Elections to the MCR Committee
Elections to the MCR Executive Committee are held in Michaelmas term of each academic year, usually early in November.
Election timetable
The secretary to the MCR Committee will open nominations two weeks before elections. Notice of this will be given over the mailing-list.
Submit your nomination form (i.e. any piece of paper bearing your name, two supporting signatures from MCR members and a sentence to say that you want to stand). Once all the nominations have been collected, manifestos for all the candidates will be put up on the website for MCR members to peruse.
The elections are then held over two days and the results usually announced at the MCR Black Tie dinner in November. All posts run until the following November, but those on one year courses may still be elected and volunteer committee members will be co-opted to fill those positions over the Summer Break.
[top]Positions available
The committee generally comprises of the 11 positions described below. Further positions may be co-opted by the committee (for instance an international officer).
[top]President
Represents everyone in the MCR at College and University level. This involves attending many meetings to express the views and desires of all MCR members (as well as of course keeping the MCR committee in check!).
Secretary
Essentially the Vice President position on the MCR committee. The secretary is there to step into the fold when the President is otherwise engaged. When not helping to run the MCR, the secretary also takes the meeting minutes, organizes the weekly Bulletin and organizes the Grad talks each term.
Treasurer
Has lots of fun organising your MCR part of the college bill as well as sanctioning all those crazy ceilidhs, bands, pirate decorations for the MCR... Also organizes the MCR stash each year.
Welfare Officer
The person in the know about all things to do with welfare. This involves liaising with welfare representatives at College and University level, as well as knowing everything about Chlamydia screening to funding opportunities.
Accommodation Officer
Is the point of call for all College housing related problems and sits on the College Buildings and Services Committee. A lot of the job involves chasing people up to fix things as well as undertaking the yearly Accommodation Review.
Social Secretaries x3
These three socialites are each given one of the following roles:
- Dinners Sec (unsurprisingly organizes the dinners)
- Ents Sec (organizes after dinner events as well as other one off events during the year)
- External Sec (arranges all the formal swaps as well as the MCR trip abroad)
Womens' Officer
The Women's Officer provides information for and looks after the welfare of the female graduate students in Emmanuel as well as participating in discussions and activities concerning women's issues at a University-wide level.
Green Officer
Tries to keep us all from wrecking the planet before we graduate. Works with College to promote new eco-friendly initiatives.
Computer Officer
Spends his/her life updating the Emma MCR webpage (amongst the most advanced of its type in Cambridge) and mailing list. Familiarity with HTML, jQuery, and PHP / MySQL (or willingness to acquire it) is essential.
General points about being on the committee
Although each job obviously has its particular responsibilities the whole committee helps out at MCR dinners and other big events.
Being part of the MCR committee is a good laugh and you also get to put something back into College life.
[top]Do consider being on the committee if
- You enjoyed getting involved in Freshers week events and MCR stuff since then.
- You like organising parties etc.. and want to get more involved in the College, learn the names of the porters/chefs, get keys to the cellars, dine at high table and ride in the Master's porsche...
- You fancy meeting a whole new bunch of people and get dragged to lots of events kicking and screaming.
- You think you can do better than the outgoing MCR committee.
- You like standing up and making a pratt of yourself in front of 120 people.
Don't get involved in the MCR Committee if
- You just want points on the CV.
- You haven't got the time to spare because you are a:
- Blues rower
- Manic workaholic
- Manic socialite with 5,000 engagements each week.