26 September 2025

Agenda

1. Autumn 2025 EGM procedure
2. Proposed constitutional amendments
3. Upcoming trips and socials

Introduction

• Meeting starts at 17:14.
• Liam welcomes those present to the inaugural committee meeting of the 2025–26 academic year.

Autumn 2025 EGM procedure

• Candidates have been encouraged to provide a statement of up to 150 words when nominating themselves. These will be printed and made available to voters on the day. The ordering of statements will be varied across the handouts to prevent a candidate being ‘advantaged’ by appearing first.
• Members may nominate themselves on the day of the EGM, but will not be entitled to offer a statement in the interests of time and fairness. This was communicated on the EGM form.
• The committee agreed to implement a Single Transferable Vote system for elections at the EGM and going forward.
• The committee agreed to implement a paper voting system for the EGM. Pre-formatted ranked choice ballots (with numbers added and space for candidate names) will be prepared.
• It was noted that paper voting plus STV may be slower than using a simpler voting system or using online voting, but the committee were satisfied that any delays would not be too long as EGM attendance is expected not to be much higher than the quorum. At the time of the meeting, the quorum was 8.
• One of the tables can be moved to the middle/out of the way and a committee member can collect paper ballots as they are completed.
• Voting on constitutional amendments will take place first, followed by elections. The proposed constitutional amendments will be presented altogether first. If that motion fails, the important amendments will be voted on individually.

Proposed constitutional amendments

• Seb presented a proposed re-write of the constitution, which included changes on committee roles and methods of election, among other changes to make clauses more consistent with each other. Except where noted in the meeting, the re-write is intended to be the same as the current constitution.
• The proposed re-write has been available on the website for society members to read since the EGM was announced. It can be accessed via the EGM agenda.
• Seb will go through the re-write at the EGM before the vote and summarise the changes, pointing out sections that are functionally different to the current constitution. Mable emphasised the need to allow attendees the opportunity to freely oppose the changes. The committee will ensure that attendees have the space to speak against any part or all of the proposed amendments.
• The functional changes are as follows:
  • Lifetime Membership: A member needs only to be nominated by a majority vote by the committee, not a unanimous vote. This change was suggested at the committee meeting.
  • Lifetime Membership: The Secretary will keep a register of lifetime members.
  • Lifetime Membership: A lifetime member may now resign their membership at any time by writing to the Secretary.
  • Office Bearers: Individual clauses for each non-executive role except the Welfare Officer were removed. Now, candidates are first elected to General Committee and then assigned roles after the General Meeting. This means that an EGM does not need to be called every time a non-welfare/non-exec committee member resigns. The current executive officers will decide how many General Committee posts will be available at the next AGM.
  • Recall: The threshold for recall was reduced from a three-quarters majority to a two-thirds majority. It was agreed that the threshold to recall an office bearer should be below the threshold to dissolve the society.
  • It was agreed at the meeting that candidates will still be encouraged to make a speech with particular responsibilities in mind. It was also agreed that EGMs cannot be used to change the total number of committee as a matter of principle.
  • Method of Election: A new clause was added stipulating the method of election and what to do in the event of a tie. This will be updated now that the committee has agreed on using Single Transferable Vote.
  • Dissolution: A motion to dissolve the society must take place at a quorate EGM called specifically for that purpose. Previously a special quorum of 50% of membership was set for these meetings, whereas quroum is otherwise 15%.
  • The committee agreed to the contents of the re-write after comparing it clause by clause to the current constitution.

Upcoming trips and socials

• The committee considered ideas for upcoming socials.
  • Scavenger hunt on Edinburgh Trams, or another tram-related social
  • Halloween Gathering — similar to last year
  • Pub night/crawl (with a theme?)
  • Board games night
• The committee considered ideas for upcoming day trips.
  • A scavenger hunt with the SPT Roundabout ticket — this would require considerable advance planning, but this could be looked at over the coming months.
  • Wemyss Bay and Rothesay (Bute) — may require EUSA funding considering cost to get to Wemyss Bay and then the ferry, even with Rail & Sail tickets.
  • Stirling (last visited January 2024) or a Borders (last visited March 2024) trip were considered as the most likely options for the October trip.
  • The committee would also like to go to Bo’ness, and plan on doing so for one of the trips this academic year, though after Stirling or the Borders perhaps.
  • Perth and Dundee were also noted as being relatively easy destinations to get to, but they were above the £20 target for flexible return tickets.
  • Other potential destinations noted included Pollok Country Park, Dunkeld & Birnam, North Berwick, and the Fife coast villages (using a bus day ticket after an initial train).
• The wider committee will be consulted on their opinions and availability, and a decision on the next trip made in due course, given the limited attendance at the meeting.
• The committee will also consider in future the feasibility of advance bookings and selling tickets via the EUSA page. The number of advance tickets available would have to closely match demand, but they would open more opportunities for trips.
• The committee noted that the EUSA Student Development Fund opens for applications on Monday, 29 September. York was mentioned as another feasible location for a EUSA grant, provided it was booked far enough in advance.
• Meeting ends at 19:20.

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