Lesefassung - Statutes of the Geosciences Student Council
Statutes of the Geosciences Student Council
The English translation, but only the German translation is legally valid.
By resolution of the General Assembly of the Geosciences Student Council of 16th April 2025, the following statutes are established:
I General
§1 Name and composition of the student council
(1) The student council bears the name ‘Geowiss’ or ‘Geow!ss’.
(2) All students enrolled in the Bachelor of Science Geosciences, Master of Science Geosciences, Master of Science Geoscience or Master of Science Remote Sensing, geoInformation and Visualisation as well as PhD students belong to the student council.
(3) The student council is an organ of the constituted student body of the University of Potsdam in accordance with the statutes of the student body and works together with other organs of the student body.
§2 Tasks
The tasks of the student council include
(1) Supporting students in study matters,
(2) Co-organisation of the study regulations and examination regulations,
(3) Cooperation with the faculty in case of problems with teaching and research,
(4) Cooperation with other student councils and committees of the University of Potsdam,
(5) Other tasks within the student council.
§3 Organs
The bodies of the student council are
1. the General Assembly,
2. the Fachschaftsrat (FSR),
3. the election committee.
II The General Assembly
§4 The General Assembly
(1) The plenary assembly of the student council is the highest decision-making body of the student council.
(2) Each member of the Student Council has exactly one seat and one vote in the General Assembly. Votes may not be delegated.
(3) The plenary assembly shall always meet in public.
§5 Convening the General Assembly
(1) The plenary assembly is convened by the FSR or by at least 10% of all members of the student council.
(2) Ordinary plenary meetings must be announced at least 21 days in advance in writing, by email or by posting the provisional agenda; extraordinary plenary meetings must be announced at least seven days in advance.
(3) A properly convened plenary meeting shall constitute a quorum.
(4) At least one ordinary plenary meeting must take place at the beginning of the lecture period of each semester.
(5) Minutes must be taken at every plenary meeting. These must be published within one week (publication deadline).
(6) Non-compliance with the publication deadline must be justified.
III The Student Representative Council
§6 The Student Representative Council (FSR)
(1) The FSR is the quorum and executive body of the student council. It is bound by the resolutions of the General Assembly.
(2) The Student Representative Council consists of up to ten members with voting rights. The members should come from several year groups and different sub-disciplines.
(3) The Student Representative Council is authorised to appoint advisory, non-voting members and to assign tasks to them.
(4) The term of office of a FSR is one semester. Re-election is possible. The members of the FSR shall continue to hold office after the end of a term of office until their successors have taken office.
(5) Any number of student representatives can become associate members of the FSR; members who are voted out of office automatically become associate members unless they object.
§7 Meetings of the Student Representative Council
(1) The FSR meets at least six times per semester.
(2) A meeting must be announced at least twenty-four hours in advance, accessible to all members of the student council, with a provisional agenda.
(3) At the written request of at least three members of the student council, a quorate meeting shall be held within 7 days.
(4) FSR meetings are open to the public. Exceptions are regulated by § 4 Art. (3) of the statutes of the student body.
(5) The FSR has the right to adopt rules of procedure.
(6) Minutes must be taken at every meeting. These must be distributed to all members of the FSR within one week and adopted at the next ordinary meeting. Approved minutes shall be published immediately (publication deadline).
The minutes must be translated into English within one week.
(7) Reasons must be given if the publication deadline is exceeded.
(8) The meeting shall generally be held in German, or in English if required.
§8 Quorum
(1) A meeting is quorate if at least half of the voting members are present.
(2) If a matter has been postponed due to a lack of quorum, the FSR shall have a quorum at the next meeting during the discussion of the same matter, regardless of the number of members present. This must be expressly stated in the invitation.
§9 Voting
(1) All voting members of the FSR have one vote. Voting by proxy is not permitted.
(2) A motion is deemed to have been accepted if it receives more yes votes than no votes.
§10 Election of the Student Representative Council
(1) The FSR is elected twice a year by secret ballot by the plenary assembly.
(2) Further details are regulated in Section IV of the statutes.
§11 Constructive vote of no confidence
At a general assembly, the entire FSR or individual members can be voted out of office by a constructive vote of no confidence with a majority of two thirds of all valid votes cast.
§12 Chair of the Student Representative Council
(1) The Student Representative Council elects a chairperson and a deputy chairperson from among its members
(2) The chairperson of the FSR is responsible for drawing up the agenda.
The person responsible for the e-mails is also responsible for the proper invitation.
(3) The chairperson represents the FSR externally, unless these tasks, even in part, have been delegated to other members of the FSR.
(4) The chairperson acts on behalf of the FSR and is bound by the resolutions of the FSR in their actions.
§13 Finances of the student council
(1) The FSR elects a financial officer and a deputy from among its members, who are responsible for the financial affairs of the student council and are answerable to the financial officer of the AStA.
(2) The financial officer shall act in accordance with the guidelines of the VeFa and the AStA, in particular the AStA's financial guidelines.
(3) Members of the student council must be given the opportunity to inspect the student council's finances.
This also takes place at the plenary meetings.
IV The Election Committee
§14 The Election Committee
(1) The task of the Election Committee is to ensure the proper organisation of the FSR election.
(2) The election committee consists of three members.
(3) Members of the Election Committee are elected by the General Assembly by a show of hands.
(4) Members of the Election Committee may not run for the Student Representative Council.
§15 Eligibility to vote and to stand as a candidate
All members of the Geosciences Student Council (see §1 Art.(2)) are eligible to vote and authorised to stand as candidates for the Student Council. §14 Art. (4) remains unaffected.
§16 Conduct of elections
(1) The elections must comply with the statutes of the student body.
(2) Elections are general, free, direct, equal and secret. The election committee must ensure that these principles are observed. Elections in which these principles are violated are invalid and must be repeated.
(3) Each voter has ten votes, whereby a maximum of one vote can be given to a candidate.
(4) The Election Committee shall ensure that the voting rights of all eligible voters present at the General Assembly are exercised.
§17 Results of the election
(1) The ten persons who receive the most votes shall become members of the FSR.
(2) If the number of candidates is less than ten, then the FSR has, in deviation from §6, Art. (2), fewer members.
(3) If no votes are cast for an election proposal, the candidate shall be deemed not elected.
(4) Minutes must be taken during the election. These regulations and the election protocol, in which all members are named, must be submitted for the proper registration of the FSR. In addition, the election protocol must be signed by the members of the election committee, the secretary and the newly elected members of the FSR. This must be submitted to the Presidium of the Student Parliament together with the statutes of the Student Council.
(5) The term of office of the FSR begins with the proper registration with the Presidium of the Student Parliament.
V Amendments to the Statutes
§18 Amendments to the Statutes
(1) These statutes may be amended if two thirds of the members present at a plenary meeting approve a corresponding motion.
(2) Amendments to the statutes shall enter into force on the day following the resolution.
(3) Proposals to amend the statutes must be published with the announcement of the General Meeting or 21 days in advance.