Meetings
When?
General Meetings of the JCR take place on the Sundays of 2nd, 5th and 8th weeks.
Who?
Any JCR member is allowed to attend and vote in meetings. Committee members are expected to be there.
Quorum
35 members must be present at the beginning of the meeting. This quorum is also necessary for constitutional, financial and impeachment motions to be voted upon. No other motion can be voted on with fewer than 25 members present.
Ordinary Motions
Motions must be submitted to the Secretary in advance of the meeting and must be proposed and seconded by members of the JCR. “Anonymous Motions” may be submitted to the Vice President who will then try to find a proposer and seconder who wish to support it. This may take some time, so it is recommended that anonymous motions are submitted well in advance. Should no two people come forward to propose and second the motion, it shall not be considered at the General Meeting. Any motions considered likely to cause offence may be removed.
Charity Motions
Charity Motions must be submitted to the secretary in advance of the meeting. As the charity budget is limited, it is recommended to only submit charity motions to the last General Meeting in a given term and to consider that all motions should receive a similar amount of money.
Order of business
The Vice President will usually chair meetings; minutes will be taken and distributed by the Secretary.
1. President’s business
2. Vice-President’s business
3. Officers’ business
4. Any other business
5. Emergency motions
6. Ordinary motions
7. Charity motions
Procedure
All discussions start with the opening speech in favour of the motion, usually held by the proposer. After the speech has finished, the chair will ask for short, factual questions concerning the motion and unrelated to the proposer’s personal opinion. The chair will disregard any other questions.
Following the questions, the chair asks for opposition. If nobody objects to the motion, the motion will be deemed passed without any debate. It is, therefore, very important to oppose the motion if you wish to debate it. Should there be opposition, the floor will be open for debate.
After the debate, the chair will ask for summation speeches in favour of and against the motion. No additional comments or information may be introduced by any member at this point. The motion will then be voted on.
Tips
Points of Information: Anybody may attempt to raise a point of information at any time of the discussion apart from the summation speeches. The member currently speaking may allow or refuse it to be raised.
Amendments: Only during the debate can amendments to a motion be proposed. The way this is done depends upon the nature of the motion. For all financial motions, there must be a vote on the proposed amendment, implying that the proposer of the motion cannot simply accept or reject an amendment. For all other motions, the proposer of the motion may a) accept the amendment without any vote (friendly amendment) or b) reject the amendment, unless any member present wishes to put it to a vote.
Move to vote: The chair cannot terminate a debate at his discretion; it is therefore often desirable that a member raises this point of order. If nobody objects, then summation speeches will immediately follow. If there are objections, however, then it is necessary to vote on whether we should move to a vote. It is not recommended to raise this point of order until you are sure all important arguments have been exchanged.
There is a host of other things that can be done, all of which can be found in the constitution (including details on emergency motions, recounting votes, secret ballot, no confidence in chair). If you don’t understand the way something is phrased or have any other questions, don’t hesitate to contact the Vice President.