Meeting highlights
A Referendum was officially called; every single required change to fix the OUSA Constitution was spelled out, and many semi-colons were added; each question submitted for referendum by OUSA members was discussed - some were changed, and some not put (eg OUSA already has a policy on drinking age, and students will not be asked to decide if the new Forsyth Barr stadium should be filled with water and used for pirate ship battles).
MINUTES OF THE OUSA EXECUTIVE MEETING HELD IN THE BOARDROOM OF THE OTAGO UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION ON WEDNESDAY 22 SEPTEMBER 2010 AT 5.05PM
PRESENT
Harriet Geoghegan (Chair), James Meager, Claire Jackson, Shonelle Eastwood, Ariana Te Wake, Walker MacMurdo, Ros Mackenzie and Imogen Roth
IN ATTENDANCE
Donna Jones (Minute Secretary) and Julia Hollingsworth (Critic Reporter)
APOLOGIES
Art Kojarunchitt, Travis Monk, Stephanie Reader, Katie Bryan, Imogen Roth, David McKelvey and Dan Stride
Moved from the Chair
386/10 THAT the above apologies be accepted.
CARRIED U
MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING
Moved from the Chair
387/10 THAT the minutes of the Executive Meeting held on 14 September 2010 be accepted as a true and correct record.
CARRIED U
MATTERS ARISING
Motion 378/10 – this motion requires a further amendment.
Meager/Eastwood
388/10 THAT motion 378/10 be amended to read "THAT the Executive Officer Position Descriptions Policy be amended and that such amendments takes force as of 1 January 2011".
CARRIED
REFERENDUM
Meager/Anderson
389/10 THAT the Secretary be directed to call a binding Referendum being held 11 October 2010 -14 October 2010 to consider the 2011 OUSA Budget in its entirety.
CARRIED
Meager/Anderson
390/10 THAT the Secretary be directed to call a binding Referendum being held 11 October 2010 -14 October 2010 to consider the OUSA General Levy being set at $120.36 exclusive of Goods and Services Tax (GST), and the OUSA Building Levy being set at $45.31 exclusive of Goods and Services Tax (GST).
CARRIED
CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES
Strong debate took place over the process of taking questions to a Student General Meeting or to a Referendum. Also concern was expressed about the arbitrary figure for quorum at SGM’s.
After a while it was suggested this is a trial and we could see how it goes. This model could be changed later.
Ros left at 5.47pm
Ros returned at 5.48pm
Proposed changes to the Constitution and Rules of the Otago University Students’ Association Incorporated as below:
Unsubstantive/grammatical/formatting
• 2.1.4 CAPITALISE ‘Executive’.
• 2.1.8 CAPITALISE ‘Chief’.
• 2.14 DELETE ‘Post Graduate’. INSERT ‘Postgraduate’.
• 3.1.6 UN-CAPITALISE ‘laws’.
• 5.3 DELETE ‘he/she’. INSERT ‘they’.
• 5.6 CAPITALISE ‘Life Members’. DELETE full stop.
• 5.6.1 DELETE semi-colon.
• 5.10 MOVE to create a new line.
• 6.1.2 CAPITALISE ‘Referenda’.
• 8.2 CAPITALISE ‘Referendum’.
• 9 INSERT ‘the’.
• 10.5 DELETE ‘Post Graduate’. INSERT ‘Postgraduate’.
• 16.2.1 DELETE semi-colon.
• 18.2.3 DELETE semi-colon.
• 24.8 CAPITALISE ‘Referenda’.
• 25.1.3 MOVE to create a new line.
• 25.1.5 DELETE semi-colon.
• 27.4.2 DELETE semi-colon.
• 27.4.3 DELETE ‘his/her’. INSERT ‘their.
• 28.3.3 MOVED to create a new line.
• 28.3.5 DELETE semi-colon.
• 29.1.3 DELETE semi-colon
• 29.2 DELETE ‘she or he’. INSERT ‘they’.
