Hullfire Editor Will Langdale asks the important questions to HUU President Helen Gibson about what exactly Governance is and what it means to the students at The University of Hull
WL: What is governance?
HG: Governance is your system of democratic structures; how you run your institution, in this case it’s a Union. Our Governance review relates to a new constitution to be put to the general membership for them to vote on.
How does our review compare with the wider NUS one?
They’re not a million miles apart, the NUS one removes certain Officers and replaces them with others, it reconfigures its conference, Board and like ours it brings in zones and many more ways to be involved, so there are some similarities.
Why is it in week 4?
The Sabbatical roles change if the governance review gets passed, we need plenty of time to change standing orders and prepare for new roles. Also as an important year for the Union when we’re trying to do a lot of things, it’s vital that we have strong structures to back us up and plenty of time to adjust to new roles before the Union becomes a registered charity, plus if I spend lots of my time on governance, that’s a lot of time I can’t spend then on Subvention, Housing and the NUS Higher Education Campaign.
You need a 10% referendum turnout to pass this and clearly you believe you’ll get it – but by how much do you think you’ll exceed it?
We need 10% of the Full time equivalent students, so about 1700 people. I certainly hope we’ll exceed it – we’ll be doing lecture shouts, door knocking, dinner shouts in the Halls, notices in ‘Impact’ and on Hullstudent.com and there’ll be banners and posters galore. In order to reach those students who don’t enter the Union building we’ll be outside the library and postering down Newland Avenue. In Scarborough we’ll be going to Caley Hall, the houses and postering around the Students Union.
Talking of students who may not be in the Union, what’s the budget and method you’re using to get as many students as possible involved?
We’re really keen to use this as a way for the Union to reconnect with the students. I’ve talked to AU Presidents and Council, Union Council and Societies Council tonight. I’ve talked to RAG and the Liberation campaigns and have addressed the Mature Students induction, Part time Students, Post graduates and the International Students to inform them of the role the Union plays in their University experience.
Do you dislike having so many things as By-Laws? Does it hurt the document as a constitution – is it not strong enough to control political infighting on key issues in years to come?
On the contrary, having lots of things in the by-laws is a good things because they’re easier to change and it gives us scope to alter our practices when they become outdated and irrelevant. The ‘constitution’ is really just the bare bones of the review – it states for example ‘we are a charity, we are called HUU, we have a Board of Trustees’ – all very dry stuff that won’t tie us down when we need to change structures of zones or when to hold elections for example.
Do you think most students approve that selection of trustees comes from above rather than below?
The Trustees when selected are searched for by UEC and then get approved by Union Council which under the new constitution will be much bigger and more representative. Most students want a Union that can fight for them, they expect to be able to leave bureaucracy to the Sabbaticas and Union staff. They’ll have a bigger and better say however as we’re expanding Union Council, creating zones and bringing back proper forums for Union policy to be debated.
What is the single biggest benefit the Union will get from this change?
It’s difficult to point to just one thing. We’ll be a registered charity with the charity commission, so we’ll have all the support to our Union that this brings. We’ll have Sabbaticals whose roles directly correlate with the objects, creating tangible policy in their zones, and a healthier Union Council with more teeth and a chance for all students, not just traditional undergrads to be represented.
VOTE FROM THE 20TH – 24TH OCTOBER ON HULLSTUDENT.COM!
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It passed!