2016 General Elections

Dear Clare,

We are pleased to announce the MCR 2016 general election will be held from 8th March 2016 until 11th March 2016. The new MCR committee will take office beginning of Easter Term 2016.

According to our constitution the following executive and non-executive positions are available. Please note that all executive positions have to be nominated and seconded by MCR members by the 1st March. Send your nomination to mcr-president@clare.cam.ac.uk . All Executive Committee candidates are kindly asked submit a manifesto no later than 6th March. Contested Non-executive candidates will also need to submit manifestos. There is no requirement to fill non-executive positions.

Executives:

• President
• Vice-President
• Treasurer
• Social Secretaries (2)
• Bar Managers (2)
• Secretary

Non-executives:

• Accommodation Officer
• Computing Officer
• Exchange Officer
• First year/Master’s Officer
• Fourth Year Officer
• Clareity President
• Green Officer
• Welfare (Female)
• Welfare (Male)
• Welfare (LGBT+)
• Library Officer
• Mature Students Officer
• Punts Officer
• Sports Officer
• St Regis Officer

We wish all candidates the best of luck!

Description of Roles in the MCR committee

Executives:

• President

  The tasks of the MCR president include managing the work of the committee and representing MCR interests in meetings with senior College officers in accordance with the MCR constitution. Managing the committee consists of ensuring a smooth work flow among committee members, overseeing the organisation of MCR events and ensuring that the constitution is upheld. Furthermore, the president is representing the MCR at several meetings with College Officers during term: The most important meetings are the liaison meetings with the Senior Tutor and the Bursar (fortnightly during term time). The Governing body meeting once a term assembles the full Fellowship of Clare. The College Council meets every two weeks to discuss main issues in College. Occasionally, the JCR and MCR presidents are asked to meet the Master or the Graduate Tutors.

  Last year the president intended to strengthen inclusivity, gender equality, non-alcoholic events and student welfare. Inclusivity was manifested in the constitution with rules on the usage of the MCR. We also adopted a gender neutral dress code to ensure requests for more gender equality. Events during Freshers Week and many other events throughout the term (Yoga, ice-skating, tour to Westminster, theme formals) offered activities not necessarily related to alcohol consumption. We also established close relationships with the College’s Welfare Officers (nurse, mental health advisor and Dean) whose activities can now be followed on the MCR website.

  Additionally, the president intended to preserve the MCR space at its current location. This was achieved through representation of the MCR as a mature Graduate community. It was argued that the MCR is not just a bar. The room is also a daytime community space to meet, study and to create long lasting friendships.

  The next presidency could focus on the following aspects: Preserve the inclusivity of the community. Represent student interests as College is planning the redevelopment of St Regis. Renew the broken or faulty interior of the MCR. Increase MCR sport activities…etc.

• Vice-President

  The Vice President is the helping hand of the MCR president by representing the president or handling the President’s duties. if necessary. The VP attends Governing Body meeting once a term and may be asked to sit in the College Council meeting. You can attend the GU and CUSU meetings to ensure collaboration between Clare and other Colleges. You may also help out with events which could mean the difference between good and absolutely amazing.

• Treasurer

  As Treasurer you are responsible for the finances and financial health of the MCR, being the financial policies and effects of the events and other activities of the MCR as managed and operated by the elected MCR Committee.

  The MCR has its own bank account (an HSBC A/C), which is entirely independent of College (although College assists administratively by billing MCR Members for their MCR membership fee). In a nutshell:

  • MCR members pay an MCR membership fee, currently set at £30 p.a. in order to be a member and receive the benefits that this membership entitles them to.  This is the principal source of income (and cash inflows).
  • The MCR Committee organises events and activities for its members with associated costs, as well as incurs other regular ancillary MCR expenditure (coffee, biscuits etc.). These are budgeted for and paid for out of income (see above) and are the main costs/expenses (cash outflows) of the MCR.  More often than not, MCR COmmittee members will incur these costs on behalf of the MCR and require reimbursement on presentation of receipts as appropriate.
  • The MCR Bar receipts (from sales) and costs (supplies) also operate through the HSBC bank account. Note that the bar keeps its own standalone accounting records; this is to enable to standalone monitoring of the agreed financial policy for the bar, which is that it should operate at a break-even level for members (where any profit is made, it is ploughed back into the bar).

  As Clare MCR Treasurer, you are responsible for the HSBC account and all aspects of its administration, and for liaising with the Bursar’s Office with respect to its role in billing MCR members for their membership fee on behalf of the MCR.  You are also responsible for ensuring that all sources of income are received, e.g. any additional amounts due to the MCR for Formal Hall tickets, where the counterparty cannot pay through College (as they do not have a registered College account).  Equally you are responsible for ensuring all invoices and other costs of supply are paid on a timely basis.

