Your guide to making change at the Students’ Union
Your Students’ Union The Students’ Union ensures that the University and the wider community are listening to what students want and works to improve the students’ experience. Every Queen Mary student is automatically a member of the Students’ Union and has a say in how it is run through elections and their representatives. However, students who have exercised their right to opt out of the Students’ Union cannot take part in any of our democratic processes described in this booklet.
What is the Students’ Union? Queen Mary Students’ Union is a democratic membership organisation that is the voice of all Queen Mary students. The Students’ Union is also home to all your favourite clubs and societies, as well as lots of opportunities to develop your interests, gain new skills and make new friends. We also run social spaces, a Sport and Fitness Centre, shops, cafés, events, bars and restaurants where you can meet up with friends, take a break or grab something to eat after a lecture. All the profits from these outlets go back into your Students’ Union and improving your time at university.
Who leads the Students Union? Your Students’ Union is led by students, for students, who are elected every year. Your representatives work hard to make sure your voice is heard and they campaign to change things that matter to you. Your Students’ Union is led by four Executive Officers, who work full time and are the democratically elected voice of all QMUL students. All students are able to put themselves forward to represent their fellow students in our Elections every year.
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An overview
Making change Hi I’m Ahmed, I’m your President for 2018/19. The Students’ Union can be a confusing place, filled with an array of structures and rules. These might be tricky to navigate but when used right can be a great tool for lobbying and achieving changes that will improve your university experience. We hope this guide will help you to understand more about our democratic process and how you can get involved.
Who makes the changes? Your Students’ Union is led by students, for students, who work hard to make sure they change things that matter to you. Similar to your local MPs, your student representatives are elected by you each year to make decisions on your behalf and represent you in university meetings, the local community and in your Students’ Union.
Can I tell them what changes I want to see? Yes! We rely heavily on your feedback to truly understand all the issues that you face so we have lots of ways that you can submit ideas or motions to directly influence change. The diagram to the left shows how the Students’ Union uses your ideas and motions and each step goes into more detail on the following pages.
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Tell us what you want to change Change starts with your ideas. Tell your elected students representatives how we can improve your time at University, the Students’ Union, or in the local community they will work hard to make it happen. Any student can submit ideas and motions, it really depends on how involved you want to be in the process of change.
Submit an idea Submitting an idea online is a quick and easy way to tell us your big (or small) ideas for improving your experience at Queen Mary which you can choose to post anonymously. For two weeks, your idea will be posted online for students to vote on and if it gets over 25 votes it will be reviewed by your Elected Officers. Submit your own idea at: www.qmsu.org/ideas
Submit a motion Submitting a motion goes straight to your elected representatives to vote on at the next Student Council meeting, which happens around four times a year. The motion should take the form of a question (e.g. “Should bottled water be banned on campus?”), detail what the idea is about, why you have proposed it and the impact it will have. You will also be asked to attend Student Council to present your idea to your representatives before the idea is voted on. Find out how to submit your own motion at: www.qmsu.org/studentcouncil
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Your Elected Officers If you submitted an idea online and it gained enough support, it will be passed onto your four elected officers to discuss in their Executive Committee meeting. This happens every Friday and is a minuted meeting which updates students on what they are doing: www.qmsu.org/reps/exec/minutes. They will discuss the idea and decide the correct path for the idea to take.
Students’ Union Staff If an idea is relatively straight forward, cost-effective and can be quickly resolved it may be implemented immediately by your Students’ Union staff or Executive Officers. For example; if there was an idea to add lockers on campus and we were able to implement this straight away.
Boards, Zones & Committees There are seven boards, zones and committees that exist to look after specific areas of the Students’ Union, which you can see on the next page. Sometimes an idea can be passed onto these boards so that it can be discussed further. For example; if there was an idea to have a clothes swap for transgender students, this may go to the Welfare Zone where the Transgender Rep can offer further advice and help to implement the idea.
Student Council If your Elected Officers or one of your boards thinks the idea needs further discussion or needs the advice of all the student representatives the idea may be passed to Student Council to vote. In this case, the Elected Officer may get in touch to help to change your idea into a motion. For example; if there was an idea to ban payday loans on campus, this may go to Student Council for all student representatives to vote on the idea.
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Student Council votes If you submitted a motion, it will be passed onto your Student Council for them to vote on. This happens at least four times a year and they meet to discuss and debate the things that matter to you such as fees and cuts, the environment and the direction of your Students’ Union.
