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Edinburgh University
Film Society 46 Years of Cinema 1963-2009 Student Film Society of the Year 2005 |
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The Society shall be known as Edinburgh University Film Society, hereinafter referred to as the Society.
The object of the Society is to advance the education of the public in the knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the arts; particularly the art of film and allied visual techniques. In furtherance of the foregoing object, but not further or otherwise, the Society shall have the power to promote the appreciation of films by means of lectures, discussions, and exhibitions.
3.1. Full Membership of the Society is open to any interested person over the age of sixteen who fulfils the criteria for membership as currently stands, at the discretion of the General Committee.
3.2. Honorary Membership of the Society may be granted to any person at the discretion of the General Committee. Nominations for Honorary Membership may be put forward by any full member of the Society. Honorary members of the Society are not entitled to vote at General Meetings, nor may they hold the posts of President, Vice-President, Honorary Secretary, or Honorary Treasurer. Honorary Life Membership of the Society may be granted to any person at the discretion of the Annual General Meeting. Nominations for Honorary Life Membership may be put forward by any full member of the Society. Honorary Life members of the Society are entitled to the same rights and privileges as season ticket holders, except they are not entitled to vote at General Meetings, nor may they hold the posts of President, Vice-President, Honorary Secretary, or Honorary Treasurer.
3.3. Membership of the Society shall entitle the holder to attendance at all film shows detailed in the general programme, subject to payment of the current screening fee and to certain alterations which may be unavoidable and to the capacity of the venue. A season ticket will be available for a fee which entitles the holder to exemption from the screening fee. Season ticket holders are also entitled to an extra benefits package as negotiated by the General Committee. The screening fee and season ticket fee shall be set by the General Committee.
3.4. A member shall be entitled to purchase up to two (2) guest tickets per screening for the admission of guests, subject to the discretion of the General Committee. These guests must be signed in at the door. Members are responsible for the actions of any their guests.
3.5. The General Committee may, at their discretion, issue a warning to any member or guest who disturbs a Society screening or event, causes distress or harm to other members, or brings the Society into disrepute. If the warning is ignored that person may be ejected from the venue; barred from attending future screenings and events; and in the case of members may have their membership revoked with no refund.
4.1. GENERAL COMMITTEE: The business of the society shall be managed by a General Committee organised by of office-bearers who are themselves members of the General Committee. It shall have up to thity (30) members elected directly at an Annual General Meeting who shall remain in office until their successors have been elected and taken office. The General Committee shall have the power to co-opt further members should it have less than thirty (30) elected members, provided the total number of elected and co-opted members does not exceed thirty (30). Any full member of the Society shall be entitled to stand for election or be co-opted, and the General Committee must be comprised solely of members of the Society. The General Committee is responsible to the Annual General Meeting.
4.2. CO-OPTION PROCEDURE: Co-opted members of the General Committee shall have no voting powers on the General Committee, nor shall they assume an office. Co-optees may be elected to full membership of the General Committee at the discretion of the General Committee. Before making this decision the General Committee must consider whether the co-optee has, in an induction period, adequately performed allotted tasks normal in the everyday running of the Society. The General Committee must take reasonable measures to ensure chat such a consideration is fair.
4.3. PRESIDENT: The President shall be elected annually and directly at an Annual General Meeting. Nominations for the post of President may be made at any time prior to the General Meeting or at the General Meeting itself. The nomination must be supported by the nominee and be seconded by two (2) other members of the Society The post of President is restricted to Student Members of Edinburgh University Students' Association who are full members and season ticket holders of the Society. He/She will remain in office until his or her successor has been elected and taken office. Should the President resign the General Committee will elect a new President or acting President. The President will normally chair the General Committee and General Meetings, where he/she will have only a casting vote. The President is responsible to the Annual General Meeting and the General Committee.
