SocietiesHandbook

2014/15

THE GOLDSMITHS STUDENTS’ UNION

Contents

Booking a Room

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Who to ContactOverview of Societies

Starting a SocietyRunning a Society

MembershipsBooking a Room

Room Booking PolicyFinances

Societies TourCommunications

Awards NightH.E.A.R.

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Who to contactCLAUDIA TURKINGTONSocieties and Community Engagement Graduate Traineeclaudia.turkington@goldsmithssu.orgClaudia is your main contact point at the Students’ Union. She can offer you advice on starting and run-ning a society, booking rooms within the college, run-ning events, and various other issues.

IBRAHIM ABDILLEActivities Assistantactivities@goldsmithssu.orgIbrahim is the current student staff in the union who assists Claudia with co-ordinating societies. He is able to make adjustments to the website, make room book-ings, and contact people on behalf of societies.

DENIS SHUKURDeputy Chief Executivedenis.shukur@goldsmithssu.orgDenis is head of Activities and also Claudia’s line man-ager, and can be contacted if Claudia and Ibrahim are unavailable, or if any major problems crop up with your society.

PAULINE JOYCEFinance Administratorpauline.joyce@goldsmithssu.orgPauline is in charge of the finances of the Union and should be contacted if you’d like to know how much is in your society budget. Pauline also handles all cash claims and is the person to see when you’d like to get a reimbursement and make petty cash claims.

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HOWARD LITTLERPresidenthoward@goldsmithssu.orgHoward is the elected Sabbatical President. His role within the union is to ensure that your views and rights are represented within the activities of the SU.

SHAY OLUPONACampaigns and Activities Officershay@goldsmithssu.orgShay is the elected Sabbatical Officer who deals di-rectly with the Activities Team and can be contacted for advice on anything related to activities as well as to get involved in campaigns that reflect anything you are passionate about.

ANNIE SURAJSports Officerannielilyx@outlook.comAnnie is the elected part-time officer within the Stu-dents’ Union who deals with issues related to societies.

SARA SASSANELLIStudent Led Social Programme Managersara.sassanelli@goldsmithssu.orgSara is in charge of The Stretch space and can help you book it to host your events. If societies are in-terested in running fundraising activities within the Union, Sara will be able to provide advice on events as well, alongside Claudia.

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OverviewSocieties are student-led groups where like-minded indi-viduals can get together and share their interests. Joining a society is a great way to get involved with your commu-nity, university and union while making a difference and meeting new friends.

At Goldsmiths Students’ Union, we have a diverse range of societies that is constantly growing and changing ac-cording to our students needs.

Some of our current societies include academic groups, interest groups, faiths and campaigns. Whatever your in-terests are, there is a society for you. If there isn’t, you can always make a new one.

We’ve broken our societies down into groups on the next page to help you understand where yours would fit:

*Culture and Identity, and Academic Societies all count as Core Societies. This means that they require fewer initial members, and get access to specific funding as they exist to provide a rep-resentational forum for students

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Interested in fishing, photography, cock-tails, comic books, films or anything else? Then why not get your mates together and share your interests, experiences, equipment or whatever else. With 8,400 students at Goldsmiths, do you think you’re the only one interested in your hobby? Why not find out?

Students’ Unions have always been a hot-bed of political activity and Goldsmiths is no exception. There is a huge range of po-litical and campaigning organisations. You can meet other people with similar or even dissimilar interests and engage in protesting, debating or campaigning.

Whatever your identity, background, culture or religion, there are others at Goldsmiths who want to share their interests and ex-periences. Islamic, Afro Caribbean, Jewish, LGBTQ or anything else, you can meet up with others with your ideas and values.

There are 15 academic departments at Goldsmiths. Most have their own society where you can meet others, discuss your subjects and hold social events with your course mates. If you want to get involved and develop your departmental society contact us and your department!

General Interest

Culture&

Identity

Political/Campaigning

Academic

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Starting a SocietyBefore you get started you need to find out if the society already exists. If it already exists – join in! If not, there are four simple steps…

Submit your proposal for a society through the form found on the website http://www.gold-smithssu.org/societies/startasociety/Please fill in our application form, and Claudia Turkington (Societies and Community Engagement Graduate Trainee) will soon be in contact to discuss your proposal in detail.

Recruit your initial membersTo start a society, hobby/interest based societies will need ten initial members and core societies will need five. Please recruit your members (be aware - they will have to pay once you are ratified!) and construct a list of their names and stu-dent numbers.

Present your society to the Societies CommitteeOnce you have recruited your initial members, you will have to present your society to the societies committee. Please talk about why you want to set the society up, what you want to achieve, and the types of events you will host. You will then be asked a few questions if necessary!

RatificationIf the Societies Committee see no potential issues with your society, you will be placed online for comment by students for seven days. If no student raises an issue you will be rati-fied and put on our systems immediately!If the societies committee or a student raises an issue, how-ever, your society’s ratification will be send to the next Stu-dent Assembly for debate.

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Running a SocietyGENERAL ADVICESocieties are a great way to bond with the people, ex-pand your social circle and develop skills during your time at university.

