Legal Affairs rules CSR is not allowed to take away member voting rights
The Central Student Council has become increasingly bothered over the absence of elected members. The new CSR, which took office in September, has resolved to put an end to this, approving a proposal to partly withhold financial compensation from members who are frequently absent. A second measure means that members who are absent three times in a row would lose the right to vote at the next meeting.
This, however, is not allowed according to an employee of the UvA Legal Affairs department. Elected members have an electoral mandate and voting rights can therefore not be restricted.
Council chairman Nina Hol (Law) says she has since found an alternative which will soon be put up to the council to vote. ‘If members are absent for a longer period of time, we want the quorum (the minimum number of members required to be able to take decisions as a council) to be reduced. This is not necessarily a measure against absent members, but it will prevent the council from not being able to make decisions.’
