Constitution changes to be discusssed
Full changes to be circulated by Monday. Agreed to in principle by Council. Changes to structure of some Boards
In the first Council of the academic year, changes to the constitution, which were put forward by Paul Beaumont, Union President, were agreed to in principle. A period of consultation is now expected to begin. Beaumont said that he was going to be talking to people about it and explaining the changes. It is expected that the final document, with any changes made to the current one available, will be made public twelve days before Council meets to vote on it.
Last year, the Union President at the time, Scott Heath, proposed changes to the Consitution, which is effectively the set of guidelines that decides how the Union is structured and governed. The changes proposed this time around are different do not include the Deputy President (Finance & Services) no longer being a position.
The Representation & Welfare Board (RWB) would be split into two in the changes. These would be the Education & Representation Board, where officers who are dealing with representation would sit, and the Communities & Welfare Board, where welfare officers would sit.
The composition of Executive Committee has also been proposed to be changed. This would include the President as the Chair (as before), the Deputy Presidents, the Constituent Union Presidents, and four members of Council; this would be instead of the members of the CSB and FWB. The Executive Committee, which currently deals with the day-to-day running of the Union and not the policy direction, would remain in that role. It would, however, be able to approve expenditure of up to £100,000 and not £500,000 as before. This was justified with the reason being that only one or two events ever get to that much.
In the new Constitution, Court will no longer exist with its roles shifted to sub-committee of the Trustee Board.
The changes propose that the Trustee Board is changed in makeup. The new Board would be the President, Council Chair, all of the Deputy Presidents (Education, Welfare, Finance & Services, and Clubs & Societies), and two elected Student Trustees. The other members of the Trustee Board would all be appointed. They would be the Lay Trustees, College Governor, Life Member, and two appointed Student Trustees. The Student Trustees would be appointed by being put forward by the Appointments and Remunerations Committee, ratified by Council, and approved by the Trustee Board. Any Trustee could be removed by a 2/3rd vote of Council.
The Trustee Board would no longer have four Student Trustees voted by the entire student body, and the Court Chair would no longer have a place. Instead, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, two Student Trustees would be elected and two would be appointed.
Another change is that the RSM would become a Constituent Union, along with all of the other current Faculty Unions (RCSU, CGCU ICSMSU). In Council, this point did cause some contention about how it would effect representation.
The position of a Sabbatical Officer for Postgraduates is put forward as well. The paper says that Beaumont’s opinion is that the Graduate Schools Association (GSA) President being the Sabbatical Officer would work best. Also the Faculty Unions (e.g. RCSU) would no longer be representing Postgraduates, with the GSA taking that role.
A change proposed in elections was that the Returning Officer would be an external person.
_Paul Beaumont will be writing a Comment article for next week’s Felix to explain the changes. _
To see the document with all of the changes in full go to
https://www.imperialcollegeunion.org/your-union/how-were-run/papers/12-13/Union_Council/226
