Incorporates the amendments of the A.G.M.s of 2005 and 2011, and an E.G.M. in 2014.
Constitution - University of Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra
Society's Charter 1. Name 1.1 The name of the Society shall be the University of Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra.
2. Society's Aims: 2.1 The aims of the Society shall be:
To provide an opportunity for musicians of all standards to play orchestral music in an informal and friendly atmosphere;
To hold concerts once at the end of each term, during the course of the academic year at the University of Cambridge.
3. Membership In General: 3.1 Membership of the Society shall be open to all musicians who are currently Members of the University of Cambridge and, at the discretion of the Committee, to any musicians who are not Members of the University of Cambridge. No auditions shall be held for musicians wishing to play in the orchestra. 3.2 A Member shall be defined as any people who have informed the Membership Secretary that they wish to be considered as such, and who have not had their Membership revoked by the Committee. 3.3 The Committee shall not refuse an application for Membership on the grounds of race, gender, sex, sexuality, disability, religion or political views. 3.4 The Committee may revoke the Membership of any Member whose conduct puts the reputation of the society at risk. 3.5 At the discretion of the Committee, a termly Membership fee may be levied. 3.6 The Committee shall have the right to offer free honorary Membership as it sees fit. 3.7 The Committee shall hold open auditions for conductors and soloists, as the need arises.
4. Rehearsals 4.1 Rehearsals shall be held once a week during University Full Term. Rehearsal venues and schedules shall be publicised by the Committee, at the latest on the evening preceding the rehearsal. 4.2 Rehearsals shall, without exception, be open to all Members of the Society. 4.3 Additional rehearsals may be held at the discretion of the Committee. Date, venue and schedule of any additional rehearsal shall be publicised as soon as possible.
5. Committee Nature of the Committee:Composition of the Committee:Committee Meetings, etc.:Removal of a Committee Member:Resignation of Committee Members: 5.1 The affairs and day-to-day running of the Society shall be undertaken by a Committee, whose Members shall be elected annually at the Annual General Meeting, from amongst the Voting Members of the Society. 5.2 The elected Committee shall consist of the following named posts: Chair, Membership Secretary, Music Officer, Treasurer, Webmaster (hereinafter, collectively "Named Posts"). In addition, there shall be three unnamed posts on the committee (hereinafter "Unnamed Posts"). Elections to the Committee will be conducted in accordance with paragraphs 8.3-11 below. 5.3 The Orchestra's conductors shall automatically be Members of the committee. 5.4 The Committee may, at its discretion, co-opt additional Members onto the Committee where it perceives the need. Such a co-option must promptly be publicised to the society; any Voting Members of the Society may submit an objection within one week from its publication, in which case either the co-option must be repealed or an E.G.M. called to ratify the decision. 5.5 Members of the Committee may hold more than one post but the Committee must, at any given time, consist of at least three individual Members, including at least one conductor. Moreover, no individual may simultaneously hold more than one of the following posts: Chair, Treasurer, Conductor. 5.6 The Committee shall appoint a Senior Treasurer to audit the Society's annual accounts. The Senior Treasurer shall not be liable for any financial debt or other obligation of the Society, unless the Senior Treasurer has personally authorised such a debt in writing. 5.7 The Committee shall hold regular meetings in order to organise events and to conduct the Society's business in an efficient and professional manner. Meetings shall be called by the Chair or by any three committee Members. 5.8 Decisions at Committee meetings shall be made by the majority vote of those Members of the Committee present at the meeting. If there are an equal number of votes cast for or against any motion, the Chair shall have the casting vote. 5.9 In order for the decisions of the Committee at Committee meetings to be valid, the following conditions must be satisfied:
The Chair must be in attendance at each Committee meeting or, should (s)he be unavailable, the Chair must, with the prior agreement of the Committee, name a Member of the Committee to act as temporary Chair at a meeting;
If the Committee consists of between three and six Members (inclusive), the size of the quorum shall be three Members;
If the Committee consists of seven or more Members, the quorum shall be half the number of the Committee Members or six, whichever number is lesser.
5.10 Any Member of the Committee may be removed by a unanimous vote of all the other Members of the Committee. 5.11 Any Member of the Committee may resign at any time by informing the Chair of their intention to do so. Should the Chair wish to resign, they shall do so by informing the rest of the Committee. All resignations must be publicised to the society as soon as possible. 5.12 On receipt of a resignation the Committee may appoint a replacement Member at their discretion, either by reshuffling of posts within the committee, by co-option according to paragraph 5.4 above, or by calling an E.G.M. to hold elections for the post (paragraphs 9.1-3 and 8.3-11 below). If any named post is left vacant by a resignation, a replacement must be appointed as soon as possible. 5.13 Where two or more Members resign simultaneously, an E.G.M. shall be called and elections for their posts held, as described in paragraphs 9.1-3 and 8.3-11 below.
6. University of Cambridge Philharmonia 6.1 At the discretion of the Committee, an additional orchestra, to be known as the University of Cambridge Philharmonia (hereinafter UCP), may be run by the Society in any term. 6.2 The day-to-day running of UCP shall be undertaken by the UCP Subcommittee. The UCP Subcommittee shall comprise the UCP Chair (appointed by the Committee), the Society's Treasurer, and additional Members at the discretion of the UCP Chair. All Members of the UCP Subcommittee must be Voting Members of the Society. 6.3 Membership of UCP shall be open to any Member of the Society, subject to there being a place available. 6.4 Should the number of Society Members wishing to play a given part in UCP exceed the number of places available, allocation of places shall be at the discretion of the UCP Subcommittee. 6.5 Non-Members of the Society may play in UCP at the discretion of the UCP Subcommittee. This should not be to the exclusion of Members of the Society. 6.6 No additional UCP Membership fee shall be required from Society Members. At the discretion of the UCP Subcommittee, a termly UCP Membership fee may be levied on non-Members of the Society.
