Tingo - University of Leicester Student News

Union Parliament Tuesday 15th May

Tingo — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:51:24 +0000

The penultimate parliament of the year began with a bang, welcoming the Ripple editor candidates to address parliament and take questions. All candidates performed well, including Rhys Williams, Phoebe Rees, Richard Green (proxy for Naomi Green), Bradley Marshall and Ash Davies. Some grilling questioned were asked including a question from current editor, Emma Kempson, requesting the candidates to state who they felt was strongest and weakest in the elections.

Several interesting reports were presented including those on the NUS Womens Conference, NUS LGBTQ Conference, NUS National Conference, NUSSL, the Executive Elections and Taxpon, which promoted many questions and interest from Parliamentarians. Thom French urged students to consider running for NUS representative positions for next year as the National Conference was of such interest, despite the occasionally hostile political agendas demonstrated by some delegates.

Following this, an interesting proposal was presented entitled ‘Open Up Parliament’ for which Jay Grundy, speaker of the house, was replaced by Jade Crossland, due to his personal interest in the proposal, acting as seconder behind Michael Rubin who presented the paper. The proposal had been developed following extensive discussion through the open working group which has met several times this semester to ensure the intricacies of the proposal were streamlined. The proposal passed, and will lead to policy regarding matters such as ensuring screens in the square include summaries of Parliament agenda points and a recommendation for the re-addressing of constitutional bye-laws. This policy will have drastic effect over the information students receive about Parliament and there will definitely be exciting outcomes for you to look out for.

Ria Blakemore, Equalities Officer, went on to follow up her previous white paper regarding the provisions for students with mental health disorders, seconded by Hayley Symington, Mental Wealth Society Chair. This proposal passed unanimously, and hopefully will result in work with the Mental Wealth Society to develop a peer run scheme, as well as striving for a campaign to look at the stigma surrounding mental health in our Union. Mental health problems effect 1 in 3 people, so this is certainly a proposal which will directly benefit a broad range of Leicester students.

White papers followed from Thom French, Campaigns and Involvement Officer, regarding Open Book, a project which works with those from offending and addiction backgrounds to encourage them to take up education. Lily and Fenian offered the next paper offered by our Executive Committee regarding the Student Group Advertising Policy. Much controversy has been raised over the year surrounding the notorious ‘no-poster policy’ currently in place in our Union, and the paper responded directly to this issue, reporting on the market research which has been conducted alongside Helen Senior. The white paper was in the form of a draft proposal ready for next Parliament.

Following this, Hayley Symington presented a white paper concerning bullying in the Students’ Union. It had become apparent that as it stands, there is no direct policy regarding bullying and thus it was suggested that a proposal come forward to next parliament in order to mandate a working group to develop a detailed bullying policy to be implemented as soon as possible. Many students commented on the complexity of this area and the vital need for detailed clarification of definitions as well as considered acknowledgement of the variety of bullying types.

Alex Thompkins followed this with a paper regarding student safety, and much support was observed for developing new systems to try and improve the safety of our students, especially in the Victoria Park area. Suzi Burtenshaw commented that due to the fact that the park is currently as well lit as is possible and that it is technically out of University or Union’s responsibility, our possibilities are limited. However, suggestions such as a walking bus were discussed as well as the provisions for student safety alarms.

As ever, a vibrant and diverse Parliament, despite a sitting of around three hours in the very warm Ken Edwards Lecture Theatre!

Want to know more? Want to get involved? Got something to say?
Contact campaigns.involvement@le.ac.uk and get your voice heard!

By Hayley Symington,

Deputy Ripple Editor

NUS National Conference

Tingo — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:49:29 +0000

NUS National Conference, the ‘sovereign body’ of the organisation, took place from 24th-26th April in Sheffield. Meeting to set policy for the coming year and elect the President, Vice President, the representatives on the National Executive Council as well as develop the budget for the year ahead, the conference is obviously of massive impact upon every student in the UK, Leicester sent five elected delegates, Owen Jones, Thom French, Chris Everett, Lin Yu and Iqraa Luqman.Many interesting motions were discussed, including one which voted through another national demonstration against fee rises in higher education, set to be staged in the first semester of the next academic year. The policy has been questioned by some members of our Students’ Union in terms of its productivity and efficiency considering the troubles which were widely publicised in the media following the demonstration last year.

A massive push was seen in the direction of support and engagement with Further Education; 2013 sees the implementation of compulsory education for all students post-16, meaning that effectively every young person in the UK will pass through NUS from this point onwards due to the integral changes in national educational policy.

Chris Everett, a delegate who spoke against a motion regarding NUS’s affiliation with United Against Fascism in order to promote positive action such as that exercised by Hope Not Hate, said, ‘ The NUS conference is enlightening-it allows students from across the country to meet with each other and share their views in a public, professional environment. It’s so much more than a policy forum- it’s a networking session, a lobby and an election too. The biggest flaw of the NUS Conference is its factions-small, politically minded groups who seemingly arbitrarily use their votes to drive an external political agenda rather than that of the students.’

Despite this, Owen Jones, NUS Services Environmental and Ethics Chair, and also one of our delegates and ex sabbatical officer, commented upon a positive shift in attitude of the political groups and the conference in general. Following attending the National Conference in Blackpool in 2008, Jones had noted a considerable increase in disruptions to the conference agenda, particularly due to antagonism between NUS Executives seated politically centrally and those on the far left. Heated arguments, stage storming and walk outs to force the conference into inquoracy (less than a constitutionally dictated number of elects present at vote) had become regular occurrences over the last four years. However, this year it seemed that the NUS Executive were working more comfortably and positively together ensuring a professional and mature approach to disagreements or dispute.

Students from University of Leicester have criticised NUS over the conference period on social networking sites, suggesting the potentially negative impact of such a body feeling that the union simply has to ‘appease’ NUS. However, considering our delegates proposed amendments to policy proposals and our Union chose not to participate in the National Walkout, it seems apparent that our Union is benefiting from the guidance of NUS without necessarily falling slave to its ideologies.

Interested in getting involved? October will see an election of five more delegates to attend next year’s conference.

By Hayley Symington

Ripple Deputy Editor

State Of The Union (13/05/2012)

LUSH Radio — Sun, 13 May 2012 22:01:02 +0000

State of the Union is your official Students’ Union news show. We talk about the latest Union Parliament news, and have 3 special guests, all in podcast form for your ears.

Listen here:

State of the Union – 13/05/2012 by Lush Radio on Mixcloud