Can we submit our reaffiliation outside of the normal mandatory AGM/Reaffiliation period?
The benefit of the Arc Clubs standardised reaffiliation period in Term 3 is that most Clubs are able to perform better handovers while both outgoing and incoming executives are current students (or current residents). On a case-by-case basis there are some allowances for AGMs to be conducted towards the conclusion of the year or the start of the new year once new residents arrive. If you wish to reaffiliate outside of the standard period, request this via email to clubs@arc.unsw.ed.au
Can Residence Clubs notify members of upcoming AGM/EGM through private channels or Residence notice boards only? Do we have to email them too?
Clubs can absolutely promote upcoming General Meetings through several platforms and channels including Residence notice boards, Facebook events, social media platforms. It is however a compulsory requirement that all clubs notify their members via EMAIL with 7 days' notice (unless a longer notice period is required by your constitution).
You can find plenty of information in the Clubs Handbook regarding running Annual General Meetings (Section 9.1) and Extraordinary General Meetings (Section 9.2), and don’t forget to download our templates from the Club Forms and Files.
We held a quick meeting to change over one of our exec roles, do we need to submit this on SpArc?
Yes! If you have changed executive positions or made other major club decisions, then this should be formally voted on in an EGM. Any EGMs held must have relevant documents uploaded to SpArc.
We don’t know where to find our constitution – how do we find it?
Clubs can access previously uploaded files (ie, meeting minutes, constitutions) from SpArc! Your club profile stores any documents uploaded to files for your reference.
The SpArc admins from our old Exec team aren’t contactable but we need access to SpArc to reaffiliate. What do we do?
We understand that as with all Clubs, sometimes handovers aren’t conducted effectively and previous exec members can be difficult to get in touch with. If this has happened to your team, you can request for changes of SpArc admin to submit documents to SpArc regarding reaffiliation (or events, grant submissions, etc).
As a reminder, Clubs can only have two (2) SpArc admin per account that are current Executive members. Your Club can nominate these admins during your reaffiliation process, otherwise the President and Arc Delegate will automatically receive access shortly after a successful Reaffiliation outcome.
If you have changes throughout the year, Clubs can submit a request for changes via the SpArc Admin Request form found on the Clubs Files & Forms page
Do Residence Clubs need to use the Arc Model Constitution as a compulsory format?
No, however all Club Constitutions must meet a minimum set of requirements, including covering some essential information about club memberships, elections, voting. Constitutions can be overwhelming, but we have specific breakdowns of key information in the Clubs Handbook (Section 7. Clubs Constitutions).
It is strongly recommended that your Constitution not include internal residency information (like by-laws, entry conditions, house-keeping rules), as these areas are not primarily about the overall structure and governance of your Club, and are instead about the administration of the Residence, which is not your Club’s responsibility.
Clubs that use the model constitution can be offered more detailed support from staff when it comes to changes in clauses etc. We understand that it is a lot of work to readapt legacy constitutions however the Clubs Team can meet with Clubs for one-on-one consultations to guide your team through suggestions or required changes.
When and how do we change bank signatories? Can our Dean be a signatory?
Upon successful Reaffiliation, Clubs are provided with a Bank Letter from Arc that will help facilitate your bank signatory changeover. Finer details can be found in the Clubs Handbook (Section 18 - Club Financial Management).
For signatory changes at any other time of year (after successful reaffiliation), email us!
Clubs can have a Residence staff member (such as the Dean) as one of the signatories - this must be reflected in the Constitution, including by having the staff member be a non-voting member of the Club Executive. Talk to us if you want to go down this route and we’ll help you through the steps!
Our Dean/a Residence Staff member already manages conflicts and grievances, do we still need a student/exec to hold the Grievance Officer position?
Nope! For Clubs such as Residence Clubs, we know that you may already have processes and procedures in place. Just make sure those processes, policies and procedures meet Arc Clubs requirements and that your constitution references the person/group responsible for grievance resolution and the policy and procedure that your Club follows.
You can read more on the website here.
Can we include minimum Grades/WAM requirements, or have selection standards in our election criteria?
Any Club member that is eligible to vote (i.e full voting members) in the election must be eligible to be nominated to any Executive (there are very limited exceptions to this), and Clubs are not able to bias the results of elections. You can refer to Section 10. Elections in the Clubs Handbook for a further breakdown on election eligibility. If Grades/WAM are something that your membership and Exec team feels is important, you may ask the candidates to address this when making a candidate statement to the members, and the members can use this information to help decide who they vote for.
Is it compulsory for our Residence Club to use the Arc Finances template?
Yes. It is a mandatory requirement that Clubs use one of the financial templates (formatted by Weekly or Category) available on the Clubs Files & Forms page. We understand that from time to time you may have costs that your Residence covers, but Clubs should do their best to maintain accurate record keeping. We are happy to work with you to see what processes you could implement to best transfer your records to our template.
Where do I go for help?
Get in touch with the Arc Clubs team! Our office hours and contact details are at the bottom of this page.
You can also find a lot of resources on the Arc website, especially the Club Forms and Files page and the Clubs Handbook.
