Council Meetings

Full members of the Union (i.e. students at Imperial) can request a meeting link to Union Council Meetings by emailing the Council Chair and cc in clement.jones@imperial.ac.uk

 Union Council Meetings typically take place in the evening at 6:30pm in the Union Dining Hall.

‘Emergency’ Council meetings can also be called by the Union President, 10 members of Council or 100 students.

Officer Trustees, the Felix Editor and Constituent Unions are required to provide reports for Council on their work. The Council Chair also provides reports on the Board of Trustees. Council meetings are run according to the Constitution & Bye-Laws . These don’t provide much detail so Council also has Standing Orders . These are covered in more detail in the next sections..

Papers & Motions

Only full members of the Union (i.e. students at Imperial) can ‘propose’ and support papers (How to write a Council paper). The author of a paper is called a 'Proposer' and a supporter of a paper is called a 'Seconder'. Every paper must have a Proposer and at least one Seconder.

Papers must be submitted at least 5 College days in advance of a meeting to give Council members a chance to read all the papers. Papers are also put online so that any student can read them.

At a Council meeting, the Proposer will present their paper to Council. This often involves providing a small amount of background and summarising the key points in the paper. The Proposer then answers any questions that may arise. Council members may want to amend a specific point e.g. to add clarity or to add another action. If the Proposer agrees with this then they can change their paper. If not, Council will vote on the suggested change. The student proposing the paper can withdraw it at any point before Council votes on it. It will no longer be discussed and the agenda will move on.

If you are writing a paper that refers to external data or ideas, make sure you put a link so other people can see the information.

Members of the Union can also submit discussion items. These are papers that don’t have a specific resolution but can help shape the Union’s work or guide elected representatives in their decisions.

If you’re writing a paper and are unsure about anything or would like some guidance, the Council Chair (an elected student volunteer), the Officer Trustees or the Represention Team are all available to help. It’s also worth gathering views from one of Council’s subcommittees if relevant before bringing your paper to Council.
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