
Cambridge University Role-Playing Society
Constitution
Last updated 16th May 1996 by Steve McIntyre (Secretary) to include the
changes from the Annual General Meeting of 14th May 1996.
Superseded on the 4th
March 1997
- The society shall be called the Cambridge
University Role-Playing Society (CURS).
- The aims of the society are:
- to promote Role-Playing Games within the University;
- to provide facilities for the playing of Role-Playing Games.
- Every member of the society shall have one vote to use at his/her
discretion for every issue at a general meeting. The Chair shall have only
a casting vote which he/she may use at his/her/its(?) discretion.
- All restrictions placed upon the society by the University
shall take precedence over any item of the constitution. All such
restrictions shall automatically be added to the constitution upon their
discovery.
- The officers of the society, with the exception of the Senior
Treasurer, shall be elected by the society at the Annual General
Meeting.
- The committee shall have the power to co-opt additional members as it
sees fit. Such members, however, will have no vote at committee meetings.
- The officers of the Committee shall be the following:
President, Vice President,
Secretary, Assistant Secretary,
Junior Treasurer, External Officer,
Live Role-Playing Officer, Chief Caprine
Entity and Senior Treasurer.
- Until such time as he finishes his thesis, "The
Cardboard Cutout Shrub With No Soul" shall hold the honorary
Committee post of "Custodian of the Sacred
Qabbal".
- The Committee shall consist of the officers listed above. A quorum
shall be 5 (five) elected members of the Committee at ordinary meetings.
- The following shall be the duties and powers of the officers:
- The President shall chair Committee meetings, at which he/she
will have a full vote and a casting vote where necessary.
- The Vice-President shall perform presidential duties when the
President is unable to fulfil his role.
- The Secretary and Assistant Secretary shall jointly be
responsible for the newsletters, meeting agendas and general
correspondence of the Society. They shall also take minutes of Society
general meetings and committee meetings and shall present them to the
Junior Treasurer for inclusion with the accounts at the time of the yearly
audit.
- The Senior Treasurer shall have custody of the Society funds
and will audit the accounts. He will register the stock of equipment at
the end of each academic year.
- The Junior Treasurer will be responsible for the subscriptions
received and shall keep financial accounts which must be submitted to the
Committee at each ordinary meeting.
- The External Officer shall be responsible for keeping the
Society in touch with carefully selected aspects of the "Real
World" - e.g. conventions, and other RPG Societies. He/she shall be
responsible for co-ordinating the "Varsity Matc h" with Oxford
RPG Society (OURPS).
- The Live Role-Playing Officer shall be responsible for
promoting Live Role-Playing games within the Society and the University as
a whole.
- The Chief Caprine Entity shall be responsible for bleating
plaintively, chewing the cud contentedly and liaising with CUWoCS, the
University Worshippers of Cthulhu Society.
- One elected Committee member shall act as Society Librarian.
His/her duties are to catalogue and run the library. Items may be borrowed
by Society members upon provision of a suitable refundable deposit. There
is a loan duration of one month, or the duration of the holiday.
- The method by which the officers of the Committee are elected shall be
as follows:
- Only members of the Society may stand for election. Candidates
must be nominated and seconded in writing, and only members of the Society
may nominate and second candidates. Candidates may neither nominate nor
second themselves. A deadline for the handing in of nominations shall be
set to enable the Secretary to prepare voting forms prior to the Election.
- A separate election shall be held for each elected post on the
Committee. Candidates must therefore specify the post for which they are
standing (e.g. President, Secretary, etc.). However, candidates may, if
they wish, also state a further, second preference for which they shall be
deemed to be standing only if they fail to be elected to the position of
their first choice. This second preference must be stated on the
candidate's nomination paper.
- The order in which the posts shall be elected shall normally
be: President, Vice-President, Secretary, Junior Treasurer, Assistant
Secretary, Live Role-Playing Officer, External Officer and finally Chief
Caprine Entity. Candidates should be informed of this, so that they may
avoid stating as a second preference a post that would normally be voted
upon prior to their first choice. However, should such a nomination be
received, the chair shall have the discretion to vary the order in which
posts are elected in order to defe r the election of the second post,
unless this affects the order of voting on the first and second choices of
the other candidates.
- The elections for each post shall be held by secret ballot,
and the Secretary shall prepare voting forms for this purpose. Two
officers of the Committee, who are not candidates for the post being voted
on, shall act as tellers. In the event of a tie, the Chair may exercise a
casting vote, or may stipulate a tie-breaker, such as a game of
table-football. The tellers shall announce the name of the winning
candidate, but not the number of votes cast for each candidate.
- In the event of there being no candidates for a particular
post, nminations shall be reopened, and another General Meeting called for
the purpose of the election of that post.
- The Society File-space. If no elected committee member will accept
responsibility for this, a member shall be co-opted for this specific
responsibility at the first Committee meeting of the academic year.
- Meetings:
- The President shall summon General Meetings and Committee
Meetings.
- Notification of the General Meetings will be given to all
members of the Society at least 14 (fourteen) days in advance.
- A General Meeting may be summoned by any 10 (ten) members of
the Society via written notification to the Secretary.
- A quorum at a General Meeting shall be 6 (six) excluding the
President.
- There will be at least one General Meeting a year, designated
the Annual General Meeting.
- At the Annual General Meeting the subscriptions for the
following year shall be fixed.
- The Committee shall meet at least once per University Term.
- The Constitution may be amended by a 2/3 majority at a quorate General
Meeting.
- All members shall be bound by resolutions carried at General Meetings.
- Notification of any proposed change will be given at least 3
(three) days in advance to members of the Society.
- The following minimums shall exist for subscriptions: £3.00 for
life, £2.00 for one year, and £1.50 to upgrade.
- Students from any establishment of Higher Education shall, on
request, and after payment of the appropriate fee, be admitted into the
Society with full membership rights.
- Finance and Audit:
- The Society shall be financed by the subscriptions of the
members and by grants, etc., from sources both within and without the
university.
- The Junior Treasurer shall prepare a report for audit by the
Senior Treasurer at the end of the academic year. The Librarian shall
provide a list of all holding of the Society for checking by the Senior
Treasurer.
- The Senior Treasurer shall audit the Society's accounts, and
shall check the holdings of the Society.
- Only Society members currently pursuing undergraduate or
graduate studies within the University may sign Society cheques.
- Society equipment shall be in the care of the Committee members
and available for loan to members of the Society, and shall be an
inalienable right, except with the permission of the Societies
Syndicate.
- A list of all members of the Society shall be held by both the
Secretary and Assistant Secretary as a minimum requirement.
- In the event of the dissolution of the Society, any positive balance
of the Society's bank account shall be spent upon additional purchases for
the Society library, such purchases to be decided upon by the recumbent
Committee. The library, together with the Society's other surplus assets,
shall be placed in storage in the University Library so that they should
remain available to anyone wishing to re-found the Society at a further
date. Should the Society's bank balance be negative, then an appeal shall
be made to the Societies Syndicate to cover any debt, but in extremis, the
more replaceable articles from the Society library may be auctioned off to
raise the necessary money. The Society's remaining assets shall then be
placed in the University Library as before.
- Within the confines of the Society all members by the name of David
Prince shall be known as "Florence", all members by the name of
Ginni Carroll shall be known as "The Blue Cat", and all members
by the name of Iain Walker shall be known as "The Cardboard Cutout
Shrub With No Soul".
Proposed changes to the Constitution should be submitted to the Committee for inclusion in any
General Meeting.
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