Pick & Mix
UNDERSTANDING
GUILD COUNCIL
Guild Council exists primarily to allow the Guild to represent you, the student, to the fullest. The functionality of Guild Council is therefore increased if
a greater number of students become involved. However, many students
are unaware of how Guild Council works and how to get the most from it.
That is why this website has been created. The aim of this leaflet is to break
down Guild Council and provide a tool that every single one of our members can use to familiarise themselves with how Guild Council works.
The ethos of this Guild, and indeed any other Students’ Union, is that it is run
for students by students. In order for that to be the case students need to
have a significant say in how things are run. It is simply not feasible to take
every decision through Guild Council at the time it needs to be made and
therefore Guild Council devolves some of it's decision making power to a
group of fourteen Officers, elected on an annual basis, the Guild Executive
Committee.
However Guild Council is where the Guild Officers are held to account, giving reasons for all decisions made, requesting permission to act on behalf of
the student body and also to receive advice on what the students want
their Exec to do.
Even more central to the Guild of Students, in fact the very reason that it exists, is representation. There are two key ingredients in representation; Democracy and Involvement. Guild Council is democratically elected but to
be truly representative it requires that students from every different religious,
cultural and financial background get involved in it.
FURTHER INFORMATION
[email protected]
Student Development – student groups
Page 2
Understanding Guild Council
What does Guild Council do?
Guild Council is one of the most important aspects of the Guild of Students. It exists to formulate policy, create direction and to represent the
Guild’s 28,000 members.
The Council meets once a month during term time and discusses any issues that affect the students at the University of Birmingham.
Guild Council is made of representatives of every group of students at the
Guild.
Every student group are entitled to send one member to the Council and
councillors are also elected through their schools, with multiple representatives from each school, covering first years right through to postgraduates.
So, Guild Council has the following functions:
€ To scrutinise the work of the Guild Officer Group.
€ To consider reports submitted by each Guild Officer, sub-committees
and the independent chairs.
€ To elect members for the standing committees of Guild Council (such
as elections committee, entertainments committee, press council)
€ To pass policy that decides the direction, stance or views of the Guild
of Students.
€ To consider the budgets of the Guild.
If you are not already a Guild Councillor, don't worry - you can still attend
Guild Council meetings, every full member of the Guild (i.e. every student
at the University) is permitted to attend Guild Council meetings, although
you are not permitted to vote.
Any student can also submit a motion to Guild Council on any issue, and
have the opportunity to speak at the meeting to put forward the case of
why that motion should be adopted into Guild Policy.
Understanding
Guild Council
Finance
Page 3
The role of Guild Councillors
Guild Councillors are elected individuals who sit on Guild Council and represent a
certain constituency, this being anything from a student group to a department.
It is important you know who your Guild Councillor is, so that you can approach
them with issues that you feel should be addressed at Council, to find out what is
on the agenda for the next meeting, or to get feedback from previous meetings.
The sort of information that should be communicated from Guild Councillors to
constituency members are:
The content of motions and the Reports from the Guild Officer Group for the
next Guild Council.
€ Any ideas you have for improving the Guild. Once you've developed an
idea, talk to the Guild Officer Group and Independent Chairs and put it forward as a Motion for Guild Council.
€ The services that the Guild offers: the ARC for welfare problems, Jobzone for
part-time work, Student Development for setting up and joining in Student
Activities and training and development.
€ Current student issues such as fees, the NUS, discrimination at any level of the
University, the quality of their course, their accommodation, what they
would change about the University and the Guild.
€ Get an overall picture of student opinion, and use that to shape your
responses to Motions in Guild Council.
€ If you find anything interesting you can either communicate it in the
“Communications, Questions and Suggestions” section at the beginning of
Guild Council, or you can speak to the relevant Guild Officer.
The constitution, or Memorandum and Articles of Association, is the document by
which the Guild is governed. Along with the Guidance and Strategy documents, it
lays down all the rules of what can and can not happen for almost every aspect
of the Guild
€
Lecture shouts
Communicate anything you'd like the student community to get involved in this
way, and you can at least ensure they hear what you have to say, even if they
don't respond immediately.
Email:
You can often get lists of all the students in your constituency from the secretary of your School or your group Chairperson .It's very easy to encapsulate all
the issues and ask for feedback in an email.
