All 4 entries tagged Union Council

Still working for you

Follow-up to I work for you from Warwick life according to Kerri

Last night was the second council meeting of the year so here is my analysis of what happened, of course including how I voted. Just like last time, feel completely free to approach me about anything in this blog entry and I will be more than willing to take the time out to explain for example why I voted in that particular way.

Two policies were lapsed last night after having received no challenge. These were:

• Policy 585, Warwick Sport
• Policy 586, NUS extraordinary stitch-up

There was also a motion, “Stop the war”, that was withdrawn.

The policies up for lapse that we discussed were:

• Policy 324, Adherence of Warwick NUS delegates to Warwick policy
• Policy 384, GM food
• Policy 519, Discrimination in the National Blood Service
• Policy 572, Smoke and alcohol free space in the Union

The new motions that were discussed last night were:

• Academics spying on Muslim students
• Honorary membership for Dr Damian King
• Amendment to appendix 2, Union meetings
• Amendment to policy 640, Propaganda

Policy 324, Adherence of Warwick NUS delegates to Warwick policy
The renewal of this policy was approved. It was suggested that, as it is a very sensible policy to keep forever, this policy be included in an appendix though there was not an appropriate appendix in which to include the policy so the matter was taken no further and we will continue having to renew this policy every 2 years. I voted in favour of keeping this policy.

Policy 384, GM food
The renewal of this policy was approved. I voted in favour of keeping this policy.

Policy 519, Discrimination in the National Blood Service
The renewal of this policy was approved with a small amendment (replacing “LGBTU Campaigns Convenor” with “LGBTU Campaigns Officer”). I voted in favour of keeping this policy.

Policy 572, Smoke an alcohol free space in the Union
The renewal of this policy was approved with a small amendment (removing “This Union Notes 1 – Union policy 368, Smoking policy” as policy 368 no longer exists). I voted in favour of keeping this policy.

Academics spying on Muslim students
This motion was approved. I voted in favour of this motion, though not before I stumbled with my words whilst attempting to contribute to the debate when I said “The vast… the overwhelming majority of Muslims are perfectly rationable and law-abiding citizens” – I mean, what on earth does rationable mean?!?

Honorary life membership for Dr Damian King
This motion was approved. I voted in favour of this motion.

Amendment to appendix 2, Union meetings
This was actually the most controversial motion of the night. It was rejected. I voted against the amendment as I felt it was not necessary.

Amendment to policy 640, Propaganda
The amendment was approved so as of last night policy 640 will now be called “Inside scoop”. I voted for the amendment.

I hope that this is an improvement on what I said last time. I am, as before, completely open to any comments or suggestions and will always try my best to explain anything you wish to know more about.

: 08 Nov 2006 23:47 |  Tags: Democracy Union Council |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

I work for you

Throughout the year, I will be using this blog as a bit of a democracy tool. I will be informing all of you guys about the goings on in council – the policies we discuss, whether they were approved (as I am sure that going and looking up the policy file is more than the average student would be willing to do in their free time), and how I voted.

Feel completely free to hold me to account on anything. I will always be willing to explain why I voted in that particular way or why I decided to take any other action I have taken. Just ask me through the comments, through email, or by talking to me around campus. As long as I do not have a lecture to go to really urgently, I will answer any questions.

Last night we discussed the following:

• Policy 579, Officer support for candidates.
• Policy 512, Sabbatical officers holding positions of responsibility within the Union.
• Policy 580, Civil same-sex marriages and equal rights.
• Policy 583, Union independence.
• Policy 582, Cannabis in university halls of residence.
• Amendments to policy 584, Promoting Union democracy.
• Amendments to appendix 8, Sports clubs.
• Multi faith working group.
• Affiliating to “Abortion Rights”.
• Themed weeks.

Policy 579, Officer support for candidates
This was added into appendix 4, elections. I voted in favour of this change.

Policy 512, Sabbatical officers holding positions of responsibility within the Union
The renewal of this policy was approved. I voted in favour of keeping the policy.

Policy 580, Civil same-sex marriages and equal rights
The renewal of this policy was approved. I voted in favour of keeping the policy.

Policy 583, Union independence
The renewal of this policy was approved, with a few amendments to bring it up to date. I voted in favour of keeping the policy.

Policy 582, Cannabis in university halls of residence
The renewal of this policy was approved, with a few amendments to bring it up to date. I voted in favour of keeping the policy.

