Constitution

1. NAME

The name of the society shall be The Emmanuel College Middle Combination Room, hereafter referred to as the MCR.

2. OBJECTS

The MCR shall exist

to represent the views of the MCR members to the College authorities and any other body on matters concerning the interests and welfare of the MCR members.
to provide amenities and entertainments for its members.
to advance the education of its members.
to administer and allocate funds made available to its members in their capacity as students, or as required by the MCR on behalf of its members in accordance with the objects of the MCR.

3. MEMBERSHIP

Full membership of the MCR shall consist of

members of the College registered as Graduate students.
Individuals registered as affiliated students
Associate membership of the MCR may be granted to prospective members as determined by the Governing Body.

Associate membership of the MCR may be granted to other members of the College as determined by the Governing Body.

4. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND SENIOR TREASURER

The Executive Committee of the MCR shall consist of a minimum of seven, being a President, a Secretary, a Treasurer and a Computer Officer, and between three and five other members, at least one of whom shall be a Social Secretary.

Each member of the Executive Committee may not hold more than one of the offices of President, Secretary, Treasurer or Computer Officer.

The duties of the Committee members shall be:
1. The President shall chair all meetings and be responsible for receiving and publishing resignations of all the other Executive Committee members.
2. The Secretary shall take minutes of all meetings. Minutes will be available for inspection by members of the MCR upon request. The Secretary shall also be responsible for giving notice of Open Meetings (Including the Annual General Meeting), and of elections, and shall be responsible for receiving and publishing the resignation of the President.
3. The Treasurer shall administer the financial affairs of the MCR (see Section 9).
4. The Computer Officer shall be responsible for the MCR website.
5. The Social Secretary (or Social Secretaries should there be more than one) shall be responsible for all MCR social events. These responsibilities shall continue until the end of the term in which the Annual General Meeting takes place.
The Executive Committee shall retire at the Annual General Meeting. Its members shall be eligible for re-election.
Executive Committee meetings shall be decided by the existing Executive Committee and shall be held at least once every two weeks in Full Term and at least once every four weeks during the vacations. Ordinary members of the MCR are entitled to attend such meetings, to speak at the invitation of the President, but not to vote.
Executive meetings shall be quorate when more than half of the members in office are present.
The Executive Committee shall appoint a Senior Member of the College to be the Senior Treasurer of the MCR, the appointment being subject to the approval of the Governing Body (see Section 9).

5. PROCEDURE

If the President is absent from any meeting or is unable to represent the Committee in relation to any official function, a member of the Committee determined by internal vote of the Committee shall be Acting President until the President Returns.
Decisions of the Executive Committee shall be made by a simple majority. Each member shall have one vote, except the President, or Acting President who, in the event of a tie, shall have the casting vote.

6. RESIGNATIONS

The President may resign by giving notice in writing to the Secretary.
Any other member of the Executive Committee may resign by giving notice in writing to the President.
Any member of the Executive Committee, including the President, shall be deemed to have resigned:
1. if he or she ceases to be a member of the MCR; or
2. if, having failed to attend two consecutive meetings of the Executive Committee, he or she is unable to provide reason for his or her absence on either of these occasions acceptable to the next meeting of the Executive Committee; or
3. if he or she is directed to resign by a resolution of an Open Meeting; or
4. if he or she is away from Cambridge for more than one month during Full Term.
c)Voluntary resignations of the President, Computer Officer, or Treasurer shall require a period of two weeks notice, unless otherwise previously agreed with the other members of the Executive Committee. Resignations of all other Executive Committee members shall take effect immediately upon notice.

7. MEETINGS

The Annual General Meeting of the MCR shall be held each year during the first four weeks of the Michaelmas term, on an exact date decided by the retiring Executive Committee.
Open Meetings of the MCR shall be held when requested:
1. by the Executive Committee
2. by a petition signed by five members of the MCR, such a petition being handed to the President. The Executive Committee shall hold the Open Meeting within two weeks of receiving such a petition.
The Executive Committee shall give to the members of the MCR at least one week's notice when possible of all Open Meetings, and at least two week's notice of the Annual General Meeting. Such notice shall consist of notes or an email sent to each member of the MCR in residence, stating the time, date and place of the meeting and the provisional agenda.
All open meetings at which a motion requiring general approval by the MCR is proposed shall be followed within a period of five days by vote of the MCR conducted according to Appendix 3. MCR members when possible shall be notified of the date of this vote with notification for the Open Meeting. The quorum for votes shall be 15% of the total MCR membership. The results of all votes shall be taken by a simple majority, except in the case of constitutional matters (see section 10).
Decisions voted on by the MCR community shall be binding on the Executive Committee only if votes are quorate.
Motions at the Open Meeting must be proposed and seconded by members of the MCR, and shall be submitted, in writing, to the President at least three days before the meeting, except the Annual General Meeting, where seven days notice must be given. All motions proposed for or at Open Meetings must be subject to a general vote by the MCR within five days of the time of the Open Meeting. All MCR votes shall be conducted as on-line votes whenever possible.
Motions passed under clause 7(d) shall become MCR policy unless they constitute a breach of this Constitution, in which case the President, or in his or her absence, any other member of the Executive Committee shall make a Declaration of Incompatibility. Such a declaration does not affect the validity, operation of enforcement of the motion in respect of which it is given. However, members of the Executive Committee have the right to suspend the application of the motion until such a time when the incompatibility of the motion with the Constitution can be resolved, either by amendment of the Constitution at an Open Meeting, or by amendment or withdrawal of the incompatible motion.
Where no MCR policy exists, the Executive Committee shall be empowered to act on their own initiative.

