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Why yes I think I WILL read a 72 page pdf slagging off Students’ Unions!
I know *quite a bit* about external speaker procedures and society approval mechanisms, I think I’m putting it lightly when I say all of this is so far removed from the reality of the situation it might as well be in the Gamma Quadrant
(Not only do I read long, tedious, wrong documents on a Sunday morning, I also make Star Trek references while I do it. Hello ladies!)
You’re aware all of those unions all get their own block grant from the institution meaning they all need their own governance and structures which I’m sure must do wonders for economies of scale right?
And who will make sure that people don’t walk off with the cash in the account or that next years student group pres role isn’t given to the pal of the outgoing president? And you seem to be proposing getting rid of one organisation and recreating one to do exactly the same work?
Just to add to this, you all know how much hassle it is to set up a bank account right? You’re proposing that student volunteers need to set up their own charity or unincorporated business, presumably with no support, so they can then bank members cash?
Do you know how much uni’s would HATE this. They almost universally value having student input on formal committees, this would essentially outlaw students being on governing bodies or academic councils.
Unless you... employed a student to be some sort of formal representative
Unless you... employed a student to be some sort of formal representative
You could call them Academic Affairs officer or something. Wild eh?
Uni’s will be very excited to hear that they have “very limited legal obligations” which I think will be news to literally everyone
Probably worth noting that for at least a third of each year, most SU commercial operations have no-one to sell things to, if we got charged formal rent by institutions we definitely wouldn’t have anything left over
I think if you compared say.. Uni of East Anglia to Westminster you would find quite significant differences in the student population and campuses beyond “doing a better job”
Two s’s in Teesside 
We’ve now got pages and pages about SU election turnout which for a lot of unions this year were very impacted by a certain global pandemic you might have heard about?
Citation very much required
Let’s jam in some unrelated stats to suggest that having liberation officers means it’s less likely an SU can represent students academic interests
Also anyone treating the ‘free speech rankings’ as anything other than an annual tabloid space filler immediately loses all credibility
So.. we should all open bars, shops and get Timmy Mallet in to improve the results for the question ‘The students’ union (association or guild) effectively represents students’ academic interests.’?
Incidentally, Timmy’s a real pro, he got full on rugby tackled in Jumpin’ Jaks when I went to see him in 2006 and got right back up to carry on the show!
I think @WinchesterPres @WinchesterVPact @WinchesterVPedu might have something to say about the suggestion they don’t run campaigns on ‘political issues’
I hope they give it a wash occasionally
You seem to have misspelt ignored, I think you meant to write that “RON was disqualified after a significant breach of election rules”
“Distributed by sabbaticals” makes it sound like they personally run round campus with £50 notes
I look forward to the legislation on compulsory debate societies. Incidentally I think most Students’ Union councils or their equivalents allow any student to submit motions for debate on a huge range of issues.
...because they voted to increase tuition fees to £9000 after running on a party platform of abolishing them. What, NUS should have just let them off the hook for that one?
Look, this paper is either for students being able to debate a wide range of issues or it’s for slagging off motions being debated by students because they’re too woke, it can’t be both
So it literally didn’t ban them
This paper has a really pervasive theme running through it that NUS is in control of Students’ Unions or that Students’ Unions almost always do what NUS would like them to do, which I think it’s fair to say is an.... interesting interpretation
