The name of the society shall be: The Student-Run Computing Facility.
The Society's aims shall be: to provide UN*X/Linux/BSD services for all
members of the society, including webspace, a central server, and training
activities, and to do such other things as conduce to the attainment of
these objects.
Membership of the society shall be extended to all members of the University
and any others who may apply to the Committee. Use of the facilities
provided by the society shall be restricted to members and may be subject to
an annual fee, which the Committee shall determine, and which may vary
according to the type of use made of the facility. The Committee may also
set an annual membership fee of the society (which may vary according to the
academic status of members), and in addition may offer honorary memberships
and life membership to any persons as it sees fit. It shall not refuse an
application for membership on the grounds of race, sex, sexual orientation,
disability, religion, or political views. It may, however, expel any member
for behaviour likely to bring the society or university into disrepute, for
acting in a way that is damaging to the integrity of any of the facility's
machines, or for breaking any of the relevant rules relating to the use of
computers in the University. The administrators may suspend the account of
anyone they suspect of the above, pending the decision of the Committee. For
official communications of the society email shall be sufficient, and it
shall be the responsibility of members of the society to provide the
Secretary with an appropriate email address. All members shall have full
voting rights at society meetings.
Meetings of the society:
The Annual General Meeting of the society shall be held each year in the
Lent Term. The time and venue of this meeting shall be publicised by the
Committee at least fourteen days beforehand.
Ordinary Meetings shall be held as and when the Committee sees fit. Such
meetings may be social, training, or anything else the Committee feels
is relevant to the aims of the society.
An Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of the society may be called by
the Committee, or by at least six members. A notice calling for an EGM
must: (1) include a clear statement of the purpose of the EGM, (2) state
the date (which must be in Full Term), time (which must be reasonable),
and venue (which must be in Cambridge) of the EGM, (3) be signed by
those calling for the EGM, and (4) be presented to the Committee at
least ten days before the EGM, but no more than fourteen days before.
The Committee must circulate the notice verbatim to the society at least
seven days before the EGM. An EGM may conduct any business necessary for
the purpose it was called.
The Committee shall be elected at the AGM by Single Transferable Vote
with a RON as defined by the University. Nominations must be submitted
to the Secretary at least three days before the AGM (in the absence of
other nominations for any post, nominations shall be accepted at the AGM
for that post), either by email or on paper, to reach the Secretary by
that deadline signed by proposer, seconder and nominee. Any member of
the society may be nominated for any Committee post (a proposer and
seconder are needed).
The Chair of the AGM shall appoint two tellers at the AGM. The Committee
may co-opt additional Committee members as it sees fit, and shall be
responsible for the appointment of system administrators, who shall be
responsible to the Committee. The Committee must have a majority of
members who are current CU undergraduate or postgraduate students or are
members of the Regent House and the majority of principal officers:
Chair, Secretary and Junior Treasurer must be current students.
Committee members shall hold office until they are replaced by a
successful candidate in an election or by-election. Committee members
may signal intent to resign their post on paper or by email to the
Chair, or in the case of the Chair to the Secretary, upon receipt of
which the Chair or Secretary (as appropriate) shall communicate this to
the rest of the Committee and the Committee shall make arrangements for
an EGM with by-election to be held in accordance with Article 5.4.
If no candidates are nominated for a post in an election or by-election,
or the election/by-election for a post is won by the option to re-open
nominations, or a Committee member signals intent to resign their post
as laid out in Article 5.3, the Committee shall call, in accordance with
the timeframes set out in Article 4.3, an EGM whose stated purposes
shall include the holding of by-elections for that/those post(s) and
which shall be held within fourteen days of the AGM (or, if the current
Full Term is to end within fourteen days, within seven days of the start
of the next Full Term). The by-elections shall be conducted as in
Article 5.1, with all references to an AGM to be replaced with
references to the EGM.
The Committee shall consist of Chair, Secretary, Junior Treasurer, and
PR officer. It shall meet at least once per term, and may invite any
other persons to attend Committee meetings as it sees fit. The Senior
Treasurer shall always be invited to attend Committee meetings if (s)he
wishes to.
The Committee may co-opt additional Committee members as it sees fit,
and shall be responsible for the appointment of system administrators,
who shall be responsible to the Committee.
A person co-opted to the Committee shall cease to be a member of the
Committee at the immediately subsequent Annual General Meeting unless
elected to the Committee at that meeting, or upon resignation in
accordance with Article 5.3. Notwithstanding Article 5.3, there shall be
no by-election to replace a co-opted member of the Committee.
The Committee shall maintain (and make available to members) a Roll of
system administrators, which must include all persons with discretionary
administrative access to the Society’s facilities. The Roll shall
contain, in respect of each individual, the date on which they were most
recently appointed or re-appointed a system administrator by the
Committee, but those who were already system administrators on the day
when this provision was adopted shall be deemed to have been
re-appointed on that day. A person shall cease to be a system
administrator by resignation, dismissal or retirement. Resignation may
be undertaken by writing to the Secretary. A person may be dismissed as
a system administrator only by a majority vote at a meeting of the
Committee. A system administrator will automatically retire one year
after their last activity as a system administrator defined as use of
system administrator credentials. The Committee may re-appoint a system
administrator an unlimited number of times.
In addition there shall be a Senior Treasurer, who shall be a resident
member of the Senate or other person approved by the Junior Proctor. The
Senior Treasurer shall make arrangements for the Society's Accounts to be
properly audited, either by himself or herself, or by some other person
approved under University Ordinances. The Senior Treasurer shall not be
liable for any financial debt or other obligation of the Society unless he
or she has personally authorised such a debt in writing.
Amendments to this constitution may be proposed by any six members of the
society, or by resolution of the Committee. Votes for the amendment of this
constitution shall require the support of two thirds of those voting to
effect the change, and may occur at AGMs, or at an EGM called explicitly for
that purpose. No amendment to this constitution intended to remove the
position of Senior Treasurer, to alter its prerogatives and duties or to
change the criteria and procedure for the appointment of a Senior Treasurer
can be put to a vote without prior written agreement of the Junior Proctor
of the University of Cambridge.
In the event of the dissolution of the society, its assets shall be given to
the University society with the most similar interests.
The Committee shall maintain a Register of the members of the Society.
Membership in the Society shall cease if and only if the member dies,
resigns in writing to the Secretary, ceases to be a member of the
University, is expelled pursuant to this Constitution, or if membership
lapses in accordance with Article 10.3.
No member who is a life member, a system administrator or the Senior
Treasurer shall be subject to lapse of membership. In all other cases,
membership in the Society shall lapse according to the terms of a
Membership Retirement Policy if one is adopted and published by the
Society. Such a policy may only be adopted if passed by a simple
majority of those voting at a General Meeting.
