Constitution

The following document is the society constitution:

The Constitution

The Society shall be called Cambridge Larp Society.

The Society will run and maintain a live action roleplay system ("The Game") for its members.

The Society will run regular adventure and interactive events within The Game.

The Society shall be governed by this Constitution and ultimately though the members at General Meetings, and run day-to-day by the Exec.

The Game shall be run day-to-day by the Referee Team.

The Society may be dissolved at a General meeting provided that at least Twenty-one days written notice of the intention to dissolve the Society has been given to the members. At least two thirds of those present and voting must vote in favour of the motion for the Dissolution for it to be effective.

Upon dissolution of the society any saleable equipment owned by the society is to be sold off if necessary to pay for any debts incurred and the remainder of useful equipment and money to be donated to an appropriate Society to be decided by the members at the time such an event occurs.

The Executive Committee

The Executive Committee ("The Exec") is to consist of a President, a Secretary and a Junior Treasurer.

The Members of the Committee shall be elected individually at The Annual General Meeting in the order in which they first appear in the constitution. All the Members of the Committee shall take office at midnight at the end of the the last day of the Full Easter term in which they were elected, and shall hold office until midnight at the end of the last day of the following full Easter Term. All Members of the Committee shall be eligible for re-election.

The Exec shall collectively have responsibility for all matters relating to the Society, other than those relating directly to the Game, which shall be the responsibility of the Referee Team. It shall consist of the following officers:

The President, who shall oversee the running of the society and will present a report to the Annual General Meeting. Nobody who has been a member of The Society for less than six months may hold the office of President. The President shall take the chair at all official meetings of The Society. If the President is not present then the meeting shall elect another member of the exec as chair to run the meeting. The President shall also have the casting vote in any official meeting of the society. The President may not be a referee.

The Junior Treasurer, who shall look after the Society's money and keep accounts. The Junior Treasurer may authorise spending up to £20 without consulting the remainder of the exec and any amount with the majority approval of the Exec. The Junior Treasurer shall keep accounts of all income and expenditure, which shall be open to Members on two weeks notice, and which shall be audited annually. The Junior Treasurer shall present a report on the Society's financial position to the Annual General Meeting each year. The Junior Treasurer shall submit the accounts to the Senior Treasurer for approval and auditing by the Proctors once a year.

The Secretary, who shall be responsible for communicating with members. The Secretary shall be responsible for calling general meetings and producing agendas and minutes. The Secretary shall keep the minutes of all General Meetings of the Society, and of all meetings of the Committee. These minutes should be published within two weeks of the meeting. Minutes shall be open to inspection by Members on two weeks notice. Where required to do so, The Secretary shall notify the Junior Proctor of all changes in the Officers and Constitution of the Society.

Should any vacancy occur on the Exec during the year, the remaining Exec must call an Emergency General Meeting of the Society to elect a new one subject to the rules for sufficient advance notice given in the Constitution.

The quorum for the Exec is all 3 members.

The Head Referee will act as a non-voting advisor to the exec and is to be invited to all Committee meetings.

Membership

Ordinary Membership shall be open to any Member of the University of Cambridge; membership will be made open to any non-member of the University at the discretion of the Committee.

Membership shall not necessarily grant the right to participate in The Game, which shall be subject to the conditions in this Constitution.

The Executive Committee shall set a yearly membership fee for students. They shall also set a yearly membership fee for non-students, which shall be the same or higher. Additional charges may be added for extra facilities.

A person may be made an Honorary Member by a majority vote at a General meeting and as such does not have to pay a membership fee but cannot vote at a General Meeting or hold any committee position unless they are also an Ordinary Member.

Conduct of Meetings

General meetings of the Society shall be open to all Members except Honorary Members who do not hold Ordinary Membership. 1/3 (rounded up) of the current Membership, or fifteen Members, whichever is the lesser shall form a quorum.

