Durham Go Club Constitution

Last amended by the Annual General Meeting on 30th May 2013

Reconfirmed by the Annual General Meeting on 5th June 2014

This consitution is no longer current

1. Name and Status

(a) The club shall be called Durham Go Club

(b) The aims and objectives of the club shall be:

i. To hold regular sessions for the playing of Go.

ii. To promote the playing of Go within the university, local, regional, national and international communities;

iii. To support the British Go Association in its promotional activities;

iv. To improve members' standards of play;

v. To run, and promote members' attendance at, tournaments.

(c) The club, should the Training Committee or a General Meeting feel it appropriate, may claim grants from DSU or other appropriate bodies in pursuance of the aims and objectives. Such grants shall only be spent for the purpose for which they were obtained.

(d) As a ratified society of Durham Students' Union, and as an affiliate of the British Go Association, the society shall follow all policies of DSU and the BGA which those organisations deem applicable to societies.

2. Membership

(a) Membership of the club shall be open to all people who pay the annual membership fee. This fee shall be set by the Training Committee and shall not be less than the minimum subscription set by DSU.

(b) Non-members of the club shall normally be welcome to attend playing and training sessions free of charge, and to use the equipment of the club during these meetings. The Training Committee may for any particular non-member revoke this privilege.

(c) Membership of the club shall grant the following privileges.

• Use of the club library (books, journals, etc.) and other resources.
• Reduced entry fee to tournaments organised by the club (at a rate determined by the Training Committee).
• Subsidy of membership of the British Go Association (at a rate determined by the Training Committee).
• Financial assistance for costs related to the entry to British Go Association tournaments and similar events (at a rate to be determined on a case-by-case basis by the Training Committee).

(d) Any relevant officer of DSU, the BGA or other organisations with which the club has an affiliation may attend meetings of the society at the request of society members or of official bodies of the visiting organisations, provided that notice is provided in advance.

3. Officers of the Club

(a) The Training Committee

i. The club shall be primarily administrated by a Training Committee, that shall exist as defined below. The Training Committee shall meet at the request of any member of the club, and shall be kept informed of relevant actions of the members of the committee.

ii. Meetings of the Training Committee shall be advertised at least one week in advance (unless an emergency prevents this) to the members of the Society and the Advisor, via the mailing list of members, and shall be open for any member of the Society to attend as a non-voting observer.

iii. Decisions of the Training Committee shall be by consensus where possible, but otherwise by simple majority.

iv. The members of the Training Committee shall be the Executive Officers as defined below and all willing members of the society who are ranked as 12 kyu or above, (a General Meeting having defined the criterion upon which this rank shall be measured), unless they have been removed from the Committee by General Meeting as described below. The Advisor shall not be a non-voting member of the Committee unless he or she is a member of the Society.

v. The quoracy of the Training Committee shall be half (rounding up) of the number of people currently on the Committee.

vi. A person who is on the committee by virtue of both Executive Office and Go-playing rank shall be deemed to have only one vote on the Committee.

vii. The Committee shall have responsibilities including but not limited to:

• Providing training to members of the club and other interested people;
• Attending meetings of the club;
• Organising tournaments;
• Administrating an internal ranking system;
• Organising Freshers' Fair attendance and similar events;
• Completing any non-financial paperwork required by DSU or other bodies, including a membership list, and any claims for grants or loans from DSU or other bodies;
• Maintaining a list of equipment owned by the club, keeping a record of which member of the club is currently in possession of it, and publishing these lists in a form accessible to members;
• Ensuring that the club is not restricted to students of the University of Durham, but remains an organisation for all;
• Liaising with the British Go Association, including distribution of relevant publicity to the members of the club, providing the British Go Association with necessary information about the club and encouraging members of the club to join the British Go Association;
• Maintaining the club website, including ensuring that all necessary information published by the club is available on this website and that the website conforms with W3C standards for accessibility and validity;
• Producing and distributing club publicity both in general and for specific events, while ensuring that the DSU logo is present on all club publicity and that club publicity is not used with the intent of influencing the outcome of DSU elections
• Maintaining a list of people as described below who would be willing to fill the post of Advisor.

viii. The responsibilities of the Committee may be delegated to any willing member of the Committee or of the Society.

ix. In the event of no member of the Society being willing to perform the responsibilities of the Committee, these responsibilities shall devolve upon the President.

x. The President, Secretary and Treasurer shall be the cheque signatories for the Society's bank account.

