SECTION II: MEMBERSHIP

 

Article 1 Honorary President and Vice-President

The Teaching Staff of the Department of Sociology of the University of Hong Kong shall be eligible for nomination by the executive committee for Presidency and Vice-Presidency.

 

Article 2 Honorary Auditor

The Teaching Staff of the Department of Sociology of the University of Hong Kong or any chartered accountant shall be eligible for nomination by the executive committee for the Honorary Auditor.

 

Article 3 Honorary Membership

All members of the Teaching Staff of the Department of Sociology of the University of Hong Kong shall be eligible for Honorary membership.

 

Article 4 Full Membership

A. All undergraduates and postgraduates who are members of The Hong Kong University Students' Union and taking approved courses of the Department of Sociology, the University of Hong Kong during the valid membership period shall be entitled to Full Membership of the Society on registration and payment of the prescribed fee. The valid Membership period of each session is from 1st July to 30th June of next year.

B. The Society shall have at least a majority of its full members that have been registered as full members of the Social Sciences Society, The Hong Kong University Students’ Union.

C. Full members shall have the right to withdraw from the Society with the consent of the Executive Committee. A written notice concerning the withdrawal shall be given to the General Secretary.

 

Article 5 Associate Membership

A. All members of the Clerical Staff and past graduates of the Department of Sociology shall be eligible for associate membership on payment of the prescribed fee and upon approval of the executive committee.

B. Any person not being eligible for membership of the Society under any of the above Articles may be admitted as an associate member upon the approval of the Executive Committee of the Society and payment of the prescribed fee.

C. Associate members shall have the right to withdraw from the Society with the consent of the Executive Committee. A written notice concerning the withdrawal shall be given to the General Secretary. 

 

Article 6 Membership Fee

1. All full members and associate members shall have the obligation to pay a lump sum of HK$30.00 or HK$40.00 for membership subscription of three years or four years respectively, or pro rata of HK$30.00 or HK$40.00 for any other duration calculated on yearly basis.

2. All membership fee received are non-refundable under any circumstances.

 

SECTION III: PRIVILEGES 

 

Article 1 All members of the Society shall be entitled:

1. To use all facilities provided by the Society for the general use of its members.

2. To attend functions and general meetings arranged by the Society.

 

Article 2 Only full members of the Society shall have the right to vote, nominate and be nominated for election; and be eligible for office in the Executive Committee of the Society.

 

SECTION IV: ORGANIZATION

 

Article 1 The Officials of the Society

A. An Advisory Board consisting of the Honorary President, the Honorary Vice-President, and the Honorary Auditor.

B. An Executive Committee (Hereafter referred to as "the Committee") consisting of the following members: 1. The Chairperson

2. The Internal Vice-Chairperson

3. The External Vice-Chairperson

4. The General Secretary

5. The Financial Secretary

6. The Social Convenor

7. The Publication Secretary

8. The Publicity Secretary

9. Two Academic Secretaries

10. The Marketing Officer

11. The External Secretary

C. Three Year Representatives-one student from 1st year, one from 2nd year, and one from 3rd year, all of them taking approved courses of the Department of Sociology.

D. One representative shall be nominated from and by the pervious Executive Committee.

 

Article 2 Session

All office-bearers (Except the Advisory Board) of the Society shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting and shall hold office until the next Annual General Meeting.

 

Article 3 Duties of the Officials

A. The Chairperson shall be the Chief Executive, shall represent the Society in all affairs, and shall preside in all meetings of the Society unless other Executive Committee members being delegated, except in the General Meetings.

B. The Internal Vice-Chairperson shall assist the Chairperson with special emphasis on internal affairs.

C. The External Vice-Chairperson shall assist the Chairperson with special emphasis on external affairs.

D. The General Secretary shall be responsible for the general executive duties, keeping the membership record of the Society and to be responsible for the preparation of the minutes of the Executive Committee meetings and General Meeting and the Annual Report.

E. The Financial Secretary shall be responsible for all matters relating to the finance of the Society.

F. The Social Convenor shall be responsible for all social activities of the Society.

G. The Publication Secretary shall be responsible for all publication of the Society and shall be editor-in-chief of the Society Journal.

H. The Publicity Secretary shall be responsible for all publicity activities of the Society.

I. The Academic Secretaries shall be responsible for all academic affairs.

J. The Marketing Officer shall be responsible for all matters concerning the marketing activities.

K. The External Secretary shall assist the External Vice-Chairperson on external affairs.

L. The Year Representatives shall represent their respective years and facilitate the communication among the Department of Sociology, students taking Sociology courses and the Committee. They shall have the rights to attend and vote in the agendum or agenda concerning their duties in all Committee meetings. They shall also be the representatives to attend the Staff/Student Consultative Committee Meetings of the Department.

M. The Representative from the previous committee shall have the right to attend and vote in all Committee Meetings, and to advise the Committee on its administration and the policy. He/She shall preside in the General Meetings. In his/her absence, one member from the previous executive committee shall preside in the General Meetings.

 

Article 4 Power of the Committee

A. The committee shall have the sole authority to represent the Society in executing their duties.

B. Invitation of the Honorary President, Honorary Vice-President, and Honorary Auditor:

1. The Honorary President, Honorary Vice-President, and Honorary Auditor shall be invited by the committee at the Executive Committee Meeting held before the forth week of the 2nd Term of the Academic year.

2. The Honorary Advisors may be invited by the Committee at any Committee Meeting during the session.

C. Invitation of Honorary Members and Patrons: The Committee shall have the authority to invite any person or persons to be the Honorary Members and /or Patrons of the Society.

D. The Committee shall have the authority to delegate power to a sub-committee to deal with any business concerning the Society. It shall have the right to approve or disapprove the decision thereby made.

