Constitution & Steering Committee (C & S)

Page contents > Members | Minutes | Motions | Model Motions | Motion Template | Submitting Motions | Role | Constitution

Please note that from summer 2010 the Constitution and Steering Committee will be replaced be a Democracy Committee serving a similar function but with new powers.

 

C&S oversees the Students’ Union Constitution and Codes of Practice, and makes sure everything we do is procedurally correct. This means checking motions before they get to UGM to see that they’re not illegal or against equal opportunities; advising the Executive Committee on constitutional matters; and helping the UGM Chair conduct the meeting. There are 7 members of C&S.

Contact the Chair of C&S
If you have any questions, complaints or queries or would like any help or advice with UGM motions or any other internal procedure, please feel free to contact C&S. Our Tuesday evening meetings are open to all and all students have speaking rights.
su.constitution@lse.ac.uk - Chair of the Constitution and Steering Committee
 

Members <Click to return to top of page>
C & S is made up of seven voting members who are directly elected to the committee in a cross-campus ballot by the Single Transferable Vote system (STV).
There are also a number of non-voting members: the General Secretary, Communications Officer, Returning Officer and the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Union General Meeting (UGM).

A meeting of C&S is said to be quorate if four of the seven voting members are in attendance, otherwise it is not able to make binding decisions.
This year's C & S voting members are: Michael Lok (Chair), Natalie Osafo (Vice-Chair), Mubbien Hayat, Sebastien Steinfeld, Franck Magennis, Kate Strivens, and Gaurav Srivastava.

 

Motions <Click to return to top of page>
Any member of the Union can submit a motion. It's not difficult but a model motion and template are available on the left to help you get going.
All motions need to be sent to su.adminassistant@lse.ac.uk and su.constitution@lse.ac.uk before 5 on a Monday to be considered at that week's UGM.

 

Model Motion <Click to return to top of page>
This fictitious motion is designed to show you what a standard UGM business motion looks like and can be useful if you want to write your own.

Business Motion - Unfeasible charges

Proposed: Clare Houghton (Student number: 999999999)
Seconded: Lincoln Shaw Peacock (Student number: 888888888)

Union Notes

The LSE charges candidates for postgraduate programmes £30 to submit an online application and £60 to submit a standard paper application.

Most other colleges of the University of London, such as Kings, UCL, Queen Mary, SOAS Imperial College and Goldsmiths, charge no fees for the same service.

The cost of studying a masters course at the LSE for those classified as home students ranges from £8,130 to £15,426 per year and for those classified as overseas students from £11,958 to £15,426 per year.

To study a PhD for a home student costs £3,085 and an international student £10,716 per year.

Union Believes

That students may be deterred from applying to the LSE by the upfront fee of at least £30 for the privilege.
Entry to the LSE should be based on ability to learn, not the ability to pay.
LSE postgraduate students pay extortionate amounts of money in fees, which should be enough to cover the costs of processing postgraduate application forms.

Union Resolves

To mandate the General Secretary to liase with the school to investigate to possibility of eliminating application fees for postgraduate students.

Disclaimer: As you have probably realised, the proposer and seconder of this motion are not full members of the Union.


Motion Template <Click to return to top of page>
If you are not entirely sure how to structure a motion, feel free to use this template: Motion Template

 

Submitting a Motion - FAQ <Click to return to top of page>
What can a motion do?
A motion sets Union policy: it can contain an expression of the Union's stance on a particular issue; mandate Sabbatical Officer to carry out particular courses of action, such as lobbying the school authorities for better facilities or even change the Constitution.

What can a motion be about?

Anything. Recent motions discussed by the UGM have covered everything from the Middle East to the provision of adequate childcare facilities for student parents and from Fair Trade to the quality of the LSE's sandwich provision.

Who can submit a motion and how?
Any full member of the LSE Students' Union, ie all Undergraduate, General Course, Postgraduate and Research students. Two people need to put their names to the motion - a proposer and a seconder, both of whom must be full members of the Union. You will have to give a brief speech in favour of your motion at the UGM where it is discussed, with the seconder giving the second speech in favour if this is required - although the seconder can delegate their speech to another full member of the Union if they wish. Motions can be emailed to the Committee Chair and the Union's Admin Assistant or handed in to the Students' Union reception. Motions have to be submitted by Monday 5pm in order to be on the order paper for that week's UGM.

What different types of motion are there?

