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Warwick Students' Union Film Society Constitution

Updated March 2023

Main Constitution

  1. Name

The name of the organisation will be the Warwick Students' Union Film Society, hereinafter referred to as WSC or Warwick Student Cinema.

  1. Mission Statement

  1. The objectives of WSC shall be to:
  1. Encourage interest in film as an art and a form of entertainment.
  2. Provide education and information in the methods of running a cinema, including publicity, marketing, front of house (hereafter referred to as FoH), projection and IT.
  3. Support the national and international Film Society movement.
  1. WSC shall have no political affiliations, and the programming of a film shall not constitute an endorsement of the ideas or beliefs expressed within.
  2. Run as a non-profit organization by volunteers.

  1. Accompanying Documents

  1. The following documents shall be distributed with the Constitution, and shall be considered to have the equivalent authority of the Constitution:
  1. Executive Roles and Responsibilities
  2. Committees
  3. Key Allowances and Agreement
  1. The Accompanying Documents may be amended by the Executive Committee at their discretion.

  1. Membership

  1. The following will be entitled to be members of WSC:
  1. Full members: Current Warwick University Students, who are also members of the Students' Union and the Students' Union Societies Federation.
  2. Associate members: Those persons who have associate membership of both the societies federation and WSC.
  3. Exec members: Elected officials who are full members of WSC.
  1. Membership prices will be set by the Exec before the summer vacation for the following academic year.
  2. The rights of a full member of WSC shall include:
  1. Standing for a position on the Exec.
  2. Voting in WSC elections and at all WSC General Meetings, where they will be identified by their student ID number.
  3. Voting at all WSC meetings where they are a member of the appropriate committee.
  4. Participating in available crew positions as defined in the supporting documents.
  5. Discounted or members’ free tickets to WSC screenings.
  1. The rights of a WSC associate member shall include:
  1. To participate at a non-decision making level in the activities of WSC.
  2. Discounted or members’ free tickets to WSC screenings.
  3. Involvement in discussions on WSC business at the discretion of the meeting Chair or Returning Officer.
  4. Associate members are not entitled to vote at general meetings or elections, however may vote at committee meetings with the consent of the Chair.
  1. Crew status shall be added and removed by the committee chairs in accordance with the Committees document. They should report any changes to their committees, who may call a vote to overturn decisions if necessary.

  1. Exec Members

  1. The day-to-day business of WSC shall be managed by the Exec, elected at the Annual General Meeting, or any subsequent General Meeting called as an election.
  2. The Exec positions within WSC shall at all times consist of at least:
  1. President(s)
  2. Treasurer
  3. Vice-President
  1. At the discretion of the Executive committee, other Executive roles will be defined, in any number and combination, in the document “Executive Roles and Responsibilities” .
  2. The Exec members as defined here and in the above document, must fulfil the appropriate criteria and will carry out their designated job descriptions as detailed in “Executive Roles and Responsibilities” .
  3. The Exec may decide upon any matter which has not yet been decided upon by a General Meeting.  The Exec shall further be responsible for:
  1. Organising the activities of WSC in such a way as to include the greatest possible number of WSC members.
  2. Directing the expenditure of WSC’s funds in a responsible fashion and in line with the aims, objectives and planned activities of WSC.
  3. Formulating and submitting any additional bids for funds from the standing committees [a] , with detailed justification of the figures contained within the bid.
  4. Upholding the constitution of WSC and ensuring that its aims and objectives reflect WSC activities.
  5. Effective publicity distribution.
  1. If any Exec position is not filled at the Annual General Meeting, or if an Exec member resigns during their Exec term, the Exec are responsible for filling the position either by election or co-option, ensuring all interested parties are given sufficient notice.
  2. An Exec role may be filled by either one or two people, and must in either case be their sole Exec position. If two people hold a role, they will each have full Exec rights and responsibilities, as defined in “Executive Roles and Responsibilities”
  3. Any member may have their privileges removed by the Exec. Members may appeal such decisions as outlined in section 11.

  1. Committees

  1. The committees of WSC shall be defined in the document “Committees”  , wherein the roles and remits of the various committees shall be enumerated.
  2. Committees may only be formed by agreement of the Exec and subsequent amendment of “Committees”.
  3. Each committee shall fulfil their approved job descriptions in “ Committees” .
  4. Committees are able to make day to day decisions on the appropriate areas of WSC, but all decisions may be overturned by the Exec.
  5. All committee votes must pass with a majority — in the event of a tie, the committee head has the deciding vote. If there are two people serving in the committee head role, a tied vote means a vote fails to pass, unless both people vote the same way, in which case their deciding vote dictates the result.
  6. The Exec may set up any temporary committees at their discretion.

