The Politics Society

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.

The ?Going Green? motion, which pledged to focus attention on environmental sustainability at the University, was passed unanimously after a procedural amendment to go directly to the vote was approved immediately following Robbie Gillett’s proposal speech. The motion contained several points and the Union will now be required to look in to procuring 100% of its electricity from renewable sources and to lobby the University to undertake a comprehensive review of it’s environmental impact.

The ?Keep the Military Off Our Campus, Get the Military out of the Middle East? motion was defeated by around a two-thirds majority. The motion had pledged to ?ban the military of any country from union premises?. The rejection of the motion was greeted with cheers by some in the meeting, a number of which were members of the Officers? Training Corps (OTC) organisation whose students had encouraged its members to vote against the proposals. Questions posed to the Proposer of the motion, Andy Cunningham, were critical of the ?misleading? phrasing of the motion which promised to ?keep the military off out campus? but also to ?get the military out of the middle east.? Cunningham was also asked if he believed it would be more effective to ban the Labour Party from campus.

Some students expressed anger that the meeting lost quorum, with numbers falling to around 100, after the third motion. The fourth motion, proposed by Rob Tidy was entitled “Love Without Borders - International LGBT Rights” and called for a campaign for international LGBT rights. Jennie Killip, Student Ambassador for the University, said it was a ?disappointment? that quorum was not maintained, but insisted: ?we are going to keep fighting to get important motions brought up at general meetings. We are not going to give up.?

Many students felt that the presence of the military motion on the agenda had resulted in the meeting reaching quorum, and there was speculation about whether the large-scale advertisement by OTC activists on the motion had resulted in the organisations members being heavily represented at the vote. This could also explain loss of quorum before the LGBT motion.

The other motions not heard were “More Art on Campus”, “Comfortable & Accessible Seating”, “Reclaiming Cunt” and “Time at the Bar”.

Were you at the meeting? How do you feel about the motions being passed and defeated, and how do you feel about the motions lost after quorum was lost? Let us know your thoughts in the comment box below.