| Women's Conference 2006 |
| 21/11/2005 |
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Thought I'd blog all the technical details about Women's Conference 2006 so that your Union hasn't got any excuses about not taking part! For more details, go to the Women's Conference page on Officer Online. NOTICE OF CONFERENCE THE NATIONAL UNION OF STUDENTS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM WELCOMES YOUR PARTICIPATION AT OUR WOMEN'S CAMPAIGN CONFERENCE, TO BE HELD AT THE BRITANNIA HOTEL COVENTRY, MONDAY 13 MARCH - WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2006 CONFERENCE DEADLINES Close of Motions:- 5.00pm Friday 9 December 2005 Close of Guest Speaker Nominations:- 1.00pm Friday 9 December 2005 Close of Nominations:- 5.00pm Friday 13 January 2006 Close of Priority Ballot:- 1.00pm Friday 13 January 2006 Close of Amendments:- 5.00pm Friday 17 February 2006 Close of Registration:- 5.00pm Friday 17 February 2006 Close of Guest Speaker Ballot:- 1.00pm Friday 17 February 2006 Drafting Commissions:- Sunday 26 February 2006 Close of Emergency Motions:- 1.00pm Wednesday 8 March 2006 SECTION ONE – POLICY DEBATE Each year, Women's Conference sets policy for the Women's Campaign and instructs the Women's Committee and/or Women's Officer. This policy is presented for ratification at the next National Council of the National Union. If ratified, it then becomes the policy of the whole Union, binding on all the National Executive. Any part(s) not ratified are still the policy of the Women's Campaign and binding on the Women's Committee and Women's Officer. To have input into the Women's Campaign policy procedure, women can: (1) submit a motion MOTIONS Motions must be submitted in triplicate, each copy of which should have a completed pro-forma (enclosed in this mailing) and be no longer than 500 words or they will not be accepted. Each motion must have its own policy heading, i.e. the name of the subject of the motion. For example, below is a selection of Women's Campaign policy - although you can submit under any other policies. Sexual Harassment, Women and Education, Women's Campaign, Childcare, Women and Ireland, Violence against Women, Reproductive Rights, Sexual Abuse, Section 28, Pornography, A Woman's Place is in her Union, Women's Health, Women in Education, Voluntary Membership, Internationalism. The closing time for receipt of motions is 5pm Friday 9th December 2005. They should be sent to the Events Office at NUS HQ and the envelope clearly marked 'Women's Campaign Conference (Motions)' to avoid delay and confusion. If you are sending motions close to the deadline, we strongly advise that you send them by Guaranteed Delivery. IMPORTANT: There are two methods by which you can submit a motion. The Steering Committee will rule out of order motions which are not submitted in one of the two following methods. i) A motion must be signed by 20 individual women members of a CM (Constituent Member i.e. college affiliated to NUS) with more than 3000 full-time members or part-time equivalent thereof, or by 8 individual members in all other CMs. These signatures must be approved by either the Women's Officer or another authorised officer of your Students' Union, who must sign to that effect. ii) Alternatively, motions may be submitted by resolution of a quorate Women's Group Meeting. A 'Women's Group Meeting' means a women-only meeting open and advertised to all women student members of the CM. The motion must be signed either by the Chair of the meeting or by the Women's Group. You must also include the date of the meeting, and be prepared to make the minutes available to Steering Committee on request. The same rules apply as governing submission of motions to Annual Conference:
If a motion is ruled out of order, Women’s Steering Committee will write to you. BEFORE PUTTING YOUR MOTIONS IN THE ENVELOPE MAKE SURE THAT THEY MEET ALL THE REGULATIONS. AMENDMENTS All motions submitted by the closing time will be circulated to CMs in the 'Women's Campaign Motions Document'. Women are entitled to submit an amendment to any motion in that document. An amendment must NOT (1) change the subject of the motion, (2) exceed 300 words. It CAN make specific changes and/or additions to a motion already submitted. The amendment must be submitted in triplicate and follow the same procedure for signature as motions. Faxed amendments are not acceptable. AMENDMENTS MUST REACH NUS BY 5PM FRIDAY 17th FEBRUARY 2006 AND BE MARKED 'WOMEN'S CAMPAIGN CONFERENCE (AMENDMENTS)'. PRIORITY BALLOT With the motions document you will receive a Priority Ballot Form. On this you should indicate your favoured subjects for discussion and return to NUS Events Office by 5pm Friday 13th January 2006. The result of the ballot will be sent out on Monday 16th January 2006. EMERGENCY MOTIONS Emergency motions are designed to cover events which happen after the closing time for motions to Conference. They must also be of such urgency that the work of the Women's Campaign would be impaired if the Conference did not discuss them. The closing time for Emergency Motions is 1pm Wednesday 8 March 2006. They should be sent to the Events Office at NUS HQ. Faxed Emergency Motions are not acceptable. GUEST SPEAKERS CMs decide which two guest speakers will be invited to Conference. You may submit a nomination for guest speaker, naming