• 29.2.1 – 29.2.3 DELETE ‘is’. INSERT ‘are’.
• Part C INSERT ‘the’.
• 30.2.1 DELETE ‘; and’.
• 31.1 INSERT colon.
• 31.1.3 MOVE to create a new line.
• 31.1.7 DELETE ‘Te Roopu Maori’. INSERT ‘Te Roopū Māori’. DELETE ‘President (Tumuaki)’. INSERT ‘Tumuaki (President)’.
• 32 DELETE apostrophe.
• 32.1-32.6 INSERT full stops.
• 32.3 MOVE to create a new line.
• 32.6.4 CAPITALISE ‘Unit’.
• 32.6.5 CAPITALISE ‘Executive’ and ‘Unit’.
• 32.6.6 CAPITALISE ‘Unit’.
• 34.1.3 DELETE semi-colon.
• 35.2.2 DELETE semi-colon.
• 39.5.2 DELETE ‘post-graduate’ and ‘Post Graduate’. INSERT ‘Postgraduate’. UNCAPITALISE ‘students’.
• 40.1 DELETE ‘will’. INSERT ‘shall’.
• 40.4.1 – 40.4.9 DELETE commas. INSERT full stops.
• 41.6 CAPITALISE ‘Independent Arbitrator’.
• 49.3 – 49.8 INSERT full stops.
• 49.3 – 49.4 UNCAPITALISE ‘motions’.
• 49.6 – 49.7 UNCAPITALISE ‘motion’.
• 49.7 – 49.8 UNCAPITALISE ‘motions’.
• 52.3 CAPITALISE ‘Referendum’. INSERT full stop.
• 52.11 CAPITALISE ‘Referendum’ twice. INSERT full stop.
• 52.12 CAPITALISE ‘Referendum’. INSERT full stop.
Substantive
• FORMER 2.1.9 DELETE ‘“Job Description Policy” means the policy set by the Executive to describe the roles of the executive officers.’.
• FORMER 2.1.10 – 2.1.13 RENUMBERED to 2.1.9 – 2.1.12.
• 2.1.13 INSERT ‘”Online vote” means a vote facilitated by the Association on the internet which requires votes of five (5) percent of Association members to be binding.’
• FORMER 2.1.21 DELETE ‘”Student Forum” means a meeting to discuss and debate the subject of a referendum before voting opens. No voting takes place at a Student Forum.’
• FORMER 2.1.22 – 2.1.26 RENUMBERED to 2.1.21 – 2.1.25.
2.1.25 DELETE ‘”Working Days” means weekdays excluding public holidays.’ INSERT ‘“Working Day” means a weekday that falls when the Dunedin campus is holding formal classes, excluding public holidays and Summer School classes.’
• FORMER 3.1.2 – 3.1.7 RENUMBERED to 3.1.1 – 3.1.6
• 5.6.2 DELETE ‘elected’. INSERT ‘appointed’.
• 5.9 DELETE ‘a 2/3 majority in a binding Referendum’. INSERT ‘special resolution at a Student General Meeting’.
• 5.10 DELETE ‘Referendum voting on’. INSERT ‘Student General Meeting considering’. DELETE ‘Forum’. INSERT ‘General Meeting’.
• 6.2.3 INSERT ‘through online voting’.
• 6.2.5 DELETE ‘To call a referendum, except on questions of finance or administration’. INSERT ‘To validate a breach of these rules’.
• 6.2.6 INSERT ‘through online voting’.
• 10.3 INSERT ‘via a Student General Meeting and online vote’.
• 10.6 INSERT ‘plus the cost per student for the Association’s membership of any national student organisations.’
• 10.15 DELETION ‘twenty (20)’. INSERT ’18.75’ and ‘and has a contract of employment with the University of 10 months or longer’.
• 11.1.1 INSERT ‘External policy must be set by an online vote following a Student General Meeting, or by a Referendum’.
