Wednesday 14-10-2020 - 09:55

The Memorandum & Articles of Association (M&A) is the Governing Document of the Students’ Union. It is a legal document. This document needs to be reviewed every 4 years, previously the Students’ Union has given the M&A a ‘tune up’ however not a full review. 

The Union is governed by a Board of Trustees (find out more about Board here). The Board of Trustees has noted its intention to increase the number of external trustees, the reason for this increase is so that each sabbatical officer has an external trustee to act as a mentor. 

Administrative changes are proposed, the objects (the reason we exist) and other regulatory elements will not be changed, therefore no formal approval will be required from the Charity Commission. 

 

How do you change the Memorandum & Articles of Association?

Below is an extract from our governing document that explains the process.

 

9. Reviewing and Amending the Articles  

9.1 The University of Wales Trinity Saint David shall be required to review the provisions of the Union’s Articles of Association at intervals of not more than five years.  

9.2 Any amendment to the Union’s Articles of Association shall require the following:  

9.2.1 The circulation by the Board of Trustees of a proposal to amend the Articles to the Student Chapters Leadership Committees (the “Proposal”);  

9.2.2 A period of time (as set out in the Bye-Laws) during which the Student Chapter Leadership Committees shall consult with the Student Chapters and any amendments to the Proposal may be submitted to the Board of Trustees;  

9.2.3 The circulation by the Board of Trustees to all the Student Chapter Leadership Committees of a resolution to approve either the Proposal or a revised Proposal incorporating these amendments submitted in accordance with Article 9.2.2 which the Board of Trustees in their absolute discretion have accepted;  

9.2.4 A resolution passed by each Students’ Union Council by a two thirds majority vote approving the Proposal or the amended Proposal (as the case may be);  

9.2.5 a special resolution of the Company Law Members making the amendments to the Articles that have been approved by resolution of the Student Chapter Leadership Committees in accordance with Article 9.2.4; and 

9.2.6 The approval of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.  

 

 

What does this mean for me?

Nothing changes in the lives of students with the proposed changes. The two main things are we are looking to add some more external perspectives to the Board of Trustees (and giving the officers some mentoring), as well as removing gendered language within the document. However, if you take a look through the governing document and see something you'd like to amend or add please get in touch with union@uwtsd.ac.uk to have a chat about what you think could change. You'll need to do this before 26 October.

At the end of this article you'll find two documents 1) a 'rationale' document that helps to explain why we are recommending certain changes, a lot of this is about including Oxford Commas, and 2) is the governing document which has track changes so you can see the changes directly. The two documents are to be read together as reference points for each other.

 

 

We are working to this timetable: 

02 October: Board approve final suggested amendments to M&A 

16 October: ‘The Proposal’ is made available for consultation with students 

26 October: Deadline for student comment / suggested amendments 

28 October: Deadline for Board of Trustees to approve any suggested amendments from students 

16 November: Final Proposal submitted Campus Councils 

23 November: Campus Council Week (For votes at each Campus Council to approve the changes) 

25 November: UWTSD Council Approves the changes

30 November: Company Law Meeting during this week to approve the changes

Beyond… Memorandum & Articles of Association in their completed form are submitted to Companies House and uploaded to the students’ union website   

 

Rationale Document

Memorandum & Articles of Association Track Changes