  1. Committee Meetings

  1. The President(s) will chair Exec meetings. If the/a President will be absent, they must notify the Exec and appoint a temporary Chair. Either the President(s) or the temporary Chair will have the casting vote. Only the President(s) can call an Exec meeting.
  2. All other committees will be chaired by the Exec officer(s) responsible or, in their absence, a temporary chair appointed by the Exec officer(s) responsible. Committee meetings may be called at any time;  the committee Chair is responsible for ensuring all interested parties are given appropriate notification of meetings, the length of which shall be defined in “Committees” , but shall not be less than 48 hours.
  3. The quorum for an Exec meeting shall be two thirds (rounded up) of its membership. Quorum for any other committee meeting shall be one third (rounded up) of its membership.
  4. Committee meetings are open to all members of WSC who wish to attend.
  5. Exec meetings may go into closed session at the discretion of the Chair. All other WSC meetings should be entirely open.
  6. The Chair of each meeting has the casting vote.
  7. Minutes will be distributed to all committee members within one week. Once they are approved by the committee as accurate, they will be made publicly available on the website, bar Exec closed session.

  1. General Meetings

  1. The Exec shall call an Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the purpose of electing the new Exec and outlining plans for the future. The Exec shall give at least fourteen days’ notice of this meeting, and such notice shall include details of the elections to be held.
  2. At the AGM, the President(s) will give a report outlining the activities of WSC over the past year, and the Treasurer will give a report on the financial state of WSC.
  3. The quorum for both the AGM and other General Meetings shall be 20 full members, or 1% of the total number of full members, whichever is greater, rounded up.
  4. The President(s) will chair the General Meetings and has the casting vote. Agenda items must be submitted to the President(s) [b]  no less than 24 hours before the meeting and an agenda must be circulated 24 hours before the meeting.

  1. Voting Procedure

  1. Voting at any WSC meeting shall be done by a show of hands, unless a secret ballot is requested.
  2. The motion shall be carried by a simple majority except where provisions in the constitution or accompanying documents specify otherwise. If abstentions are the majority, the vote is void.
  3. The Chair of the meeting shall preside over the counting of the votes, with the exception of elections, where the Returning Officer shall preside.

  1. Elections Procedure

  1. Only full members of WSC may vote or stand in elections.
  2. Any Exec election will be conducted as a secret ballot by single transferable vote, and all results shall be announced at the end. It is possible for the same candidate to run for more than one Exec position, although they may only hold one Exec position at a time. Anyone standing for more than one position must give a clear preference in their candidacy to the Returning Officer. This will allow the runner up to be announced as the successful candidate where appropriate.
  3. Two people may run for an Exec position on a joint ticket, and their election would result in both candidates being elected to the Exec position. It is possible to stand for more than one position and in a combination of single candidacies and joint tickets – if so, an order of preference must be sent to the Returning Officer, and all joint tickets must be ranked above single candidacies. A person cannot stand for the same role with both a single candidacy and a joint ticket.
  4. An appropriate Exec member (as specified in “Executive Roles and Responsibilities” ) [c] shall act as Returning Officer in all elections unless they are standing, in which case the Exec will nominate a temporary Returning Officer. Any temporary Returning Officer must be a full member of WSC.
  5. Notice of elections shall be given by the Exec at least one week before the proposed election. Notification of the elections should be e-mailed to all WSC members and posted on the WSC website.
  6. Nominations should be emailed to the Returning Officer by the close of nominations. Full details, including closing date for nominations, shall be included in the notification of elections.
  7. Candidates will be given the option of a five minute hustings speech at the General Meeting and will be required to answer questions from the floor.
  8. The outgoing Exec member(s) is/are obliged to be available for consultation with the officer(s)-elect until the handover of the position is completed. The handover date shall be decided prior to the elections.
  9. In the event that no nominations are received for an Exec post, then the current holder(s) shall remain in office until the handover and the incoming Exec shall decide on the appropriate course of action.

  1. Appeals Process

  1. If any member concerned wishes a decision to be reconsidered, they may appeal against rulings by asking the Exec for a reconsideration of the decision, which shall be done by simple majority.
  2. If the member does not agree with the Exec decision, they may appeal to the Societies Officer at the Students’ Union who will launch an investigation in line with the Union Equal Opportunities Policy.

  1. Keys

  1. The issuing of keys shall be co-ordinated by the President(s) in accordance with the document  “Key Allowances and Agreement”
  2. All members issued with keys must sign the WSC key agreement set out in the document  “Key Allowances and Agreement” .
  3. Keys will be administered by the WSC President(s).

  1. The Students’ Union

  1. WSC, its officers, its funds and all its activities shall be subject to the provisions of the Constitution, Regulations and policy of the University of Warwick Students’ Union.
  2. WSC shall abide by the Union’s current Equal Opportunities Policy and Environmental Policy statement, which is included in the Students’ Union constitution.
  3. WSC shall not be wound up except by a resolution of a majority of those present at a Special General Meeting called for that purpose, or by the Students Union. In the event of WSC winding up, it is the wish of WSC that the remaining WSC funds and assets shall be devoted, in consultation with the British Film Institute, to aiding those with similar objectives to WSC.

Supporting Documents