  You must report regularly to the MCR Committee on the state of the finances of the MCR.  Further, twice a term you are required to meet with and report on the same topic to the Finance Tutor, Dr Jackie Tasioulas.  You will also need to prepare a budget for the year, with the input of your fellow MCR Committee members, which, in accordance with our constitution, you must present to the AGM of MCR members in the Michaelmas Term for their approval. Our constitution also requires ultimate approval of the budget (oversight if you like so the MCR does not get into financial difficulty) by the Jackie Tasioulas.

  In your role as MCR Treasurer, you are also required to attend College’s Finance Committee Meetings (the UCR Treasurer also attends) and Development Committee meetings (along with the Housing Officer); there are two meetings each term of each Committee, at the beginning and end of each term.

  In previous years, the MCR got itself into a position of financial difficulty (overspend on bar refurbishment) and required subsidisation by College. Consistent with the 2014/15 academic year, the focus of the MCR Treasurer in 2015/16 has been on our financial health, introducing a policy of a cash surplus or buffer at the bank of at last £5,000 and thus assuring College of the robust financial health and controls of the MCR Treasury.

  The next Treasurer could focus on whether it is possible to simplify, automate, and/or improve some of the treasury processes: by way of example, we do not use accounting software currently, the accounting records of the MCR are captured and managed in EXCEL.

• Social Secretaries (2)

  Social secretaries help look after the social life of the MCR! Under this wide-ranging role fall several key jobs: managing Friday formals (including implementing any fun ideas you have for themed formals!); showing our freshers how awesome Clare is by planning and managing Freshers Week events; planning and managing larger events like bops and garden parties; and liaising with Catering, including attending one meeting with the college Catering committee per term.

• Bar Managers (2)

  Bar Managers work as a team of two to oversee the running of the bar and the use of MCR as a communal space.

  The main tasks involved in running the bar are purchasing whiskies, beers, wine and spirits and setting suitable pricings and menus and ensuring that the bar is stocked when necessary. Usually one Bar Manager is responsible for whisky and spirits, the other for beer and wine, but this can ultimately be rearranged. The Bar Managers are also responsible for coordinating approximately 20 bar workers each term to ensure that the bar is always staffed and that worker concerns are addressed. They should also be in close contact with MCR members and college to ensure the bar remains an inclusive space that is appreciated by all. All these tasks require a fairly regular physical presence in the MCR, though not necessarily taking over a lot bar shifts themselves (unless they choose to do so).

  In ensuring that the MCR room (and community) is inclusive, bar managers are also responsible for managing booking of the room and coordinating with the social secs to ensure that all events held are done so in a suitable manner. They are expected to resolve any disputes associated with the use of the space.

• Secretary

  The secretary is in charge of making sure the committee runs smoothly. It is the secretaries job to know the MCR constitution perfectly and make sure it is followed by the committee. Important aspects of this are knowing timings for General Meetings and elections as it is the MCR secretaries job to arrange these and knowing which courses qualify for which types of MCR membership.

  The main day to day tasks of the secretary involves scheduling committee meetings, creating the MCR committee meeting agenda, taking minutes, producing the MCR bulletin and moderating the MCR mailing lists. MCR membership is either managed by the Treasurer or Secretary in conjunction with the computing officer.

  In the event of fraudulent sites using the MCR name, or bad publicity appearing in publications, It is the MCR secretary’s job to manage the publicity and issue statements in conjunction with the MCR president. Unfortunately, both of these occurred this year and required careful management.

Non-executives:

• Accommodation Officer

  The Accommodation Officer usually attends the accommodation committee and estates committee in College (once a term). Over the next year, the Accommodation Officer will be very important to the MCR: The redevelopment of St Regis is being planned at the moment and College would like to know more about student preferences. The Accommodation Officer could launch a survey to collect ideas and suggestions. You would also negotiate the MCR position with senior College Officers and you will have the opportunity to gain a great insight into the proceedings in Clare.

• Computing Officer

  The computing officer is an essential role in the MCR committee. The MCR computing officer manages: membership and moderation of all the MCR mailing lists; the database of MCR membership, which governs access to formals and punts; the maintenance of the MCR and clareity websites; the MCR social media accounts; the handover of committee email addresses; the public image of the MCR on external sites mentioning us; the publication of the Freshers’ guide to the website; maintaining the committee documents.

  Whilst there are a lot of different aspects that need managed, most are not overly time consuming on a weekly database. During Freshers’ week and just after handover, there are lots of jobs to do. However, there won’t be too much to do each week. There will usually be 2-3 emails to moderate per day and the website should be checked for updates weekly.

