Friday 12-02-2021 - 17:04

Max Kendix, Assembly Media Observer, reports from the November Assembly meeting.
 

The first Assembly of 2021 was also the first online Assembly open to an audience of Durham students on Zoom. The meeting was notable not only for its successful motions – on freedom of speech, advertising luxury accommodation and making Assembly membership public – but also for some major milestones in the work of officers, and in discussions over student elections guidance.

Three motions

The first motion to be passed was a new freedom of speech policy for student groups. Opportunities Officer Anna Marshall noted that the adoption of the policy was a legal requirement, and that the SU had done its best to balance out the principles of free speech with the safety of students. 

Some concerns were raised over the bureaucracy that may result in having external speakers approved, and further questions were asked over whether a clause about speakers promoting law-breaking applied to climate activist groups. Marshall responded that with appropriate and open communication, any issues will be resolved in future. 74% voted for the motion.

The second motion encouraged the Students’ Union to end the advertisement of luxury accommodation. Proposer Kathryn Ellison said that “while Assembly doesn’t have the power to manage the Union’s finances, it is important that we send a message to say that it’s not acceptable for the Union to be acting in blatant disregard as to what is right, good and fair for students”.

Marshall expressed concern that the motion could damage the SU’s financial independence and said that “if these people have the money, we should be taking some of it off them”. However, after much discussion on both sides, including Working-Class Students’ Association President Jamie Halliwell saying that “we should not be advertising something working-class students could never dream of having” and that a recent advert was a “slap in the face”, Marshall voted for the motion, which passed with 83% voting for.  

The final motion of the evening asked that a process is started for Assembly members’ names to be made public. After concerns from Association presidents over those from minority groups having their names displayed publicly were alleviated by saying that consent would have to be given, the motion passed, with 92% voting for. 

Officer work

The meeting also included several updates from the Students’ Union’s five sabbatical officers. Welfare and Liberation Officer Ewan Swift first spoke about a joint letter from him, the Vice-Chancellor, the Parish Council and the local MP, asking the government to refund students for private accommodation, or support landlords for flexibility in rebates. Opportunities Officer Anna Marshall recounted meetings with the Vice-Chancellor, which led to some very positive steps in discussions over University actions to tackle the climate emergency. She also pointed to the release of the Democracy Review, which she said had received broadly positive feedback.

President Seun Twins announced the launch of the first phase of the Culture Commission. She noted that the vision for the report was that it “goes into long-term sustainable University strategy, that the University will be accountable for, will research, resource and finance, so we’re really excited about that”. From initial exchanges, the University has shown signs that “they are ready to invest in cultural change at Durham”, according to the President.  

Other updates included work on the University’s safety net policy released this week, and a call for anyone who may be interested to look out for paid internships in decolonising the curriculum, to be advertised soon.

Student elections

There were some questions raised from members of Assembly and the wider student body about the recent election guidance released by the Students’ Union. Answering concerns over why the announcement was not presented to Assembly, the Deputy Returning Officer Gary Hughes stressed that “the election rules that constitute the standing orders haven’t been changed […] there have been no new rules created” and clarified that the re-open nominations option will be available for every election Durham SU hosts. 

Though Mr Hughes could not answer hypothetical questions, he stressed that the process was open to consultation, and answers to further questions can be found here. Anna Marshall explained that the new guidance aims to “get rid of the anonymous, unaccountable system which led to so much sadness” last year.

Watch Assembly here

Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, only part of Assembly was recorded. Durham SU will rectify this in future.