Bye Law 6 Student Forum

PASSED – October 2023

Bangor University Students’ Union (Undeb Bangor) Articles of Association: Bye-Laws Bye-Law 6 – Student Forum

This Bye-Law is the property of the Trustee Board and can be amended by the Trustee Board, Student Council and the Undeb Bangor Student Members Meetings in line with their procedures.

1.

Purpose 1.1. Student Forum exists to: 1.1.1. Discuss, debate, and set Union policy in between Student Member Meetings.

1.1.2. Review, guide, hold to account, and create projects for the Sabbatical Officers in between Student Member Meetings.

1.1.3. Discuss issues of relevance to the Students in between Student Member Meetings.

1.1.4. Work to make Students’ lives better by consulting and understanding the needs of the student body, be an ambassador for the Union, discuss and debate issues and ideas, and create new projects and initiatives.

2.

Membership 2.1. Only students fully registered at Bangor University and members of Bangor University Students’ Union (Undeb Bangor) are eligible to be elected to, and sit on, Student Forum.

2.2. The membership of Student Forum shall be made up of a number of elected Network Leaders, as follows: 2.2.1. Disabled Student Network Leader 2.2.2. Disabled Student (Neurodivergent) Network Leader 2.2.3. LGBTQ+ Network Leader 2.2.4. LGBTQ+ (Trans) Network Leader 2.2.5. Students of Colour Network Leader 2.2.6. Women’s Network Leader 2.3. A number of other Network Leader roles will also make up the Student Forum each academic year. These roles will be reviewed each year and will be based on Sabbatical Officer priorities, and key student themes and needs, identified each academic year.

2.4. To ensure relevance to the current student body, the make up of these Student Network Leader roles will be presented, discussed and passed at an All Student Meeting or Student Forum meeting, prior to the election of the Student Network Leader roles.

2.5. Four randomly selected students will be also be invited. These students will have full voting rights. If they attend, they will count towards quorum

3.

Elections 3.1. The eligibility requirements for students to nominate and vote for given Network Leader positions will be based on: 3.1.1. For any liberation or protected characteristics-based roles, self-defining into relevant categories.

3.1.2. For any demographic based roles, either self-defining into these roles, or defined as such in the Bangor University Data which Undeb Bangor receives.

3.2 All Student Forum positions shall be elected in accordance with the Elections By-Law and Regulations as detailed in the Elections Bye-Law. 3.3 Any Member may attend Student Forum with speaking rights.

3.4 Student Forum may vote to allow non-students attendance and speaking rights as required.

3.

Removal of Network Leaders

University Students’ Union (Undeb Bangor) Articles of Association: Bye-Laws

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PASSED – October 2023 3.1. Any Network Leader may be removed or questioned in line with the Undeb Bangor Elected Member Accountability Procedures as defined in the appendix of these bye-laws.

3.2. A Vote of No Confidence Procedure is included within the Undeb Bangor Elected Member Accountability Procedure and covers Sabbatical Officers and Network Leaders, and for the absence of doubt, this procedure shall also cover Student Trustees and shall be in accordance with the Articles of Association.

4.

Meeting Standing Orders 4.1. The Chair 5.1.1 5.1.2

5.1.3 5.1.4 5.1.5

The Chair shall be elected from the elected Network Leaders and Sabbatical Officers at the beginning of each Student Forum.

The Chair shall maintain appropriate order within the meeting, ensure that the meeting runs to time and will be responsible for ensuring that Union policies are followed throughout the duration of the meeting.

It is the Chair’s responsibility to ensure the debate is balanced, considered, and fair.

Student Network Leaders may contest the decision of the Chair at any time by calling a majority vote.

If at any time the Chair has deemed to have resigned or have been removed in a Vote of No Confidence by Student Forum an election for a new Chair shall immediately be opened and the procedure noted above in 5.1.1 followed.

5.2 Agenda and Meeting Schedule 5.2.1

All registered students at Bangor University shall have the opportunity to place items on the agenda, and will receive the agenda and papers at least 4 days before the meeting.

5.2.2

Student Forum shall meet at least once a semester in term time.