(b) Executive Officers

i. The President

• The President shall be responsible for chairing General Meetings and Meetings of the Training Committee;
• The President shall be a member of Durham Students' Union
• The President shall, ex officio, be a member of the Training Committee.

ii. The Secretary

• The Secretary shall be responsible for:
  • Minuting General Meetings and meetings of the Training Committee, and publishing these minutes in a form accessible to members.
  • Giving notice as required by this Constitution of General Meetings and Training Committee Meetings.
  • Organisation of General Meetings.
  • Alerting the Training Committee of any changes in the DSU Society Regulations that would necessitate a change to this Constitution, and maintaining a copy of this Constitution in a form accessible to members.
• The Secretary shall be a member of Durham Students' Union
• The Secretary shall, ex officio, be a member of the Training Committee.

iii. The Treasurer

• The Treasurer shall be responsible for:
  • Maintaining accounts of the money owned by the club and publishing these accounts in a form accessible to members.
  • Preparing these accounts annually in the form set out in the DSU Society Regulations.
  • Preparing statements of the accounts as required by DSU.
• The Treasurer shall be a member of Durham Students' Union.
• The Treasurer shall be, ex officio, a member of the Training Committee.

iv. The Advisor

• The Advisor shall be a strong player (of dan or strong kyu strength) living in the region, who shall be appointed from a list of willing candidates by majority decision of all club members stronger than 10 kyu in attendance at the AGM.
• The Advisor shall advise the Training Committee and General Meetings upon matters relevant to the club, especially those matters relating to training and teaching. There is no obligation to accept this advice, however if the Training Committee rejects this advice they shall report this decision and their reasoning in the minutes.
• The Advisor need not be a member of the club.
• Should the Advisor be removed from office by General Meeting, then another shall be appointed in the manner described by above.

(c) Non-Executive Officers

i. Bishop

• The Bishop shall have responsibility promotion of Go, and for generally assisting all workings of the Training Committee.
• The Bishop shall have no additional powers except those pertaining to an ordinary member of the Training Committee (if and only if they are an ordinary member of the Training Committee);
• The Bishop shall be appointed after each AGM by a simple majority decision by the President, Treasurer and Secretary (the President to have an additional casting vote if necessary).

ii. Missionary

• The Missionary shall be a position for a member who has played a large part in the running of the club but is soon to leave Durham. The position bears no rights or responsibilities, and lasts for a period of one year.
• The Missionary shall have no additional powers except those pertaining to an ordinary member of the Training Committee (if and only if they are an ordinary member of the Training Committee);
• The Missionary shall be appointed after each AGM by a simple majority decision by the President, Treasurer and Secretary (the President to have an additional casting vote if necessary).

4. General Meetings

(a) The club shall hold General Meetings at dates determined by the Training Committee, to include at least one each year.

(b) All members of the club shall be entitled to attend General Meetings, as shall the Advisor. At the request (in advance) of DSU, the officer responsible for DSU-ratified societies may also attend, but not vote unless they are also a member of the club.

(c) No General Meeting shall take place outside undergraduate term at the University of Durham.

(d) A General Meeting may discuss any business relevant to the club, to include but not be restricted to:

i. The election of the Officers of the club (with the exception of the Advisor), which shall take place at least annually by Alternative Vote.

ii. The removal from office, by a simple majority, of one or more officers of the club.

iii. The removal, by a simple majority, from the Training Committee of any non-ex officio member of the Committee, either temporarily (for a term defined by the meeting) or permanently.

iv. The presentation of accounts to the membership, to take place at least annually.

(e) Amendment, by two-thirds majority, of this Constitution. If such an amendment would cause a conflict between the Constitution and the DSU Society Regulations, then a two-thirds majority will be required, and the Training Committee shall be deemed to have been mandated to take actions necessary for disaffiliation from DSU.

(f) 10% of the club, or 5 members of the club, whichever is fewer, may collectively request that a General Meeting be called, and the Training Committee shall call one to take place within three weeks of this request (unless this would be impossible under 4c, in which case it shall take place within three weeks of the start of the next undergraduate term).

(g) At least seven days' notice shall be given to the members of all General Meetings.

(h) Should an office of the club become vacant, for whatever reason, a General Meeting shall be called as if one had been requested under by members as above.

5. Club Equipment

Equipment owned by the club shall be kept by the members designated by the Training Committee who are willing to ensure that the equipment is available to the club when necessary, and to attend a majority of the regular playing events.

6. Standing Policies

Non-Discrimination

(a) The club shall not discriminate unfairly for any reason.

(b) The club shall not discriminate for any reason upon the grounds of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or disability.

Distribution of Information to Members

Distribution of information shall take place through an email list, to which all members of the club shall be expected to provide a valid email address at which they can be contacted. Members who do not wish to provide a valid email address shall be responsible for specifying a reasonable alternative method of contacting them, and the club will be under no obligation to contact them until a reasonable alternative is specified. DSU shall be entitled to specify one email address to be included upon this email list.

7. Amendment of this Constitution

(a) The Constitution may be amended at a General Meeting subject to approval by two-thirds of those members present.

(b) In the event of a change to the DSU Society Regulations necessitating a change to the Constitution, the Training Committee may by two-thirds majority vote make the necessary change only, pending a General Meeting to take place within three weeks of undergraduate term to confirm or reject this change. Such a change shall be immediately reported to the members of the society.

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