4.4. OFFICE BEARERS: The affairs of the society will be managed by the President, Vice-President, Honorary Secretary, and Honorary Treasurer (the Executive officers). The posts of President, Honorary Secretary, and Honorary Treasurer are restricted to Student Members of Edinburgh University Students' Association who are full members and season ticket holders of the Society. The post of Vice President is open to any member of the Society who is a season ticket holder. These Office Bearers will be elected at the Annual General Meeting. Nominations for these posts follow the procedure laid out above for the election of the President. No person may be elected to more than one of these posts in the same year. Should any of these Offices thereafter fall vacant the General Committee may elect any eligible Society member to the vacant position(s). All Office Bearers will be responsible to the Annual General Meeting.
4.5. NON-EXECUTIVE OFFICERS: The General Committee may appoint any such non-executive officers as it deems necessary to the running of the Society from eligible members of the Society. All non-executive Officers are responsible to the Annual General Meeting and to the General Committee.
4.6. REORGANISATION OF COMMITTEE OFFICE BEARERS:
a) Any member of the General Committee shall be empowered to put forward a motion of rejection of any non-executive office bearer, which if carried will remove that person from the General Committee. Such a motion must be proposed and seconded to the President or Honorary Secretary in advance of a General Committee meeting. The Secretary should ensure that every Committee member is given adequate notice of the motion to be discussed. The motion will be carried by a simple majority of those General Committee members present. Executive officers may not be removed from office by such a motion of rejection.
b) The President will accept nominations from the General Committee for any non-executive office which falls vacant. The selection among the nominees will be made by the General Committee by a Single Transferable Vote system. In order to be elected a nominee must receive a simple majority of members present in the final vote.
4.7. GENERAL MEETINGS:
a) All members of the Society are entitled to attend all General Meetings; further, all full members of the Society who are season ticket holders are entitled to vote at all General Meetings. It is the responsibility of the Honorary Secretary to ensure that members are given adequate notice of General Meetings. Motions to be discussed should be presented to the Honorary Secretary not less than fourteen (14) days prior to the General Meeting. However, in exceptional the circumstances the Executive or General Committee may waive this rule and accept motions at any time before or during a General Meeting. Motions carried by the necessary majority (i.e. a 50% vote in favour of the motion) at quorate General Meetings are binding on the Society.
Persons who are not members of the Society may be allowed to address the General Meeting if a majority of full members present are in favour of their speaking, but any such person will have no voting rights.
The quorum for General Meetings shall be fifty (50) members who are season ticket holders.
b) The President will call an Annual General Meeting normally in the first or winter term, and not more than fourteen (14) months after the preceding Annual General Meeting. The Annual General Meeting shall include reports from all outgoing office bearers on the previous year. The Annual General Meeting will consider and discuss the outgoing General Committee's Accounts for the previous year.
It is the responsibility of the President to sum up the major events of the previous year and to evaluate its success in the context of the Film Society's development and history. His/her report should also discuss the development of the current year's programme and plans for the future.
It is the responsibility of the outgoing General Committee to present a complete account of the current state of finances. The Honorary Treasurer must present an accurate breakdown of the definite commitment for which the Society has been engaged in the current year, henceforth to be known as the Budget. Emphasis must be placed on comparing this Budget with current income.
The new General Committee shall be elected. Nominations for each executive office and General Committee membership shall be tabled. Upon receipt of all nominations, any contested posts shall be subject to election by Single Transferable Vote of those fully-paid up members present.
If any deficit, ambiguity or inconsistency is evident in the Budget then the incoming President shall appoint a Finance Sub-Committee from the members of the new General Committee, to be chaired by the new Honorary Treasurer. The incoming President will set a date for an Extraordinary General Meeting at which the Finance Sub-Committee will present its Findings and Recommendations, which will be discussed and voted upon.
c) An Extraordinary General Meeting may be called at any time by the General Committee, the Executive, or upon a written request to the Honorary Secretary signed by at least fifty (50) members. Following the receipt of such a request by the Honorary Secretary the General Committee shall have twenty-eight (28) days to implement the request, and must take reasonable measures to notify the members of the time and place of the Extraordinary General Meeting.
4.8. CONDUCT: All Office Bearers and members of the General Committee shall act in good faith towards the Society in all actions they undertake on its behalf.
