Democracy Update!
As some of you will remember from earlier last semester, I wrote up a quick article to sum up our democratic structure. This, as all of you will certainly know, ends up with a meeting of Student Senate to act as the highest decision-making body in the union.
Beyond the chatting about how our democratic structure is organised, I would encourage all of you to do one single thing - get involved. There is no point in a democracy set up to protect and support students if no students are interested. Like the argumentative politics of a nation state, it can appear dry and dreary from the outside; you need to look up and jump to the top of the student engagement tree to make the most of these opportunities.
My name is Harry Sampson and I’m your friendly neighbourhood Communications Officer. Today I’ll be giving you a democracy update!
This photo was taken at roughly 11am in the stylishly formal board room on the top floor of the University Centre. I encourage you to stare wonderfully at the happy, smiling faces of your elected representatives as they prepared to make decisions on policy and the future of our SU governance. Really.
Though I’m sure the slightly blurred photo from my phone has filled you will a definitive sense of democratic fervour and new found interest in feedback, I think it is sensible to just have a quick reminder of how our democracy works.
Below is a handy picture that highlights the various forums and committees we have:
First are the forums. Held by your part-time executive officers, they aim to gather feedback from the main student body and pass that on to the committee stage. Chaired and organised by the officer most related to the topic in discussion (e.g. Entertainments Forum by the Entertainments officer), anyone is able to attend and air their views. These should be well-advertised across social media and the intranet to ensure students are able to attend.
Second are the committees. These are different from forums in two aspects; first, they are chaired by a sabbatical (full-time) officer, and second, are only attended by related officers and nominated students. As forums ‘feed’ up into committees, these nominated students will have been elected from the forum they attended to represent its findings. All the previous feedback from the forums are discussed and refined, with the results sent forward to the Student Senate meeting.
Third is the big one, Student Senate. It is this we held today in the board room. This is only attended by the officers, General Manager, student trustees and students from the related committees and university faculties.
Today we covered the minutes of the previous meeting, discussed and approved additions to bye-laws (policies guiding our actions and key events), and accepted new trustees recommended by the appointments committee.
A central part of every Student Senate is holding your elected officer to account. This mostly involves listening to the various activities the sabbatical officers have been up to, followed by active questioning/interrogation by the other attending members.
Some interesting events were brought up I’d also like to bring to your attention:
- Student Voice Day was a success, with more to follow in coming years
- The Student-Led Teaching Award nominations are open
- The Winton Fundraiser is on this Thursday, with games and prizes
- Get Involved Fayre encouraged a strong uptake in society membership
- Many new societies have been founded this year (including Clay Pigeon Shooting and Labour Society)
- The SU is currently looking at the length of the academic year after feedback from the Student Voice Jar
- The President wrote a reply to the recent government Green Paper
I hope this has kept you all more in the loop! I also encourage you to get involved with the coming forums and committees to get your feedback taken all the way to Student Senate. There is nothing worse than missing an opportunity to ensure your views are represented.
P.S. I am currently in the process of updating the SU website’s listings of sports teams and societies – if you want your group page updated, send a message to SU_Comms@winchester.ac.uk for a quick reply!