Posters
Talk to the Student Development department or marketing department if you
have ideas along these lines. Good places to put them are in social spaces.
Page 4
Understanding Guild Council
At the same time it is vital that the constituents make contact with their councillors, letting them know when they have ideas, suggestions or a problem!
Any questions you have can likely be answered by a member of the Guild Officer
Group or the Independent chairs, and they can be contacted via email; by visiting them in their offices; or by accosting them in the hallway: it is their job to listen
to you as a Guild Councillor, whenever.
Who’s Who at Guild Council?
There are three Independent Chairs. At any meeting, one chairs the meeting; one
acts as Chair’s Aide, hands out voting cards and generally helps; and one who
sits with the Representation Coordinator to act as Steering. Their role is to advise
the Chair on points from the Constitution and Bye-Laws.
Traditionally the Guild Officer Group tend to sit at the front left of the room (as you
walk in to it). Further information on who they are can be found on
www.guildofstudents.com
The format of a Guild Council meeting
€ When you arrive at the meeting ensure that you collect your voting response card
from the Chair’s Aide. As the only record of attendance, this is important and with
it YOU CAN NOT VOTE! (You will need to give your UID card as proof of identity).
€ Collect any papers you haven’t already got from the front desk. These will
include another agenda with Exec recommendations on it, any emergency
motions or supplemental information.
€ When the meeting begins, the Chair will take a count of voting cards to ensure
that we have number of people required to make a meeting valid (quorate)
before beginning. If not, we take communications and questions, and if nobody
else turns up the meeting is ended.
€ Chair’s remarks. The Chair will ask if anyone wants to ‘star’ anything on the
agenda. If there is anything you want to discuss, inform the Chair now. Minutes
questions, communications and elections are automatically starred.
If you do not star an item, it will not be discussed or voted on past a vote to accept
the Guild Officer Group recommendations in general. This is particularly important
when regarding motions.
Guild Council Agenda
A full example copy of an agenda is on the website. It contains information
on what you can do at various stages of the meeting as well as giving hints
on preparation so as not to be bewildered when the meeting begins. The
Agenda will be available one week before each meeting.
Understanding Guild Council
Page 5
Attending Guild Council
The foremost way that you will represent your constituents will be in Guild
Council. Here you use the opinions and thoughts you've gathered and
apply them to what's going on. You can be penalised for not attending
enough sessions of Guild Council to properly represent your constituents. If
you are a student group, you could be derecognised or subject to other
disciplinary action. If you are a Guild Councillor, you can be removed
from office should you fail to provide acceptable reasons for your absence in a vote at Guild Council.
If for some reason you are unable to attend Guild Council we need to
know, either in advance by email or by apologies sent on your behalf by
another Guild Councillor. Failure to send apologies for two consecutive
meetings or three meetings in total over an academic year will result in
you being called before Guild Council to explain your actions and may
result in you losing your seat. Failure to attend your hearing means that
your seat falls vacant.
At Guild Council - What should you remember?
€ Question the Guild Officer Group’s actions and move to discipline them
if you feel their conduct has been unsatisfactory.
€ Ask any questions you or your constituents might have about what is going on in the Guild.
€ Communicate important events happening on campus so that other
Councillors can spread the information.
€ Suggest new actions or factors for the Guild Officer Group to take into
account in the running of the Guild.
€ Challenge motions that neither you nor your constituents support or
amend them so they are more satisfactory.
€ Provide relevant information to the debate.
€ If you choose, you can stand for election to several committees, depending on where your interests lie. Elections Committee has yearly positions for those who are interested in ensuring fair election practices
across campus; Constitution Committee interprets and updates our constitution and code of practice;
€ REMEMBER: Vote the way you believe your constituents would prefer.
Get to know your constitution and the Rules and guidelines of Guild Council, including procedural motions, that play a major part in Guild Council.
A copy of the constitution is available from www.guildofstudents,com
Page 6
Understanding Guild Council
Submitting a motion
The motions that are presented to Guild Council for consideration are hugely important for the political and operational direction of the Guild.
Any motion that is passed by Guild Council automatically becomes Guild Policy.
Policy is essentially a set of rules that govern the Guild and when one is passed has
the potential to change the lives of thousands of people.
