committee meetings. The President shall be a member of the Senate.

Section 20: Senior Treasurer

The Senior Treasurer shall be appointed by the rest of the Committee and shall be responsible for annually auditing the Society's accounts and forwarding a copy to the University Marshall's office. If this post shall fall vacant then the committee must arrange for it to be filled within fourteen Days. The Senior Treasurer must be a member of the Senate.

Section 21: Suspension from use of University computer resources

If a Member is suspended for disciplinary reasons from use of any computer resources managed by the Information Technology Syndicate then he shall be suspended for at least an identical amount of time from Membership of the Society, unless reinstated under section 21:c).
If a member of the Committee is suspended for disciplinary reasons then he shall cease to be a member of the Committee.
Any suspension from the Society may be annulled by a simple majority vote of a General Meeting of the Society. A Committee member reinstated to the Society must be re-elected to the Committee if he is to continue to hold the post.

Section 22: Dissolution

In the event of the Society being dissolved then the Junior Treasurer shall be responsible for the distribution of the assets in such a way as not to particularly benefit the Committee. If there is no Junior Treasurer then the most senior remaining ordinary committee member must perform this duty. If there are no ordinary committee members, then the Senior Treasurer shall be responsible. The society must not dissolve itself if there are no officers capable of carrying out this duty.