• 11.5 DELETE ‘unanimous’. INSERT ‘special’.
• 17.1 DELETE ‘and the Student General Meeting is satisfied that:’. INSERT ‘then the Student Body may, by a special resolution at a Student General Meeting, validate the breach, if that meeting is satisfied that:’
• 17.1.3 DELETE ‘then the Student Body may, by a special resolution at a Student General Meeting, validate the breach’.
• FORMER 19 - 21 DELETE ’19 Conduct of Referenda
19.1
19.1 A Referendum will be called by the Secretary:
19.1.1
19.1.2 Upon resolution of the Executive; or;
19.1.3 Any member may request that the executive put an issue to the student body by giving notice to the Secretary; or
19.1.4 On receipt of a petition signed by one per cent (1%) of the members of the Association, a figure which the Secretary will ascertain at the commencement of each semester and report to the Executive and the Student Media;
Members may request that the Secretary facilitate an online petition by posting it on the OUSA Website and online social media
19.2 Matters involving finance or administration, reserved elsewhere in these Rules for decision by the Executive, may only be referred to a Referendum by the Executive.
19.3For any binding Referendum, the Executive will report the matter to the Student Media and a Student Forum must be held no later than 24 hours before voting opens
19.4 Any Referendum put to the Student Body will require five (5) working days notice of the wording.
19.5The Secretary must appoint a Returning Officer to supervise the conduct of the Referendum. If no Returning Officer is appointed, the Secretary will act as Returning Officer.
19.6 The Returning Officer must conduct the Referendum by secret ballot according to the Voting provisions contained in [section numbers to be corrected] of these Rules.
19.7 Any matter with regard to the conduct of the Referendum not dealt with by the Returning Officer is subject to the overriding supervision of the Mediator of the Referendum.
19.8Any Referendum at which fewer than five percent (5%) of the total number of members of the Association cast their vote will be considered as indicative only, except where the issue is about anything listed in section 19.10, where the threshold will be one percent (1%) of the total number of members of the Association, a figure which the Secretary will ascertain at the commencement of each semester and report to the Executive and the Student Media.
19.9 The executive may at any time call for a non-binding referendum which will be called a ‘poll’ in order to gauge student opinion
19.10 There will be at least one Referendum called in the first semester which, without limiting its business, will:
19.10.1 Receive and accept the annual report of the Association for the previous year;
19.10.2 Receive and accept the audited annual accounts for the previous year;
19.10.3 Appoint the Auditors for the next financial year; and;
19.10.4 Appoint the Honorary Solicitor for the next financial year.
19.11 There will be at least one Referendum called in the second semester which, without limiting its business, will:
19.11.1 Set the Association levies for the forthcoming year; and;
19.11.2 Consider the budget for the forthcoming year.
Dates for referenda may be set and advertised in advance
20 Conduct of Student Forums
20.1 Student Forums may only be held on days when the Dunedin campus of the University is holding formal classes and at a time and place that is not inconvenient to students.
20.2 Except as otherwise provided by these Rules, the procedure of a Student Forum will be governed by the Standing Orders set forth in these Rules.
20.3 At least ten (10) working days notice must be given by the Secretary for a Forum detailing the time, place and agenda items of the meeting.
21 Chair of the Student Forum
21.1 The Chair of the Student Forum is an OUSA member and an elected member of the meeting, and cannot be a current Executive Officer.
21.2 The Chair of the Student Forum will be elected at the first Student Forum of the calendar year.
21.3 The duties of the Chair of the Student Forum are:
21.3.1 To conduct Student Forums of the Association according to these Rules;
21.3.2 To ensure Student Forums are recorded and made accessible to all members of the Association before voting on referenda opens
21.3.3
21.3.4 To have an understanding of these Rules; and;
21.3.5 To oversee the promotion of Student Forums.
21.4 In the event of the absence of the Chair of the Student Forum a member of the Association may chair the meeting in accordance with the provisions set forth in the Standing Orders relating to absence of the Chair.’.