5.3 Ideas and Petitions Submission, Discussion and Adoption 5.3.1 For the purpose of Student Forum an ‘Idea’ or ‘Petition’ is defined as follows: 5.3.1.1 A headline question or statement, and the answer to the two following questions: 5.3.1.1.1What do you want?

5.3.1.1.2Why do you want it?

5.3.2 Ideas or Petitions submitted will be automatically discussed by the Ideas and Petitions Group if at 7 working days before the next Student Forum meeting, the following criteria are fulfilled: 5.3.2.1 For Ideas, either: 5.3.2.1.1 At least a 25 positive vote difference online.

5.3.2.1.2 At least 100 votes in total online, negative or positive, but with a positive bias.

5.3.2.1.3 A current Sabbatical Officer chooses to bring the idea to Student Council.

5.3.2.2 For Petitions, either: 5.3.2.2.1 At least 50 online signatures have been recorded.

5.3.2.2.2 A current Sabbatical Officer chooses to bring the petition to Student Council.

5.3.3 The Ideas and Petitions group will be made up of at least two Sabbatical Officers and two Staff Members in an advisory capacity. Given 5.3.2.1 and 5.3.2.1, the group will make decisions on the best route an idea or petition takes, from the following: 5.3.3.1 Place it on the next Student Forum agenda.

5.3.3.2 Assign it to a relevant Network.

5.3.3.3 Assign it to an appropriate Sabbatical Office and/or Staff Member 5.3.4 Ideas and Petitions shall be discussed in the following manner: 5.3.4.1 Presentation by the person proposing, or a member of their choosing; 5.3.4.2 Question and Answer session, Student Network Leaders may ask questions of the proposer in order to clarify information; 5.3.4.3 Open debate of ideas, which may include alterations and/or suggestions.

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PASSED – October 2023 5.3.4.3.1In the event that a proposer or a member of their choosing is not present, Student Forum may suggest alterations to ideas. Any such alterations must be approved by the proposer.

5.3.5 Once an idea or petition has been adopted it becomes policy of Undeb Bangor and the proposer, or a member of their choosing, will be invited to meet the relevant Sabbatical Officer Network or Staff Member to draw up an action plan. Sabbatical Officers and/or staff members can work with proposals to adjust the original idea or petition to come up with a reasonable solution. This must not materially change what is being asked for.

5.3.6 The action plan should be presented at the next meeting of Student Forum for information.

5.3.7 If an idea is rejected by Student Forum, it cannot be resubmitted to Student Forum for consideration in the same academic year.

5.3.8 If an idea is rejected by Student Forum the proposer can choose whether or not the idea is put to the student body via a referendum, following the procedure detailed in Bye-Law 3 of the Bangor University Students’ Union (Undeb Bangor) Articles of Association 5.3.9 If an idea is rejected via referendum it cannot come back to Student Forum for consideration in the same academic year.

5.3.10 Submitted Ideas or Petitions that do not meet the criteria for being automatically discussed may be worked on by individual Networks if they wish. These Ideas and Petitions may also stimulate ideas for activities and projects.

5.3.11 Networks may also ask to place a submitted Idea or Petition on the agenda of the next Student Forum.

5.4 Voting 5.4.1

Voting will be based on a consensus model, where each voting member of Student Forum shall have a maximum of 3 points to award per Idea of Petition. These will be awarded in the following manner: 5.4.1.1 Three points – If the voting member fully supports the proposal and has real energy for it; 5.4.1.2 Two points – If the voting member thinks the proposal is good, even if they have slight reservations; 5.4.1.3 One point – If the voting member is “lukewarm” about the proposal, but accepts it is a workable outcome; 5.4.1.4 Zero points – If the voting member is struggling to consent to the proposal.

5.4.2

5.4.3 5.4.4 5.4.5

For an Idea or Petition to pass, Student Forum must award a minimum of a two-thirds majority of the total potential points available to be awarded. For example, if 15 members are present, the total potential points available to awarded will be 45. To pass, the Idea or Petition would need to reach 30 points.

Normal voting will take place openly, though any member of Student Forum may request a secret ballot.

Quorum for voting purposes will be 50% of members plus 1 member of those positions filled.

Sabbatical Officers shall attend Student Forum and provide reports on work undertaken.

University Students’ Union (Undeb Bangor) Articles of Association: Bye-Laws

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