As we head towards the end of this academic year, we are experimenting with a new feature on the Politics Society website, known as “Guest Articles”. Our aim is to give students a platform on which they can express their opinions and give others the ability to debate the views expressed in the article. As a society, we do not support any political group or alignment and will aim to give fair representation to all groups. If successful, guest articles will feature prominently on our new website (to be built over the summer) and become a regular feature (hopefully weekly) in the next academic year.
The first article to be published is written by Rob Tidy and is entitled “Why won’t our Union campaign for LGBT rights?“. Rob has proposed the “Love Without Borders” LGBT rights motion at several General Meetings and the motion has never been passed - potentially because quorum was never met or was lost when the motion was up on the agenda. Rob outlines some of his frustrations in this article.
The second article is entitled “Winning a Free Education“, written by Chris Jenkinson. Chris has been elected for the role of UMSU Academic Affairs Officer for next year and states in the article why he opposed the free education motion at last week’s General Meeting and some of his views on how we should be campaigning for a free education.
If you are interested in writing articles for the society, drop me an email at james@manchesterpolitics.co.uk.
The views expressed in this article are the views of the author and not the views of the Politics Society.
I knew that speaking in our Students? Union general meeting against a motion entitled ?Fight For a Free Education? would inevitably open me up to attacks that I don?t agree that higher education should be free, as it was before 1997. So before I start describing how we can win a free education, let me set one thing straight: I believe that access to higher education should be accessible to all, and the best way for this to happen is for the cost of the education to be paid by the government through general taxation, and for students to be supported with universal, rather than means-tested grants.
Where I differ from those I affectionately describe as being on the ?hard left? is how to achieve it. The Students? Union should have policy supporting a free education, but needs to be a sensible and inclusive one which reaches out to students. It shouldn?t be prescriptive - specifying a monthly quota of flyers or the text to appear on a plaque is counterproductive.
We need a policy which enables campaigners and activists to reach out to less politicised students and allows them to take ownership of the campaign, engaging them and ensuring that even small actions taken are steps towards victory. Continue reading ‘Winning a Free Education’
The views expressed in this article are the views of the author and not the views of the Politics Society.
Wednesday 30th April saw one of the best attended UMSU General Meetings this academic year, second only to November?s spectacle of democracy. We?ve debated policies about war, finance, environmentalism and internationalism: a list that shows just how conscientious and politically active our members are, and one which leaves me speechless. Almost.
This year, the General Meeting, ?the supreme decision-making body of the Union?, has decided that it still quite likes Palestine and that it?s not too keen on global warming, which I’m sure most of us (except perhaps for next year’s supposedly right-wing Zionist Union Executive committee) would see as both laudable and worthwhile. It’s been presented, when it’s actually managed to achieve quoracy, with a further twelve undebated motions ranging in topic from the dire state of our bars to cold-blooded murder. Without being passed by the GM the union can’t take any real stance on these issues, which is a sorry state of affairs for the largest student union in Europe to get into given that we need less than 1% of our members to give up a few hours a term. It?s just not cunting (see http://www.umsu.manchester.ac.uk/pdf/MOTION_H_30.4.08.pdf).
Continue reading ‘Why won’t our Union campaign for LGBT rights?’
The Students Union General Meeting (GM) went ahead on Wednesday for just the second time this year as over 370 students turned out to vote, but quorum was lost after the third motion.
The ?Fight for a Free Education? motion was debated first in the meeting. The motion, proposed by Sundara Jerome and seconded by outgoing UMSU General Secretary Tom Skinner, pledged to ?force the NUS to?run a national campaign calling for a Free Education? and noted ?the University of Manchester and the Russell Group have argued for limits to the [tuition] fees to be lifted?. The motion was defeated by 159 to 119 with 15 abstentions. Skinner conceded that the Education motion may have been defeated primarily because it was too specific on policy: ?I take the point: had the motion?just said we believe in a free education?maybe the motion would have passed? he said. He argued that the abolition of tuition fees was an important issue for most students, adding that the vote was ?a setback but not a defeat.? The motion’s defeat does not however signal the end of the Union’s campaign for a free education. Next year’s Academic Affairs officer, Chris Jenkinson, gave a speech opposing the motion but stated that it was the methods prescribed in the motion that he disagreed with. He said that he will propose an alternative free education motion for the first GM of the next academic year.
Continue reading ‘Free Education and Military Ban Motions Defeated’
If you are a UK or EU student living in halls at the University of Manchester, you will automatically have been registered to vote in the local elections that are taking place this Thursday (1st May 2008). The ward in which you can vote depends on the hall in which you live.
If you have not been given your polling card, you can still vote without it - you just need to take proof of ID with you to the polling station. Continue reading ‘A students’ guide to the local elections’
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