It doesn't matter if you are a seasoned hack or a novice when it comes to Guild
politics, it is vital that you understand how the political structures of the Guild works
and also, how to write and pass a motion effectively.
If a motion is passed then it could potentially have a detrimental effect on the
Guild and subsequently, to the membership.
Any policy that is passed by the Guild must also have as Proposer and a Seconder. These must be Full members of the Guild. These should be placed at the
bottom of the policy.
Motions must be submitted to the Independent Chair TWO WEEKS before Guild
Council.
Check out the ‘Writing A Motion’ Pick and Mix for a more in depth introduction
However, that is really meant as an introduction, and is certainly not influencing
what you believe your motion should be saying, but to simply give you the knowledge to get your beliefs and thoughts down in the appropriate format and will
have information on passing the motion correctly.
For more detailed information an/or discussion on the content of you motion, contact the independent chairs on the email address opposite.
It is also worth checking the Guild’s policy file (ask the Representation & Democracy department) to see if a similar policy already exists – and if it covers everything you are trying to say.
Important contact details
Representation & Democracy
€ Email: [email protected] or visit their office in the Union building
Committee of Independent Chairs
€ Email: [email protected]
Understanding
Guild Council
Finance
Page 7
Basic glossary of terms
Abstain—When you do not wish to vote for or against something you may abstain from
the vote.
Affiliates—The Guild can affiliate to another organisation, such as the NUS or have others
affiliate to it, such as student groups.
Amendment—Amendments can be made to motions or the constitution to change parts
of the document. These have to be voted upon.
Procedural Motion—a procedural motion can be proposed and voted upon during a
meeting to allow certain actions to happen, such as to go straight to a vote, suspend the
meeting etc. These can all be found in the constitution,
Constituency - The electorate, or area, or the inhabitants within, which a Member represents in the Council or Parliament.
Constitution and bye-laws (or Memorandum and Articles of Association) - This is the
document by which the Guild is governed. It lays down all the rules of what can and can
not happen for almost every aspect of the Guild. It is fundamentally a set of rules which
establishes the structure and processes of the Guild.
Guild Officer Group— made up of the elected officers with their specific remits. They are
responsible for the day to day running of the Guild and implementing policy put in place
by Guild Council, sometimes referred to by the acronym GOG. Part of GOG is the Sabbatical Officer Group, SOG, which doesn’t include the non-sabbatical officers.
Independent Chair The ICs are independent of any constituency and are elected to
chair Guild Council impartially and to interpret the constitution.
Motion—A motion is an agenda item that is discussed at Guild Council, and if accepted
becomes Guild Policy
Quoracy (or Quorum) - The necessary number of members needed to hold a Guild
Council Meeting - 50 Councillors.
Trustee Board - provides guidance, expertise and strategic oversight of the Guild. They
ensure the Guild remains legally compliant and solvent, in accordance with Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Bye-laws and Guidance and Strategy documents.
The Trustee Board is comprised of:
€ 4 Sabbatical Trustees
ۥ 3 Student Trustees
€‚ 3 (external) Lay Trustees
€ƒ 3 University Alumni Trustees
€ 1 University Trustee
For more information, check out the pages on www.guildofstudent.com
Pick & Mix
Pick & Mix leaflets are available on a variety of topics, designed to assist you
as thoroughly as possible with running your group or understanding the
Guild of Students generally
€
Categories include:
Submitting a motion to Guild Council
€ Campaigning for impact
€ Lobbying local decision-makers
€ Guild Officer Group roles
€ Running your student group
To find out more information, visit the Guild online:
www.guildofstudents.com
The Student Development department is located on the lower ground floor
of the Guild of Students, and supports student groups, volunteering and
training.
Student Development Counter:
The first port of call for any queries and to for any administration regarding
your group, volunteering or training. Opening hours are:
11-5.30pm Monday - Thursday
11-4.30pm on Fridays.
(We are closed at weekends)
The general student group area for committees is open 9am to 6pm, which
you can use for committee meetings, checking emails and organising your
group. You have access to computers, a printer and photocopier, workspace and your pigeonholes.
Disclaimer: The information in this leaflet only provides general guidance. The leaflet should not be regarded or relied
upon as a complete or authoritative statement. University of Birmingham Guild of Students will not accept any liability
for any claims or inconvenience as a result of information in this leaflet.
[email protected]