4.9. RECALL: The members shall have the right at an Extraordinary General Meeting to seek the recall of any or all of the Office Bearers or members of the General Committee by a special resolution (i.e.: a 75% vote in favour of the resolution); for such a vote to be binding on the Society the Meeting must be quorate. Grounds for recall may be founded on the failure of any office holder of member of the General Committee to comply with the terms of the constitution, or for any other reason deemed legitimate by the General Meeting.
5.1. FINANCIAL POLICY: The Honorary Treasurer must ensure that the ordinary expenditure of any given year is not more than the ordinary income of that year. The definition of ordinary and extraordinary expenditure is the responsibility of the General Committee.
5.2. GENERAL:
a) The Financial Year will be from 1st September to 31st August of the following year.
b) The Honorary Treasurer shall keep and prepare Accounts. He/she must also draw up a provisional budget, as exhaustive as possible at the time of striking, to be presented to the last hill meeting of the General Committee m the academic year. At this meeting the budget must be scrutinised by the General Committee. An undated budget must be presented to the first full meeting of the General Committee in the following academic year to be discussed - if necessary suggestions for revision should be accepted by the Honorary Treasurer. He/she will prepare and present the Budget for the Financial Year in progress to the Annual General Meeting
c) THE FINANCE SUB-COMMITTEE: The Finance Sub-Committee, if appointed at an Annual General Meeting, will investigate and assess the financial situation of the current year with a view to eliminating any expected deficit in the year's accounts and/or clarifying the Budget. To this end it will draft a series of findings and recommendations which will be presented to the subsequent Extraordinary General Meeting for the consideration of the members.
d) All bank accounts shall be operative on any two signatures of the executive. All properties shall be held by the President and the Honorary Treasurer as trustees of the Society.
e) The Society shall be non-profit making. The officers and members may only receive payment, direct or indirect, under the following circumstances:
Core income shall be defined as income arising from membership fees and any other source as agreed by the General Committee.
f) Any reserves at the end of the Financial Year shall be carried over into reserves for the following Financial Year. A loss carried forward into the following financial year must be notified and explained at the Annual General Meeting.
5.3. BORROWING POWERS: At the discretion of the General Committee the Society may invoke its borrowing powers which are herein established. In the first instance any loan/overdraft taken out by the Society must be fully secured by the assets/properties of the Society and, as such, members themselves will not be liable for the repayment of a loan taken out on their behalf. The General Committee may, however, repay the loan from reserves or revenue of the past, current or future year.
6.1. POLITICAL ORGANISATIONS: The Society will be non-political in that it will not espouse the cause of any political party. The Society may, however, organise events in conjunction with political organisations but the role of the co-sponsor must be made clear to the membership, and they may if they wish seek to cancel the event by an ordinary resolution at a General Meeting.
6.2 EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES POLICY: The Society shall uphold and maintain its policy on the equality of opportunity as defined in the Equal Opportunities Policy.
6.3 REVIEW OF CONSTITUTION: This Constitution shall be formally reviewed and re-approved at least every three years.
The Society shall not be wound up except by a resolution of three quarters of those present at an Extraordinary General Meeting called for that purpose. All funds remaining after the satisfaction of all debts and liabilities following such a resolution shall be passed on to a charitable organisation having objects similar to those of the Society as the General Committee in consultation with the British Federation of Film Societies shall decide.
Any motion to alter the Constitution will have to be supported by two-thirds of the members present at the General Meeting. Any alteration to section 2, Objects of this Constitution shall be negotiated with, and agreed by the British Federation of Film Societies; and subsequent to their approval shall be presented to an Annual General Meeting. Any alteration affecting the Society's tax status will be notified to H.M. Inspector of Taxes. No amendment of Section 7, Dissolution, or this section is permissible.
This revision accepted at an AGM held on October 18th, 2004.
Which supercedes the previous constitution accepted at an EGM held on March 10th, 2002.
Which supercedes the previous constitution dated February 7th, 1999.