This page is obsolete and is no longer being updated. It does not reflect current Compsoc practice.
(This is currently a draft.)
Hi! We're the Interim Committee of Compsoc: a group of people who've got together to get Kent Compsoc up and running again. To do this, we need to put a new consitution in place, get some members, and elect members to various positions. All of this will be accomplished at our first Society General Meeting. Here's what's going to happen.
Before the meeting
We'll send out a notice on Monday 7th February to all the people who've shown interest in the society to let them know what we're doing (if you're reading this, we've already done it). People who wish to stand for committee positions must let the interim committee know by 5PM on Friday 11th February by mailing info@compsoc.co.uk, including your name, email address, the positions you want to stand for (you can't hold more than one), and whether you want to stand for this year, next year or both (see below).
Positions needed
We need candidates for the following positions (from the DraftConstitution):
5.1.1 The President provides direction for the Society, chairs SGMs and other meetings, and liaises with the University, departments, and the general public.
5.1.2 The Secretary supervises the organisation of events, records minutes of SGMs and other meetings, and liaises with Members and Officers.
5.1.3 The Treasurer manages the Society's financial assets, arranges the purchase of new equipment, and manages the funding of events.
6.3 The Members shall elect an Officer to be Senior Officer. When a decision cannot be reached by the Officers, the Senior Officer shall resolve the dispute.
During the meeting
The meeting will be held in COLT2 at 5PM on Thursday 17th February. It'll probably last about an hour.
Joining the society
The very first thing that you need to do is to join the society -- get your name listed as a member. Note that since we don't have a treasurer and we've about halfway through the year already, we're not going to be charging membership fees for this year; that can start next year (once the new committee have settled on the amount). If you don't sign up as a member, you can't have a compsoc1 account or stand for committee positions. You should also indicate at this time whether you want to volunteer to be an officer (i.e. you're interested in doing systems stuff or organising events).
Ratifying the constitution
We have prepared a DraftConstitution for the society. (Note that we're not going to be a Kent Union society. We debated this at length and concluded that it'd cause problems with money management and equipment ownership; if you want more details then ask one of us.)
The members will vote upon whether to accept it. We would appreciate being told of any problems with the constitution ahead of time (mail info@compsoc.co.uk); if the members don't accept it then we can't go any further.
Electing the committee and senior officer for this year
This is where it gets very slightly complicated. We need you to elect two committees: one for the remainder of this year (i.e. ending in week 30) and one for next year (starting in week 1, ending whenever the next lot of elections happen). We want to do this so that we've got a democratically-elected committee to run the society immediately, without excluding people who leave at the end of this year.
We will hold a vote for each position in turn for this year: president, secretary, treasurer, and senior officer. All must be members, and the senior officer must be an officer. They must be four distinct people. For each position, we'll describe the job again, and get the candidates to come to the front of the room and talk very briefly about why they want the position; we'll then do a count of hands for each candidate. (If there's a tie, we'll repeat the vote; if there's only one candidate they win by default, although hopefully this won't happen. You may abstain from voting if you like.)
Electing the committee and senior officer for next year
Exactly the same as the previous section, except this time we're doing it for next year.
After the meeting
We will retire en mass to Origins, since we'll certainly need a drink after all that hard work. This'll be a good chance to chat to other members about what they're interested in.
The new committee and officers should arrange to meet up at some point in the reasonably near future -- we have a list of things that they need to do, and they can probably think up some more stuff by themselves.
If you have any questions on the above, then please get in touch with us by mailing info@compsoc.co.uk.
Thanks, The Compsoc Interim Committee