Taking a Motion to SRC: How to Do It!

Taking a Motion to SRC: How to do it!

The Student Representative Council (SRC) is the decision-making body of the University of Abertay Dundee Students’ Association (UADSA) and is made up of Class Representatives, Representative from each UADSA Society and the Executive Committee. The SRC provides a space from members to debate and decide on important topics that affect students at Abertay and beyond. One of the means which allows SRC members to debate and make change happen is through presenting a “motion” at an SRC meeting, Annual General Meeting (AGM) or Emergency General Meeting (EGM).

Motion procedures are set out in the constitution and any motion they must comply with the rules and standing orders of a meeting.

A motion must:

1)Have a Proposer and a Seconder who are Ordinary Members of the Students’ Association.

-The “Proposer” is the person who wishes to bring the motion to a meeting and will be responsible for presenting and debating the motion.

-The “Seconder” is the person who supports the motion being presented and puts their name to supporting it.

-“Ordinary Members” are Abertay Students who have not chosen to opt-out of membership of UADSA.

2)Motions must be brought forward prior to a meeting taking place with at least 5 days.

-An Emergency motion can be submitted after the deadline has passed provided that it relates to an issue that has arisen since the deadline and that the matter is of such importance that without a decision it would badly effect the running of UADSA.

3)Amendments to motions can be made no later than one day before the start of the meeting.

-Amendments must be an insert of words, deleting of words or both; however, it should not stop the proposal under debate or introduce any unrelated proposal.

-The Chair can refuse to accept any amendments without a vote.

4)All motions and amendments need a simple majority of members voting.

How to write a motion

There is no set format for how a motion should be written; however, there is good practise that you should follow when formulating your motion.

To begin with

Give your motion a title – make it clear what your issue of discussion is.

Ensure it is clear who is the “Proposer” and who is the “Seconder” on it.

Notes

Your next section (Notes) is essentially a statement of intention – This is a chance for you to make clear what the issue is and what you, as the author, believes to be the fact/s. This helps provide context.

An example might be:

“UADSA Notes:

That all Chocolate will have Chocolate in them”

You can have one or several “notes” in this section.

Believes

You then have a chance to explain what you believe. This is much more opinion-based and if passed will become the policy.

“Chocolate in Chocolate bars is a good thing”.

Resolves

This is the main thrust of the motion and gives the practical steps you want to see taken and want to see changed. It does not have to be overly specific.

“UADSA to campaign on keeping Chocolate bars Chocolate”.

Some handy tips

1)Background – It is worthwhile to understand and know how to articulate the background and context to the issue in questions.

2)State what you believe should happen – in clear statements outline what you think should happen and why.

3)How it should happen – Again be clear.

4)Make a connection – if your motion is related to another motion or UADSA policy then it would be important to make that clear.

The Debate

There are clear guidelines that will help you present your motion and debate:

1)Its good practise for the proposer and seconder to make themselves known to the chair prior to the meeting.

2)When it is your time to present the motion the Chair will ask you to come and speak to the members.

3)Use the time allotted well and speak clearly, know your argument.

4)The proposer has 5 minutes to explain their position and a right to sum up on the debate before the motion or amendment is voted on.

5)When summing up (or summation) it is important that no new information is present during it.

6)The Chair will allot time (2 minutes normally) for the seconder to speak to the issue.

7)The Opposer of a motion will also get 5 minutes to argue against the motion or argue for an amendment.

8)The Chair will a lot time for questions to be asked of the Proposer and Opposer.

9)It is important that you listen to and respect the Chairs position and instructions.

10) If you’re unsure then ask! You can speak to the Chair to discuss anything you are unsure about.

Example

Title:

Proposer

Seconder

SRC notes:

(if needed) SRC Further notes:

SRC Resolves:

(any additional notes or Appendix can be inserted at the end)