NUS disaffiliation referendum?....

spoonie · 28th November 2006, 5:39pm

looks as though the good people of strathclyde might be able to take better control of their finances and improve the services for the students. not that i'm saying there's anything wrong with the services, it's just nice to see this happening after it got a lot of talk last year.

http://www.strathstudents.com/downlo....pdf?version=1

Zero · 28th November 2006, 6:01pm

Nothing wll happen though. The AGM is an (embarrassing) long-running joke - there's never attendees anything to be done. As that PDF says, they need 150 and the last time they managed that was 1997.

GoddamnElectric · 28th November 2006, 10:04pm

Who the fuck stuck "Condemnation of The State of Israel’s Violations of the Rights of the Palestinian people" on the agenda for the AGM? That's got fuck all to do with the running of the Union

I might actually go to this though. Just for a bit of a laugh.

endless psych · 28th November 2006, 10:08pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoddamnElectric

Who the fuck stuck "Condemnation of The State of Israel’s Violations of the Rights of the Palestinian people" on the agenda for the AGM? That's got fuck all to do with the running of the Union

I might actually go to this though. Just for a bit of a laugh.

Ah that age old battle of student activists... Always flying in the face of the fact that the majority of students just don't give a flying fuck either way...

Zero · 28th November 2006, 10:27pm

Don't forget the classic abortion debate at #2, guaranteed to bring in the extremists from both sides to make up the AGM numbers.

And WTF is Dignity Period?

endless psych · 28th November 2006, 10:32pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zero

Don't forget the classic abortion debate at #2, guaranteed to bring in the extremists from both sides to make up the AGM numbers.

And WTF is Dignity Period?

No idea...

But yes the general disregard for the education act and wasting time getting student organisations to denounce things based upon the small amount of folk who actually term up and give a damn are always odd...

Don't even get me started on the Vanunu rectorial election at Glasgow University that occurred a few years after Glasgow Uni students had ousted a rector for not being able to perform their duties...

spoonie · 29th November 2006, 9:21am

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoddamnElectric

Who the fuck stuck "Condemnation of The State of Israel’s Violations of the Rights of the Palestinian people" on the agenda for the AGM?

yoyu should go to it and push the referendum through, just so i can see what happens

that's a classic students union-type motion. the NUS at one of their national conferences right at the time of the AUC/UCEA lecturers strike earlier this year, were panned for giving that issue about five minutes of discussion and spending hours on israel/palestine and coca cola/columbia discussions!

/x

Vonnie · 29th November 2006, 9:31am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zero

And WTF is Dignity Period?

It's an Action for Southern Africa appeal for sanitary products to be sent to women in Zimbabwe.

Action for Southern Africa campaign site
NUS campaign site

There's not a chance that Strathclyde will even get the disaffiliation referendum on the go, never mind actually disaffiliate. Look how many former NUS sabbaticals were Strathclyde students. Off the top of my head - Phyl Meyer, Ross Renton, Mandy Telford were all NUS sabbs and there's a whole load who were NUS exec as well - John McLean and Ian Robertson come to mind there too.

erithromycin · 16th March 2007, 1:35am

The AGM was quorate, if only until halfway through the second motion.
The referendum is scheduled for later this month. Read more here:

Strathspace/
http://www.strathstudents.com

triggerhappy · 16th March 2007, 2:00am

My god, their website is awful.

GoddamnElectric · 16th March 2007, 9:48am

Quote:

Originally Posted by erithromycin

The AGM was quorate

*spits out coffee*
Seriously? They haven't managed that in years!

As an aside I like this years Exec voting being done online. It makes it easier to not care. Although it doesn't seem to saving any trees.

erithromycin · 16th March 2007, 10:43am

Yes, the AGM was quorate, but only for about half an hour. Then, in the middle of the 'right to choose' debate, or whatever it was, someone asked for a quorum call, and it failed, meeting dispersed, and it went to SRC.

It had been ten years, give or take, since the last quorate AGM. I believe that they dropped the quorum, and offered free beer. Though that seemed to work better than their motion a wee while ago to discuss air-conditioning in the Barony Bar.

The constitution at Strathclyde is really odd - it's an Association General Meeting, not an Annual. If it fails, it falls to SRC, which at times seems little more than a rubber stamp for the Executive. I don't know when last they had a full SRC, if ever. I might ask today.

As for online elections, they seem to work quite well - it's not even a campus thing, you can vote from any machine that can connect online and access uk domains and a secure site there. I'd be less specific, but I'm not that kind of guy.

While the voting is online (which is good, really, because they used to have polling places at several sites on campus and the only initial check was a mark on ones matric card), they still print off the posters and the like for you. They also, I believe, provide funding in the elections, but I could be wrong.

As for the website looking awful, the election publicity is usually worse. It's very much stuck in the stage where names are substituted into logos, usually, it seems, by microsoft word.

Do check out strathspace though - it seems quite odd, apparently in beta, and the tagging system is a joy to play with.

Hammer · 16th March 2007, 10:48am

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoddamnElectric

Who the fuck stuck "Condemnation of The State of Israel’s Violations of the Rights of the Palestinian people" on the agenda for the AGM? That's got fuck all to do with the running of the Union

I might actually go to this though. Just for a bit of a laugh.

Not only does it have fuck all to do with the Union, it's illegal for the Union to have an official stance on it as it does not directly effect students (Education Act 1998).

erithromycin · 17th March 2007, 3:24pm

For a full briefing on ultra vires, try these:

http://resource.nusonline.co.uk/medi...travires06.pdf
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1994...40030_en_1.htm
www.free-education.org.uk/ultraviresbriefing.pdf

"Alongside the tiny number of high profile cases which actually made it to court, there must,over the years, have been many thousands of instances of SUs finding ways round the law andmany hundreds of SUs spending (usually small) amounts of money illegally, with no legalconsequences whatsoever.In most cases, particularly today when student confidence is low and willingness to openlydefy the law limited, breaking the law in this way will not be the best strategy."

Geniuses, really.

Also, it's not technically illegal for the Union to have a stance on it, they just can't have an official one. They certainly could not support it, but that is because it doesn't affect students, just people. Or, you know, the reverse.

The NUS isn't constrained by it because it isn't a charity. I won't say anything on that subject in case it is construed as campaigning.

erithromycin · 26th March 2007, 7:46pm

Figures supplied by Strathclyde Students' Association Democratic Services Unit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Proposal

Should Strathclyde University Students Association disaffiliate (withdraw) from the National Union of Students?

Code:

15750 Eligible to vote
 1088 Turnout
  709 No 
  379 Yes

Apathy the clear winner.