either the speaker or the organisation that will provide a speaker. The nomination must include a signed letter of acceptance from the nominated speaker, and must arrive at NUS Events Office by 1pm Friday 9th December 2005. A Guest Speaker Ballot form will be sent out with the Motions Document. The ballot is conducted in the same manner, and forms must be returned to NUS Events Office by 1pm Friday 17th February 2006. SECTION TWO - THE DELEGATION ENTITLEMENT Each CM is entitled to one delegate with full voting and speaking rights, free of charge. In addition, each CM may send up to a maximum of 3 observers for whom a fee of £220 will be charged. All delegates and observers MUST be women. ELECTIONS Delegates must be elected by women only. Delegates from CMs in the Higher Education Sector shall normally elect their delegates by means of a women only cross campus ballot. An appeal against cross campus ballot requirements in the case of any one particular college may be lodged with the Steering Committee by close of motions. Decisions are at the discretion of the Steering Committee. NB. Colleges which have the constitutional facility to hold elections as outlined above will not normally be exempted. RIGHTS All delegates have full speaking and voting rights. Observers have full speaking rights but not voting rights. REGISTRATION The delegation must be registered for Conference on the official form. Please print all names clearly. All registration forms must reach NUS Events Office by 5pm Friday 17th February 2006 as accommodation and meals cannot be provided after this date. If you have not held your elections by the closing date, send the registration form to reach us in time with the number of delegates and observers you will be sending, then phone through names and details as soon as possible. Mark all correspondence for registration clearly for WOMEN'S CAMPAIGN CONFERENCE (Registration). By doing this you will avoid the late registration fee which has to be charged to cover the additional administrative work incurred and you will be guaranteed accommodation and meals. The fee for late registrations is £50 per person. LOST FORMS Should you misplace your registration form, you should fax notification on your college letterhead paper to the Events Office, fax no: 0871 221 8222 and a replacement form will be sent to you in the post. Please note: We cannot send or accept faxed forms. ACCESS REQUIREMENTS Please ensure that you include details of any access needs required by your delegates, to enable that person to fully participate in the event. Advance notice of access needs allows the right arrangements to be made with plenty of time. ON TAPE:- We would encourage CMs to put Conference documents on tape wherever possible for any blind/partially sighted delegates. If you require documents to appear in Braille format please let us know a.s.a.p. CHILDCARE:- Childcare will be provided. It is very important however that you do register children in advance to ensure a high standard of care, safety and enjoyment for children using the crèche. Put childcare details on the registration form. CANCELLATION:- Cancellation charges will be deducted from the registration fee as follows: No Notification - No Refund SECTION THREE - FINANCES SUBSCRIPTIONS Subscriptions to NUS were due for payment on or before 1st October 2005. If your students’ union has not paid its subs or made an agreement with the National Treasurer you will not be allowed to attend Conference. If in doubt, check with the NUS Membership Department and the Finance Officer of your students’ union. FEES All delegates to Conference go free of charge. However, there is a registration fee for all observers. The amount is notified on the registration form which is sent out in the next mailing. CONFERENCE DOCUMENTS Each CM receives one copy of the core conference documents. All other documents can be obtained by visiting our website at www.officeronline.co.uk/events WCD2 NOTICE OF ELECTIONS WOMEN’S OFFICER Elections will be held at Women’s Campaign Conference 2005 for the post of Women’s Officer to serve for a period as prescribed in the Constitution. The deadline for nominations and manifestos for this election is 5pm Friday 13th January 2006 at NUS, Events Department c/o NUS, 2nd Floor, Centro 3, 19 Mandela Street, London NW1 ODU. A list of candidates for this election will be circulated together with the manifestos and a list of nominations by Monday 23rd January 2005 all letters received between the issue of this notice and the closing date for nominations addressed to the Returning Officer, are kept unopened until they are officially opened after the closing date. Communication other than nominations should be addressed to the Events Office, c/o NUS, 2nd Floor, Centro 3, 19 Mandela Street, London NW1 ODU Details of regulations concerning this election and guidelines for the format of Manifestos appear on the nominations form (available on request from the Events Office) and in Schedule Four of the NUS Constitution. The Blogs on this site represent the individual views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies or practices of the National Union of Students. All links in blogs will open in a new browser window. The permanent URL for this specific blog entry is: http://www.officeronline.co.uk/blogs/josalmon/271690.aspx |
