Boat Club Constitution

Title and Crest

The club will be known as Green Templeton Boat Club, hereinafter referred to as GTBC. Colour and monochrome versions of the official GTBC crest are shown below-left and below-right respectively.

Aims and Responsibilities

The aim of GTBC is to organise rowing activities within Green Templeton College. The responsibility for this is vested in the Officers of the Committee: The President, Treasurer, Secretary, Men’s Captain, Women’s Captain, Captain of Coxes, Men’s Co- or Vice-Captain, Women’s Co- or Vice-Captain, Safety and Equipment Officer, Social Secretary, Development Officer, EMBA Officer, Kit Officer and Publicity Officer.

Membership

Full membership of GTBC shall be restricted to those in possession of a valid University ID card listing affiliation to Green Templeton College (or those granted transfer of membership by an OURCs captains’ meeting) and a status of one of: Postgraduate, Visiting Student, Associate Members, Staff or Congregation.

Full members of the Club shall be those who have completed and returned a membership form and:

1. Are actively rowing and have paid their subscription fees.
2. Have rowed, coxed, or coached in the preceding 3 terms; or
3. Hold a committee position

Full membership shall expire at the beginning of the term following the term in which the member has completed or left their course of study at Oxford.

Associate membership of GTBC is open to any person who, although not eligible for full membership, takes an active part in GTBC affairs, on payment of the appropriate subscription fee. Associate members who hold a committee position are still considered to be associate members.

For exceptional contributions to GTBC, life members may be nominated only by unanimous agreement of the Committee and elected only by a majority decision by secret ballot at a subsequent quorate general meeting of GTBC. They shall pay no dues to GTBC.

Any full, associate or life member may be expelled by any quorate general meeting, provided that such a proposal is supported by at least two-thirds of those full or associate members present.
GTBC is fully committed to the principles of equality of opportunity and is responsible for ensuring that no member, volunteer, employee, or job applicant receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of age, gender, disability, race, ethnic origin, nationality, colour, parental or marital status, pregnancy, religious belief, social status, sexual orientation, or political belief.

Meetings

General meetings of GTBC are to be held only during full term and are to be advertised electronically at least one week in advance.

There shall be at least one meeting per year, and the Committee may summon further general meetings at any time within full term.

At least three of the Committee must attend any general meeting, one of whom must chair the meeting.

Committee meetings may be held at any time, without advertisement, and need not be chaired.

Voting Rights and Quorates

Members, associate members, and life members may attend any general or Committee meeting and are entitled to vote at general meetings.

The quorum of a general meeting is 25% of GTBC full and associate members. The quorum of a committee meeting is three persons.

Decisions are taken at quorate general meetings of GTBC by a simple majority. In the event of a tied vote the chair shall exercise a casting vote but shall otherwise abstain from voting.

At Committee meetings, decisions are taken by the agreement of at least three of those Committee Officers with a vote. The President holds the casting vote in the event of a tie.

Quorate meetings of GTBC are sovereign, although of course any decision taken by such meetings may be reversed by a later decision of a quorate meeting.

Non-members of GTBC may attend any meeting and speak at the discretion of the chair but may not vote.

Changes to the constitution

Changes may be made to the constitution at any quorate general meeting of GTBC provided that both:

1. Proposed amendments are advertised electronically at least one week before the meeting, and
2. Such amendments are supported by at least two-thirds of those members present.

Changes to the constitution must be the first item on the agenda of a general meeting, and should the changes be accepted, the meeting shall be held with the changes in effect.

