MCSG/Parliamentary Procedure

from the Macalester Public Knowledge Base

original proposal by Toby, november 2004

The Most Important Thing to Remember: To put yourself on the Speaker's List, raise your placard so Toby will see you, and only speak when the Chair recognises you. Youncan always ask to be recognised this way, at any point in the meeting (although you might have to be a bit patient).

Whatever you have to say must pertain to the issue at hand. If you have something important, but momentarily irrelevant, wait for the last point on the agenda, which will be "Other Issues".

Times You Can Speak When Not On the Speaker's List:

1. "Mr. Chair, I have a Motion to make"

2. "I move to vote/move the question"

3. "I move that we enter into Informal Caucus for __ minutes"

• These three motions you can introduce at any time during the meeting, but must wait for the person currently speaking to finish. You do not, however, need to wait for the Chair to recognise you. They must each be seconded. Moving the question must then be passed by a 2/3 majority, while entering Informal Caucus requires 1/2 majority. The next three you can even interrupt people (although that is still a rude thing to do):

4. Point of Order

5. Point of Parliamentary Procedure

6. Point of Personal Privilege

Meeting Procedure: Toby will open discussion on each item of the agenda, and people on the Speaker's List will introduce important points on the issue. As soon as someone introduces a specific motion and it is seconded, the Speaker's List is temporary discontinued: A new Speaker's List is started for discussion only on that particular motion. This discussion can end in the following ways:

Discussion Option One

We use a regular Speaker's List and only vote once it is completely exhausted, or once someone motions to Move the Question, and it is passed by a 2/3 majority.

Discussion Option Two

For discussion on Motions and Amendments, after they are seconded the Chair recognises one speaker For, one Against, one For, one Against... until there is no speaker for one of the sides. The rationale is that, if no one is willing to speak Against for example, there is no reason to continue listening to people talk For. Then we vote.

This option would probably be more time efficient and less repetitive, but depending on the topic might also allow less people to talk.

Notes:

• There can be more than 1 motion for each topic on the agenda, so instead of making a long, complicated motion, make it simple and introduce each part separately.
• We can always move into Informal Causus; particularly if we need to ask someone multiple questions or if we want to brainstorm.
• After the motions are all passed, the people on the Speaker's List who were never heard will have a chance to talk if their point is still relevant, and Toby will always ask: "Is there anything else people would like to say..." at which point you can add anything else on the topic you would like to.