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Statutes and Regulations
Palatine Centre

Ordinance 11 Student Organisations

This Ordinance was adopted by the Council on 10 December 2024

1. General

a) This Ordinance supports Statute 21 and should be read in conjunction with it.

b) Terms defined in the Statutes will have the same meaning in these Ordinances.  

c) Terms defined in Ordinance 13 shall apply to all Ordinances.

2. Students' Union

a) The Durham Students' Union will act in accordance with its constitution which shall be reviewed by Council at five yearly intervals and any amendments approved by the Council. Such review shall be in addition to any constitutional and legal requirements on the Durham Students’ Union, and its trustees, in relation to the review of its constitutional arrangements.

b) A service level agreement and licence to occupy shall be put in place between the University and the Durham Students' Union which shall be reviewed at five yearly intervals by the Council.

3. Student Common Rooms

a) In each Maintained College or Society and each Recognised College, there shall be a Student Common Room or equivalent body or bodies.  

b) The purpose of the Student Common Room is to represent the view of their members on college matters to relevant staff and bodies within the University and to promote and enhance the wider student experience within the college.  

c) The University shall make available a Durham Student Organisation (DSO) Framework (or such other title as Council may from time to time determine) setting out the University’s regulatory framework for such Student Common Rooms and other student organisations which may wish to join it. Common rooms and other student organisations that are part of the DSO Framework shall be part of the University in legal and financial terms.

d) Each Student Common Room of a Maintained College that is not an independent charitable organisation shall in particular follow the requirements of the DSO Framework in relation to the officers selected by the student body of the relevant college/society.

e) Independent Student Common Rooms of Maintained Colleges and St John's Common Room are not members of the DSO Framework, are required to have separate charitable status to the University, and will be regarded as "Student Unions" under the Education Act (1994) where they fall within the definition of a Student Union in that Act, for the purpose of determining the University's responsibilities in relation to them.

f) The Student Common Rooms of St Chad's College shall manage their own affairs according to Constitutions approved by the Governors of the College and subject to the terms of the Memorandum and Articles of Association and the Statutes of the College.

4. Other student unions

a) A Student Common Room may opt to become an independent charitable organisation shall not be subject to the requirements of the DSO Framework, but it shall be regulated by the Charity Commission, and be subject to a service level agreement, licence to occupy, and a data sharing agreement with the University.

b) Such Student Common Rooms, detailed in Appendix 1, are recognised as "Students' Unions" under the Education Act 1994. Such recognition entails a number of responsibilities on the University's part with regard to these Common Rooms detailed in section 22 of the Education Act 1994, which shall be reflected in the service level agreements with these Common Rooms; notably, such service level agreements shall encompass the Code of Practice required by the Education Act 1994.

c) The constitutions of such students' unions are subject to review, no less frequently than every 3-years, by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Colleges and Student Experience) and University Secretary under delegated authority from the Council.

5. Assurance to the Council

a) The Vice-Chancellor and Warden or their nominee will provide an annual assurance report to the Council concerning the University’s relationship with the Student Common Rooms established in accordance with the DSO Framework and the Common Rooms that are independent charitable organisations.  

b) The University Secretary will manage the discharge of the Council’s obligations under the Education Act 1994 in relation to the Durham Students' Union in accordance with a code of practice agreed by the Council from time to time.

c) Any amendments to the Durham Students' Union constitution require a resolution of the Union's company law members (trustees), ratification by its student members, and the approval of the Council and the Charity Commission.  

d) Any amendments to the constitutions of student unions which are themselves separate charities, detailed in Appendix 1, shall be made in accordance with the provisions of their respective constitutions/governing documents. 

Purple Dividing Line

Appendix 1 Other Student Unions

1. The following Student Common Rooms are recognised as independent charities by the Charity Commission and the University: 

  1. Grey College Junior Common Room Trust;
  2. Hatfield College Junior Common Room;
  3. Josephine Butler College Junior Common Room;
  4. St Aidan’s College Junior Common Room;
  5. St Cuthbert’s Junior Common Room Trust;
  6. St John's Common Room;
  7. Ustinov College Graduate Common Room;
  8. Van Mildert College Junior Common Room.