Duties and Responsibilities of the Committee and its Officers

General Committee Structure

The committee must comprise of the following officers who must be full members of GTBC:

• President
• Treasurer
• Secretary
• Men’s Captain
• Women’s Captain
• Captain of Coxes

Additionally, the committee may comprise of the following officers who may be either full members or associate members of GTBC:

• Safety and Equipment Officer
• Development Officer
• Social Secretary (and Co-Secretary)
• Publicity Officer
• EMBA Officer
• Kit Officer
• Men’s Vice-Captain or Co-Captain
• Women’s Vice-Captain or Co-Captain

In the first new committee meeting, one of the committee members must be elected as Vice President and another as Welfare Officer. The role of Vice President is to assume the normal duties of the President in the absence of the President. The role of the Welfare Officer is to act as the British Rowing Club Welfare Officer as defined by the British Rowing Safeguarding Handbook 1, where the duties listed are applicable to the activities of the club and are not already performed by officials of Oxford University Rowing Clubs (OURCs) or the Council of Oxford University Rowing (COUR). Any of the full member committee members may be elected as Vice President or Welfare Officer, with the exception of the President. The election process will begin with a discussion, led by the President. The process of election will follow that which is outlined in Section 8 of this constitution, with each committee member casting a single secret vote. This election is not open to all members of the club.

All members of the Committee have a general responsibility for the running of the Boat Club and for its activities.

All members of the Committee and of the Boat Club as a whole have a duty to observe safety rules when on the Isis or any other stretch of river. The Committee must take safety issues into account when planning the activities of the Boat Club, liaising where appropriate with the Green Templeton College Safety Advisor, the OURC Safety Advisor (Rowing Sabbatical Officer), or the British Rowing Regional Safety Advisor. This includes following the small boats rules outlined in a separate document.
There should be equality of funding opportunity between the Men’s and Women’s Squads of the Boat Club, in that although the amount of funding for each side need not be equal, each should be allocated money fairly as they require it.

Duties and Responsibilities of Individual Officers

President

The President shall:

1. Represent GTBC in all dealings with persons or bodies outside the Club.
2. Chair meetings of GTBC.
3. Be responsible for the maintenance of present rowing equipment, the purchase of new equipment and the sale of old equipment.
4. Endeavour to ensure that GTBC functions harmoniously.
5. Be a signatory of the GTBC account.
6. Perform the duties of any unfilled post within the Committee.
7. Decide regarding the lending of equipment.
8. Should be a registered member of British Rowing, and act as the British Rowing Club Water Safety Advisor as defined by section 2.2 of the British Rowing Row Safe guideline document, where the duties listed are applicable to the activities of the club and are not already performed by officials of Oxford University Rowing Clubs (OURCs) or the Council of Oxford University Rowing (COUR).
9. Is responsible for the marshalling and umpiring roster with assistance from the captains to ensure there is no clash between marshalling and umpiring commitments and racing times at meets.

The President may delegate any of these duties but is responsible for ensuring that they are performed.

Men’s Captain (and Co-Captain if elected)

The Men’s Captain shall:

1. Organise rowing outings for all men’s crews, including coxing and coaching.
2. Organise land training for all men’s crews.
3. Set fair selection criteria and communicate these two men’s athletes which may include organising fair trials for any men’s race crew. An advisory selection document is available to Captains.
4. Appoint a captain for each men’s crew at the earliest opportunity.
5. Represent GTBC at OURCs captains’ meetings.
6. Be responsible for regatta entries for all men’s crews representing GTBC at inter collegiate or external events

The Men’s Captain may delegate any of the duties (1) to (6) above to the Men’s Vice-Captain (if elected) or the captains of individual crews, but he or she is responsible for ensuring that they are performed.

Men’s Captain (and Co-Captain) will not be charged subscription fees during their term in office.

Women’s Captain (and Co-Captain if elected)

The Women’s Captain shall:

1. Organise rowing outings for all women’s crews, including coxing and coaching.
2. Organise land training for all women’s crews.
3. Set fair selection criteria and communicate these to women’s athletes which may include organising fair trials for any women’s race crew. An advisory selection document is available to Captains.
4. Appoint a captain for each women’s crew at the earliest opportunity.
5. Represent GTBC at OURCs captains’ meetings.
6. Be responsible for regatta entries for all women’s crews representing GTBC at inter collegiate or external events

The Women’s Captain may delegate any of the duties (1) to (5 6) above to the Women’s Vice-Captain (if elected) or the captains of individual crews, but he or she is responsible for ensuring that they are performed.

Women’s Captain (and Co-Captain) will not be charged subscription fees during their term in office.

