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DCUSU CONSTITUTION REFERENDUM 2015 PUBLISHED BY THE DCUSU RETURNING 1 OFFICER

Introduction ||

The Students’ Union Constitution is a document that sets out the structures of how it is governed, the principles it is guided by and how it is regulated day-to-day.

In order to ensure that the Constitution is a modern document that serves the needs of the student body in terms of representation the Constitution is regularly reviewed.

This processed has been conducted over the course of the last six months. Members were invited to make submissions to the Constitutional Review Committee and Class Representative Council voted on the reccommendations from the committee.

At the Class Representative Council meeting of February 11, 2015 the final report of the Constitutional Review Committee was accepted and mandated to be put to referendum.

Why a vote?

Who can vote?

A referendum must take place to

Each member of the Students’ Union

ratify changes to the Students’ Union

is entitled to vote in a referendum. A

Constitution. Only after a referendum

member is defined as a student of

can these changes become part of

DCU who has fully registered or is

the constitution. Changes take affect

pending registration. Voting is open

on a nominated date, in this case

to full-time students and part-time

March 12, 2015.

students.

NOTE: This document is not an exhaustive list of all changes. Please refer to the Constitutional Amendment documents to show you exactly what changes are proposed.

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The Constitution empowers the students’ union to act on your behalf when engaging with the university or external groups.

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What are the changes?

The changes to the Constitution can be broken into the following key areas:

1. Grammatical changes and formatting.

2. Governance.

3. Elections and referendum proceedures.

4. Fundamental rights of Students’ Union membership and other changes.

Governance

Grammatical Changes Many of the changes to the Constitution are to clean up

There are a number of proposed governance changes to

Class Representatives. The proposed amendment will

the Constitution.

allow a Class Representative to be removed or deemed to

grammatical issues and ensure that the document style and formatting is uniform throughout.

have resigned.

Firstly the aims and objectives of the Students’ Union have been widened. Article 2.1 changes from:

Additional text will read:

union to the correct spelling students’ union. In the complete

to represent and protect the full membership of

5.6.7 If a Class Representative is absent for three

document some of these changes are highlighted in green.

DCUSU on matters affecting their interests and

consecutive Class Representative meetings

welfare.

without apologies they are deemed to have

include

To:

resigned their position. This will be further

officers,

The primary objective of the Students’ Union

regulated by protocol.

with capitalisations or removal of acronyms from the text.

shall be the representation, promotion and defence

of the fundamental educational, economic, political,

5.6.8 A Class Representative who has been

social, cultural and welfare rights of its members ...

deemed resigned by the Class Representative

Council may run for the vacant position of Class

For instance these changes include the spelling of student

Other

changes

references

to

that

fall

committees,

under

this

category

organsiations

and

It is proposed that the definitions section of the Constitution would be updated. This is an important section of the Constitution that governs other elements of the Constitution,

Class Representatives

for example, the introduction of Protocols.

Some changes have been made to the articles concerning 4

Representative.

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Officals of Class Representative Council Another significant proposed change is in the mechanism to elect the Chairperson and Secretary of Class Reprsentative

Presidential deputisation

Council. Currently these positions are filled by election at the first Class Representative Council meeting at the start of

Two new articles are proposed for the Constitution to allow the President to appoint one of the vice-presidents

the academic year. The proposal is to instead elect these two positions at the last Class Representative Council of each

to act on his or her absence. The current scenario is that the Vice-President for Education acts on behalf of the

year, where the succesful candidates will hold the positions for the coming academic year - see article 5.9.4.

President.

The proposed Constitution amendments would also allow a non-member of the Students’ Union to hold the position of

7.5.6 The Students’ Union President shall appoint a Vice-President to act on their behalf in their absence.

7.5.7 The scope of the authority of the Vice President for may be limited or defined by the Students’ Union

Returning Officer. The Class Representative Council would have to approve such a scenario by a qualfied majority vote. A qualified majority vote is a majority comprising two thirds or more of votes cast on an issue.

President during the absence of the Students’ Union President.

Vice-President for Welfare Another proposed change to the Constitution is an amendment to the role of the Vice-President for Welfare. It is Students’ Union Executive

proposed to include Equality into the role as well.

A few changes are also proposed to the election of Executive Officers. Firstly where there is a resignation by a member of the executive in the last six months of the term

First Year Representive on Executive

of office the Class Representative Council may opt to fill the

A new position on the Executive to respresent first years is also proposed in the amendments. This position will be

vacancy. The proposed insertion reads:

non-voting and will be elected at the first meeting of the Class Representative Council each year. The elected person shall ensure first year students are represented in Students’ Union policies and campaigns. Only first year Class

6.14 The vacancy of an Executive Officer position

Representatives will be allowed vote for the position. The proposed articles to be inserted read as follows:

may be filled by means of a bi-election, or where

8.5.1 There shall be an Executive member elected, who is responsible for the representation of first year students within

a vacancy of an Executive Officer position occurs

the Students’ Union known as the First Year Officer.

with less than six calendar months to the end of the

8.5.2 The First Year Officer has the following responsibilities:

natural term of office, Class Representative Council

8.5.3 Shall work with Sabbatical Officers to ensure first year students are represented in Students’ Union policies and

may opt to fill the vacancy through a qualified

majority vote.

The current Constitution requires a bi-election.

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campaigns.

8.5.4 Shall represent first year students on relevant University bodies in the pursuance of the Students’ Union’s aims and objectives and implementation of policies, where deemed appropriate by the President.

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Constitutional Interpretation

Petititioning for a referendum

An important change to how rulings on constitutional

At present a member may petition the Returning Officer of the Students’ Union via the President or the

interpretations are made and ratified by the Class

Chairperson of Class Representative Council to hold a referendum. This will not change. However under the

Representative Council is also proposed.

proposed amendment in article 9.4.1 the way the petition is presented and what format it should be in will be regulated by protocol. As previously stated a protocol will be set and voted upon by Class Representative Council.

