CUSU Council
The Basics
Submission of Motions
Any member of CUSU (i.e. any Cambridge student) may submit a motion, or an amendment to a motion.
There are three different types of motion that can be submitted to Council:
1. Ordinary motions
2. Emergency motions
3. Procedural motions
1. Ordinary motions must be submitted in writing or by email to the Chair of CUSU Council (chair@cusu.cam.ac.uk). They should be in the format described on page 5.
They must be submitted by 5pm, five days before the relevant Council meeting. For example, Council currently takes place on Wednesday nights during Weeks 2, 4, 6 and 8 during Michaelmas and Lent terms. Therefore the deadline for motion submissions is the Friday of week 2, 4, 6 and 8.
2. Emergency motions must be submitted in writing or by email to the Chair of CUSU Council, and should also be in the format described on page 5. They must be submitted at any time before the relevant Council meeting. If submitted within 48 hours of the meeting, it is the proposer's responsibility to photocopy enough copies of the motion for all Council members. An emergency motion must discuss an emergency issue, not merely be a vehicle to submit a motion which has missed the Ordinary motion deadline.
Therefore the substance of the motion should have arisen since the deadline for Ordinary motions. The CUSU Chair can refuse to accept the motion if they feel this is not the case.
This timetable is designed so that people can read about the issues that are going to be discussed at Council in advance, but that, if necessary, CUSU can also respond to extraordinary events.
3. Procedural motions are submitted orally during the Council meeting itself. For details on these motions, see page 8.
Submission of amendments to motions
Amendments to an ordinary or emergency motion must be submitted in writing to the Chair of Council before the motion is discussed.
Any amendments proposed to ordinary or emergency motions not in accordance with this procedure will not be discussed. This is designed so that suggested amendments will be well thought out and members will have time to think about them before voting on them – it also speeds up the procedure of the debate.
Amendments to motions are discussed before the main discussion of the motion itself, but after the proposing speech, so that the amendments are debated within the right context, but that the substantial part of the debate is held over the possibly amended version.
If the amendment to the motion concerns a minor change to the motion's text, for example to correct spelling, grammar or to clarify an awkward phrase, these amendments can be made orally during the debate and accepted at the discretion of the Chair.
The format of an Ordinary or Emergency Motion
Motions to CUSU Council should be in the following format:
CUSU notes:
CUSU believes:
CUSU resolves:
Notes should contain background facts to the issue in question (please quotesources where possible).
Believes should outline the proposer's and seconder's views on the issue in question, their opinions, which they want to be held by CUSU.
Resolves should contain the detailed requests of the proposer and seconder, the desired action or actions. They should outline what is to be done, who is to do it, and, where appropriate, how this action is to be funded.
Help is available in writing motions from any member of the CUSU Executive.
Who can attend and who can vote
Anyone who is a member of CUSU (i.e. any Cambridge University student) can attend CUSU Council meetings.
Voting members of CUSU Council are:
• College JCR/MCR/SU Presidents (or the equivalent)
• An extra representative from the JCR or MCR (whichever is biggest) such as an External Officer or a Vice President
• Some members of the CUSU Executive (not including the sabbaticals)
• Some Faculty Representatives
More specific details of Council Membership can be found in article D.2 of the CUSU Constitution.
Voting members only have one vote each.
All voting members must sign the "Sign-in Sheet" at the entrance to Council.
Failure to do so may cause their votes to be disregarded.
If a voting member is unable to attend a Council meeting, they can send a proxy, a substitute CUSU member, to vote in their place. The absent voting member must provide written notification to the Chair. The proxy must sign the "Sign-in sheet" in place of the absent voting member marking their name as proxy.
You can vote for, against or abstain from a motion. You must be present at the taking of the vote in order to vote: if you leave the room before the end of the meeting you cannot vote on motions debated after you have left.
Votes for Ordinary and Emergency motions can be changed at the next Council meeting after voting members have consulted with their College members. These votes are changed by announcement during "Matters arising" in the agenda.
