STUDENTS' REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL
S. R.C. RULING ON THE CONDUCT OF
STUDENT 1YIEETINGS
1. The following ruling is made under Section 2 e i of the S.R.C. Constitution Which empowers the S.R.0 to "take such steps as may be necessary to secure such good or •.er and seemly behaviour by students . .'; under Section 2d) of the Con- stitution and also under . Section 2th) of the Constitution as in the opinion of the S.R.C. the activities of student clubs and Societies can orny be encouraged in an atmosphere of order and tolerance.
2, Student meetings are of two types: (I.) a meeting of an affiliated Club or Soeietу twhether it be General, Annual General or Special) called according lo tu1e provisions of its Constitution where business that relates to the purpose of the Club or Society as laid down in its Constitution is considered and voted upon by the members of that Society.
(II.) A meeting called by an affiliated Club or Society, through its executive offi- cers, which is open to all members of the student body and is called for the pur- pose of hearing an address by a speaker whether he be a student or not, such a meeting may later be thrown open for discussion and the consideration of motions.
з. To both types of meetings the following provisions apply:—
(I.) At all times the chairman will be responsible to the S.R.C. for the mainten- ance of order; if he cannot control the meeting it is his duty to close it by a dec- laration to that effect and vacating the chair.
(II.) At all times the chairman must be heard in complete silence, and his rul- ings adhered to by the meeting.
(III.) Members of the audience must behave in an orderly manner; without pre- judice to the generality of the foregoing the following shall be deemed disorderly
throwing missiles at speakers or other persons present at the meeting; threaten- ing violence to the speaker or others present; repeated interjections of an abusive, personal or obscene nature; approaching the dais, the chairman or the speaker in an intimidating manner; repeated interjections which have the result of imped- ing the meeting.
(IV.) The chairman shall warn any person addressing the meeting who is making remarks of an abusive, personal or obscene nature and if he should persist he shall stop the address.
4. In the first type of meeting (that being a meeting of the members of a Sac- tety) the following should be noted:---
(I.) Notwithstanding 3 (II.) above the meeting may dissent from the ruling of the Chairman, and he shall accept this motion of dissent; provided that if he considers that the meeting must become disorderly by reason of his ruling not being upheld he shall either close the meeting or vacate the chair in favour of a chairman to be selected according to the provisions of the Clubs or Societies' Constitution.
the mines,
additional Ѕ.R.C. s of debate shall apply.
5. In the second type of meeting the following should be noted:—
(I.) The speaker shall be heard in silence, subject to the discretion of the chair- man who may allow the audience to make relevant interjections that do not offend 3(11.) above;
(II.) The chairman as he is responsible for the order of the meeting shall have Complete control of the conduct of the meeting provided the members of the aud- ience shall have the following rights:---
(a) To make personal explanations at the end of the speaker's address or answer to a question (as the case may be) . Such an explanation must not be used for the making of a speech. Personal explanations shall only be allowed for the purpose of allowing allegations made during the meeting to be refuted or explained by the person against whom the allegations have been made;
(b) To ask questions of the speaker — obviously subject to the willingness of the speaker to answer questions;
(e) To place before the meeting after the address motions for acceptance, amendment or rejection; these may be ruled out of order by the chairman as being irrelevant to the topic before the meeting.
The rights outlined in the preceding section shall be exercisable in the order they appear;
hat (IV.) The exercise of the rights in 5 (II.) (b) and (c) shall depend on the time the chairman rules is available for the meeting, but Clubs and Societies that ave speakers to address such meetings shall ensure where possible that speeches are limited in duration so as to leave time for questions and motions to be raised;
(V.) Once a motion is before the chair under 5(I1.) (c) the meeting shall be Conducted under the provisions of the S.R.C. rules of debate.
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. At any student meeting whatsoever a member of the Executive of the S.R.G.е еYY take over the chairmanship should such member consider that the meeting has me or is becoming disorderly; in such a case a member of the Executive of the st shall have complete control over all the procedure of the meeting notwith- Previ ing any of the foregoing sections of this ruling or any of the rulings of the Scti lus chairman; provided that he shall be answerable to the S.R.C. for his
ctżvns and for the maintenance of order in the meeting.
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REGULATION L
STØING ORDERS AND RULЕS OF DEBATE FUR THE CONDUCT Off МЕЕTТNGS OF THE
MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY S.R.С.
I. STANDING DØEВS
STANDING ORDER "А"
Except in the case of a duly convened special meeting, the following shall constitute the Standing Orders of the Council:
1. Minutes of the previous meeting 2. Correspondence (including apologies) з. Accounts
4. Executive Report
5. Motions of which due notice has been given 6. General Business
plus such other items as the Executive shall include between 5 and 6, provided that a simple majority of the Council shall secure the addition or deletion of any such item from the agenda.