Secretary

The Secretary shall:

1. Advertise and minute all general meetings of GTBC and ascertain whether such meetings are quorate.
2. Act as a returning officer at elections.
3. Maintain an up-to-date list of addresses and telephone numbers of all full, associate and life members where possible.
4. Be responsible for the management of the club British Rowing system including athlete registration.
5. Keep a record of all race crews and their results during the year, to be added to the archives at the end of their term of office.
6. Perform such secretarial tasks as mandated to perform by the Committee.

Treasurer

The Treasurer shall:

1. Record correctly the financial transactions of GTBC (including any trading in clothing etc.) in such a manner as to be acceptable to Green Templeton College auditors. This duty includes the collection of subscriptions on a termly basis.
2. Be in a position to present a statement, if required, of GTBC’s financial position at any general meeting.
3. Advise the Committee and GTBC on subscription rates for the year and other financial matters.
4. Be a signatory of the GTBC account.

The Treasurer may only delegate duties (1) and (2) above.

Captain of Coxes

The Captain of Coxes shall:

1. Coordinate training for coxes.
2. Supervise novice coxes.
3. Work in combination with the men’s and women’s captains to select and timetable coxes for outings and competitions.
4. Ensure that all GTBC coxes are registered with OURCs.
5. Manage the upgrading of X- and S- status coxes.
6. Set fair selection criteria and communicate these to coxes which may include organising fair trials for any coxes. An advisory selection document is available to Captains.

The Captain of Coxes will not be charged subscription fees during their term in office.

Safety and Equipment Officer

The Safety and Equipment Officer shall:

1. Undertake an annual inventory and check of equipment.
2. Be responsible for on-going upkeep of equipment (Log accident reports from club members, quarantine damaged equipment, organise repairs).
3. Ensure that safety documentation is up to date with current British Rowing and OURCs rules
4. Ensure that new members receive an induction and water safety instruction and undertake a swim test.
5. Ensure that all members are aware of the requirement to attend an OURCs capsize drill before using small boats.
6. Keep records of all GTBC members having passed swim tests and attended capsize drills.
7. Collect details of any allergies or relevant illnesses from boat club members and pass these on to the men’s and women’s captains as necessary.
8. In the absence of a Captain of coxes ensure that all coxes are OURCs registered.
9. Is responsible for monitoring the use and storage of club clothing kits and arranging, or delegating to a willing club member or members, the arrangement of training kit orders.

Development Officer

The development officer shall:

1. Maintain communication with Alumni via a termly newsletter.
2. Coordinate fundraising events along with the secretary and EMBA officer.
3. Approach corporate sponsors.
4. Draft capital expense lists for the Green Templeton Development Office. 5. Be in charge of archiving:
   1. Donations / endowments
   2. Committee members
   3. Crews – rowers, coaches, captains
   4. Regatta results
   5. Photographs – committee and race photos

Social Secretary (and Co-Secretary if elected)

The Social Secretary shall:

1. Organise at least one social event per term.
2. Work with the Captains to organise freshers’ events.
3. Work with the Green Templeton College Catering team to organise end of term dinners.
4. Arrange a minimum of two crew dates per term.

Publicity Officer

The Publicity Officer shall:

1. Be responsible for newsletter production
2. Be in charge of maintaining the GTBC Facebook group and website as part of the Green Templeton College website in collaboration with the college communications team.
3. Arrange commemorative blades to be painted, chalking’s to be completed, printing of photographs, and engraving of shields, at the club room and the college.
4. In the absence of a development officer, act as an interface between the club and its alumni.

EMBA Officer

The EMBA Officer shall:

1. Organise paid learn to row and other training sessions for third party partners including but not limited to Said Business School EMBAs where arranging such outings has been approved by the GTBC Committee.
2. Help out with further fundraising if and when needed

Kit Officer

The Kit Officer shall:

1. Organise club wide orders of stash for members.
2. Be responsible for monitoring the use and storage of club clothing kits and arranging, or delegating to a willing club member or members, the arrangement of training kit orders.

