Hi-dilly-ho, neighboureenos!

To round off the last three updates, I thought I would finish with a little about myself and the changes to the society itself.

President: Rob Hallam

Rob listening intently to the suggestions of a member.

I have been with GU Amnesty since 1897, when the society was known as ‘The Gentlemen’s Social Concern for the Plight of their Fellow Men’. Those were the days. I have been doing the website since then, and it has slowly evolved into the marvellous wonder it is today. Even though I do say so myself. I like to think that I run things fairly freely, but if there’s one thing I cannot abide it is jokes and jocularity. I may be quite strict on this point in meetings but it is for the sake of the greater good. The Greater Good. I think if we’re ever going to break the £1 million mark in the raise-off this is the year to do it!

I have kindly offered the use of my car to field trips such as Largs, Perth and Brisbane.

Changes to the Society

It was proposed that we now consider ‘University of Glasgow Amnesty International Society and Activist Group with a Remit for Defending, Promoting and Ecouraging Human Rights via Campaigns, Demonstrations and Petitions’ to be the standard orthographic representation of the society name. It was felt abbreviations such as ‘GU Amnesty’ or ‘GUAI’ were too curt, confusing and – in some cases – offensive to continue using. It was agreed that the new rendering makes things much clearer and simpler.

Due to conflict with our parent organisation, we have also been mandated to change our motto, which instead of being ‘Protect the Human’ will now be ‘Calamus Gladio Fortior’, which is more explicit in conveying our aims and avoids unnecessary reference to a specific species.

There will also be further changes to the constitution, specifically in terms of dealing with membership, voting and committee:

• It is now proposed that membership will be based not only on a list collated and updated throughout the year; but also with certain requirements: minimum number of letters written (100)
• Voting will now be considered as a multi-tiered hybrid of Alternative Voting, Instant Runoff Voting and Single Transferable Vote, to be known as Alternative Runoff. Here, individuals can form voting syndicates with votes grouped and ordered by a complex series of transformations that prioritise certain positions under specific conditions. A 47-page document will explain the process. It’s quite simple really.
• Similarly, it is proposed that each emmeber’s votes is weighted by their contribution, such as number of letters written through the year.
• Committee elegibility will be decided by a process adapted from Witchfinder Trials; with Committee eligibility eligibility constrained to those who meet prerequisites, such as minimum number of letters written.
• The number of Ordinary Board Members will initially rise to eight, with more added in proportion to the number of letters the society has written.

I’m sure you will agree that these changes will increase the transparency and simplicity of membership and the voting process.

All the best from all of us.

Here’s to a great academic year 2014-2015!

Rob

_{being hunted down by a dead man}