STANDING ORDER "B"
Any duly convened Special Meeting shall deal only with the business arising out of the objects set forth in the notices convening such Special Meeting.
STANDING ORDER "C"
No S.R.C. meeting shall be of longer duration than three (3) hours at one sitting, the time taken for the supper adjournment to be considered as a period of 15 minutes and not to be included as part of the abovementioned three hours.
STANDING ORDER "D"
If the quorum for an S.R.C. Meeting prescribed by the S.R.C. Constitution is not in attendance thirty minutes after the time specified for any meeting to begin, then such meeting shall not be held, and the business for such meeting shall be placed on the Agenda for the next S.R.C. Meeting.
STANDING ORDER "5"
If the quorum at any S.R.C. Meeting lapses, the Chairman shall close the Meeting, and notwithstanding that subsequently a quorum should re-appear the meeting shall remain closed. and Section 2d hereof shall not apply so as to defeat the operation of this section.
2. RULES OF DEBATE
(a) Powers and Duties of Chairman:
1. The Chairman shall be heard in silence and without interruption, and when he rises during debate all discussion shall cease.
2. If the Chairman wishes to enter into debate he shall vacate the chair and call upon another member of the S.R.C, to act as Chairman.
3. Any member desiring to speak shall address his remarks to the Chairman in restrained and courteous language relevant to the subject under consideration.
4. When two or more members indicate their desire to speak the Chairman shall call upon the member who, in his opinion, first indicated his intention.
5. The Chairman shall maintain order and may at any time adjourn a meet- ing which in his opinion has become disorderly.
d. The Chairman shall - reject any motion which is not in accordance with the Constitution, Regulations or Standing Orders of the S.R.C.
7. The Chairman shall interpret the Constitution and Regulations.
8. The Chairman shall interpret matters which are not dealt with in the Standing Orders or Rules of Debate.
(b) Motions, Amendments, Gag, etc.:
9. All business shall oroceed by way of motion which is ашгmаtivе in char- acter. If requested by the Chairman any motion shall be put in writing and handed to him, provided that this shall not apply to procedural motions.
10. A motion may be stood over for further consideration on a motion "that thLmation lie ore the table" being resolved in the affirmative.
11. Notwithstanding anything contained in these rules any member may move during debate "that the question be now put" and such motion, being duly sec- onded, shall then be put without debate, If carried. the motion or amendment be- fore the meeting shall be put forthwith, without debate or amendment; if lost the debate shall proceed.
Proviaed always that such motion shall not be moved while a member is speaking.
12. No person shall interrupt another while he is speaking, except on a point of order or in order to move that the speaker be no longer heard.
13. Questions relevant to the issue under consideration may be accepted by the Chairman at any time.
14. A riiember may at any time move "that strict order of debate be followed."
Such motion shall be put to the vote forthwith without debate; if carried, there- after no member shall, without the permission of the Chairman, speak more than once to the motion or amendment under discussion provided that the mover of the motion shall have the right of reply. The mover may speak on the introduction of his motion and has the right of reply but he may not further take part in the de- bate except that "formally" moving or seconding a motion shall not constitute speaking to the motion and reserves to the mover and seconder the right to take part in the debate at a later stage.
Right of reply shall be allowed to the mover of a substantive amendment and thereafter all discussion on the amendment shall cease.
15. Except as hereinafter provided, any ruling of the Chairman may be chal- lenged by a motion "that this Council dissents from the Chairman's ruling." an such a motion being proposed and seconded the Chairman shall vacate the Chair.
The mover and seconder of such a motion shall have the right to speak thereto and the Chairman to reply, whereupon the motion shall be put forthwith in the form "that the Chairman's ruling be upheld."
1Б. A motion shall be superseded by a motion "that Council proceed to the next business" being resolved in the affirmative. The Chairman at his discretion may put such motion without debate.
17. Any person during the debate may raise a point of order and the speaker called to order shall cease speaking until the point of order is decided. The person
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raising the point of order shall state it concisely whereupon the Chairman. without further discussion, shall give his ruling. Notwithstanding anything hereinbefore con- tained to the contrary, the Chairman's ruling in a point of order shall be final.
A point of order may be taken with regard to any irregularity in the proceed- ings but an explanation or contradiction is not a point of order.
I8. Explanations may be accepted at the discretion of the Chairman.
19. The motion or amendment under discussion may be amended by the deletion, substitution or addition of words, provided that no amendment shall be accepted by the Chairman which directly negates the motion or amendment under discussion.