E. The Committee shall have the sole authority to interpret the constitution in general operation of the Society

 

Article 5 Sub-Committee

A. Composition: At least 3 members shall form the Sub-Committee, of which one must be an official of the Executive Committee.

B. Standing Committees:

(i) Social

(ii) Cultural

(iii) Publication

(iv) Sports

C. Ad-hoc Sub-Committees

D. Duties:

(i) The Sub-Committee shall function on appointment by the Committee, and shall be dissolved when the session ends or when it has fulfilled its purpose whichever shall be the ease.

(ii) The Sub-Committee shall inform the Chairperson and report to the Committee any of its decisions. The Chairperson shall have the power to veto these decisions of the Committee.

 

Article 6 Committee Meetings

A. Committee Meeting shall be convened by the Chairperson or any one of the Vice-Chairpersons.

B. The majority shall form a Quorum.

C. Each Committee Member will be given one vote.

 

SECTION V: ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS

 

Article 1 Authority

The vote at the Annual General Meeting possesses the highest authority in all matters affecting the Society.

 

Article 2 Date

The Annual General Meeting shall be held within four weeks before the last day of teaching of the first Semester.

 

Article 3 Notice

At least 7 days' notice shall be given of such a meeting.

 

Article 4 Quorum

A. At the Annual General Meeting, one-tenth of full members of the Society or not less than 25 full members of the Society (take the largest number of members) shall form a quorum.

B. If after an hour of the time scheduled for the commencement of the meeting, a quorum is not present, the meeting shall be declared flopped. A second meeting shall be held in the same day of the following week. At that meeting all full members present thereat shall form a quorum. The same arrangement shall apply to all other General Meetings.

 

Article 5 Returning Officer

The Committee shall invite one member of the Social Sciences Society Council, HKUSU not being a member of the Committee, as the Returning Officer for each General Meeting.

 

Article 6 Business

The Business of the Annual General Meeting shall be:

A. To receive and adopt the minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting together with the minutes of all Extraordinary General Meeting, which may have occurred since the previous Annual General Meeting.

B. To receive and adopt the Annual Report prepared by the General Secretary for the current session.

C. To receive and adopt the audited Financial Report prepared by the Financial Secretary and the audited Statement of Accounts.

D. To elect the office-bearers of the Society for the coming session.

E. To amend the constitution, if any.

F. Any other business.

 

SECTION VI EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETINGS

 

Article 1 Purpose

To resolve any important matter concerning the Society.

 

Article 2 Calling of Extraordinary General Meetings

A. The Committee may call an Extraordinary General Meeting at any time, at least 3 days' notice shall be given.

B. One-tenth of full members or not less than 25 full members of the Society (take the largest number of members) shall form a quorum.

C. Upon a requisition made in writing to General Secretary and signed by not less than 25 Full Members, the Committee shall convene an Extraordinary General Meeting within 2 weeks. Any such requisition shall specify the objects of the proposed meeting. No other matter shall be discussed there without the consent of at least 2/3 of the members present. At least 3 days notice shall be given of any amending meeting.

 

Article 3 Amendment of Constitutions and Rules

No alternation of the existing rules nor any addition thereto shall be made except at the Annual General Meeting or Extraordinary General Meetings convened for the purpose. At least 7 days' notice shall be given of any amending motion.

 

Article 4 Vote of Non-Confidence

A vote of non-confidence for infringement of the Constitution, negligence of duties or unbecoming conduct may be moved against the office-bearers at an Extraordinary General Meeting held specifically for the purpose. A vote so passes shall call for the resignation of the person or persons against whom the vote is moved.

 

Article 5 By-election General Meeting

The Extraordinary General Meeting shall be responsible for any By-election General Meeting.

 

SECTION VII: ELECTION 

 

Article 1 Nomination

Nomination for the members of the office-bearers shall be open at least three weeks before the Annual General Meeting and shall be closed 48 hours before the Meeting. Notices for open nomination and the extent of nomination period have to be put up by the Executive Committee.

 

Article 2 Voting

A. When there is only one candidate for the post the candidate shall be declared elected if the number of valid votes cast for the candidate on the condition of a simple majority and is no less than one-quarter of full members present in the Annual General Meeting.

B. When there are two or more candidates for one post, a secret ballot shall be held. The elected candidate must gain no less than one-quarter of the votes of the full members present in the Annual General Meeting and must have the highest vote among the candidates.

 

Article 3 Returning Officer

The Committee shall invite at least one returning officer to act as Election Official. He/She must be a member of the Social Sciences Society Council, HKUSU but not a member of the Committee.

 

Article 4 Vacancy and Resignation

A. In case of any office-bearer wishes to resign, he/she must obtain the simple majority approval of the Committee, and an Extraordinary General Meeting should be convened.

B. The Committee may demand an office-bearer to resign at an Extraordinary General Meeting if he/she committed any serious infringement of the Constitution or used the name of the Society in illegal or corruptive acts.

C. Should the Chairperson resign his/her post or receive a vote of non-confidence, an Extraordinary General Meeting shall be convened to elect a new Chairperson.

D. The Executive Committee shall convene an Extraordinary Committee Meeting for electing office-bearers in case of vacancies.

E. In the event of 3 or more vacancies in the posts of the Executive Committee, the Committee must convene an Extraordinary General Meeting to fill the vacancy.

 

Article 5 Announcement of election results

Results of the election shall be announced within 24 hours after the conduction of the election and by-election.

 

SECTION VIII: INTERPRETATION

 

The General Meeting shall possess the highest authority in the interpretation of the Constitution. The Chairperson shall have the right of interpretation of the Constitution in the general operation of the Society.