(This is a constitutional amendment.)
This Society notes that section 3.1 of the constitution currently says:
- 3.1 Membership shall be open to all students and staff of the University, upon payment of a membership fee to be decided by the Committee.
This Society believes that:
- This slightly odd rule was put in place when the constitution was originally written. The change brings it in line with other societies' constitutions, and allows the members to vote on it using the same mechanism as for other constitutional changes, which seems fairer. The committee discussed what the fees should be at the last meeting. Compsoc has a reasonable amount of money in the bank which should be accessible fairly quickly, and the only plan to spend money this year will be on a machine-room-installable replacement for compsoc1. One suggestion is that we should try to receive as much money as we're planning to spend, so that our net cash flow is zero for the year -- which is a sustainable strategy for Compsoc finances. An alternative point of view is that we've got quite a lot of cash already, so we don't need to receive much more for now, which makes things "cheapest" for the members this year. When Compsoc was last active, membership fees were £6 for a year; £3 for a year would match other SU societies and seem to be a reasonable compromise.
This Society resolves to change section 3.1 of the consitution to:
- 3.1 Membership shall be open to all students and staff of the University, upon payment of a membership fee of £3 per year.
(The figure to be adjusted up/down until the motion is passed.)
Proposed by Adam Sampson, seconded by Michael Barnwell.