However, you should always remember that your stud-ies come first and that extracurricular activities should never get in the way of your academic work.

The Activities team in the SU is there to support you with making your societies a success and to guide you with procedures that you will have to face, but ulti-mately it is the president’s responsibility to make sure the society has a successful year, so make sure you have a strong committee to back you and your society will definitely have a great year.

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Running a SocietyFORMING A COMMITTEE

When it comes to running a society, a strong commit-tee is crucial. All positions must be elected each year at an Annual General Meeting held in the Spring Term, unless there is no competition for spaces on the committee. Committees can be comprised of specific roles such as Treasurer, Secretary, Publicity Officer etcetera, or they can be filled on an ad hoc basis. All societies must have a President, however, who is the main point of contact with the Union and who will have the admin privileges on the website. Committees should meet as much as necessary in or-der to run events, and keep in regular contact. Please be aware that being a committee member is a serious position, and you should be willing to dedi-cate your time in order to lead the society.

SOCIETIES FORUMA committee member from each society should be present at each half-termly Society Forum in order to feedback experiences to the Activities Team, and oth-er societies.

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Running a SocietyRESOURCES FROM THE SU

Goldsmiths SU societies get support, resources and funding from the SU. This includes:

The ability to book Goldsmiths SU and university rooms for meetings and activities

The opportunity to apply for a grant (see Finances in How to Run your Society)

Administrative support

Storage

Advice and support

Web-space and use of website to circulate e-mails and information

Pigeon holes, Post

Photocopying and Printing Service

Computers, telephones

Union bank account

Use of the Student Activities Hub notice board

Training for committee members

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MembershipsMEMBERS

In order to continue being a society, you must have your minimum members signed up on the website.These are the members required to start the society, so you cannot exist without them because the Union cannot dedicate time and resources to societies that serve only a few members at the expense of others. Every January there will be a societies audit, and any societies that have not recruited their minimum mem-bers will be disbanded. The minimum membership is 10 for hobby/interest societies, and 5 for core societies. In return for paying membership, members will get free, or discounted, or exclusive entry to your events.

MEMBERSHIP FEESAt the beginning of each year, you must set the cost of membership for your members. The options are £3, or £5, or free (upon application to the Union). We strongly advise against free membership, as your funding largely comes from memberships, unless you can prove you would need no funding.

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VIEWING MEMBERS ON MSLIn order to view their members on the Goldsmiths SU website, society presidents must first have paid in their membership and informed the communications team at the SU to make them admin of their society.

Step 1 Visit goldsmithssu.org and click the login button

Step 2 Select “Current Student Login”

Step 3 Login in using your Shibboleth ID (eg. cuser001)

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Step 4 Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and you should see the Admin panel

Step 5 Select “Members”

Step 6 You will be able to view all paid members

Please note that some in-dividuals may be an admin of more than one organi-sation and that this system is used for both societies and sports teams/clubs .

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Booking a RoomThe Student Union are able to book centrally available spaces which is managed by the Activities Team. Please note that rooms are bookable on the half hour to ensure effective use of the bookable space available. Please also note that requests must be received at least 7 days before the required room booking date, and fol-low our room booking policy that can be found bellowRooms in the pool include teaching rooms that are lo-cated in the following :

Deptford Town Hall BuildingEducation BuildingLaurie Grove BathsNew Academic BuildingRichard Hoggart BuildingRutherford BuildingSurrey HouseWarmington TowerWhitehead Building

Please book by using the form found at http://www.goldsmithssu.org/societies/bookaroom/

Please follow our room booking policy detailed on the next page when making a booking request.

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Room Booking PolicyRoom bookings can only be made via the Students’ Union if they are on the behalf of an official Goldsmiths Students’ Union society or club. Students wishing to book for other reasons, such as needing a room for a study group or project, must book rooms through their academic department.i. Societies and Clubs’ events that require a room booked can only be for Society and Club members. Societies and Clubs cannot make bookings on the behalf of external organisations.

All room booking requests for clubs and societies must be made via the official form, and cannot be organised through email, in person, or over the phone.i. If you need to go into more detail than the form allows, you can do so in an email accompanying your request.

All information on the room booking form must be filled out correctly and accurately. If your event is found to be different to what you have informed the Students’ Union of, your booking will be cancelled.

Room bookings should be requested at least 7 days in advance of your event in or-der to get the most choice. Please be aware that your first choice of room might not be available due to the demand on rooms such as RHB Cinema, RHB 300, and lecture theatres.i. Room bookings made fewer than 7 days before the event will be endeavoured to be fulfilled, but no booking can be guaranteed.ii. Room bookings made less than 24 hours before the event will not be able to be ful-filled.iii. Due to demand, there is no guarantee that your room booking request will be able to be fulfilled.

The Students’ Union cannot book rooms for events where Societies and Clubs are co-hosting with external organisations. If you would like to co-host an event with an external organisation on campus, please refer to our External Room Booking Policy. Please be aware that external bookings will incur financial charges.i. If your event is found to be of this nature, your room booking will be cancelled and you will be referred to Conference Services.ii. You cannot advertise your event on Goldsmiths campus to the wider public.

