WUGLUG/Constitution - Wuglug Wiki

Constitution

To provide a friendly environment in which like-minded people with an interest in GNU/Linux or other Free Software can gather.
To assist The Computing Society in achieving their academic goals.
To establish and maintain Free Software Projects that contribute to the programming community and/or aid University of Warwick students.
To promote the usage of GNU/Linux and Free Software.

This document establishes the rules by which WUGLUG is run.
The WUGLUG is a special interest group, within The Computing Society.
This Constitution, and its future revisions, determine the aims, membership and organisation of WUGLUG.
The relationship between WUGLUG and The Computing Society shall be formally documented.

Any person who has turned up to three or more WUGLUG meetings is a member of WUGLUG.
Any person who has contributed source code to a WUGLUG organised FSP is a member of WUGLUG.
Any person who votes in elections must be a member.
Any person who wishes to run for an elected position must be a member.

The running of the society is the responsibility of the WUGLUG Organising Committee on behalf of the members.
The WUGLUG Organising Committee contains four roles:
1. The Liaison Officer is responsible for relationship with The Computing Society, and other societies.
2. The Advocacy Officer is responsible for promoting the society and educating the general public about the benefits of Free Software.
3. The Projects Officer is responsible for coordinating various FSPs and facilitating their progress in collaboration with the project leaders.
4. The Secretary is responsible for organising meetings, elections, general administration and communication with WUGLUG.
An individual may hold more than one role on The Committee.

The Liaison Officer is elected annually for confirmation at The Computing Society's AGM.
All other Committee roles are normally elected during the first week of each term.
The Committee is responsible for the running of the society on behalf of its members until the next election.
Any change to the constitution requires a vote by the members, to be organised by the Secretary.
Voting is held at an official WUGLUG meeting and publicised to the members at least one week in advance.
Elections are to be organised, by the rules of this Constitution, via the Secretary.
Voting will be held under the Single Transferable Vote System.
All candidates should be given the opportunity to give a speech and answer questions about their candidacy for the role for which they are running.
The Secretary is responsible for organising the collection of proxy votes from members unable to attend.

There is no obligation upon any elected committee member to serve their entire term.
A Committee member must give a weeks notice of their resignation.
In the event of a resignation during term time the Secretary is obliged to run a reelection under the same rules as specified above.
In the event of term-time resignation of the Secretary the remaining members of the organising committee have the responsibility of electing a replacement, by the rules specified above.
In the event of a resignation during a holiday period a member may be co-opted into the specified position for the remainder of that holiday period by the remainder of The Committee.

WUGLUG will abide by the rules of The Computing Society and any rules that it is transitively obliged to, including those from JANET, ITS and The University of Warwick Student's Union.

The term The Computing Society refers to the University of Warwick Computing Society.
The term The Committee refers to the Organising Committee described in section 3 of This Constitution.
The term FSP refers to a Free Software Project, as defined by the Free Software Foundation.
The term WUGLUG refers to the Warwick University GNU/Linux User Group.
The term Holiday Period refers to non-term times under the University of Warwick Calendar system.