Constitution ammendments

dajaffa

I get the women's officer to gender equality thing, and the student levy, but can anyone tell us the main changes in the new constitution. I couldn't be aresd reading the whole thing on newswire.

singingstranger

There's no easy way out, there's a few fundamental changes. I guess the key single things are scrapping the sixth Sabbat again (distributing to a part-time paid staff P/G officer and other Chairs of Working Groups), converting some officerships to being Chairs of their respective Working Groups (like the USI model, where the Women's Officer - before abolished last week - was actually the Chair of the Womens Rights Action Committee), and having two parallel Exec-type bodies, one consisting of Sabbats & Programme Officers, and the other being an Officer Forum with every Officer and Chair of Working Group sitting on it.

The_Minister

Wait, the Woman's officer has been abolished :eek:
Whats with the thread then?

singingstranger

Firespinner wrote:

Wait, the Woman's officer has been abolished :eek:
Whats with the thread then?

That's at USI level. There's still a UCDSU Women's Officer.

elmyra

I take it he means USI Women's Officer, not UCD.

The_Minister

Does the USI really matter? What does it do?

singingstranger

Organises national officer training for all Sabbaticals for affiliated colleges (their main means of training for the job), acts as a national front for campaigns and stuff, and is a nice way of saying that a Union of 250,000 members supports a particular cause - which as you might imagine adds a certain bit of weight to particular campaigns.

An Bradán Feasa

These constitutional referenda cannot take place on 12th and 13th April. If they were, it would be deemed unconstitutional.

The constitution requires that 2 weeks notice is given for a constitutional referendum. Official notice was given on Saturday 1st April, therefore the earliest possible day that these referenda can take place is Monday 17th April, which is the first weekday after the 2 weeks notice.

The_Minister

singingstranger wrote:

Organises national officer training for all Sabbaticals for affiliated colleges (their main means of training for the job), acts as a national front for campaigns and stuff, and is a nice way of saying that a Union of 250,000 members supports a particular cause - which as you might imagine adds a certain bit of weight to particular campaigns.

But, everyone knows that most members couldn't give a **** about the causes

Pythia

Firespinner wrote:

Does the USI really matter? What does it do?

The USI takes our money.

panda100

Wait Im confused here?So if we say yes to the constitution amendments then role of the womens officer as written in the constitution at the moment will be abolished? so does this mean when Im voting for the womens officer I am infact voting for a gender equality officer

Also another question bout the su levy.If we say yes to the su levy being increased this means the new su centre will be built?Will it be built exactly as how it is planned out in the fancy leaflet we got?

sorry i usually switch off when I hear the word constitution-to many years off listning to pierce:) (only jokin pierce)

dajaffa

I presume the first gender equality officer would be elected this time next year, and that whoever is elected this year will be the last Women's officer. The levy increase will mean an extension to the student centre, but the leaflet is only a rough outline. I suppose they don't want to spend € on getting an architect to draw plans, until we know we're going to build one.

neutral

panda100 wrote:

Wait Im confused here?So if we say yes to the constitution amendments then role of the womens officer as written in the constitution at the moment will be abolished? so does this mean when Im voting for the womens officer I am infact voting for a gender equality officer

One vote is on the new constitution, which includes a Womens Officer.

Another is on abolishing the womens officer from that new constitution.

So you can vote for a new constitution, but still vote on whether or not you want a WO included in it.

singingstranger

dajaffa wrote:

I presume the first gender equality officer would be elected this time next year, and that whoever is elected this year will be the last Women's officer.

Nay - there's a transitory provision in the draft constitution saying that if the Gender Equality position comes into effect under it, the person eleced 'Women's Officer' this year will assume that role. Although if the constitution is voted down but the position is changed, I'm not sure, I've yet to read that wording.

dajaffa wrote:

The levy increase will mean an extension to the student centre, but the leaflet is only a rough outline. I suppose they don't want to spend € on getting an architect to draw plans, until we know we're going to build one.

Bang on - they can't afford it. Also, the college will probably stump up a few million if we vote yes to it. They're currently trying to secure mortgages for the three or four major building projects under Brady - Arts extensions, new Science Block, Gateway project and (possibly) the new Student Centre.