Standing Orders for UTS Council

Chair

1. The Chancellor shall preside at any meeting of the Council at which he/she is present unless he/she elects not to do so.

2. Where at a meeting of the Council the Chancellor:

    (a) is absent

    (b) elects not to preside

    (c) is unable to preside,

or the office of the Chancellor is vacant, the Deputy Chancellor shall preside.

3. In the absence of both the Chancellor and the Deputy Chancellor from a meeting of the Council the members present shall elect one of their number to preside at that meeting.

Notice of meetings

4. The Council shall meet in ordinary session not less than six times in each year and at such other times as the Council shall decide.

5. Not less than seven days' notice of an ordinary meeting of the Council shall be given by the University Secretary, in writing to members of the Council setting out the time and place of the meeting and the agenda.

5A. Order 5 may be suspended by the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor and University Secretary, as the Executive of Council, under the terms of Rule G1-6 Notice of meeting of Council of the UTS General Rules, by directing the University Secretary to take action with respect to any of the following:

    (a) advise members of a Council meeting with shorter notice than prescribed by Order 5

    (b) advise only Council members and other required attendees of the meeting place

    (c) advise Council members that a meeting will be held in closed session.

6. A special meeting may be convened by the University Secretary on the request of the Chancellor, the Deputy Chancellor or the Vice-Chancellor or upon the written request of any five members of the Council within 30 days of receipt of the request.

6A. Order 6 may be suspended by the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor and University Secretary, as the Executive of Council, under the terms of Rule G1-6 Notice of meeting of Council of the UTS General Rules, by directing the University Secretary to take action with respect to any of the following:

    (a) advise members of a Council meeting with shorter notice than prescribed by Order 6

    (b) advise only Council members and other required attendees of the meeting place

    (c) advise Council members that a meeting will be held in closed session.

7. Not less than seven days' notice of a special meeting of the Council shall be given in writing by the University Secretary to members of the Council specifying any matters requested under Order 6, for discussion at the special meeting.

8. Proceedings of the Council shall be valid notwithstanding non-receipt of a notice of meeting by a member.

Quorum

9. The quorum at any meeting of the Council shall consist of a majority of the total number of members for the time being of the Council.

10. If no quorum is present within 30 minutes of the time appointed for the meeting to commence, all business which should have been transacted at that meeting shall stand over until the next ordinary meeting of the Council, in which case, the business which was to have been dealt with at the meeting lacking a quorum shall take precedence over the business of the ordinary meeting, unless a special meeting is called in the meantime for the transaction of that business.

11. Once a meeting of the Council has commenced with a quorum, there shall be deemed to be a quorum thereafter, unless the lack of a quorum is drawn to the Chair's attention by a member of the Council. On the Chair's attention being drawn to the lack of a quorum he/she shall adjourn the meeting for five minutes. If at the expiration of five minutes there still is no quorum the Chair shall adjourn the meeting to another time or place.

Minutes

12. The University Secretary shall keep a record of each meeting which shall be stored in an official University file and at each meeting the minutes of the preceding meeting shall:

    (a) be read unless copies thereof have been previously circulated to members

    (b) be confirmed or confirmed as amended, and

    (c) be signed by the Chair as confirmed with or without amendment.

Conduct of meetings

13. The order of business at any meeting of the Council shall follow that set out in the agenda unless the Council otherwise determines.

14. Meetings shall, subject to the presence of a quorum, start at the time set out in the notice of meeting, and shall, subject to the discretion of the Chair, continue until all business on the agenda has been concluded.

15. No member of the Council shall initiate any matter for debate or move any motion in respect of such matter, other than a matter on the agenda, unless the Council otherwise determines.

16. At meetings of the Council voting shall be by show of hands, and:

    (a) any question shall be decided by a majority of the members present, and

    (b) the Chair shall have a deliberative vote, and, in the event of any equality of votes, a casting vote.

17. A motion or amendment before the Chair shall not be withdrawn except by the mover thereof and by leave of the seconder and of the Council, provided that no motion shall be withdrawn while any amendment is under discussion or after any amendment has been adopted.

18. A motion or amendment before the Chair may be reworded by the mover subject to leave of the Council.

19. No member of the Council shall speak more than once to any question, save that the mover of the motion (but not of an amendment) shall have the right of reply, which reply shall close the debate. For the purposes of this Order an amendment shall constitute a separate question from the original motion and from any other amendment.

20. When an amendment is before the Chair, discussion shall be confined to that amendment, and no further amendment shall be proposed until the amendment before the Chair has been disposed of.

21. Any member of the Council may raise a point of order which shall take precedence over all other business, and which shall be open to discussion. The point must be raised at the time the alleged irregularity occurred.

22. Any member of the Council disagreeing with the Chair's ruling on a point of order may move dissent. Such motion shall be put forthwith without debate.

23. Any member of the Council who has not already participated in the debate on any matter may, at any time, whether another speaker has the floor or not, move 'That the question be now put', which motion, if accepted by the Chair, shall be put without amendment or debate. The Chair shall have an absolute discretion to accept or refuse the motion. If the motion is put during debate on an amendment, the motion shall close debate on the amendment only.

Closed session

24. The Council may, if it so wishes and provided that a quorum is present, go 'into closed session', whereupon all non-members who are present shall, with the exception of such non-members as the Council may determine, be required to leave the room and shall not be readmitted until the Chair declares that open session has been resumed.

Adjournment

25. The Chair may, with the consent of the Council, and shall, if so directed by the Council, adjourn the meeting from time to time and from place to place, but no business shall be transacted at an adjourned meeting other than the business left unfinished at the meeting from which the adjournment took place. When a meeting is adjourned for 10 days or more, notice of the adjourned meeting shall be given as for an ordinary meeting. Save as aforesaid it shall not be necessary to give any notice of an adjournment or of the business to be transacted at an adjourned meeting.

Attendance at Council meetings