In the first General Meeting on the year to reach quorum, University of Manchester students voted to reform the Students’ Union Council and ban members of the British National Party (and others deemed to be “fascists”) from speaking at the Union.
The first motion to pass, entitled “The Change We Need”, replaces school representatives on Council with General Members. Instead of having a single representative on Council for each school, each school will be allocated a set number of General Members proportional to the number of students in that school. Many Secretaries on Council will also be removed in favour of the new General Members.
This was opposed by many who disagree with the loss of positions such as the Anti-Racism Secretary, although Chris Jenkinson (Proposer of the Motion) and Rob Pinfold (Seconder of the Motion) pointed out that any Council member who states in their manifesto that they would like to campaign on specific issues will be allowed to do so. The motion gained its required two-thirds majority to pass. Continue reading ‘UMSU GM Reforms Council and Bans the BNP’
Yesterday’s Union General Meeting was cancelled as a result of dismal turnout. Following last year’s trend of low turnouts which has consistently dogged UMSU, the first meeting of the new academic year did not reach quorum and the motions were not voted on. Those who came to vote on the proposed student policies were trying to make last-minute calls to friends or course mates to get the venue filled. However, despite persistent demands for a time extension to wait for more people to turn up, the meeting was cancelled at 2pm as fewer than 300 students attended. (According to GM rules, meetings start at 1.30pm and need a minimum number of 300 students to conduct business.) Continue reading ‘First GM of the year fails to meet quorum’
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’
In response to Johnathan Fitzsimons article on the recent UMSU hustings, Im inclined to agree with the sentiment if not the wording. Having covered Union politics at the University for over a year, I find it hard to disagree with his appraisal that our union is failing its members. However, to suggest the recent hustings were ‘horrendously’ organised is, in my view, more than a little unfair considering the superb work put in by this year’s returning officers to involve as many students as possible. Indeed in comparison to the hustings last year, they were a paragon of student involvement. Whilst the turnout was still embarrassingly low for a student body of 40,000, it did at least show progress.
The most highly attended UMSU General Meeting in years took place today. Unlike the General Meeting earlier this year, quorum (the minimum 300 students needed for the meeting to commence) was reached, and quite spectacularly with over 1,000 students turning up. The meeting was the culmination of a week of intense campaigning around campus by students both for and against the controversial “Peace Through Education” motion. Continue reading ‘General Meeting (14/11/2007) Roundup’
14th November - 1.30pm
South Campus Students’ Union
Main Debating Hall
The proposed motions are listed below. Due to some controversial topics up for discussion, it’s very likely there will be a high turnout. Have a read of the motions and leave your thoughts below. Continue reading ‘General Meeting: 14th November’
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The most highly attended UMSU 