Men’s Vice-Captain

The Men’s Vice-Captain shall:

1. Work with the Men’s Captain to organise rowing outings, land training and fair trials for all, or a subset of, men’s crews.
2. Accept instruction from the Men’s Captain and understand that the final responsibility of the Men’s Crew lies with the Men’s Captain.
3. Assume the role of Men’s Captain in the event that the elected Men’s Captain resigns or is removed from his or her position.
   Men’s Vice-Captain will not be charged subscription fees during their term in office.

Women’s Vice-Captain

The Women’s Vice-Captain shall:

1. Work with the Women’s Captain to organise rowing outings, land training and fair trials for all, or a subset of, women’s crews.
2. Accept instruction from the Women’s Captain and understand that the final responsibility of the Women’s Crew lies with the Women’s Captain.
3. Assume the role of Women’s Captain in the event that the elected Women’s Captain resigns or is removed from his or her position.Women’s Vice-Captain will not be charged subscription fees during their term in office.

Elections and Terms of Office

Elections shall be held twice a year at a general meeting of GTBC. Elections for the posts of President, Men’s Captain, and Women’s Captain, shall be held at the first general meeting after Eights. At the meeting, the Men’s Captain will run as a slate with either a Men’s Co-Captain or a Men’s Vice-Captain, and the Women’s Captain will run as a slate with either a Women’s Co-Captain or a Women’s Vice-Captain. The position of Captain of Coxes will also be elected at this meeting. If the positions of Men’s Vice-Captain or Men’s Co-Captain, and Women’s Vice-Captain or Women’s Co-Captain, or Captain of Coxes are unfilled they will be elected with the other positions at the General Meeting to be held mid-Michaelmas Term of the following academic year. The current Secretary will act as Election Officer for both elections unless that person intends to run for one of the available positions at which point a suitable nominee from within the committee will be appointed instead. The GTC Governing Body representative shall act as auditor for both sets of elections. Neither the election officer nor the auditor can vote in the election itself.

The election officer is responsible for setting the date of the elections, calling for nominations, distributing those nominations to the GTBC community electronically (and in hard copy on request from a member), explaining electoral procedure to the GTBC membership, running the election itself and disseminating the results. The auditor will raise any procedural problems prior to the election and will check the counting of votes. If any disputes on electoral procedure cannot be settled between the election officer and auditor on the basis of the information contained in the constitution, then questions of procedure must be settled by the current GTBC committee.

Nominations can be accepted via email or in hard copy and must contain the name of the candidate, proposer, and seconder. Candidates must submit a motivation of not more than 500 words to be included with their candidature information.

A GTBC committee member can nominate a candidate for either Captain irrespective of whether they row for the Men or Women’s team. Only men may nominate for Men’s Captain and only women may nominate for Women’s Captain. Any full member of GTBC can stand for nomination for all positions and any associate member may stand for election for a non-exec position. Nominations will be accepted until 3 days before the election and a full list of candidates will be sent out to the GTBC membership on that day. At the election, candidates will be allowed to present for 5 minutes and take questions from those present for an additional 5 minutes. All candidates will present before voting is held. Voting will be done by a silent ballot. A member can vote for all positions in the committee except in the case of Captains when only members of the men’s squad may vote for the Men’s Captain and only members of the women’s squad may vote for the Women’s Captain. Men are assumed to be in the men’s squad and women in the women’s squad. However, if a woman rows or coxes predominantly in the men’s squad, or vice versa, they can choose to be part of that squad but cannot be a part of both squads for voting purposes. Current GTBC committee members can vote for all positions irrespective of whether they row for the Men or Women’s team.

Voting options in the case of a contested position are:

1. Name of candidate who member is voting for
2. Re-Open Nominations
3. Abstain

Voting options in the case of an uncontested position are:

1. For
2. Re-Open Nominations
3. Abstain

If a member cannot attend the election, they can submit a written explanation either in hard copy or via email for their absence. All GTBC members must be encouraged to attend the election if at all possible. If the member is definitely unable to attend, the election officer will then advise them to vote electronically in the 2 days leading up to the election itself. Electronic votes will be collected for 2 days prior to the election and must be submitted by midday of the day of the election. The election officer will let the GTBC membership know when electronic voting is open and closed and acknowledge receipt of votes directly with the person voting. Voting options are the same as for the election itself.

