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Meeting Minutes

17 September 2018

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Meeting Minutes

MINUTES OF THE EXECUTIVE MEETING HELD ON MONDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2018 AT 9:37AM HELD IN THE CLUBS AND SOCIETIES CENTRE, ALBANY STREET, DUNEDIN

 

PRESENT

Caitlin Barlow-Groome (Chair), Cam Meads, Sam Smith, James Heath, Abigail Clark, Umi Asaka, Norhan El Sanjak and Roger Yan

IN ATTENDANCE

Donna Jones (Minute Secretary), Debbie Downs (Chief Executive Officer) and Joel MacManus (Critic Editor)

APOLOGIES

            Tiana Mihaere

            Moved from the Chair

466/18 THAT the above apology be accepted.

                                                                                                                        CARRIED U

REFERENDUM QUESTIONS

Binding Questions

  1. That the positions of Colleges Officer, Campaigns Officer, and Recreation Officer be replaced by three (3) General Executive Officer positions through the following amendments to the Constitution (with all sections renumbered accordingly):

 

  1. Section 29.1 be amended to read:

 

“f. A Postgraduate Students Officer;

g. An International Students Officer;

h. Three (3) General Executive Officers;

i. The Te Roopu Māori President (Tumuaki) who shall be a voting Ex Officio member of the Executive; and

j. The Pacific Islands Students’ Association President who shall be a voting Ex Officio member of the Executive.”

 

b. Sections 30.7 through 30.12 be replaced with:

 

Postgraduate Students Officer

30.7 The Postgraduate Students Officer is responsible for representing
 the interests of postgraduate students, and must themselves be a postgraduate student.

International Students Officer

30.8 The International Students Officer is responsible for representing
 the interests of international students, and must themselves be an international student.

 

General Executive Officers

30.9 The General Executive Officers are responsible for implementing
 the strategic goals of the Executive for the year and will assist in fulfilling the roles of the Executive that are not covered by other Executive Officers.”

 

2. That section 36.13 be amended to read:

“Where either:

  1. No nomination has been received in respect of any position; or
  2. Fewer than three (3) nominations have been received in respect of the position of General Executive Officer;
  3. A casual vacancy will be deemed to be created immediately after
     the taking of office by the new Executive.”

 

3. That section 37.6 (a) and (b) be amended to read:

 “Postgraduate Students’ Officer” and International Students’ Officer”

 

4. That section 2 be amended to include:

“Alternative Vote (AV) includes Single Transferable Vote (STV) as the case may be.”

 

5. That section 39.7 (as it is currently numbered) be amended to read:

“Except as provided in section 39.5, in the event of a candidate being elected for multiple offices they will choose the office they will occupy and the next-highest polling candidate for the other office will be considered to be elected to that office.”

 

6. That section 39.3 be amended to read:

If there are more than half “no confidence in these candidates” votes before any candidate votes have been transferred, then no-one will be declared elected and a casual vacancy will exist.”

 

7. That a section 39.4 be added to read:

“If there are less than half “no confidence in these candidates” votes before any candidate votes have been transferred, then “no confidence” will not be considered part of the remaining votes for the purpose of election under the Alternative Vote system.”

 

8. That a section 39.5 be added to read:

“No candidate will be elected who polls lower than the “no confidence in these candidates” option before any candidate votes are transferred. If as a result a position cannot be filled, a casual vacancy will exist. Up to three (3) casual vacancies may exist for the General Executive Officer position.”

 

9. That section 39.4 (as it is currently numbered) be amended to read:

“The Secretary will forthwith post on the notice board and in such media as the Secretary sees fit, a notice stating the names of the successful candidates for each position, the ranking of each candidate and the number of no confidence votes cast for each position.”

 

10. That a section 36.6 be added to read: (pending legal advice)

“Candidates may form tickets of no more than four (4) members.

  1. No candidate for President may be a member of a ticket.
  2. Except for candidates who are members of the same ticket, no candidate may campaign on behalf of another candidate or appear on promotional materials with another candidate.”

 

11. That section 31.3 be amended to read:

“Notwithstanding anything in these Rules the person who is the subject of a motion of no confidence:

  1. Must be given the right to answer all charges;
  2. Must be provided with an opportunity for questions and answers; and
  3. May speak last for a period of up to ten (10) minutes.”

 

12. That a section 31.4 be added to read:

“The Secretary shall conduct voting on the motion of no confidence by secret ballot according to the voting provisions contained in section 50 except for 50.2. The execution of secret ballot shall be at the discretion of the Secretary, given that it is accessible, anonymous, and accountable.”

13. That a section 34.6 be added to read:

“The Pacific Islands Students’ Association Representative will present a report to the the Executive each quarter.”

 

 

14. That section 23.2 be amended to read:

“The Executive will present a proposed budget for the forthcoming year in a referendum or Student General Meeting to the Student Body in the second semester of each year.”

15. That section 19.11 be deleted.

“There will be at least one Referendum called in the second semester which, without limiting its business, will:

        1. Set any Levy for the forthcoming year; and
        2. Set the budget for the forthcoming year.”

 

16. That section 35.1 be amended to read:

The Executive will set a period to hold elections preceding the year in which the next Executive is to hold office in the second semester of each year.

a. In the second semester of each year, and;

b. Within one (1) weeks of the day and month the election was held in the preceding year.

 

Non-binding Questions

 

17. Should students in their final year of undergrad (finalists) be allowed to vote for the position of Postgraduate Officer in Executive elections?

 

18. Except for the OUSA President, should current Executive positions be removed and replaced by nine (9) General Executive Officers?


19. Should OUSA withdraw its membership of the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations?


20. Should OUSA hire a staff member with expertise in lobbying and campaigning?

 

21. Should OUSA lobby the University for the exam timetable to be released earlier?

 

22. Should OUSA lobby the University change the semester duration to only 12 weeks of lectures, to ensure a 2 week mid-semester break?

           

Meads/Yan

467/18 THAT the above questions for the Referendum on 8-11 October 2018 be set and put to the student body for submissions.

                                                                                                                        CARRIED

 

Meeting closed at 10.13am

 

 

Signed: ___________________________________                        Date: _________