• 19 INSERT ‘Conduct of Student General Meetings
19.1 The quorum for a Student General Meeting is one hundred (100) members of the Association.
19.2 Student General Meetings may only be held on days when the Dunedin campus of the University is holding formal classes and at a time and place that is not inconvenient to students.
19.2.1 No Student General Meeting shall be held on a Friday.
19.3 Except as otherwise provided by these Rules, the procedure of a Student General Meeting will be governed by the Standing Orders set forth in these Rules.
19.4 A Student General Meeting will be called by the Secretary:
19.4.1 On receipt of a petition signed by one hundred members of the Association; or
19.4.2 Upon resolution of the Executive.
19.5 Such a meeting must be called between five (5) and fifteen (15) working days after receipt of such petition or resolution of the Executive. If the meeting is not so called, any member may call the meeting.
19.6 At least five (5) working days notice must be given by the Secretary for a Student General Meeting detailing the time, place, agenda items and all motions put before the meeting.
19.7 There will be at least one Student General Meeting called in the first semester which, without limiting its business, will:
• 19.7.1 Receive and accept the annual report of the Association for the previous year;
19.7.2 Receive and accept the audited annual accounts for the previous year;
19.7.3 Appoint the Auditors for the next financial year; and;
19.7.4 Appoint the Honorary Solicitor for the next financial year.
19.8 There will be at least one Student General Meeting called in the second semester which, without limiting its business, will:
19.8.1 Set the Association levies for the forthcoming year; and;
19.8.2 Consider the budget for the forthcoming year.’.
• 20 INSERT ‘Chair of the Student General Meeting
20.1 The Chair of the Student General Meeting is an elected member of the meeting, and cannot be a current Executive Officer.
20.2 The Chair of the Student General Meeting will be elected at the first Student General Meeting of the calendar year.
20.3 The duties of the Chair of the Student General Meeting are:
20.3.1 To conduct Student General Meetings of the Association according to these Rules;
20.3.2 To convey all resolutions and recommendations made at a Student General Meeting to the appropriate persons as directed;
20.3.3 To report to and advise the Executive on issues arising at Student General Meetings; and
20.3.4 To have an understanding of these rules.
20.4 In the event of the absence of the Chair of the Student General Meeting a member of the Association may chair the meeting in accordance with the provisions set forth in the Standing Orders relating to absence of the Chair.’.
• 21 INSERT ‘Voting on External Policy Motions in the Student General Meeting
21.1 No member may foreshadow an external policy motion put to a Student General Meeting.
21.2 Members of the Student General Meeting may not vote to accept or reject external policy motions during the meeting.
21.3 A procedural motion ‘that the motion be put’ must be passed, at which point all discussion on the external policy motion will cease and the meeting will proceed to the next item of business.
21.4 Voting on external policy motions shall take place online. through the following procedure:
21.4.1 Online voting on the external policy motion shall open on the first working day of the first week following the Student General Meeting in which there is a working day, and shall be open for at least four (4) working days.
21.4.2 For an external policy motion to be binding it requires a simple majority of votes of five (5) percent of the Association’s members. If an external policy motion fails to reach the required number of votes it is indicative only.
21.5 Following the close of online voting, the results of voting on all external policy motions shall be made available to all members.’.
• 22 INSERT ‘Conduct of Referenda
22.1 The Executive or any member of the Association may determine that a matter be referred to the Student Body for decision by means of a Referendum.
22.2 Matters involving finance or administration, reserved elsewhere in these Rules for decision by the Executive, may only be referred to a Referendum by the Executive.
22.3 A Referendum shall be called by the Secretary by:
22.3.1 Upon resolution of the Executive, and if the Referendum is to be binding on the Association, the resolution must so state.
22.3.2 On receipt by the Secretary of a petition, signed by no less than one hundred members of the Association, which calls for a Referendum to be held, and if the Referendum is to be binding on the Association, the petition must so state.