The election officer will provide clear instructions on the voting process, ensuring members are familiar with the weight of each vote. Only votes for a nominee and abstentions will be counted in the final tally denominator, whereas blank votes do not count whatsoever. Any vote that is unclear or blank must be marked as a damaged vote and not counted in the tally for that position. A simple majority is required to win a position. This means that the total number of votes for a candidate when divided by the total number of votes for, against and abstaining must be 50% or above.

In the event of a tied vote on any post, the Chair shall exercise a casting vote. In the event of a voting discrepancy for a position (e.g., abstentions win a simple majority), the Chair will ask the candidate(s) to leave the room and facilitate a discussion among voting members until a resolution is reached.

More than one post may be held by one person, but it is not permitted for one post to be held by more than one person. If a position remains unfilled after an election, a by-election must be held. The results of the election will be circulated electronically after the election and a by-election for unfilled positions will be announced. The by election will be held electronically and the same voting options and nomination procedure will apply. The by-election starts immediately once it is announced, and nominations must close 1.5 weeks after announcement. Voting must be held within 2 weeks of the original election. A candidate who is unsuccessful in the election is allowed to stand again in the by-election for the same position. Votes must be submitted electronically to the election officer who will announce the results on the day voting closes. Should the position still be unfilled after a by-election, the committee may appoint someone to act in that position at the next quorate meeting, when the post may be filled by election as above.

Officers may resign at any stage during their period of office by expressing their wish in writing to the President or, in the case of the President, to all the captains. The committee shall nominate a replacement for the remainder of the period of office. It is not necessary for such a nomination to be ratified by a general meeting.

Officers are eligible for nomination for any post in following years and positions can be held for more than one year.

Terms of Office

The terms of office for all officers shall be for the whole year, starting from the end of the meeting at which they were elected, and ending at the corresponding meeting the following year.

Removal of Officers

In cases where it is considered that an officer is not adequately performing his or her duties the following procedure shall be adopted. A motion of no confidence in the officer concerned, signed by at least one-third of full members of the club, shall be submitted to the Secretaries (or if the officer concerned is one of the Secretaries, to the President).

On receipt of a motion of no confidence, the Secretary (or the President) shall then call an extraordinary meeting electronically (and informing the Senior Member) at least one week in advance of the meeting.

The officer concerned may attend the meeting and give an account of his or her actions but shall leave the room before a vote is taken. The vote shall be taken by secret ballot and shall require a two-thirds majority in order to stand.

In the event of a no confidence motion being carried the officer shall be deemed to have resigned and a replacement shall be elected by ballot at the same meeting.

Club Policy on Awarding Blades

Blades are awarded to crews that show outstanding performance during OURCs regattas. Each member of a crew that is awarded blades is entitled to purchase one or more decorative rowing blades to mark the occasion. These blades will have the club, date, crew names, as well as the achievement inscribed upon them. It will be at the discretion of the committee to decide if the club purchases one or more blades to hang in the club house or College.

Eligibility

There is one head-on-head race in which a crew may be awarded blades. This is the novice-only Regatta, held annually during Michaelmas Term on the Isis stretch of the Thames. In order to be eligible for blades a crew must be the overall winner.

There are two bumps’ races in which a crew may be awarded blades. These two races are Torpids and Summer Eights and are held annually during Hilary Term and Trinity Term respectively on the Isis stretch of the Thames. In order to be eligible for blades, the crew must:

1. Race on all 4 days of the days of the competition,
2. Achieve a ‘bump’ on every racing day, and
3. In Torpids, not he ‘bumped’ by any other racing crew.

In line with OURCS policy, in the case of a klaxon, only bumps up to the klaxon will be counted. If a crew is disqualified or scratches, this counts as competing.

In order for an individual to be eligible for blades they must race on at least 50% of the days of the competition, excluding Rowing On.

Ratified at the Trinity 2023 Green Templeton Boat Club Elections

Revision: Sunday 18 June 2023