Amendments to policy 584, Promoting Union democracy
The amendments were approved. I voted in favour of making the amendments.

Amendments to appendix 8, Sports clubs
The amendments were approved. I voted in favour of making the amendments.

Multi faith working group
This motion was approved. I voted in favour of the motion.

Affiliating to “Abortion Rights”
This motion was rejected. I voted against the motion.

Themed weeks
This motion was approved. I voted in favour of the motion.

Next meeting of council is in week 6 so I shall add a similar entry to my blog shortly after that meeting. The aim of these entries is to make myself more accountable to all you guys so please let me know if you feel I am not achieving that aim and I will think of something else to increase accountability.

: 25 Oct 2006 20:44 |  Tags: Democracy Union Council |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Democracy

I’m all ears. As both Union Councillor and SSLC Rep, I would like you all to feel that you can come to me with any issues that you feel I can represent you on.

I wrote in my profile the following:

I am also a Student Union Councillor and a maths/physics SSLC rep so if you have any issues whatsoever you want me to bring up in either meeting then I am all ears. Just email me or find me around campus. Representation may be a myth but I will do my best to best represent your views, wherever I am.

If you see me around campus or just want to send a quick email then you are free to do so. I will always look into any suggestions in whatever way is appropriate for that particular suggestion and act upon any findings I make.

Feel free to go mad at me for suggesting this but if there are lots of you who all think the same thing and want to get together and just send one email or tell me only once then let me know approximately how many of you are in favour of the suggestion. It would be really useful as many voices are better than one and if there is a situation where I can’t figure out which is the best way to vote in the best interests of all of you guys, I will consider all of the suggestions I have been given and it just helps to know how many people are on either side.

: 23 Oct 2006 21:38 |  Tags: Democracy SSLC Union Council |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

I missed out on going to Leamington, so why not go to Nottingham

Since I arrived here 3 weeks ago, I’ve been involved in the most random of experiences.

• First, I was mad. This was when I decided that I needed to join 11 different societies (on top of my 19 hours of lectures each week) in week 1. I further reaffirmed my insanity when I also decided that I could fit in Union Council as yet another commitment.
• Then I became ill with the dreaded freshers’ flu during week 2. This was followed by a mission to spread my illness to as many people as possible during last weekend. I’m only glad that this did not backfire big time!
• Having recovered in time for week 3, I now had other ideas. On Monday, I decided that saving myself from complete and utter humiliation (after having heard a story from last year) was more important than eating lunch. Thankfully, I did remember to eat.
• There was one further moment of madness on Wednesday when I added one more commitment to my already hugely oversized list of commitments and decided to join the SSLC.
• The week of extreme randomness (week 3) was not over yet. On Thursday I was stressing out so much about something that, in the great scheme of things, did not really matter. Although when you were told you would receive an email on Thursday morning, surely the natural reaction is to expect it to arrive somewhat before 6pm!

My randomness continues to this day (and most likely beyond). I nearly ended up going to Nottingham this morning with the Real Ale Society – a society of which I am not a member. They were all gathered around the entrance to Union North just before 9:30am. I thought that they were all councillors waiting for the training meeting. One of them asked me if I was going to Nottingham. He was wearing a Real Ale Society hoodie but I thought that it was perfectly possible for him to be a councillor.

“Errm, no. I’m here for council training.”

The Real Ale Society seemed to want my services for themselves. They told me that they too were waiting for council training and that we were going to Nottingham for the training.

But I was told that we were going to be in Union North – hence me being there at 9:30am on a Saturday morning. I fell for it and nearly ended up going to Nottingham. I don’t think that AJ would have been too happy with me not turning up for training because I’d been roped into going to some social in Nottingham with the Real Ale Society (probably involving a few pints of beer).

Thankfully, the guys from the Real Ale Society informed me that they were only joking. I was free to enter Union North and go to the training day.

The day was actually quite fun. I can go to Leamington some other weekend. I don’t think that I actually missed out, I believe the opposite. I’m actually now quite looking forward to our first council meeting on Tuesday evening. Some interesting motions are up for discussion. And add to that the fact that I really like arguing (though the technical term here is “debating”, or constructive arguing – unless of course I feel so passionately against a motion that I just have to come up with a really good point against it in order to get it rejected for the greater good of everyone because that is destructive).

: 21 Oct 2006 21:24 |  Tags: Life Randomness Socials Societies Union Council |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem