I.  Name

1. The name shall be "University of York Conservative and Unionist Association", hereafter referred to as the "Association".
2. The "National Conservative and Unionist Party" shall be referred to as the "National Party". The University of York shall hereafter be referred to as "UoY". The "Students' Union" shall be referred to as the "SU".

II.  Function

3. To maintain a Conservative Party presence at UoY.
4. To carry out activities to promote the Conservative Party at UoY.
5. To aid and assist the local Conservative Associations in their work.
6. To be affiliated to the National Party.
7. To discuss Conservative ideals and thinking.
8. To promote freedom of speech at all times.

III.  Membership

9. Any person who is a member of UoY shall, if they so desire, be a member of the Association, providing that they are not members of any other political party. Former Chairmen of the Association are honorary members for life.
10. All members of the Association are bound by these rules.
11. The committee shall maintain and furnish to the membership, the SU and the National Party, a full and up to date list of the names and addresses of members of the Association.

IV.  Constitution

12. The Association is formed with the authority of the National Party and is subject to the Conservative Party constitution.
13. The Association shall have the power to raise funds but at all times any funds raised will belong to the Association.
14. All certified Association accounts shall be submitted to the Association AGM every year.
15. The Association shall appoint no less than three signatories for Association accounts of whom any two shall be required to sign any necessary documents.
16. Upon request from the National Party, the Association shall produce any information relating to the affairs of the Association, including information relating to finance and membership, except where such action would contravene the Data Protection Act.
17. Any monies subject to the SU shall be governed by the SU, and shall be subject to the SU Finance manual and the SU constitution (see Article 54 below).

V.  Officers of the Association

18. The Association shall consist of the following officers:
    • Chairman
    • External Vice-Chairman
    • Internal Vice-Chairman
    • Treasurer
    • Secretary
    • Publicity Officer
    • Press Officer
    • Campaigns Coordinator
    • Events Coordinator
    • Computing Coordinator
    • 3 x Ordinary Officers
19. Honorary President and Vice-President are considered ex officio.
20. The officers shall be elected annually at the AGM in accordance with paragraph 35 below.
21. Officers shall cease to hold office upon death, or resignation, or a vote of no confidence being passed.
22. If any officer ceases to hold office, the Association shall elect a successor at the first available opportunity.

VI.  Association Committee

23. The Committee shall consist of the officers as defined in Article 18 above.
24. The Chairman of the Association shall be Chairman of the Committee.
25. Meetings, Notices and Business:
    

    (a) The Chairman shall have the power to instruct the Secretary to convene a Committee meeting at any time, of which not less than 2 days notice shall be given via e-mail, specifying the business to be dealt with at which Officers shall give reports.
    (b) The Committee shall have power to appoint sub-committees and the Officers shall be ex-officio members of sub-committees.
    (c) The activities of sub-committees, including their structure, shall be determined by the committee.
    (d) Any officer who is absent for four (4) consecutive committee meetings without reason accepted by those present at a committee meeting shall be considered to have forfeited their position on the committee and shall cease to hold office.
    (e) The quorum of the Committee shall be 50%+1 of the actual membership - unfilled offices shall not be considered for determining quoracy.
    

VII.  Duties of Officers

26. The Chairman
    

    (a) Shall chair all meetings, or may designate an alternative chair for a particular meeting; unless a motion is carried to the effect that the Chairman should not chair a particular meeting.
    (b) Shall be held responsible for all Association activities and shall delegate responsibilities to the other officers under the broad descriptions of the duties listed for each officer here.
    (c) Shall be the main spokesman for the Association and shall be treated as such in press releases and other external liaison.
    (d) Shall be chiefly responsible for increasing the profile of the Association on campus.
    (e) Should be required to stand for re-election should he/she become chairman of another society subsequent to his/her election as Association chairman.
    (f) Shall be a cheque signatory.
    

27. The External Vice-Chairman
    

    (a) Shall work closely with the Chairman to ensure the smooth running of the Association.
    (b) Shall be responsible for arranging guest speakers.
    (c) Shall be responsible for promoting and maintaining links with local Conservative Associations and the National Party.
    (d) Shall keep the Association updated on matters of National Party policy and activities.
    

28. The Internal Vice-Chairman
    

    (a) Shall work closely with the Chairman to ensure the smooth running of the Association.
    (b) Shall be chiefly responsible for membership recruitment, including Freshers' Fair.
    (c) Shall be responsible for matters internal to the University administration, the SU and the Association.
    (d) Shall encourage members to participate in the democratic processes of the SU.
    

29. The Treasurer
    

    (a) Shall be responsible for the maintenance of sound financial practice and for the keeping of the accounts to the standard required for annual auditing and for such financial information as shall be required by Association meetings. The financial year shall end at the end of the Autumn term.
    (b) Shall advise on the financial aspects of policies and actions.
    (c) Shall be responsible for the raising of funds.
    (d) Shall be responsible for money-related matters at Association events.
    (e) Shall be a cheque signatory.
    

30. The Secretary
    

    (a) Shall produce minutes and agendas of meetings required by the Chairman to be recorded.
    (b) Shall produce other such documentation as shall be required by, or result from, decisions of Association meeting.
    (c) Shall be a cheque signatory.
    (d) Shall be responsible for publicising meetings and events of the Association to members via e-mail.
    (e) Shall be responsible for keeping a permanent hard copy of society minutes.
    

31. The Publicity Officer
    

    (a) Shall be responsible for publicising the activities of the Association such as meetings, speakers, events etc.
    

32. The Press Officer
    

    (a) Shall co-ordinate relations with external and campus media.
    (b) Shall produce and send suitable press releases as necessary.
    (c) Shall encourage members participation in the student, local and national media in line with Articles 3 to 8 of the constitution.
    (d) Shall assist, in conjunction with the IVC, the presentation of candidates endorsed by the society, to the campus media during SU, local, national and European elections.
    

33. The Campaigns Co-ordinator
    

    (a) Shall be responsible for the organisation and co-ordination of Association campaign activity.
    (b) Shall liaise with constituency and National Party organisations in execution of the above duty.
    (c) Shall encourage all Association members to participate in campaign activity.
    

34. The Events Co-ordinator
    

    (a) Shall arrange, organise and co-ordinate Association social events, including Christmas Dinner.
    

35. Computing Co-ordinator
    

    (a) Shall be responsible for maintaining the Association website in consultation with the rest of the committee.
    (b) Shall ensure the smooth running of the Computing Service account.
    (c) Shall be responsible for maintenance of the Membership database.
    

36. Ordinary Officers
    

    (a) Shall generally aid and assist the other Officers in their work.
    (b) May carry out a specific responsibility that may be assigned by the AGM or the committee with consent of the Officer.
    

37. All officers shall carry out other responsibilities stated by or agreed to in accordance with this constitution.

VIII.  Annual General Meeting (AGM)

38. The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Association may be called by the Chairman or a majority of the committee at any time in the autumn term, giving at least two weeks notice, for the following purposes:
    

    (a) To receive and adopt the certified accounts of the previous year.
    (b) To receive and adopt the reports of the committee of the previous year.
    (c) To elect the officers of the Association for the coming year who take office with effect from the close of the meeting along the following guidelines:
    

    (i) In 2 way contests, the candidate with the most votes will be declared the winner.
    (ii) In 3 or more way contests, the bottom candidate will be disqualified and a second vote shall be held. Should this process not produce a 50%+1 vote for any candidate the process will continue and so on. In the event of a tie in the final round, the Chairman shall have the casting vote.
    (iii) Candidates must be able to hold office for a year (i.e. must be a student at UoY for a year) from the date of the AGM; if this is discovered not to be the case after an election, the committee may vote to deem the election invalid.
    (iv) Re-open Nominations (RON) shall be counted as a candidate in all elections and treated as such.
    

    (d) To elect the Honorary President and Vice-Presidents for the coming year.
    (e) To re-ratify and amend this constitution.
    (f) To outline the programme for the forthcoming year.
    (g) To transact such other business as may be brought before it.
    

IX.  Extraordinary General Meetings (EGM)

39. An Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of the Association may be summoned at any time by the Chairman, or at least by one third of the membership signing a petition asking for such a meeting. Upon such a request the EGM must be held within two weeks of receipt of the written and signed request.
40. In the event of the Chairman ceasing to hold office, an EGM may be called by one member submitting a written request for such a meeting to the Secretary.
41. The business of the EGM shall be stated in the notice convening it.

