Society Constitution

The University of Warwick Anime and Manga Society aims primarily to provide a social environment for it’s members to watch and discuss anime and manga and provide a way for it’s members to get into contact with new series by means of maintaining a library containing a range of titles.

Additionally, the Society aims to introduce new people to the anime and manga artform, to encourage the discussion of issues in the genre, and introduce people to the very latest in Anime and Manga.

• An Academic Year is the time from the start of Term 1 of one year to the start of Term 1 of the next year.
• A Society Year is the time from one Annual General Meeting to the next.
• A Term Week is a week during the University of Warwick Academic Term.
• A Majority in a vote is one which has equal to or more votes than all other contradictory options.

This bit can only be updated by the means set out in the individual sections, with the exception of routine changes (eg. updating website addresses) which can be made at any time by any member of the exec.

Throughout the document, I’ve used a lot of italics. Italics signify something that’s there for readability; generally it’s stuff mentioned elsewhere that is nonetheless relevant. Either way, italic stuff is not a binding rule, it’s a clue as to the fact that there is one.

Changes to this section may only be made explicitly at a General Meeting.

There willl be several types of member, as follows:

• Any person not specifically upgraded to another status will be a Guest.
• Guests may be allowed to attend Society Events, unless otherwise specified.
• Priority for entrace at any event will always be given to Members.
• May have any privileges revoked by means of a vote at a quorate General Meeting.

• A guest can be upgraded to a member by paying the annual Member joining fee of £2.50 for the Academic Year for which they wish to be a member.
• Members have all the privileges of Guests.
• Members have priority over Guests at all events.
• Members can borrow items from the Library after leaving a Deposit (see the Library Rules).
• Members may attend Exec Meetings to bring issues forward, but may not vote at Exec Meetings, nor do they count towards quorum.
• Members will receive Society Mail from the Exec (unless they specifically opt out).
• May have any privileges revoked by means of a vote at a quorate General Meeting.

• A guest can become a Full Member by joining the society via the Student’s Union.
• Full Members have all the privileges of Members.
• Full Members count towards quorum in General Meetings, and can vote at said meetings.
• Full Members can become Exec Members through a vote at a General Meeting (see General Meetings).

• Must be Full Members (and hence have all the privileges of Full Members).
• Have priority over any non-Exec member at events.
• Count towards quorum at Exec Meetings.
• Must hold at least one Exec Position (see Exec Positions).
• Exec Members may hold their position until the end of the Society Year, at which point they must re-apply to be on the exec if they wish to remain on the exec.
• Exec Members may borrow items from the Library with no deposit.

Changes to this section are made implicitly at a General Meeting through voting either NC1) for an existing position or voting a Full Member into a new position.

Each position is outlined below with duties traditionally assigned to them. Positions marked “(NECESSARY)” are Necessary (ie. must be filled).

Responsibilities are really only here as guidelines - it’s quite possible that some other exec member may take a particular responsibility if they’re more suited to the task.

• To ensure the smooth running of the society.
• To contact people external to the society where required.
• To chair Exec Meetings.
• To attend the Student’s Union Using the Union course.
• To attend the Student Union’s Duty of Care course.
• To ensure the wellbeing of all society members at any Society Event.

• To place orders for anime and equipment with suppliers.
• To keep track of and document all spending.
• To write out our annual budget to submit to the Student’s Union.
• To claim money back from the Student’s Union as required.
• To attend the Student’s Union Managing Your Money course.
• To know the Student’s Union logons and passwords.

• To write up minutes for each Exec Meeting.
• To produce a list of jobs that need doing alongside who should do them after each Exec Meeting.
• To produce an agenda for each Exec Meeting, incorporating anything relevant on the Exec List from at least a day before the meeting on the list, and since the last agenda was compiled.
• To organise the booking of rooms or anything else that requires booking for the society’s use.

• To organise varied socials that appeal to the membership.
• To generally promote a social atmosphere.
• To ensure the society abides by Union policy in organising its socials.
• To promote Society Events to both Members and the general public, via whatever means deemed most effective.
• To ensure that the Society stays up to date with events via frequent e-mails to all Members (weekly is suggested).
• To do announcements during Weekly Showings, and organise the vote for the 3rd Hour.
• To attend the Student’s Union Equal Opportunities course (Equal Opportunities Officer).
• To ensure the society abides by the Student’s Union Equal Opportunities Policy.

• To ensure the Library stays in good order.
• To organise the lending of Library items.
• To ensure the return of Library items.
• To look after deposits for the Library.
• To make the library easily available to members.
• To make members aware of the contents and availablity of the library.

As of the 2004/5 elections this is no longer a democratic position, but an appointed one. It is up to the Exec to appoint a webmaster. It was felt that webmastering is a skill and hence a “popularity contest” election is not an effective way to choose a successor.

• To ensure the operation of the website.
• To keep the website up to date with minutes and events.
• To keep the consitution up to date.
• To moderate the website forums.

Changes to this section may be made only via a quorate General Meeting.

A General Meeting may be called by any Full Member by means of announcement at a Weekly Showing (along with a valid reason for having the meeting). They must be announced at a Weekly Showing before the Weekly Showing at which the meeting is to occur.