8. ELECTIONS

The election of members of the executive shall be under the control of a returning officer to be appointed by the Executive Committee. The returning officer must not be standing as a candidate in the election.
Two week's notice must be given, by means of notes sent to each MCR member, of each election.
Elections shall be held by secret ballot during the course of the day preceding, and the day of, the Annual General Meeting. Polling shall close one hour before the start of the Annual General Meeting.
Each member of the MCR shall be entitled to vote in any election for an office on the Executive Committee.
Nominations will close at noon seven days before the first election day. Each candidate, who shall be a full member of the MCR, must be nominated and seconded by members of the MCR. Nominations must be delivered to the Returning Officer.
A separate ballot shall be conducted for each member of the executive committee with the exception of the offices of internal and external social secretaries. A single ballot shall be conducted for three executive committee members elected to the office of social secretary. Members may run for only one position on the first ballot.
The ballot for the election to all positions of the executive committee, computer officer withstanding, shall be conducted according to the procedure prescribed in Appendix 1.
The ballot for the election to the office of Computer Officer shall be conducted according to the procedure prescribed by Appendix 2.
The three candidates receiving the highest number of votes in election for the role of social secretary shall select their position in the office of two Internal Social Secretaries and one External Social Secretary in descending order of the votes cast for them.
In the event of a tie in any ballot, the Returning Officer shall conduct a secondary ballot between 5 and 10 days of the first ballot or include a re-vote on the secondary ballot in the event described in section Clause 8 (k). If the result of the second ballot is also a tie. then the result shall be determined by a random method (such as the tossing of the coin) chosen by the Returning Officer. The Returning Officer may not take into account the race, sex, colour, language, religious convictions, scholarly origins, political or other opinions or any other irrelevant characteristics of the candidate when determining the result of the ballot.
In the event that not a single nomination stands for an Executive Committee position on the first ballot or in the event that a vote of no confidence nullifies the election of a candidate on the first ballot, the Returning Officer shall conduct a secondary ballot between 5 and 10 days of the first ballot. The secondary ballot shall be conducted by the same procedures described for the first ballot. If after the secondary ballot there is still not a single valid candidate then standing committee members are asked to take on extended responsibility for the unexecuted duties.
Should the position of the President become vacant, then a member of the Executive Committee shall become president by an internal vote of the committee. If no committee members wish to fill this role, then a by-election must be held. Should any of the other position on the Executive Committee be vacant at any time, the vacancies must be advertised, and a by-election must be held if any nomination is received by the Returning Officer.
The procedure for by-elections shall be as for annual elections (see section 8).

9. FINANCE

The financial year shall run from 1st August to 31st July, and the financial report of the MCR shall cover that period.
The MCR shall have the power to provide funds from any lawful project that it might undertake. For all or any of its objects the MCR shall have the power to hold or purchase any form of property, heritable or moveable.
There shall be an MCR account into which shall be paid any funds raised under clause 9(b) and the annual capitation fee from ECSU subscriptions account. Expenditure may be made for the provision of general facilities, including newspapers, periodicals and entertainments, and the administrative and miscellaneous costs incurred in the running of the MCR. No donations shall be made to charities or any outside bodies.
Any cheque drawn on the MCR account shall require the signatures of any two of the President, Treasurer or Secretary.
The accounts of the MCR shall be audited annually by the College Auditors and approved by the Senior Treasurer, and then published at the Annual General Meeting.
The Treasurer shall submit a budget and financial report before the Annual General Meeting. Amendments to the budget may be made by a resolution of the meeting providing that the amendment complies with clause 9(c).
All members of the Executive Committee shall be entitled to be indemnified out of the assets of the MCR against all losses or liabilities which they may sustain or incur in the execution of their offices, and no member shall be liable for any loss, damage or misfortune which may happen to be incurred by the MCR; notwithstanding which, nothing in this clause shall affect their liability for any fraudulent or negligent act on their part.