While an amendment is under discussion, no further amendment shall be accep- ted other than an amendment to the amendment before the Chair.
A motion or amendment to the amendment before the Chair may be foreshadowed at any time. The Chairman may allow discussion to be carried on in the light of any relevant foreshadowed motion or amendment.
Amendments shall be put to the vote in the reverse order to that in which they were received by the Chair.
When all amendments to a motion or amendment have been discussed and de- cided, that motion or amendment shall be considered (incorporating in its terms аnу amendments thereto which have been carried) .
Where an amendment to a motion or amendment has been decided, foreshadowed amendments to the same motion or amendment shall be considered in the order in Which they were received.
20. Any member proposing an amendment may be required to forward it in Writing to the Chairman. Any motion or amendment not seconded shall not be further debated but shall lapse.
21. A motion may be amended or withdrawn by the mover with the consent of the seconder; a motion may be withdrawn by the mover without the consent of the seconder provided that the seconder shall have а primary option to move the motion as originally drafted.
22. Matters decided shall not be again considered within a period of two months unless two weeks' notice of recommittal is given or unless notice of recommittal is given at the previous S.R.C. meeting, whichever period is the shorter; provided that any motion twice rejected by the Council within a period of two months shall not be discussed again for a. period of three months from the date of the last rejection.
Notice of recommittal shall enable the person giving such notice to move any motion relative to the matter of which he has given notice, not contrary to these Rules of Debate, and he shall not be compelled to move any motion that the Motion be re- committed.
(e) Notice of Motion, Voting, Suspension of Standing Orders:
23. Notices of Motion must be in writing and for inclusion under item 5 in Stand- ing Order "A" on any Agenda shall have been submitted to the Secretary before the Preparation of the Agenda. Such notices of Motion shall be placed upon the Agenda in the order in which they have been received by the Secretary.
24. At his discretion, the Chairman may order a recount, and in any case, shall do so at the request of any two members of Council, providing that not more than two recounts shall be taken, unless a motion of the S.R.C. so directs.
25. Save as otherwise provided in the Constitution of the S.R.C., at any meeting 'ach member present shall be entitled to exercise one vote. 'Proxy votes or votes by post shall not be accepted.
2ß. Standing Orders or Rules of Debate may be suspended for the time being on motion made with or without notice, provided that such motion shall have the concurrence of two-thirds of those members of the Council voting.
27- Notwithstanding anything hereinbefore contained any decision an a motion r amendment or any proceedings taken at any properly convened meeting of the Council shall not be deemed invalid by reason only of any departure from these Rules or Orders which may be detected after such motion or amendment has been decided or such proceedings terminated.
28. A copy of these Standing Orders and Rules of Debate shall be circulated bУΡ the Secretary of the S.R.C. to all members of the S.R.C. on their election. A copy of these Standing Orders and Rules of Debate shall be circulated by the Sec- retary of the S.R.C. to Secretaries of all Clubs and Societies on their election.
1 E GULAТI0N I.
AFFILIATED SDCIETIES AFFILIATION
I. An organisation shall be a society affiliated to the S.R.C. hereinafter styled an affiliаteд society if :---
(a) its constitution conforms to this Regulation, and
(b) It is declared by special resolution of which seven (7) days' notice has been given to the S.R.C. to be an atSliated society under one of Clauses "A,"
"В" or "C" of Section 3 of this Regulation; provided that no application for affiliation shall be considered unless it be signed by twenty (20) members of the club or society, and evidence is provided that the constitution of the club or society has been approved by a meeting of the members of the club or society which has been presided over by a member of the S.R.C.
2• An affiliated society shall cease to be affiliated to the S.R.C. if :--
(a) the Clause required to be inserted in its constitution by Section, 4 of this Regulation is repealed, or
(b) the S.R.C. by special resolution of which seven (7) days' notice has been giVen, declares it to be no longer an affiliated society.
з CLASSIFICATION OF AFFILIATED SOCIETIES
«. AlSIiated societies shall be divided into these classes, as follows: ----
ín a A General Societies--Societies whose object is the maintenance of interest 7ic10 ed articular form of recreation or in some branch of knowledge, which are not Ci@t ies, under Clause "B" or Clause "C" of this section, shall be styled General fiX, ,se Representative concerned will remain as a member of the S.R.C. until the adva Be Faculty Societies—Societies whose object is the cultivation of, and the ve
rSitY studies of, be styled Faculty students
ie engaged in a particular branch of Uni- 59
"C" Speciał Saefetïes----(а) societies such аs political and religious societies, whose object is the study and application of a particular body of princi* 1es, and
(b) Societies whose objects fall within the scope of Clause "A" or Clause "B"
of this section, but desire to be affiliated societies, and at the same time, to be finan- cially independent of the Union, shall be styled Special Societies.