All Full Members should be alerted to the General Meeting by email, no less than 7 days before the meeting is to occur (this is actually in the Union docs). This alert should additionally clearly mention all issues to be raised in said meeting.

At least one General Meeting must be conducted during Term 2. This will be dubbed the Annual General Meeting.

General Meetings are quorate if and only if not less than 20% of all Full Members are in attendance (this is actually in the Union docs).

Should a meeting not reach quorum, a vote will still be held and the Exec will be given the power to either carry out the majority action of the vote or proceed as if no vote has been held. This may be done at the next quorate Exec Meeting, or if the Exec are quorate at the General Meeting, may be done on the spot.

Voting at General Meetings may be in the form of a show of hands. But if so desired by any single Full Member, must be conducted privately (Union docs again) (for example by means of voting slips).

Only Members may participate in any vote called during the General Meeting.

Ammendments to this constitution may be made. These will be made by means of a majority vote of all Members present.

Changes in the Exec may be made. This includes adding Exec Members and Exec Positions, removing Exec Members from their positions and bringing in new Exec Members to replace them (or just removing the Exec Position) and any Exec Member resigning.

At the Annual General Meeting, all exec members automatically resign.

Adding an Exec Member or Exec Position or bringing in an Exec Member to replace a retiring one requires a majority vote of all Full Members in attendance. All applicants will be required to make a speech and answer any questions before the vote. Should a draw occur, then if both applicants consent, the position will be shared; if not, a re-vote on that position should occur after the applicants make an optional second speech (additionally, 2 or more people may apply together for one position, and will be voted upon as if they are one candidate).

An Exec Member may additionally be forced to retire by means of a majority vote.

Censures may be brought forward. These may range from simply expressing distaste at the conduct of a particular person to banning that person from some or all society events.

This section covers a few Exec Points that I felt should be covered here, and not elsewhere.

Changes to this section can be made by the Exec at any quorate Exec Meeting.

Exec meetings are open to all Members of the society, and will be advertised as soon as the exec knows about them on the web site.

Exec Meetings will be quorate if and only 2/3 or more of all of the Exec is in attendance. Only exec can vote on issues at an Exec Meeting, and such a vote shall construe an Exec Vote.

Minutes for Exec Meetings will be made available on the website.

The Exec run a mailing list. Its address is exec@animesoc.co.uk or anime@uwcs.co.uk. List archives are public, and available at https://www.warwickcompsoc.co.uk/pipermail/animesoc/

All posts from people not subscribed to the Exec List to the Exec List should receive a personal reply within 3 days, and that personal reply should additionally be forwarded to the Exec List. This should primarily be done by the president, but should they not do so within 2 days, any Exec Member may do it on their behalf.

Any post from an Exec Member tagged with [IMPORTANT] will be considered an Exec Vote. Should no Exec Member reply with an objection within 7 days from the appearance of said post on the list archives, the vote will have passed. Should an objection be raised, the vote will not have passed, and must be discussed at the next Exec Meeting. No further vote will be allowed on the list.

All Exec Members should therefore attempt to check the list at least once every 3 days. Should any Exec Member be unable to do so, they should attempt to alert the list of the period for which they will be unable to do so. For that period, not Exec Votes may occur on the list, and any that are put forth must be re-submitted upon said Exec Member’s return.

All exec members automatically resign unless no-one comes forth to replace them at the end of a society year. Should no-one wish to replace them, then the position will cease to exist, unless that position is Necessary, in which case the Annual General Meeting cannot proceed without an applicant for that position.

Additionally, any exec member may resign from their position at any General Meeting. However, should they do so, they may not return to that Exec Position via any means until the end of that Society Year.

By popular demand, these items are no longer in the constitution part of the document.

This section details the regulations for the various events that the society runs.

Changes to this section can be made through an Exec Vote.

• Are open to anyone.
• May be run every Term Week.
• Excepting the first week of the Academic Year, suitable measures will be taken to alert Members should a weekly shoing not be running for some reason.
• Will last for 3 hours.
• Will contain at least 20 minutes of break time.
• Will contain not more than one hour of any particular series unless at least half of attendees vote for having more.

• May occur on any Weekly Showing.
• Any Member may bring in any anime(s) and present a case for why it should be shown.
• Any attendees (including guests) at the meeting may now vote in turn on wether or not each series should be shown.
• The vote is in the form of a yes or no vote for each submission, meaning it’s quite acceptable to vote yes for more than one series.
• The series with the most yes votes will be shown.
• In the event of a draw, a second vote will be held to determine which series will be shown on that week - the others will be ranked and shown in that order in subsequent weeks.
• Further draws will result in further revotes.

Are open only to Members.

Are open to anyone.

The society maintains a library which is open to any member.

Changes to this section can be made via an Exec Vote.

Any Member may be allowed to borrow as many items (DVDs, VHSs or books) as they require from the library. They may be refused this right at the discretion of the Librarian.

Members may be required to show identification (specifically their university card if they’re a member of the university) in order to borrow from the library.

Items must be returned within four weeks, or by the end of the term in which they’re borrowed. The borrowing period may be raised (or lowered) for a specific case at the discretion of the Librarian (or via an Exec Vote).

A deposit of £5 may be required per item. This may be lowered or dropped entirely at the discretion of the Librarian (or via an Exec Vote).