  The MCR computing officer also sits on the College computing council, attending 2 meetings per term to report on issues of the MCR.

  Ideal computing officers know or want to learn HTML (wordpress website posts), PHP (Punts booker and events booker admin), optionally MySQL(database), and optionally python (events booker). The events booker could do with an update (some redundant code needs removed, maybe better integration with the main website). Management of the punts booker will probably be moving towards the punts Admiral at some point in the future. Knowing MySQL can make managing the MCR database easier and you will often be asked about punt and event statistics which you can extract from the database.

• Exchange Officer

  The Exchange Officer sets up formal dinner exchanges with other colleges — normally at least two per term, but more during Michaelmas term.

• First year/Master’s Officer

  The First year officer organizes events of particular interest to first year PhD and master’s students and also brings any specific concerns to the MCR committee.

• Fourth Year Officer

  The Fourth Year Officer represents those MCR members who are currently in the 4th year of their undergraduate degrees. The Officer makes sure that the 4th year students have access to the MCR.

• Clareity President

  Clareity President organises seminars called “Clareity Matters Evenings”, at least twice per term. In addition to this, the job involves organising the annual Clareity Research Symposium. This involves planning and organisation (IT, catering, speakers, abstract submissions, advertising, room bookings etc).

  In general, Clareity is a group of events run by Clare members for Clare members. Because of that you will interact with the other Clareity representatives including Fellows, CRAs and Undergraduates, advertising your events to them and forwarding their messages to the MCR.  The symposium you will be hosting, on the other hand, is an event for all Clare members.

  It has been great fun and a very rewarding activity so far and looking forward to seeing you at the Symposium!

• Green Officer

  In June 2015, Clare College won awards in 3 out of the 4 possible categories at the University Green Impact awards ceremony presented by Professor Jeremy K.M Sanders CBE FRS, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Institutional Affairs.

  In the overall Green Impact assessment Clare College again was awarded the highest merit, being presented with a Gold Award for the second year in a row.

  As the Green Officer you have the chance to influence how things are done not only in the MCR, but across college thanks to your position on the Environmental Committee. You get to know, and to work with, fellows, support staff, the caterers, and the undergrads, united in the joint effort to make Clare as environmentally friendly as possible.

• Female Welfare

  Working along the Male and the LGBT+ Welfare Officers, the Female Officer assures the MCR students mental health and well-being as much as possible. The duties are to generally to be present in college and be identifiable by the MCR community. You can organise welfare events with your fellow officers around once a term (e.g. Bridgemas and the Great Clare Bake-off) as well as coordinate weekly/monthly events (e.g. yoga). Furthermore you should help out as part of the MCR committee, attend meetings and support events.

• Male Welfare

  Working in conjunction with the Female and LGBT+ Welfare Officers, the Male Welfare Officer’s job is to look at for the mental and physical health and well-being of the MCR community. You are a resource for the community, and should be available and approachable to people for all of their welfare needs. You also meet once per term with the UCS and College Welfare teams. Finally, you have the opportunity to organize events that benefit the mental and physical health of the MCR – events this year have included yoga, massages, and the Great Clare Bake-Off, but the opportunities are boundless!

• LGBT+ Welfare

  The LGBT Welfare Officer works alongside the Male and Female Welfare Officers and helps to organise and run welfare events. They also run LGBT+ specific events such as intercollege meet and greet evenings, cinema nights and a trip to London Pride. The LGBT+ officer may also be asked to support or represent students with LGBT+ or gender equality related concerns. Library Officer

  The Library Officer collects any requests and queries from students about the FML and passes on issues to library staff during committee meetings, held every term.

• Mature Students Officer

  Be mature (or not). Organise a mature students’ social in freshers’ week for the older students that arrive at Clare and, should there be sufficient interest amongst this group, arrange more events throughout the year. In the past these events have also included PhD students in general.

• St Regis Officer

  St. Regis houses a significant proportion of graduate students at Clare. With the redevelopment of the site due to take place in the near future, student representation is particularly important at this time. The St. Regis officer’s role is to ensure that any student concern regarding the quality of the accommodation is communicated to college. You would also be a source of information for new students on the specifics of how St. Regis is run. In future, the Regis officer will also need to play an active role in understanding and presenting student preferences to college, potentially in the form of surveys etc.

• Punts Officer

  The Punts Officer looks after the College punts in collaboration with the JCR.

• Sports Officer

  The Sports Officer looks after the gym in conjunction with the JCR representative. You can set up various sports events for MCR members.