Announcement after the 10th sitting of the Special Committee for the 2023/2024 term for Changes to the Regulations of the Students’ Union

20 11 2024

We would like to inform you that during the 10th sitting of the Special Committee of the Students’ Parliament of the UW for the 2023/2024 term for Changes to the Regulations of the Students’ Union of the UW:

Committee discussed the draft amendments to the Regulations of the Council of Scientific, Social, and Artistic Organizations of the UW.

Committee heard a presentation by the Speaker on possible amendments to the Regulations of the RONSiA and a presentation by Patryk Szlufik, former Secretary of RONSiA, concerning this document. In view of the expected further work on the issue of student organisations, including at the level of the University authorities, after the discussion the Committee limited itself to recommending that possible future special committees of the Parliament should specifically look at issues concerning the Regulations of the RONSiA, and that it should ultimately be a document autonomous from the Regulations of the Students’ Union. The only specific amendment that received the Committee’s approval was to allow members of the Revision Committee of the Students’ Union of the UW and the Electoral Committee of the Students’ Union of the UW to sit on the RONSiA.

Committee summarised its work on the draft regulations on the Students’ Ombudsman.

In the course of the discussion, the Committee confirmed its previous findings as to how the function of the Students’ Ombudsman should be included in the Regulations of the Students’ Union. At the same time, it clarified that if the Board of the Students’ Union of the UW fails to appoint the Ombudsman within the specified time, the competence to fill this function would be transferred entirely to the Parliament. On the other hand, the Committee did not agree with the idea that the Board should have to obligatorily justify a resolution on the Ombudsman’s dismissal – it felt that adding a justification should be optional.

Committee discussed the draft resolution of the Parliament on amendments to the Regulations of the Students’ Union and summarised its work during the past term.

Committee discussed the shape of the draft resolution containing all the proposals adopted so far for amendments to the Regulations of the Students’ Union and, on this occasion, clarified some parts of the document. It reiterated its support for the idea that by-elections in the form of electronic voting could also be held on Saturdays and Sundays, as well as for the idea that canvassing using material other than information material should not be permitted during voting time. However, it was not in favour of the Electoral Commttee being limited by a specific deadline to hold by-elections in the event that the number of filled seats of members of the Students’ Council fell below half of the regulatory number of members. The Committee also approved of the proposal to introduce provisions for by-elections to the Revision Committee to take into account the individuals already serving on that body, but, due to the potential multifaceted nature of the issue, decided only to recommend that any future special committees of Parliament look into the matter.

Committee decided to add as annexes to the minutes of the sitting the draft resolution of the Parliament on amendments to the Regulations of the Students’ Union in order to potentially provide a starting point for further work on amendments to this piece of legislation in the future. In addition, another annex to the minutes will be a document describing the methodology of the Committee’s work, the technical solutions it used and suggestions and comments to be taken into account for the future.