10. CONSTITUTION

This Constitution may be amended only by a resolution of an Open Meeting followed by an MCR vote, provided that the number voting in favour is at least twice the number voting against. Amendments may be made subject to the approval of the Governing Body.
Any amendments must be proposed and seconded by members of the MCR and must be submitted, in writing, to the Secretary at least seven days before any Open or Annual General Meeting, and must be posted in the MCR at least five days before the meeting.

11. INTERPRETATION OF THE CONSTITUTION

The Appendix shall be an integral part of the Constitution.
This Constitution shall be interpreted by the Executive Committee. In as far as it is possible to do so, this Constitution must be read effect in a way which is compatible with the objects of the MCR contained in section 2.
In cases of dispute the point shall be settled by the Senior Treasurer, whose decision shall be final.

APPENDIX: PROCEDURE FOR THE BALLOT FOR THE BALLOT TO THE ELECTION OF ALL OFFICERS WITH THE EXCEPTION OF COMPUTER OFFICER

The top of the ballot shall carry the following instructions: There is only one place available for all positions, for each of which you have one vote, with the exception of the offices of social secretary. You have three votes for the three offices of social secretary. To cast your vote, number your choices in order of preference, where 1 is your most preferred choice. If you do not support any of the choices offered, vote for 'No Confidence'.
In all cases, a vote of no-confidence option must be given along with nominated candidates. If there is only one candidate for the post, he or she shall be declared elected unopposed barring a vote of no-confidence.
For each position, voters must either rank all candidates or select vote of no-confidence.

APPENDIX: PROCEDURE FOR THE BALLOT TO THE ELECTION OF COMPUTER OFFICER

At the time of the opening of nominations, the position of Computer Officer shall be advertised.
All candidates for computer officer must first interview with the current Computer Officer who will assess their technical competence. Under the circumstance that the current Computer Officer is running for re-election, assessment will be carried out by an employee of the Emmanuel Computer Officer or suitable replacement selected by the Committee.
At the final meeting before the election, the interviewer will inform the committee of the candidates whom he/she has deemed competent to fulfill the role of Computer Officer. Pending approval by the committee, all those candidates deemed technically competent will be added to the ballot for Computer Officer during the general election.

APPENDIX: ON-LINE VOTING

Whenever possible, all MCR votes will be conducted by means of a secure on-line voting system, following precedent established in autumn 2005.
The online voting mechanism:
- Members sign on to the MCR website and are presented with a list of electable positions. Technically speaking, voting issues break down into three classes:
  1. Issues for which the voter has multiple valued votes, allowing them to rank multiple options from least to most preferred; voters will assign numeric weights beginning with '1' to each possible choice, up to the set number of choices.
  2. Positions for which the voter has multiple unvalued votes, allowing them to select a set of options from out of a larger set, up to the set number of choices.
  3. Positions for which the voter has a single choice from multiple options.
- Members make all of their choices on the online form.
- Members enter their email address. This must be the email address which is registered with the MCR databases. (In virtually all cases this will be an @cam address.)
- When the form is submitted, the email address entered is validated against the MCR database. Form submission will be rejected if:
  1. The email address given is not recognized
  2. The email address given is recognized but the member is no longer an active member
  3. The email address given does not belong to a member of the MCR or affiliated student
  4. The email address given has already voted
- If form submission is accepted, a message is displayed to the voter thanking them for beginning the voting process. An email is then dispatched to the email address given, containing a unique encoded identifier reflecting their votes. The identifier is shown in the email as part of a URL which, the email explains, the voter must click on to finalise the casting of their votes.
  - This is designed to prevent voter fraud. By ensuring that the voter has access to the email address which they have claimed, and that each email address is allowed to vote only once, this design makes repeated voting or identity theft prohibitively difficult.
- Once the voter clicks the link in their email, their votes are cast and registered. A message thanks them for their participation.
The online voting technology:
- The technology used for any implementation of an online voting scheme shall meet the following requirements:
  1. It must be anonymous. To a reasonable extent, it should be prohibitively difficult to determine how any individual member has voted.
  2. It must be secure. It must be impossible for voting data to be externally read. It must be impossible for voting data to be externally modified.
  3. When possible, voting data should be stored on a medium which is 'backed up' regularly. When possible, voting data should be stored on a medium which supports reconstruction of all data in the event of a catastrophic system failure.
- The technology used must be accessible to future Computer Officers of the MCR and must not be hosted on external servers or services.
- The technology used must be made visible on request. While the code and database schemae shall not be published publicly, they may be requested at any time by any member of the MCR for any reason. On receiving such a request, the Computer Officer shall make a good-faith effort to demonstrate and explain the internal mechanisms of the system promptly and completely.
  - This is designed to reduce the risk of fraud on the part of the Computer Officer by increasing exposure and accountability.