Preview: First Student Council of the Year
As someone who was a member of student council for the previous 2 years, I’m acutely aware that to most students, it is a part of QMSU they can happily not be aware of throughout their time here. If I’m honest, to some extent, I can understand that. As a forum, Student Council is awash with motions and policies that effect very few students but take up a huge amount of it’s time, with procedures that seem to be in place for procedure's sake rather than in the interests of getting stuff done and indeed with the constant struggle with getting quoracy (the specified number of people required for the meeting to take place).
What about the motions you care about then? One could argue that the point of voting for a representative is to allow those who care the most about these issues deal with it and minimise the effects for the rest of us. Again, to some extent, this makes sense, but it’s important to remember that Student Council can and often has, made the wrong decisions about things. Student reps are in that position because they care, but it can be incredibly easy to be influenced by the system - to be taken in by the bubble of reps around you and to overlook the things that matter most to students.
Fundamentally, democratic systems need to be held to account by the people it aims to represent. Voting once a year certainly does this, but as we all know a lot can change within a year. Just as Parliament start to fall apart without the media reporting on what happens inside, Student Council needs students to pay attention, to hold it to account on a regular basis.
So what’s coming up at Student Council this time?
This seems to be a vintage Student Council full of juicy motions so below is a selection of the ones that may be of interest to you. A full agenda is at the bottom.
7.1.2 Should the Union amend Bye-Law 7 Student Council?
This is a beefy motion and one that may have a number of clarifications and objections on the finer details but in essence, it proposes to speed up student council by removing a lot of the procedures that have been used until now. It could be a great idea but it relies heavily on the chair calling the shots during student council - will we see the rise of the super-Chair or will Student Council grind to a halt?
7.1.4 Should the Union Amend Bye-Law 22: Student Groups?
This is a motion that you may have heard about at the BLSA AGM last year - it will allow all students to join all groups, regardless of faculty or year group.
7.1.5 Should the Union amend Bye Law 10 to make plain-text election manifestos compulsory?
You may think it’s early to start thinking about elections but they come around quick and this motion aims to ensure all candidates submit plain text manifestos which are more accessible to all.
7.3.3 Should the Smaller Female Toilets in Drapers Be Converted Into Gender Neutral Facilities?
If passed by all relevant bodies, this motion will result in the conversion of one of the female toilets in Drapers Bar to a gender neutral toilet.
7.3.4 Should the union impose a ban on songs that stigmatise, glamorise or minimise mental illnesses?
Following the passing last year of a motion which blacklisted artists convicted of sexual misconduct, this motion aims to ban any song from QMSU venues which stigmatise, glamorise or minimise mental illness. Unlike the previous motion however, where Welfare Zone could easily look up whether someone has been convicted of sexual misconduct by a court of law, this motion will require Welfare Zone to decide themselves what breaks these rules and what doesn’t. Will we see songs banned in one year and allowed the next?