X.  General Meetings (GM)

42. Notice of all General Meetings shall be given to all members not less than 48 hours prior to the meeting.
43. All members have the right to attend such meetings and participate when invited to do so by the Chairman of the meeting.
44. For all General Meetings the quorum shall be not less than ten (10), five (5) of whom must be committee members.

XI.  Voting at General Meetings

45. The vote at a General Meeting is never superior to that of an EGM or AGM, including elections of Association officers.
46. The Chairman decides whether the vote should be by show of hands or secret ballot, however, should 1/4 (one quarter) of the members present request a secret ballot, a secret ballot will be held.

XII.  Accountability

47. Options of censure and no confidence are available to members should it be felt that an Officer should be held to account (and no alternatives are deemed acceptable by the members).
48. Any members wishing to no confidence or censure an Officer shall submit their request, in writing, to the Chairman of the Association. Should the motion of no confidence or censure be in the Chairman, it should be submitted to the Secretary instead. A GM to discuss the motion should be held within two term weeks.
49. An Officer may be censured or no confidenced by any quorate GM providing the vote is in secret and the accused and the accuser are given the opportunity to state their cases. The appropriate vote must be publicised via e-mail to all members at least 2 days in advance of the meeting following the Secretary of Chairman's receipt of a written request for a vote. The motion is carried should more people vote for than against, and the motion takes effect at the close of the meeting.

XIII.  Suspension of the Association

50. The Association shall only consider itself to be suspended should an EGM or AGM pass a resolution to that effect.

XIV.  Elections

51. The Association shall encourage its members to take an active part in local, national and European election campaigns and encourage members to stand for public office.
52. The Association shall encourage its members to stand for election to the SU and its committees.
53. "Official" Association backing can and only will be given to SU candidates who have the support of the membership at a General Meeting.

XV.  Interpretation

54. The Constitution of the Conservative Party shall have effect in this document.
55. While the Association is affiliated to the SU, the SU Constitution shall have effect in this document.
56. The Committee shall have the power to deal with any matter not provided for in this document.
57. In the event of a dispute over this constitution, the Committee shall turn the matter over to the Honorary Vice-Presidents, who will then make their decision.
58. The decision of the Honorary Vice-Presidents in matters of dispute shall be final.

XVI.  Alteration of this Constitution

59. Only an EGM or an AGM may amend this document. A proposed amendment must be carried by at least two thirds (2/3) of members present to take effect.
60. Abstentions in this case shall count against.

XVII.  Amendments

61. The following positions shall be merged and act as a single office held by at most one person until such a time as an AGM is called, immediately before which this article shall be null and void, and stricken from this constitution:
    • Press Officer
    • Publicity Officer
62. Only people whose current course runs for a full year may stand for a committee position.

Amendments as of 2006 AGM

• Before paragraph 23: With regard to the Press and Publicity Officers. In the instance of only one person standing for election of one of these positions, assuming nobody else can be found to occupy the vacant position, duties of the said vacant position will automatically fall to the person elected to the other position. E.g. somebody elected as Press Officer will automatically have to assume the duties of the Publicity Officer should nobody stand for this position and vice versa.
• Before paragraph 24: Only people whose current course runs for a full year may stand for a committee position. This holds unless in the case of nobody willing to stand for the position of Chairman. In this case a finalist may run for a severely restricted term of 5 term weeks or until a suitable replacement can be found. This is to ensure the continuity and smooth running of the Association in years when there are high numbers of first year members or when people feel unable to run. The interim period such an arrangement should have ought to facilitate the election of a permanent chairman when new committee members grow in confidence and understanding regarding the day-to-day running of the Association. This occurred at the AGM of December 2004 when a finalist was elected with great success, and sets an Association precedent.
• 25 (d) Any officer who is absent for three (3) consecutive committee meetings without reason deemed acceptable by those present at a committee meeting shall be considered to have forfeited their position on the committee and shall cease to hold office.
• New subparagraph above 27 (a) Shall work closely with the Chairman concerning all aspects of the running of the Association.
• New subparagraph above 28 (a) Shall work closely with the Chairman concerning all aspects of the running of the Association.
• Paragraphs 61 and 62 are stricken from the constitution.