L.4 Complaints about the Conduct of Elected Officers
(i) For the purposes of this section, "elected officer conduct" shall refer to the behaviour of an elected officer in his or her capacity as an elected officer or to behaviour by an elected officer that may be directly relevant to his or her work as an elected officer
(ii) For the avoidance of doubt, the CUSU External Trustee, Council-elected members of the TCS Board of Directors, officers of autonomous campaigns, delegates to NUS Conferences and similar events, and elected representatives to University committees (e.g., the Societies' Syndicate) should be considered elected officers for the purposes of this section (L.4). Student officers such as JCR Presidents, Faculty Representatives, and student members of the University Council and General Board, though they may be afforded particular powers within CUSU structures, shall not be considered elected officers for the purposes of this section. Complaints about these persons should be dealt with under the procedure for complaints about students' behaviour at CUSU functions (L.8).
(iii) Complaints about the conduct of elected officers of the CUSU may be made by
1. Any member of the CUSU
2. CUSU Staff
3. Any member of the public or any legal entity that has been directly impacted by elected officer conduct
(iv) Complaints about the conduct of elected officers who are not the CUSU Coordinator should be directed first to the CUSU Coordinator. Complaints about the conduct of the CUSU Coordinator should be directed first to the CUSU President. In the case of a complaint about the conduct of the CUSU Coordinator, the CUSU president should perform all functions nominally to be carried out by the CUSU Coordinator pursuant to this section (L.4).
(v) If a complaint relevant to this section (L.4) involves discrimination against or offence to a certain distinct social group and there are CUSU representative officers whose portfolios cover those groups, those officers should be solicited for their advice on the complaint and provided with all details about the complaint that it is reasonable to disclose to them, provided that any reasonable privacy concerns can be satisfied.
(vi) The Coordinator should acknowledge receipt of a formal complaint to the complainant within 3 working days of receiving it. Within 10 working days of receiving a complaint, the Coordinator should do one or more of the following:
1. Recuse himself or herself from the procedure and designate another person or body to carry out one or more of the steps that follow
2. Respond to the complainant outlining why a specific amount of additional time is needed for specific tasks that are necessary to properly investigating the complaint.
3. Judge the CUSU complaints procedures incompetent to hear the complaint and take all reasonable measures to refer the complainant to a body with proper jurisdiction
4. Reject the complaint
5. Uphold the complaint in part and set out corrective action
6. Uphold the complaint in full and set out corrective action
7. Refer the complaint to the CUSU Council as a motion or set of motions, with or without a Coordinator's recommendation
8. Identify that a ruling on the complaint (or a part thereof) may involve a serious admission of civil or criminal liability or a compelling issue of privacy and therefore refer the complaint to the Board of Trustees of the CUSU
(vii) Anyone directly involved in the complaint or in corrective action set out by the Coordinator may appeal a Coordinator's ruling to the CUSU Council in the form of a motion to the Council. If the motion involves a serious admission of civil or criminal liability or a compelling issue of privacy, the CUSU Chair shall rule the motion out of order and refer the issue to the Board of Trustees.
(viii) Complaints referred or appealed to the Board of Trustees shall be put on the Board's agenda for its next regular meeting. If Board members feel that the complaint must be dealt with urgently, they may call an emergency meeting pursuant to Standing Order K.3.
(ix) If students directly involved in the complaint or in the decision of the Council or the Board of Trustees (whichever has acted as the appellate body) are dissatisfied with that decision, they may appeal it to the Junior Proctor, and either the CUSU Chair or the Board of Trustees should advise all relevant parties of this fact and of how such an appeal could be made.