Technically, motions submitted should say what type they are, but if you are unsure, you can submit the motion anyway and C&S will categorise it.

Business Motions: the most common type of motion which cover anything which does not fall under the other categories detailed here. These motions can be discussed on the first week they appear on the order paper if time allows. They can be passed by a simple majority of voting UGM attendees.

Financial Motions:

these are the same as business motions except that they call for more than minimal financial expenditure by the Union. This does not include use of Officers' time or existing Union non-financial resources, which can be the subject of a business motion. For example, mandating the General Secretary to write a letter would be a business motion, whereas mandating the General Secretary to travel to Bogota at the Union's expense to deliver the letter in person would be a financial motion. Financial motions are debated the second week they appear on the order paper, subject to time constraints. They can be passed by a simple majority of voting UGM attendees.

Amendments to the Codes of Practice:

these motions change the Codes of Practice. They need to sit on the order paper for 4 weeks before being debated in the fifth week. In order to pass, these motions need a super majority - two thirds of voting UGM attendees.

Amendments to the Constitution: these motions sit on the order paper for 5 weeks before being debated in the sixth week. These also need a super majority of voting UGM attendees to pass.

Motions of Censure: if you wish to reprimand an elected Union official or representative, you can submit motion of censure condemning them. This is a 'slap on the wrist' and does not remove the individual in question from office. You cannot censure individual members of collective bodies such as C&S, but you can censure the committee as a whole. These motions need to sit on the order paper for a week before being discussed in the second week and need a super majority to pass.

Motions of No Confidence: if you wish to remove an official or representative of the Union from office, you can submit a motion of no confidence, but only following the successful motion of censure regarding the same individual or committee. These motions sit on the order paper for a week and again need a super majority to pass.

Emergency Motions: sometimes events requiring immediate action can develop during the week, following the Monday 5pm deadline for motion submission. In this case you can submit an emergency motion in writing to the General Secretary by 1pm Thursday, before the start of the UGM. It requires the approval by the General Secretary, in conjunction with C&S to be discussed at the meeting. If it is an emergency financial motion, it also requires the approval of the Treasurer. Emergency business motions require a simple majority and emergency financial motions need a super majority to pass.

How should I write my motion?
A motion has three parts:

1.) Union Notes
This part contains the indisputable facts on which the motion is based. If you are citing a particular source, the full reference needs to be given, including web address if appropriate. If you put information under this heading which C&S feels to be subjective or of questionable accuracy, it will be removed from here and put under Union Believes.

2.) Union Believes
This part can contain whatever you like - opinions, subjective comments etc, provided they are not in breach of the Union's equal opportunities statement. If C&S feels that statements under this heading are in breach of the equal opportunities statement, they will be removed entirely.

3.) Union Resolves
This is where you put what steps you wish to be taken on the issue discussed under Union Notes and Believes. C&S has to make sure that this is in line with the Constitution and the Law of the Land. If it is not, the whole motion or part of the Union Notes section as appropriate, will be removed. Take a moment to think about how specific you want your mandate to be; if you leave things open ended, whoever you have madated will have a freer hand to go ahead as they see fit, but, of course, that might mean they do something you don't completely agree with.

(A model motion is available for reference.)

There was not time to discuss my motion during the UGM, what happens now?

 

Motions which appear on the order paper for debate, but are not discussed, will be held over until the following meeting. If they are still not discussed because of time constraints, they will be held over for a further week. After they have been on the order paper for three weeks, if they still have not been debated, they will be removed from the order paper, unless the proposer and seconder of the motion tell C&S that they wish to re-submit the motion. It will then appear on the order paper in front of all motion submitted after it.

Can my motion be amended by other people?
Yes it can - the procedure for amending motions which are on the order paper is:

Business or Emergency Motions - amendments of less than 150 words must be submitted in writing to the Chair of the UGM before the motion is discussed, ie during the first part of the UGM. The amendment is debated and voted on following the first speaches for and against the main motion. If the amendment is accepted, it is then incorporated into the motion itself. The proposer of the amendment will have to give a speech in its favour - if you as the proposer of the motion are unhappy with it you can speak against or nominate a fellow student to do so on your behalf. If you accept the amendment, it is put into the motion without discussion or a vote.

Other Motions - if motions have to sit on the order paper for a period of time prior to debate, you can submit an amendment for the consideration of C&S by 5pm on the Monday before it is due to be debated. The procedure at the UGM is then the same as for a business motion.