What is Student Council? Student Council is a place where your Elected Officers and part-time reps give updates on their work and submitted motions are voted on. Any student can attend the meeting, submit motions and join the debate but only the Student Council members can vote on the motions. Your four Executive Officers cannot vote in this meeting.
Who is on Student Council? Student council is made up of 44 elected part-time student reps who represent lots of different groups within Queen Mary. The reps may also sit on one of our seven boards, zones and committees that exist to look after specific areas of the Students’ Union. These boards meet to discuss issues before Student Council and the minutes or motions are passed onto Student Council for discussion. You can see a list of all the reps and the boards, zones and committees in the diagram to your right.
The vote When a motion is submitted you, or someone on your behalf, is expected to do a short speech as to why it should be accepted, after this people are invited to speak for and against your motion. The Student Councillors will vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the motion. If the motion gets over 50% ‘yes’ it will pass and become policy. If the motion gets above 50% ‘no’ it will fail.
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Barts and The London Reps Mile End Reps
Transgender Rep
Disabled and SLD Rep
LGBT+ Rep
Disabled and SLD Rep (BL)
Black & Minority Ethnic Rep (BL)
RAG Officer (BL)
Welfare Rep
Womens Rep
International Rep (Welfare)
LGBT+ Rep (BL)
International Rep (BL)
Dental President
Black & Minority Ethnic Rep
Welfare Rep (BL)
Womens Rep (BL)
VP London
Postgraduate Taught Rep
First Year Rep
Postgraduate Research Rep
Faculty Rep (Pre-Clinical) (BL)
Postgraduate Research Rep (BL)
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Science and Engineering Faculty Rep
Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty Rep
International Rep (Education)
Allied Course Rep (BL)
Faculty Rep (Clinical) (BL)
Gozo Society President
Science and Engineering Faculty Rep
Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty Rep
Faculty Rep (Dental) (BL)
Postgraduate Taught Rep (BL)
First Year Rep (BL)
Volunteering Officer (BL)
Student Council Chair
Commericial Services Officer
Volunteering Officer
Societies Officer (BL)
Sports Officer (BL)
Student Media Officer
Sustainability Officer
Societies Officer
Sports Officer
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The Board of Trustees approval The Students’ Union’s Board of Trustees has overall legal responsibility for the management and administration of the Students’ Union as well as its governance, budget and strategy. They check any motions before they become policy to make sure they will not have a detrimental impact on the Students’ Union.
Who is on the Board? The Board of Trustees is made up of your 4 Executive Officers, 4 Student Trustees and 4 External Trustees. External trustees are usually industry experts who provide advice to the Trustees on issues and ensure we are stable as a company. They also look out for any risks that might affect the integrity of the Students’ Union. Student Trustees are elected each year and can serve a two year term.
Why do they check motions? Usually, a motion will pass through the Board of Trustees with ease unless it will have a detrimental impact on the running of the Students’ Union. This could be because they believe it to have financial implications, breach of the law, reputational risk or goes against the charitable aims and objectives of the Students’ Union. If your motion passes through the Board of Trustees, your motion will officially be a policy and the Students’ Union will be mandated to help you to achieve your goal.
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Alternative way one
Annual Members Meeting As well as Students’ Council, we also have another place where motions can be presented and this is the Annual Members Meeting (AMM).
What is the AMM? This happens once a year and is a chance to submit motions to the biggest democratic meeting of the year. During this meeting, every Queen Mary student is allowed to vote and put in policy. It functions in the same way as Student Council, with the only exception being that byelaw changes cannot take place here and all students can vote.
Who can take part? All students are welcome to attend and submit a motion in the AMM. Come along to discuss and debate a wide range of issues from fees and cuts, to the environment, to the direction of your Students’ Union. Find out how to submit your own motions
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Referendums Referendums are an all-student vote on a topic and are done so that each student has a chance to vote on an issue. The answer to the referendum question has to be ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and each side is allowed to run a campaign to encourage students to vote for their side.
How can I call for a Referendum? You can call for a referendum in the following ways. Go online to find out more: 1.
Submit a motion to Student Council or the Annual Members Meeting Any Student can submit a motion
2. Submit a secure petition to the Chair of the Board of Trustees Students can get 250 members of the Students’ Union to sign a petition calling for a referendum. This must follow secure procedures to ensure eligibility of signees so make sure you set up a meeting with the Students’ Union beforehand.
What is the outcome? A resolution may only be passed by Referendum if at least 500 Members cast a vote in the Referendum and a majority of the votes cast are in favour of the resolution.
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