The Annual General Meeting shall be held not less than seven days before the end of the Full Easter Term each year, upon a date to be determined by the Committee. Should the Annual General Meeting be inquorate, the Meeting may proceed nevertheless to the receipt of the financial report and the Chair's report and the election of officers only. Any decision made by such a meeting shall be subject to ratification by a quorate General Meeting.

The Exec may summon an Extraordinary General Meeting at any time subject to the rules in the Constitution for a purpose which must also be published to the society.

If the Secretary shall receive a requisition stating a subject to be brought before a general Meeting and signed by not less than ten Members of the Society, they shall forthwith inform the President who shall appoint a date for a Special General Meeting. This meeting shall take place not more than thirty days after the receipt of the requisition, or if the meeting would thus be held outside full term, not more than fourteen days after the beginning of the Full Term immediately following.

No General Meeting of the Society shall be held outside of Full term or outside Cambridge.

The Secretary shall send to each Member (except Honorary Members) notice of the Date, Place and Time of any General Meeting and of any subjects to be discussed at that meeting not less than seven days before that meeting. If notice of such business be given to the secretary not less than fourteen days before the meeting, then the Secretary shall be responsible for giving notice to the Members. The accidental omission to any Member entitled to receive such notice shall not invalidate anything done at that meeting.

The election for members of the Exec are to be conducted in the order stated above. No person may offer themself as a candidate for an Exec post if they do not comply with the rules in the Constitution for the post concerned. All candidates for the Exec must hold Ordinary Membership of the society. A candidate may be proposed in advance of the Annual General Meeting in writing to the Secretary bearing the name of the proposer and the seconder and must be countersigned by the candidate. A candidate may also be proposed and seconded verbally up to the election of that post at the AGM. The candidate must consent to the nomination for it to go forward. The proposer and seconder must be Ordinary Members. The ballot for each post will take place by secret paper ballot with the single transferable vote system. Candidates are allowed to vote. The President has the casting vote in the event of any ties. The President may appoint as many Ordinary Members as tellers as deemed necessary and is responsible for seeing that the vote is properly conducted.

No member of the Exec may propose a candidate for election to their current position.

Ordinary Members who have not attended more than a third of the interactives in the academic year of the AGM may not vote for President.

The procedure for voting on motions in General Meetings and meetings of the Committee shall be as follows: each motion shall require a proposer and seconder. If there is opposition, then after discussion a vote shall be taken by a show of hands, each person having one vote.

Motions at quorate General Meetings may with a 50% approval of those present and voting, provided that at least five Members vote in favour:

• Submit for serious consideration by the Referee Team a proposed alteration to the Game Rules
• Instruct the Executive Committee
• Discuss and make resolutions on any other issue related to the Society or the Game

With a 2/3 approval of those present a Motion may:

• Remove any Exec member of the Society from office
• Remove any Referee from their position
• Change this Constitution.
• Dissolve the society (if 21 days written notice has been given)

The President is responsible for seeing that the Referee Team give serious and proper consideration to any proposed changes to the rules but that the Referee Team do not overstep their mandate in so doing.

General Meetings shall elect officers, other than those specified to be appointed in some other way, and annually approve the accounts of the society.

The President may call a meeting of the Exec at any time with 5 days notice and must call a meeting of the Exec if the other members of the Exec agree that one is needed.

The Exec shall be the sole interpreter of this constitution for the purpose of any meeting, with the President having a casting vote, and their decision shall be final. The chair of any meeting shall have a casting vote in the event of the equality of votes for and against any motion or election.

The Referee Team

The Head Referee may not be on the Exec but may attend Exec meetings as an advisor to them.

The Referee Team (Ref team) shall be led by a Head Ref and shall consist of as many Refs as are deemed necessary at the time of the Ref Team's appointment.

The Refs are responsible for the direct running of The Game and the Head Ref's decision on any aspect of the Game World and interpretation and clarification of the rules is absolutely final.