At present the President may make an interpretation and this interpretation can only be over-ruled by a two-third

Amendments and legal advice

majority, or more, of Class Representative Council.

If this proposal is passed the Class Representative Council will be required to obtain legal advice on amendments to the Constitution where it is deemed necessary.

The new proposal will require the President’s interpretation Funding of campaigns contrary to the position of the Students’ Union

to obtain two-thirds or more to be ratified.

It is proposed to amend slightly the funding of campaigns contrary to the position of the Students’ Union.Where members of the Students’ Union wish to run a campaign in contrary to the position of the Students’ Union the

Elections and referendum proceedures

Students’ Union will be obliged to fund that campaign to the same amount the Students’ Union has spent on its own campaign. The campaign must however be a registered campaign for it to be eligible for this funding.

A number of changes to elections and referendum are proposed. As previously stated it is proposed to give the Class Representative Council the ability to fill a vacated Executive position where that person has resigned within six months of the end of their term.

PR STV and Alternative Vote A highly important change is the voting system the Constitution identifies to be utilised for elections. Currently it identifies PR STV (Proportional Representation by the Single Transferable Vote) as the system to be used. This is an inaccurate description of the actual system employed during elections. As we do not have multiple seat constituencies, that is, only one person can actually get elected to each position on the Executive, PR STV cannot be employed.

The correct term is the system of Alternative Voting. It is proposed to replace all mentions of the PR STV system with Alternative Voting. The introduction of this system will result in no change to how students vote during elections.

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2.5%

1.5%

It is proposed that a petition

It is proposed that a petition of 1.5% of the membership will be required

will require the valid signatures

to call a meeting of the Class Representative Council outside a scheduled

of 2.5% of the membership

meeting time. The current requirement is 200 members. The Executive,

to mandate a referendum.

the Chairperson and 10% of Class Representatives will still be able to call

It currently stands at 200

an unschedule meeting.

required

required

signatures.

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Changes to nomination process for candidates in Students’ Union General Elections and bi-elections At present a member who wishes to run for an Executive position of the Students’ Union requires two proposers and three seconders, who must be registered students of DCU for the year they are proposing. The proposed new method of nominating candidates will require article 9.2.6 to be modified and a new article to be inserted as article 9.2.7

9.2.2.6 The nomination for the Students’ Union Executive positions of President, Vice-President for Education and Vice-

President for Welfare and Equality shall require the verified support of 0.5% of registered students of DCU.

Such support shall be verified through a process outlined by the Electoral and Referenda Committee.

Fundamental Rights of Students’ Union Membership It is proposed to insert the following articles into the membership section of the Constitution.

9.2.2.7 The nomination for the Students’ Union Executive positions of Faculty Representatives shall require the verified

support of 2.5% of registered students of DCU, who must be members of the constituent faculty. Such support

A Students’ Union member is entitled to all the rights and freedoms as set out in this article

shall be verified through a process outlined by the Electoral and Referenda Committee.

regardless of race; colour; gender; age; religion; language; sexual orientation; gender identity;

Increase in elections and referendum spending limits and printing allowance.

The election / referendum spending limits have not been increased in a number of years. They currently stand at 150 euro. It is proposed to increase this to 200 euro. The proposal also increases the printing allowance for sabbatical candidates from 70 euro to 150 euro and from 30 euro to 50 euro for non-sabbatical candidates.

political or other opinion; nationality; ethnicity; socio-economic or other status; provided that in enjoying such rights, the rights of other are not infringed.

A Students’ Union member shall have the right to equal access to the facilities and services of the Union.

A Students’ Union member shall have the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

A Students’ Union member shall have the right to freedom of peaceful association.

Methods of election and referendum polling

A Students’ Union member shall have the right to request the holding of a referendum in

The proposed amendments to the Constitition will seek to enable a paper or smoother online ballot. Changes are

accordance with this constitution, vote in such referendum or run in Union elections and

proposed to various articles, 9.4.1., 9.4.2. and 9.4.3 to online ballots. It is possible to run an online ballot under

referenda.

existing rules but this proposed amendment will remove unncesssary elements for an online ballot.

A Students’ Union member shall have the right to attend and participate at Class Representative Council, as per article 5.4.3.

Ballot counting for referendum Proposed changes to article 9.5.1. will facilitate different voting methods in referendum other than Alternative Voting or Yes/No ballot question. The article clearly states that the Class Representative Council must endorse the use of same. This proposed change to ensure that the restricted nature of the 2011 Higher Education Funding Referendum is not repeated.

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Honourary Membership At present Honourary Membership is automatically awarded to every elected member of the Executive. It is proposed to insert the ability to remove this membership where the Class Representative Council has voted to do so. This requires the following addition to the Constitition:

3.3.4 Class Representative Council has the right to revoke an Honorary Membership by a majority vote of Class

Representative Council.

What is the ballot question?

The quesion on the ballot paper reads as follows:

Do you approve the proposal to amend the the DCUSU constitution contained in the aforementioned mandate

of the DCUSU Class Representative Council and DCUSU Executive?

‘Constitutional Review Committee: Final Recommendations as endorsed by the

DCUSU CRC, February 2015.’

If you agree place a tick or X in the YES box.

Issued by: Steve Conlon Returning Officer Dublin City University Students’ Union February, 2015

If you disagree place a tick or X in the NO box.

PLEASE NOTE: You cannot approve and disapprove individual amendments. You are being asked to approve or disapprove all the amendments to the Constitution collectively.

All proposed amendments are contained in the Constitutional Review Committee: Final Recommendations document, mandate.

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