Debating motions: what you can and cannot do
When a motion is debated, a speech is made for the motion (a "speech for") by the proposer, the seconder or another nominated person.
Then the debate begins. The rest of Council can make the following interjections:
1. A speech for the motion
2. A speech against the motion
3. A point of information (being a neutral speech to add information to the general debate for the benefit of the debate)
4. A question, specifically directed to either the Council Chair, a member of the CUSU Executive or the proposer or seconder of the motion
5. A procedural motion
The debate will be balanced by the Chair asking for certain types of speech.
At the end of the debate the proposer, the seconder or another nominated person makes a summation of their motion for one minute. The vote is then taken.
Time limits
There is a time limit of fifteen minutes per agenda item. This can be extended by a procedural motion, or by the chair (subject to an indicative vote). This is designed to make sure Council progresses quickly, while allowing flexibility should some issues require more time.
Ratification of Open Meeting motions
CUSU Open Meetings are another forum for debate that exists alongside Council, where every member of CUSU can vote. However, motions passed at CUSU Open Meetings do not instantly become CUSU policy. Instead they must be ratified at CUSU Council. The ratification process is to ensure that the Open Meeting followed the rules set out in the Constitution and the Standing Orders –
ratification is not about whether the Open Meeting was 'representative'.
Council members should therefore vote for ratification unless they believe the procedure of the Open Meeting was not in accordance with the rules laid out in the Constitution/Standing Orders. Open Meeting motions to be ratified can not be amended in any way.
Procedural motions
There are seven types of procedural motion that can be put during a Council meeting:
1. that the motion not be put: the motion should not be discussed by Council (this could be because the motion is ultra vires or its content is offensive);
2. that Council move to a vote: the motion should be voted on immediately (because, say, it was felt there was no point in continuing the debate);
3. that the motion be referred to the Executive, the Faculty Forum, to a CUSU Committee or to a latter Council meeting: this could be because it was felt that Council was not the appropriate place to hold the discussion, or because a different body should discuss it first and report back to Council;
4. that the motion be voted on in parts: the motion should be split into sections to be specified by the prosper of the procedural motion, and then each section be discussed and voted on separately;
5. that part of the motion be deleted: the motion contains a clause that should be deleted before allowing the motion to be discussed and voted on further;
6. that Standing Orders be suspended: that the rules governing the course of the Council meeting do not apply a particular procedure (e.g. oral amendments to motions) and that they be suspended for a short time;
There are also procedural motion points of order that can be made during the meeting. These points of order can only be raised during a motion or vote to which they directly relate:
1. to request a Chair's ruling on a constitutional issue governing the course of the meeting or an issue in discussion and its relationship to the constitution;
2. to challenge a Chair's ruling;
3. and to request the Chair to leave Council and that the CUSU Executive immediately choose a new Chair.
4. and that the time limit on a motion be extended.
Discussion of procedural motions is limited to one speech in favour, one against and no questions. Each speech must not exceed thirty seconds.
Limits on CUSU Policy
The lifetime of CUSU policy
CUSU Policy is created by the actions of CUSU Council, or a CUSU referendum. The lifetime of this policy is 3 years, to expire at the end of Lent Term. Therefore policy must be put through Council again after this expiry date to remain valid. This time limit ensures that policy is reviewed as often as the turnover of the student population.
Council is a sovereign body under the constitution. This means that it cannot bind itself. Therefore any policy made at Council can be overturned by a future vote of Council (or a referendum).
A list of current CUSU Policy is available from the Chair.
The doctrine of ultra vires
The doctrine of ultra vires (in excess of powers) is about an organisation having set powers in certain areas, and not exceeding those powers. CUSU's powers, and what sort of policy CUSU can hold, are bound by UK law and the CUSU Constitution.
The most relevant section of the Constitution is Article A, the Objectives of the Union. If you are in doubt as to whether a motion or policy is legal, either by UK law or the CUSU Constitution, contact the CUSU Chair or the Development and Planning Committee – who will refer the motion to a legal advisor appointed by the trustees.