CONSTITUTIONS
4. The constitution of each society shall contain the following clause: The society (or club) is an affiliated society under Clause (here insert "A," "B or "C" ) of Section 3 of the Regulation of the S.R.C. relating to affiliated societies, and any- thing in this constitution or any act of this society (or club) or its office bearers which is inconsistent with the said Regulation or any amendment thereto or special rule thereunder shall be null and void insofar as it is so inconsistent." Pro- vided that nothing in this Regulation shall prevent the society from repealing this Clause in the manner presented in its constitution for amendments to the consti- tution.
5. The constitution of each affiliated society shall be such as:
(a) to provide reasonable facilities for the control of the affairs of the society by its members, and
(b) to allow of a reasonable degree of administrative efficiency.
Any amendment to the constitution of an affiliated society, other than the repeal of the Clause required to be inserted in it by Section 4 of these regulations shall, after being carried by the Society in the manner prescribed by its constitution, be forwarded within fourteen (14) days to the Chairman of Clubs and Societies for the approval of the S.R.C. Such amendment shall not be deemed to be operative until approved by the S.R.C., who may, by special resolution of which seven (7) days' notice has been given, veto any such amendment,
MEMSERS1IP
6. The membership of each General Society shall include the following:—
(a) Full MеmЬers—а11 financial members of the Melbourne University Union shall be full members, and shall have the right to attend all meetings, to vote in the election of office-bearers and on any business, and to hald executive office in the society.
(b) Admitted Members—such graduates and past students of this or another University, and such others as may be admitted to membership by the consti- tution of this society, shall be admitted members, and shall have such rights and privileges as the constitution shall prescribe.
7. The membership of each Faculty Society shall include the following:-- (a) Full Members---all financial members of the Melbourne University Union who are students of the faculty or section of the University with which the society is associated. as defined by the constitution of the society; shall be full members, and shall have the right to attend all meetings, to vote in the election of office-bearers and on any business, and to hold executive office in the society.
(b) Ordinary Members--all financial members of the Melbourne University Union who are not full members shall be ordinary mеmisers, and, except in such cases as may be covered by special regulations, shall have the same rights and privileges as full members, excepting that they shall not vote in the election of office-bearers, nor on any business of the society.
(e) Admitted Members—such graduates and past students of this or another University, and such others as may be admitted to membership in the manner prescribed by the constitution of the society, shall be admitted members, and shall have such rights and privileges as the constitution shall prescribe.
8. The conditions of membership of each Special Society, and the rights and privileges of members shall be set out in its constitution.
SECRETARIES
9. Each affiliated society shall appoint one Secretary, whose duties shall be:—
(al To ensure that minutes of all committee meetings and all general meetings of the society are kept;
(b) to represent the society or to arrange for representation of the society, on the Committee of Clubs and Societies. and
Ici such other duties as may be prescribed by this regulation or by the con- stitution of the society.
li. Each general or faculty society shall appoint a Treasurer whose duties shall be:—
(t) to keep the accounts and receipts of the society in books approved by the Union Secretary, and
(b) such other duties as may be prescribed by this regulation of or by the constitution of the society.
11. Each affiliated society shall hold an Annual General meeting once in every year, at a time prescribed by its constitution, at which:—
(a) the Committee of the society shall present an Annual Report on the acti- vities of the past year, stating the number of meetings held during the year, the approximate attendances, the extent to which suppers have been provided, and, generally giving details of the activities of the society;
(b) the Treasurer shall present a Statement of Accounts, showing moneys received and expended by the Society during the year. and conforming generally with the requirements of Appendix "A" of this regulation, and
(c) such elections of office-bearers and Committee shall be held as the consti- tution shall require.
INFORMATION TO SE FORWARDED TO S.R.C.
12. Within fourteen days after the holding of the Annual General meeting. in each year, the Secretary of each affiliated society shall forward to the Secretary of Clubs and Societies. the Annual Report adopted by the Annual General meeting.
the names of office-bearers elected thereat, and, in the case of general and faculty societies, the Statement of Accounts as adopted by the Annual General Meeting.
13. Within three weeks after the commencement of Arts and Commerce lec- tures in each year, the .Secretary of each affiliated society shall forward to the Treasurer of Clubs and Societies a detailed statement of the expenditure antici- pated for the year, together with an application for a grant of some definite amount from the Union, if desired.
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