56 Students’ Council Management
REQUIRED READING
- Student Council Management Template
- You may use the file above to list your Student’s Council Class Representatives.
Please download this template before adding campus specific information to avoid re-writing the template.
As Students’ Council Manager, it is important that you thoroughly familiarize yourself with MODULE 6 to understand the logistics of Students’ Council Meetings.
Recruiting & Retaining Class Representatives
After the Fall Elections occur, the next step is for you and your team to do outreach to the faculty and students at your campus to fill the Class Representative seats on your Council.
Each class is entitled to a Representative on the Students’ Council to ensure all students on your campus have a voice.
Cohort Example
In this example, a campus has 7 classes of Business Admin students. Each of the following classes would have their own class representative:
- Business Admin, Year 1, Class A
- Business Admin, Year 1, Class B
- Business Admin, Year 1, Class C
- Business Admin, Year 2, General Concentration
- Business Admin, Year 2, Accounting Concentration
- Business Admin, Year 2, Marketing Concentration, Class 1
- Business Admin, Year 2, Marketing Concentration, Class 2
Class Representative Elections
Each class should elect their class representative in an informal discussion where all students interested in the role have the ability to present their case, followed by a democratic vote from the class to select their Class Representative. If only 1 student is interested, they are voted in by acclamation.
When students indicate they have been elected as their Class Representative, they can confirm by emailing your Student Association with their name, program, year and cohort (if applicable). You should then add all of this information to your Membership document (template above).
How Attendance can impact your Council Membership
Ensuring that attendance is tracked on this form will help you discover which Class Representatives have abandoned the position (2+ consecutive unexcused absences).
When a position becomes vacant, you should:
- Reach out to the class alternate to inform them of their position change from Alternate > Class Representative.
OR - In the case where there is no Alternate, reach out to the faculty of that class to see if there is another student interested in the position.
- If no one is able to fill the vacancy, that position should be removed from your Council membership and your quorum adjusted.
Meeting Invites & Hybrid Meeting Approach
While meetings may be held in person, through Teams or both, it is important to send out a calendar of tentative dates & times for your meetings each semester, to give your Class Representatives as much notice as possible.
Some faculty are gracious enough to allow Class Representatives to be absent from class to be able to attend, but this is not always the case. Allowing your Class Representatives to provide sufficient notice will help supportive faculty make arrangements for them.
Meeting Invites
Regardless of your meeting location, setting Outlook Calendar holds is beneficial. For virtual and hybrid meetings, this is how we create meetings.
Instructions
From your Outlook Calendar:
- Click on the date and start time to open an event window.
- Select the button in the top right to make it a Teams meeting for virtual or hybrid meetings.
- Invite all class representatives, executives, coordinators, SA Advisors, and any guest speakers who should be in attendance.
- Make sure to adjust the end time to accommodate your entire meeting length. 60-90 minutes is recommended.
- You can use the attachment feature on the meeting invite to include the meeting minutes from the previous meeting.
by an oral vote, often unanimous, expressing approval, rather than by formal ballot.