7. Voting Members 7.1 Voting Members of the Society shall be those who have both attended a majority of the rehearsals held so far in that term (or attended a majority of the rehearsals held in either of the two previous terms) and paid any Membership fee required of them by the Committee. The Committee shall have the power to waive the attendance requirement at their discretion. 'Rehearsals' means UCPO rehearsals (both full and sectional), and UCP rehearsals for those who are currently Members of UCP. Attendance at a rehearsal shall count for voting purposes if the player has attended at least one half of the rehearsal.
8. Annual General Meetings In General:Election of Committee Members:Conditions - Named Posts:Conditions - Unnamed Posts: 8.1 The Annual General Meeting (hereinafter "A.G.M.") of the Society will take place each year during University Full Term. The A.G.M. is to be held no earlier than the first week of Lent Term and no later than the second rehearsal of the following Easter Term. The time and venue of the A.G.M. shall be publicised by the Committee at least seven full term days before the A.G.M. is due to be held. 8.2 The A.G.M. shall consist of the Treasurer's report, the election of Committee Members, and optionally the proposal of an amendment of the constitution as described in paragraphs 10.1-2 below. 8.3 Voting for both the Named and Unnamed Posts shall be by way of secret ballot and each Voting Member of the Society (as defined in paragraph 7.1 above) shall have one vote. 8.4 Written ballot forms shall be prepared and presented to all Voting Members of the Society. There shall appear on each ballot form:
five separate voting boxes for each of the Named Posts (marked "Chair", "Membership Secretary", "Music Officer", "Webmaster," and "Treasurer" respectively) and a sixth separate box for the Unnamed Posts (marked "Unnamed Posts");
the name of the person(s) seeking election to each post, whether Named or Unnamed, within each appropriate voting box;
a last category of re-open nominations (marked "R.O.N.") in each separate voting box.
8.5 The votes shall be counted twice by two Returning Officers previously chosen at the discretion of the outgoing Committee, who must be Members of the society not standing for election to the Committee. The results of the election will be announced orally at the conclusion of the A.G.M. and shall then be publicised by the Committee. There shall be no appeal from the result of the election, unless any Member of the Society is able to prove fraud or dishonesty on the part of the outgoing Committee or the Returning Officers. 8.6 Voting Members shall be asked to place a tick against the particular candidate standing for a Named Post whom they wish to elect to the Named Post or, should they not wish to vote for a candidate or candidates, to place a tick against R.O.N. or to abstain. 8.7 Election shall be by simple majority: for each Named Post, the candidate receiving the most votes is elected to that Post, unless R.O.N. has received more votes than any candidate, in which case the election for that Named Post is reopened. In the case of a tie for first place between candidates, the outgoing Chair shall have the casting vote. 8.8 Voting Members shall be asked to place a tick against the names of the three candidates they wish to elect to an Unnamed Post or, should they not wish to vote for a candidate or candidates, to place a tick against R.O.N. or to abstain. 8.9 If only three candidates stand for Unnamed Posts, then the vote shall be considered uncontested and candidates standing for election to an Unnamed Post shall be elected if the number of votes cast for those candidates exceeds the number of votes cast for R.O.N. 8.10 If more than three candidates stand for Unnamed Posts, then the vote shall be considered contested and the three candidates receiving, individually, the largest proportion of votes shall be elected to the Unnamed Posts, unless the number of votes for any candidate is exceeded by the number of votes cast for R.O.N. If the candidates in third and fourth place receive equal numbers of votes, then the outgoing Chair shall have the casting vote. 8.11 If the number of R.O.N. votes cast exceeds the number of votes cast for any candidate, that candidate will not be elected. If, as a result of the number of votes cast for R.O.N., it is found that less than three people have been elected to Unnamed Posts, elections, for the number of Unnamed Posts required to bring the number to three, shall be reopened.
9. Extraordinary General Meetings 9.1 Extraordinary General Meetings (hereinafter "E.G.M.") of the Society shall be called during Full Term either
at the discretion of the Committee; or
by application to the Committee by any six Members of the Society; or
as required by paragraphs 5.12-13 above.
9.2 A notice of the E.G.M., listing: Time, Date, Venue and Proposed Agenda, shall be publicised by the Committee at least seven Full Term days before the E.G.M. is due to be held. 9.3 An E.G.M. might typically be called for one or more of the following purposes:
Elections for a vacant committee position (as per paragraphs 5.12-13 above, and following the procedure of paras 8.3-11 as appropriate);
Amendments to the constitution (paragraphs 10.1-2 below);
Dissolution of the society (paragraphs 11.1-2 below).
10. Amendments to the Constitution 10.1 Amendments to this Constitution may be proposed by the Committee or any six Members of the Society and must be submitted to the Chair in writing. 10.2 All amendments must be ratified by a simple majority of Voting Members at an E.G.M. or A.G.M..
11. Dissolution of the Society 11.1 Dissolution of the society shall be treated as an amendment to the constitution and the rules in paragraphs 10.1-2 above shall apply. Additionally, a motion that the Society be dissolved may only be proposed at an E.G.M., and must be agreed on unanimously by the committee. 11.2 Upon dissolution, all of the assets of the Society shall be donated to the Societies Syndicate of Cambridge University.