On this page you will find everything essential concerning the plenary assembly (“Vollversammlung”, VV).
Question: What is the plenary assembly?
Answer: The plenary assembly of the members of the student council, thus of all physics students and enrolled doctoral students of this faculty of the RUB, is the meeting that takes at least place once per semester under particpation of as many members as possible. Usually the work of the previous semester is presented, the new student representatives are elected, an electoral list for the faculty council is set up and e.g. the statutes (the student council`s constitution) are changed, if necessary. There will be, of course, more possible agenda items, which will be announced before the assembly.
Question: Why should I participate at the assembly?
(Especially: I don’t deal with them anyways!)
Answer: The most important point at each plenary assembly is the election of the new representatives of the student council. The student council organizes events (e.g. barbecue, parties and much more) and represents the physics students in committees of the student body and towards the faculty. In a nutshell: the student council, brazenly, speaks for you! The student council can also be compared to the government: it spends money – YOUR money. The money, the council receives from your semester contributions is not that much, but maybe enough in total that it should interest you, that it is not thrown out of the window by some airhead. And you can participate in the student councils work – which is unconditionally subjected to the decisions at the plenary assembly.
And even beyond financial monitoring, you can get involved in the work of the student council: Stand for election at the plenary assembly for the student council or even the faculty council – the highest committee of the faculty -, influence the elections (every vote counts! Without exaggeration!) or co-decide on amendments to the statute. It is still possible to stand for election as a student representative at the plenary assembly, as well as to be enlisted for the faculty council election, which you can also apply to at the plenary assembly.
Question: How does a plenary assembly proceed?
Answer: As an example you will find an agenda down below (the current agenda will be sent to you by email as part of the invitation to the assembly (without guarantee of actuality: the current agenda)).
- Report of the student council: The representatives of the previous council report on what they have done during the last semester, what can always be quite exciting if one realizes how fast time flies.
- Report from the committees: Student representatives who were part of the committees during the last semester report, what has happened behind the scenes. This is indeed a quite interesting point of the agenda.
- Report of the financial officer: Can be quite boring, but is still necessary, because everyone has to see how sensible, sustainable and careful we are with your money.
- Exoneration of the old student representatives and the financial officer: More a formality. It is like patting the old council on the back and saying: “Well done, now new representatives will be elected, the responsibility for the following decisions will be carried by them.”
- Election of the new student representatives: This is the point where the tension rises. All candidates who would like to be student representatives introduce themselves of get introduced. Now is the last possibility to stand for election and even spontaneous candidatures are welcome! Right after the presentation of the candidates a Chief Electoral Officer is chosen and the ballot papers are distributed. Afterwards the counting occurs and then finally: the announcement of the new council.
- Electoral list for the faculty council (in summer semesters only): The voting takes place in the middle of the semester.
- Amendment of the statutes: Changes to the statute are made at the proper ending (unfortunately formal and bureaucratic ones), not infrequently due to the preparatory work of a corresponding working group, if it seems necessary. Admittedly, this point is at the end for a reason…
Afterwards, or even during the assembly, there will be something to eat or drink with kind regard from your semester contributions!