22.4 For any Referendum, the Executive will report the matter to the Student Media and promote discussion and debate regarding the matter.
22.5 Any Referendum put to the Student Body will require ten (10) working days notice of the wording.
22.6 The Secretary may appoint a Returning Officer to supervise the conduct of the Referendum.
22.6.1 In the event of no Returning Officer being appointed or in the absence or incapacity of any Returning Officer the Secretary will be the Returning Officer.
22.7 The Returning Officer shall conduct the Referendum by secret ballot according to the voting provisions contained in section 39 of these Rules.
22.8 Any matter with regard to the conduct of the Referendum is subject to the overriding supervision of the Independent Arbitrator.
22.9 Any Referendum at which fewer than five (5) percent of the total number of members of the Association cast their vote will be considered as indicative only.
22.10 The Association as a body shall retain a neutral stance towards all Referendum questions at all times.’
• FORMER 22 – 28 and sub-clauses RENUMBERED to 23-29
• 23.4 INSERT ‘The Executive may appoint an Independent Arbitrator, who must not be a member of the Association, to resolve any issues to do with the Referendum’
• 24.3 DELETE: ‘consider’. INSERT ‘debate’, ‘at a Student General Meeting’ and ‘via an online vote’.
•
24.7 DELETE ‘following’ and ‘setting’. INSERT ‘proposed’, ‘prior to’ and ‘consideration’.
•
26.3 DELETE ‘Where the Executive has delegated authority to a committee for a specific purpose, the Executive must not make a decision on matters relating to that purpose without considering the advice of that committee.’
• 29 DELETE ‘OUSA’s policy in relation to “The Otago University Students’ Fund”
29.1 The document entitled “Policy regulating OUSA’s relationship with the trust” shall govern and guide OUSA’s relationship with “The Otago University Students’ Fund”.
29.2 This policy document shall regulate OUSA’s relationship as a parent organisation to an independent subsidiary organisation. Therefore, the policies it contains shall be considered separate from other internal policy documents.
29.3 The policies contained in this document shall only be amended where the following procedures have been adhered to:
29.3.1 A resolution has been passed by the OUSA executive, whereby a motion containing proposed amendments must be put to an SGM.
29.3.2 For any such amendments to come into effect, the motion brought to the SGM must be carried by special resolution.’
32.3 INSERT ‘and Services’.
• 32.3.1 INSERT ‘and Services’.
• 32.6.1 DELETE ‘General’. INSERT ‘Portfolio’.
• 33.3 DELETE ‘Forum’. INSERT ‘General Meeting’.
• 39 INSERT ‘in an Election’.
• 39.2 DELETE ‘Officefionar’. INSERT ‘Officer’.
• FORMER 39.5.2 – 39.5.3 RENUMBERED to 39.5.1 – 39.5.2.
• FORMER 40.2 RENUMBERED to 40.1.1.
• FORMER 40.3 – 40.4 RENUMBERED to 40.2 – 40.3
• 40.3 DELETE ‘The Returning Officer will have the power to and will:’.
• 40.4 INSERT ‘The Returning Officer will have the power to and will:’.
• 42.3 DELETE ‘These standing orders may by leave be suspended at any meeting for all or part of a meeting, except for 42.1 above.’
• 45.6 DELETE ‘There will be a quorum requirement of 20 OUSA members at student forums’
• 46 DELETE ‘Strangers’. INSERT ‘Meeting Attendees’.
• FORMER 49.9 – 49.10 RENUMBERED to 49.8.1 – 49.8.2; 49.10.1 – 49.10.6 to 49.8.2.1 – 49.8.2.4; and 49.30 to 49.8.5
• 49.8.3 DELETE ‘section 41’. INSERT ‘clause 49.4’.
MacMurdo/Mackenzie
391/20 THAT the above constitutional changes and amendments be put to the binding Referendum being held 11 October 2010 - 14 October 2010.
