St John’s College JCR:
Part II: Freedom of debate
Hi again. The aim of this guide is to make the format of JCR meeting discussions a little clearer, telling you
what happens in meetings, how motions are now debated and how you can affect the procedure of the
meeting. OK, let the fun commence...
(A) What does a JCR meeting cover?
Every meeting covers the business in 7 categories, in the following order:
(i) Minutes from the previous meeting: take a look at the minutes from the last meeting (copies are
distributed, but they are also up in the postroom and circulated via email).
(ii) Matters arising from the minutes: if there’s anything that strikes you about the minutes, then you
should shout this out now. You might feel there are certain inaccuracies in the minutes themselves
(which can then be amended accordingly), or want clarification on something.
(iii) Reports from Officers and Reps: listen to what your hardworking JCR staff have been getting up to
and ask them questions.
(iv) Ratifications: if someone decides to run for a vacant Rep position, they will give a short speech in
favour of their appointment and you then vote on whether to give them the job... or not.
(v) Items for discussion: sometimes, it will be appropriate to have a broad discussion on a subject that
affects the JCR, e.g. changes to the bar, in order to gauge the JCR’s views. You can submit any topic for
discussion (but make sure you tell the Secretary about it before the meeting!); everyone can and should
contribute to the talk; and up to 10 minutes can be spent debating the matter.
(vi) Passing of charities motions nem con: for all motions recommending that money be given to a
charity, the proposer will give a short speech telling the JCR how any money will be spent. Then, if there
are ‘no objections’ (i.e. ‘nem con’) from anyone, the motion will pass. However, if someone has any issue
with the motion at this point, subsequent discussion will take place in the same format as for other
motions (see below).
(vii) All other motions: this bit of the meeting follows very specific and sometimes confusing procedure,
so I’ll give it its own heading...
(B) How are motions debated?
(1) Short, factual questions
The Chair will announce the title of the motion that is being discussed and will ask you, the JCR, whether
you have any short, factual questions for the proposer of the motion. If you have one, put your hand up
and the Chair will ask you for your contribution. St John’s JCR, surprisingly, chooses to use the natural
meanings of the words “short”, “factual” and “question”. So, make sure that:
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you are asking a question, not making a statement;
it is an objective query relating to the facts of the motion, such as can later be used to aid clear
interpretation of the motion, not a ‘leading question’ that betrays your opinion;
your enquiry is brief!
For example, short factual questions about a motion proposing to buy a big new widescreen TV might
include the following: “What model of TV are you planning to purchase?”/”When was the last time we
bought a TV?” / “Have you tried other suppliers to check that we are getting the best price?”
Does that give you an idea? If not, take a look at these, which are definitely NOT short factual questions:
“Do we really need a new TV?” / “How can we think about doing this when plasma screen TVs are
notoriously bad for the environment?”
(2) Points for discussion
After short, factual questions, the Chair will ask the JCR whether they have any general points for
discussion. This is the part of the meeting where you can say what you think about the motion, arguing
for or against it. If you would like to raise a particular issue, put your hand up and the Chair will note that
you wish to contribute and, when it is your turn, ask you to do so.
When someone is making their argument and you wish to address their point directly, you may do so
immediately and without raising your hand, as long as you give your fellow members of the JCR time to
finish their piece and generally conduct the debate in a civilised and fair manner. This should allow
debate to flow more freely, with the Chair only intervening occasionally to ensure everyone has a say.
(3) Amendments
At any point during which the relevant motion is being debated, you may submit an amendment to the
motion to the Chair in writing, with a proposer and seconder. After points for discussion, the Chair will ask
whether there are any amendments and will read each amendment to the JCR in turn. It may be accepted
as ‘friendly’ by the proposer or seconder of the original motion, in which case the amendment passes.
If not accepted as friendly, each amendment will be debated in the same way as any non-charity motion.
So, the Chair will (1) ask for any short, factual questions relating to it; (2) the debate will then move to
points for discussion in relation to the amendment; (3) any amendments to the amendment will be
considered; and (4) it will be asked whether there are any objections to the amendment.
(4) Objections / voting
After any amendments have been considered and the debate concluded, the Chair will ask if there are
any objections to the motion, i.e. if anyone has any problems with any part of it. If there are no
objections, the motion passes. If there are objections, the Chair will ask one person to make a speech for,
and another to make a speech against, the motion. The motion will then be put to a vote to decide
whether it passes or fails.
(C) What other contributions can I make to the debate?
Procedural motions
At any point during the debate of a motion, you can submit a procedural motion to the Chair in writing,
with a proposer and seconder. A procedural motion will be announced to the meeting immediately upon
its receipt by the Chair, and will be voted upon straight away.
The main procedural motions are:
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That the motion be ‘not put’ (removed from the agenda altogether), e.g. if you think that it is
particularly badly drafted, unclear, or that it concerns a topic that should not be raised at that JCR
meeting.
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That the meeting move to a vote immediately, e.g. if you think that the debate has gone on for too
long to continue to be helpful and that most people will have already decided their own points of
view.
That the motion be taken in parts, e.g. if you think that a broad motion contains several points of
contention which would be more usefully discussed one-by-one.
That the JCR Secretary tells a joke, to inject some light-heartedness into the meeting, and because
the Secretary is incredibly witty.
Other contributions
The two main contributions that you can make at any time during a meeting are points of order and
points of information:
A point of order draws the meeting’s attention to an abuse of JCR procedure or a breach of rules. You can
propose it by making a gesture with your hand on top of your head, such as might indicate that you are
wearing an invisible hat... or just put your hand in the air and shout “point of order!”
A point of information is acceptable when you know a particular fact that will facilitate debate relating to
the motion currently before the meeting. You can propose it in the same way as a point of order,
although obviously shouting “point of information!” instead.