[SOA] Provost Coverage Amendment

The Magisterium
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Magisters, I bring before you a new Amendment to our Standing Orders:

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We could also do Deputy who has served the longest as a Magister.

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I’m not a Magister, but I do want to weigh in my two cents:

I’d rather 3.5.2 give the power to name a Line of Successions rather than the Provost nominating one specific candidate. That way in the event the person named doesn’t’ want it, there is someone else to fall back on. In addition, it would give all deputies (essentially) equal right to succeed without feeling like a deputy is getting jipped.

Essentially, the way I see it, it should be:

  1. Line of Succession
  2. without the presence of an LoS, the longest serving Deputy
  3. In the absence of deputies, longest serving Magister
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Isn’t the purpose of having Deputies to provide coverage for the Provost when they’re unable to act on their obligations? Rather than an explicit line of succession, I think it would be better served as:

  1. The longest serving Deputy (per 6.1.1).
  2. Any other Deputy, in order of their length of service (which I believe is implicit from the wording of 6.1.1).
  3. The longest serving Magister (per 6.1.2).
  4. Any other Magister, in order of their length of service (which I believe is implicit from the wording of 6.1.2).

With the proposed amendments to Sections III and IV of the SOM (see: [SOM] Deputy Provost Tweaks), I would suggest instead adding another subclause to 3.5 that requires the Provost to specify the order in which they’re onboarding a Deputy if they’re brining on multiple Deputies at once (such as at the start of a new term of the Magisterium if the linked amendment passes). This allows the Provost to create a line of succession without an additional coverage consideration.

With that said, rather than adding the original proposal to Section III, if it were to be added, I would rather see Section VI be rewritten as the below, but that’s purely for organisational reasons.

Section VI. Resignation, Absence, or Removal of Provosts

…6.1. If the Provost takes an official Leave of Absence (LOA) by notifying the Magisterium of their absence and expected return date, then:
…6.1.1 The longest serving Deputy shall temporarily assume the Provost’s duties until the LOA ends, or the Provost resigns or is removed.

…6.1.2 If the longest serving Deputy does not assume the Provost’s duties, all other Deputies may temporarily assume the Provost’s duties until the LOA ends, or the Provost resigns or is removed. Each Deputy shall be asked in the order of their service to assume the Provost’s duties, with the next longest serving Deputy being asked first.

…6.1.3 If no Deputy assumes the Provost’s duties, or there is no Deputy to assume the Provost’s duties, then each Magister shall be asked to temporarily assume the Provost’s duties according to their length of service, with the longest serving Magister being asked first.

…6.1.4 Once the Provost advises the Magisterium that they are returning from their LOA, they will immediately resume their regular duties, and the temporary Provost will return to their regular duties.

…6.12. If the Provost resigns, is removed, or has been absent for a period exceeding 3 days without an official Leave Of Absence (LOA), then: the Provost’s duties will be temporarily assumed per the line of succession defined in 6.1.1 to 6.1.3, until a new Provost is elected.

6.2.1 In such cases, the temporary Provost must immediately hold a special election to elect a new Provost.

…6.1.1. The longest serving Deputy shall temporarily assume the Provost’s duties and hold a special Provost election until another is elected.

…6.1.2. If no eligible Deputy exists then the longest serving Magister shall temporarily assume the Provost’s duties.

…6.23. Any Magister may motion for the removal of the Provost by majority vote. If a Magister seconds the motion: the Provost shall be immediately suspended and can no longer exercise any of the Provosts’ duties.

…6.23.1. A Deputy Provost or a representative thereof (where there are no eligible Deputy Provosts) shall temporarily assume the Provost’s dutiesA temporary Provost will be appointed per the line of succession defined in 6.1.1 to 6.1.3. The temporary Provost will perform the regular duties of a Provost as well as immediately officiating and officiate a 72 hour vote to remove the suspended Provost for a period of 72 hours. If the removal vote passes then a Special Provost Election shall immediately follow.

…6.23.2. If the vote to remove the suspended Provost fails, the suspended Provost is unsuspended. Both the Magister who proposed and seconded the suspension cannot re-motion for the remainder of the Magisterial term. The temporary Provost will immediately return to their regular duties.

…6.34. Special Provost Elections follow the same nomination, campaigning, and election procedures as Provost Elections.

…6.34.1. If any Special Provost Elections begin less than a month before Provost Elections, then the Provost Elections will be called off, and the Provost will serve the next full term in addition to the remainder of their predecessor’s term.

EDIT 1: Grammar fixes.
EDIT 2: Fixed misnumbered clauses.
EDIT 3: Rewrote 6.3.1 to make it explicit who will be appointed as a temporary Provost if there is a motion to remove the current Provost.
EDIT 4: Rewrote 6.3.2 to make it clear that the temporary Provost returns to their regular duties once the regular Provost is unsuspended.
EDIT 5: Added edit explanations for each edit that my broken brain felt compelled to make. This will be the last edit to this post.
EDIT 6: I lied. Fixed a logic flaw I noticed when re-reading my edit to 6.3.1. THIS will be the last edit, fr, fr.