Revised Proposals for Democratic Reform March 2011
Feedback on Initial Proposals Having passed the draft proposals for democratic reform at the first UGM of the Spring Term 2011, it is clear that the members of YUSU want the Union to change. You voted strongly in favour of the draft proposals, giving us a clear mandate to continue the Democratic Review, but we also made it clear that the conversation wasn t over, and you took the opportunity to point out some of the problems with our initial draft. These were: You wanted more democracy not just more representation; You wanted more of a chance to have your say; You wanted to be able to shape the agenda of the Union; You thought that a Union would be too large, too bureaucratic and unappealing to ordinary students; You wanted to be clear how officers are held to account. Taking all this on board, we have taken the best elements of our original proposals the Strategy Groups, the Campaign Networks, Referenda and reworked their relationships to increase direct input from members, to streamline decision-making and to ensure that the Union is based on issues not meetings. As such, we have arrived at a set of revised draft proposals, which we hope will better reflect the needs of students and will represent a genuine change to democracy, campaigning and accountability. YUSU: Powered by Your Ideas The whole purpose of the Democratic Review has been to reconnect the work of the Union with the ideas, aspirations and interests of the students who make up its membership. With this set of reforms, we would rebuild the structures and decision-making processes around your Ideas. This doesn t mean any more work for you in fact it should be easier for an ordinary student to make change happen. You would simply go online, submit your Idea and we would keep you up to date on the progress of your proposal: where, when and how a vote on it will take place. With more Ideas from members and a clear system for considering them, we can start to have meetings that discuss issues and that have a real impact on the outcomes of the Union.
The Structure REFERENDUM Academic Refers any Policy Ideas to. Responsible for Steering and Scrutiny Submit their Ideas online to Democracy Committee Actionable Ideas passed to one of STUDENTS Community Welfare & Liberation Student Development STUDENTS Instead of a large Union, we would introduce four issue- based Assemblies, which would be led by the Officers of the Union but would offer members the chance to shape the agenda and hold them to account. Members could submit their Ideas to these via the website and Democracy Committee would ensure they get discussed in the correct forum. Networks and Coordination Committees would feed into the Assemblies and Officers would have to make and publicise Action Plans for policy and manifesto pledges in that area. ASSEMBLY COMMITTEES: ACADEMIC COMMUNITY LIBERATION & WELFARE STUDENT DEVELOPMENT Academic Officer Faculty Reps Library Reps Senate Reps College Chairs Union President Ents Officer(s) E&E Officer(s) College Welfare Reps Women s Officer(s) LGBT Officer(s) Racial Equality Officer(s) Disability Officer(s) Mature Students Officer(s) International Officer(s) Nightline Rep Student Activities Officer York Sport President RAG Officer(s) Volunteering Officer(s)
FAQs Where s Union gone? Many of you told us that you thought Union would be a large, cumbersome meeting with an unclear remit and poor capacity for discussion. It also relied on representatives rather than direct member engagement. As such, we ve taken the role of Union and made it more relevant to ordinary students, so that they can engage easily in the areas they care about through Union Assemblies, while also having a say on the big Policy decisions of the Union through Referenda. Can we still hold Officers to account? Yes, it will be easier under this system! The Democracy Committee is made up of the chairs of each of the Assemblies, who are responsible for monitoring and scrutinising actions that officers and other elected reps are mandated to do. You can submit a question or concern and they will raise it during the next meeting, which you are entitled to attend and vote in. Democracy Committee? What do they do? You told us that you thought YUSU officers should be more accountable, and the committees they chair more transparent. We agreed, and the best way to do that is to have a group of elected students who make sure it happens, working alongside a more visible and empowered Union Chair. The core membership of Democracy Committee would be student chairs of the four Assemblies, who would be elected at meetings in Autumn Term. Chairing the would ensure that the agenda is based around what students, not officers, want to discuss, and they would be best placed to raise concerns about an officer or committee not carrying out actions to which they were mandated. How would I make my idea a reality in the Union? Just go online and submit it. We are going to make this simpler, so you just say what you want and why you want it. The Ideas would then go to Democracy Committee who meet regularly to steer your Idea to the best place to get it resolved: if it s a big statement of intent for the Union, it will be a Policy Idea and go to Referendum for all members to vote on; if it s something that could be done right away it s an Action Idea and will go to
the relevant or Committee. You will be updated on what s happening throughout. For instance, what would have happened to the Dr Dre motion under this system? Two things. First, the proposer could have submitted an Idea online to bring Dr Dre to play Central Hall which would have gone to the Community for discussion and a vote ordinary students could then have attended the meeting and shown that they supported the Idea. Second, the underlying idea to improve the York music scene could have gone as a Policy Idea to Referendum, and if students voted in favour, the Community committee would be required to present an action plan of how to achieve this aim to which they could be held accountable. What happens between meetings of the Assemblies? Officers and other elected reps who make up the committee would be expected to meet outside of the Meetings to take action on the Ideas mandated to them. They would also put together realistic Action Plans for achieving Policy, so that members can vote on it at the next. It would be the responsibility of the Chair to ensure that the committee carried out any actions it is mandated to do. Couldn t a student submit an Idea and then swamp the meeting with supporters? Yes, but they couldn t automatically swing the vote. The committee will have an extra weighting in votes to insure against unfair biases in turnout, but they will be expected to take the degree of express support into account when casting their votes. That way, the end result should reasonably reflect the degree of support among students we will make sure that Ideas and where they are being discussed is always clear and open to all. Where do Campaign Networks fit in this new model? Campaign Networks are very much still a feature. Like these new Assemblies, they are central to our intention to devolve decision-making and increase member participation. Networks would remain autonomous in their day-to-day functions of holding events and running campaigns, convened by a Part-time Officer and populated by interested students. But
they would also be able to submit Ideas collectively to Referendum or to their respective and the officer and committee may be mandated by either of those bodies. What s this Community all about? One of the weaknesses of the first draft proposals were that they marginalised Colleges and did not properly consider cross-campus issues that students would like Colleges and YUSU to work on together. Under this proposal, Community and its committee would be able to consider matters ranging from pooling technical resources for events, campaigns to improve accommodation, our environmental and ethical behaviour, and some matters beyond campus, such as students image in the wider community.