Proposed amendments to constitution Feb 2022
Proposed Amendments to the OCA Constitution
AGM of the OCA Tuesday 1 February 2022
- Inserting a new section 10A to recognize the Vintage Collegians and the Young Old Boys
10A Constituent Chapters
- There shall be within the Association a Vintage Collegians Chapter and a Young Old Boys Chapter;
- The membership of each chapter respectively shall consist of those members meeting the definition of Vintage Collegian and Young Old Boy as defined in Section 3;
- The Members of the Committee shall during their term in office be deemed to be a member of each chapter;
- Each chapter shall organize themselves as they see fit. The Secretary of the Association shall give all practical assistance in order to facilitate this.
- Each chapter shall, at least seven days prior to the Annual General Meeting of the Association, inform the Secretary of the identity of their respective nominees to serve on the Committee;
- Should a chapter fail to so inform the Secretary or if there is a dispute of any kind as to who the nominee is to be then the Committee may appoint a Member to serve as the nominee on the chapter’s behalf.
[Explanation: other than the definition of VC a& YOB there is no constitutional recognition of these bodies within the Association. The proposed amendment gives that recognition without any burdensome bureaucratic mechanism.]
- Amendments to the Composition of the Committee and establishing rights of past Presidents.
11.2 Amend by deleting ‘or a member of College Staff.’
[Explanation: this does not affect the ability of members of staff from being Secretary/Treasurer but otherwise the Committee should be drawn from the ranks of the Members of the Association]
11.5 amend by inserting an ‘a’ between ‘and’ and ‘treasurer’. Then delete
“who may, but need not be a Committee Member”
[Explanation: this reflects the practice of the Committee to have different people fulfil the roles of secretary and treasurer.]
11.8 Insert “Past Presidents of the association have the right to bring matters to the Committee for its consideration and to attend and address the Committee for that purpose.”
[Explanation: From time to time there may be matters that members may feel are not being considered by the Committee and should be brought before it. To balance the interests of the membership as against the ability of the Committee to function, which might be impaired if there was an unfettered right by any member to attend and petition the Committee, it is proposed that the right rest with past Presidents of the Association.]
- Amendments to Electing the Committee
12.1(4) delete “10” and insert “8”
[Explanation: this reflects the fact that the VC & YOB reps are to be nominated by their chapters or by the Committee and not elected from the AGM]
12.2 ins at end “The names of the nominees of the Vintage Collegians and the Young Old Boys chapters must also be posted upon the receipt of same by the Secretary.”
- Amendment of Resignation or removal from office of Committee Member
13.1(2) at the end insert “or in the case of the president himself, the vice-president”.
13.2(1) after “president” insert “or vice-president”
[Explanantion: This allows for the situation where the President himself resigns. At the moment the constitution requires that he give himself notice in writing]
13.3 delete
[Explanation: Casual Vacancies are dealt with in section 14. This subsection is redundant]
- Amendment of Meetings of the Committee
16.17 insert “The Committee may in extraordinary circumstances meet without the aforementioned notice being given provided:
(1) That bona fide efforts are made to notify all Committee Members of the meeting;
(2) That any resolution reached or course of action decided upon be ratified at the next ordinary meeting of the Committee.”
[Explanation: this allows the Committee to react to situations which require an immediate or a quick response]
- Amendment of resolutions of Committee without meeting
18.1 insert after “signed” “or endorsed by e-mail (or other form of communication as adopted by the Committee from time to time),
18.2 insert after signed “or endorsed”
[Explanation: this adopts the ‘flying minute’ procedure to keep pace with technological change]
- Insert new Section 26A
Insert 26A Pandemic, Public Emergency etc:
If, whether due to a declared state of emergency, public disorder, pandemic or natural disaster it becomes in the opinion of the Committee impracticable or dangerous to hold a meeting in person, whether of the Committee or of the Association including the Annual General Meeting, then the Committee may conduct such a meeting electronically. Provided that such meeting is advertised in the normal way to those otherwise entitled to attend.
- Replace definition of “Vintage Collegian” in section 3 with the following:
“Vintage Collegian means an Old Boy whose cohort finished year 12 at least 42 years before the end of the current calendar year.”
[Explanation: The current definition is that a vintage collegian is every old boy aged 60 or older. The association’s records do not have an individual member’s birthdate but does have their alumni year, that is the year they were or should have been in year 12. So if a vintage collegian was defined by cohort year that would be easier to communicate that with the new members of the chapter. It would also mean that you become a vintage collegian at the same time as your mates from your year.]