The Refs are responsible for maintaining the set of rules that govern The Game and ruling on clarifications and contradictions; they may amend inconsistencies and errors and add clarifications without consultation of the society.

The Refs may make changes to the rules where it is deemed absolutely necessary subject to the majority approval of the Exec.

The Refs are to seriously consider and, if in agreement that a motion is sensible, implement any motions regarding the rules that are passed at a General Meeting, the President overseeing this as stated in the Conduct of Meetings section. The Refs must supply to the satisfaction of the President the reason for any motions passed by the society that were not upheld by the Ref Team and the reason is then to be made public to the society.

Appointment of the Referee Team

The Refs also must be Ordinary Members of the Society.

The appointment of the Ref Team at the AGM is to take place directly after the appointment of the Exec.

Anyone who is an Ordinary Member of the Society may offer themself as a candidate for the new Referee Team by expressing this to the Head Ref in writing. If they are elected President and accept the position then they may not become a Ref.

Anyone who would also be willing to be Head Ref should make this known to the current Head Ref in writing and offer themselves as a candidate for the new Ref Team.

The current Refs are responsible for seeing that nobody who may wish to be a Ref is overlooked.

The current Refs in consultation with the new Head Ref are to decide how many people are necessary for the new Ref Team.

The current Ref Team in consultation with the Exec and taking into account the Membership’s opinions are to appoint a Head Ref whom they feel is the best candidate.

The current Ref Team in consultation with the Exec and the new Head Ref and taking into account the Membership’s opinions are then to appoint a Ref Team which they feel will be the best team to run the Game the next year.

When the Head Ref and Ref Team are presented they must be approved of by the society by at least 1/2 (rounded up) of the Ordinary Members at the Meeting. If they are not approved of at that point another selection is to be made and the Ref Team presented to the society for approval until a Ref Team is approved of. If it is not possible to find a satisfactory Ref Team at the AGM then the matter must be resolved by calling another General Meeting to deal with this as soon as is possible under the constitution.

Any candidate for a Referee position may step down immediately after their appointment so that a replacement can be found.

Should any vacancy occur on the Ref Team during the year, the remaining Ref Team must appoint a replacement according to the process described in this Constitution. The Exec must then call an Emergency General Meeting of the Society to approve the new Ref, subject to the rules for sufficient advance notice given in the Constitution.

Only Ordinary Members may vote for Refs.

No more than two members of the new Ref team may be serving as Refs in the current year.

The Game

Members must agree to abide by the rules in this section if they wish to participate in the game.

Members may participate in the game subject to safe behaviour, abiding by the rules and accepting the authority of event organisers.

Members must accept that the Game is a contact sport and that it has the risks associated with this.

All weapons must be checked by a member of the Ref Team before they are used. Any item deemed unsafe must be left with the refs or event organiser for the duration of the event and not brought to future events.

Metal weapons may not be used as props and should not be bought to events.

The Society will not be held liable for any loss or damage to your person or property at an event.

The Society may issue a temporary ban for persons found to be knowingly breaking the spirit of the rules or behaving unsafely, provided the Exec and Refs collectively agree in a majority that it is necessary. If the ban is for more than a week the person will be eligible to have an appropriate proportion of their membership fee refunded.

An event organiser may expel a person from an event if they are behaving unsafely or knowingly breaking the spirit of the rules and have already had advance warning. Any such expulsions must be reported to the Committee and Ref Team as soon as possible afterwards.

Finance

The Society will have one bank account with Natwest.

The signatories of the account shall be the Junior Treasurer, the President and the Secretary, such that two signatures are needed to access the account.

The Senior Treasurer shall be a member of the Regent House or other person approved by the Junior Proctor of the University of Cambridge.

The Senior Treasurer shall not be liable for any financial debt or other obligation of the Society unless he or she has personally authorized such a debt in writing.

The Society may not become overdrawn on its bank account without the agreement of a majority of paid members at a General Meeting. In the event of such an agreement, all paid members are equally liable for the debt to the bank.