Anderson: Against
Jackson: Abstain
CARRIED
REFERENDUM continued
Discussion took place about the questions received, as attached to the agenda.
There were several questions about membership of NZUSA plus two petitions on the issue received.
Ros left at 6.06pm
Imogen arrived at 6.06pm
Meager/Eastwood
392/10 THAT OUSA only withdraw from the New Zealand Union of Students’ associations (NZUSA) after such withdrawal has been approved by a binding referendum of the student body.
CARRIED
Meager/Eastwood
393/10 THAT OUSA believes that matters of nationwide student representation are best decided by the student body.
CARRIED
Meager/Eastwood
394/10 THAT the OUSA Executive holds a binding Referendum from 11 October 2010 – 14 October 2010. The question of the referendum should be “What should OUSA’s stance towards NZUSA be?”
1. “Should OUSA withdraw its membership from NZUSA?”
2. “OUSA should remain a member of NZUSA?”
CARRIED
Eastwood/Jackson
395/10 THAT the OUSA Executive contacts Brittany Travers to withdraw her petition as the Executive has passed a resolution to that effect.
LAPSED
James noted that it was better to have this motion lapse and rescind 392/10 and 393/10 and instead put the petition to a referendum.
This is because if the member chose not to withdraw their petition the identical questions in the referendum would have to put twice.
Meager/Jackson
396/10 THAT motions 392/10 and 393/10 be rescinded.
CARRIED
We have received a petition from Brittany Travers and the Secretary will send questions to the referendum.
Meager/Roth
397/10 THAT OUSA hold a referendum on the question “Should OUSA formally apologise to NZUSA?”
6 For
1 Against
CARRIED
Meager/Roth
398/10 THAT OUSA hold a referendum on the question “Should OUSA actively work alongside NZUSA to improve their services to Otago University students?”
Meager/Roth/MacMurdo 3 For
3 Against
1casting Against
FAILED
Foreshadow motion:
Anderson/Eastwood
399/10 THAT OUSA hold a referendum on the question “Should OUSA continue to actively work alongside NZUSA to improve their services to Otago University students?”
6 For
1 Against
CARRIED
The Executive discussed the motion THAT OUSA recreates the Clubs and Societies Representative for the next OUSA Election, or that they recreate the position of the Clubs and Societies Representative and run a separate election for the position next year. It was agreed this is already in existence with the Recreation Portfolio Executive Officer under the new Executive structure.
The Executive also briefly discussed motions relating to the Forsyth Barr Stadium and pirate ship battles, declining to put that to a referendum, and on whether OUSA should oppose any changes to the drinking age. It was thought that current external policy was sufficient to guide the Executive on this.
Anderson/Jackson
400/10 THAT OUSA hold a referendum to rescind external policy motions on the Code of Student Conduct to be replaced with the motion “THAT OUSA recognizes the existence of the Code of Student Conduct and will work with the University to ensure that students’ best interests are taken into account in its application”
CARRIED
Anderson/Eastwood
401/10 THAT OUSA hold a referendum on the question “THAT OUSA opposes any attempts to remove neurosurgery services.”
CARRIED
Anderson/Eastwood
402/10 THAT OUSA hold a referendum on the question “THAT OUSA opposes the current changes in student allowance criteria announced by Tertiary Education Minister Stephen Joyce on the grounds that the changes would unfairly inhibit access to tertiary education.”
CARRIED
Anderson/Eastwood
403/10 THAT OUSA hold a referendum on the question “THAT OUSA is opposed to any increase in the Goods and Services Tax (GST), on the grounds that such an increase disproportionately hurts students and other people on fixed incomes.
CARRIED
Roth/Anderson
404/10 THAT OUSA hold a referendum on the question “THAT OUSA believing that tertiary students have a right to representation on the governing council of their institution, calls for the immediate repeal of the Education (Polytechnics Amendment) Act 2009.”
CARRIED
Meeting closed at 6.34pm
Signed: _________________________________ Date: _____________