Students cannot advertise their events to the wider, non-student, community. Any room booking for an event that is found to be advertised off campus to external guests will be cancelled.i. If students from other universities will be in attendance, you must notify the Stu-dents’ Union in your room booking request.

The Students’ Union cannot book rooms for events where hot food and/or full catering will be provided for attendees. If you wish to provide hot/catered food for attendees, please contact Conference Services.i. Snacks and drinks for events such as meetings, film screenings, forums etcetera are allowed.ii. After your event you must make sure you leave the room in a clean and tidy state.

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FinancesACCESSING FINANCESThe main source of funding for societies comes from membership fees. The first ten memberships, howev-er, will be taken by the Students’ Union to cover pho-tocopying and general admin costs incurred by your society.You can access how much is in your account from Claudia as she is given the finances month-to-month. However, a more accurate figure can be obtained from Pauline Joyce if you email her at pauline.joyce@goldsmithssu.org.

SOCIETIES AND CORE SOCIETIES FUNDSSocieties can apply for money from the Societies Fund to hold specific events, or buy equipment that they cannot afford otherwise. This is a pot of money totalling £2375 at the beginning of the year for all so-cieties to bid from throughout the year, but once it’s gone, it’s gone so it’s first come first served!Core Societies can also bid for the Core Societies Fund which totals £750 at the beginning of the year. This is specifically for events or equipment that ben-efits their members in a way directly related to their remit, as opposed to a purely social event.Please contact Claudia for more advice on the Funds, and information on how to apply.

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CLAIMING MONEY

PETTY CASH CLAIM FORM

Petty cash claim forms are used for claims under £100.These should be sent in to the SU reception with relevant receipts and/or paperwork attached.Pauline will collect them every Wednesday and the cash will be ready to be picked up the following week.

EXAMPLE

02/12/12 N/A JOE BLOGGS

JOE BLOGGS

JOE BLOGGS

DENIS SHUKUR , TOLU OR UNION PRESIDENT

MEN’S RUGBY

£5

£5

00

00

OYSTER CARD TRAVEL - GAME VS ESSEX 3RD(RECEIPT ATTACHED )

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BACS CLAIM FORM

These forms are used for claims above £100.These should be sent in to the SU reception with relevant receipts and/or paperwork attached.Pauline will collect them every Wednesday and the mon-ey will then be transferred to the account of the person named in the form.

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Societies TourEvery year all society members are invited on a hol-iday held in the Easter holidays! This year students will be joining us for a four day trip to Berlin in April 2015!

Unfortunately, spaces have sold out on our Berlin Tour but keep your eyes peeled for when next year’s tour is announced! If you have any ideas of where we should go, please email them to Claudia.

If your society would like to organise their own trip abroad, exclusive to their own membership, please contact Claudia for advice at claudia.turkington@goldsmithssu.org

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CommunicationsSU COMMUNICATIONS TEAM

The SU communication team is run by Matt Huxley, who you can contact at matt.huxley@goldsmithssu.org to ar-range for posters to be designed for promoting your larg-er events.

You should also contact the communications team to en-sure that you are made an admin of your society on the membership system so that you will have access to view your paid members, or to inform them of changes to your committee so that the SU website stays up to date.

You can photocopy your posters using the Union’s pho-tocopier. Please contact Claudia for the passcode.

EVENTS AT THE STRETCHTo organise events at the Stretch, captains should get in touch with Sara Sassanelli at sara.sassanelli@goldsmiths-su.org.

Remember to be creative with fundraising ideas, but to think of the practicalities of any events you wish to run: will you be able to profit from the event? Will you be able to attract enough of a crowd for the event to be a success? How much will the event cost, both in terms of money and time?

Societies can always collaborate to split the workload, and ensure that events work out to be successful for the or-ganisers and to be a great experience for attendees!

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Awards NightAt the end of every spring term, the Students’ Union hosts an awards night for societies, student media, DSCs, part-time officers, volunteers, and campaigns. This is our chance to reward you for the fantastic work you put in year on year.Students will be able to nominate each other, and soci-eties for the following awards. The winners will then be chosen by a panel of full-time officers and staff.

Society of the YearNew Society of the YearSociety Event of the YearSociety President of the YearSociety Committee Member of the YearStudent Media of the YearStudent Media Personality of the YearStudent Media Coverage of the YearVolunteer of the YearFundraiser of the YearUndergraduate DSCPostgraduate DSCCampaign of the YearPart-time Officer of the Year

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Higher Education Achievement Report

If you started your degree in 2014, you will receive a Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR)when you graduate. The HEAR is a nationally – standardised record of all your university achievements and recognises your co-curricular achievements as well as your academic learning. You don’t need to register, the HEAR starts when you do. There are almost one hundred co-curricular activ-ities which Goldsmiths recognises and which you can record on your HEAR. These include Students’ Union activities such as soci-ety and club positions and awards on Student Awards night. The full list of activities can be found on www.gold.ac.uk/hear/activities. For further information on how to record your activities, enrol on the HEAR area of Learn.gold.