Friday 18-12-2020 - 11:14

We’ve now gathered over a thousand responses to the democracy review survey – a survey which Durham students collectively contributed a grand total of 303 hours, or 12.6 days, of their time completing! Thank you to all the people who’ve helped us reach so many students: we couldn’t have done it without those involved as ambassadors, common room presidents, steering group members, focus group attendees, or the interviewing panel. You’ve all helped ensure that we have a broad evidence base for students’ opinions on decision making at their students’ union.  

This collated research is going to be published in January, when we’ve asked the three external researchers to present their findings and analysis, and their individual recommendations of various ideas which Durham SU could implement. But ahead of the research findings, I wanted to share some of my priorities, now I know more of what to expect from this process. 

1. We’ll try to be as open as possible. I’ll post frequently in the Democracy Review updates Facebook group, I’ll keep seeking advice from the student steering panel and I’ll keep presenting headline updates to Assembly. I don’t always have the time to tell you everything – if you want to know something specific, you're welcome to ask me – but equally, students won’t always have time to respond. We’ll work to keep publishing communications so that when you look for answers, you can find them. 
2. I’ll be trying to find the most popular solution by the time I leave office. To make any big changes, it’ll need a change not just to our Standing Orders (by-laws of the SU), but to the very Articles of Association (our constitutional foundations). Changes to Standing Orders are made by students through Assembly and ratified by the Board of Trustees. Changes to the Articles of Association are made by referendum of all members, and then ratified by the University Secretary. For a referendum, we’d need at least 5% of students to vote, and we’d need a two-third majority to make changes. 
3. We’re going to build a system that is legally sound. Durham SU is legally accountable to both the University and the Charity Commission. We need to prove to the University that our reforms will keep Durham SU in a “fair and democratic manner and accountable for its finances” (Education Act 1994 Part II) and we need to prove to the charity commission that our reforms will be in line with the principal purpose of students’ unions, which is to advance the education of students as students. In other words, we still need to be “the champion of every Durham student” (Durham SU Strategy ‘Forwards’ 2018). In practise, for example, that means we can’t get rid of the Board of Trustees, we can’t become more political or stop conforming to freedom of speech laws, and any changes we make can’t threaten the viability of the charity. 
4. I’ll encourage respect for people’s rights and diverse perspectives. We’ve asked for people’s genuine opinions and so we need to make sure that trust is respected. Individuals can’t be singled out in a way that uses their data unfairly, or without their permission. There’s also people’s legal rights, which we have a duty to uphold in terms of how individual's personal data, employment rights and confidentiality are respected.  As student representatives we advocate constantly to make sure that these rights are protected for students within the University – we cannot fail to uphold them within our own organisation or for our own staff and members. 
5. We’ll be building a system that is resilient to changing circumstances. Charities are advised to conduct regular reviews – every year internally and every three to five years externally – and we’ve seen this done recently by national political parties, local councils, faith organisations, academic bodies, numerous student unions and even the National Trust!  

I can’t predict what the research is going to show in January, but the journey we’ve seen this year has been phenomenal. I can’t wait to leave 2020 behind and continue fixing things in 2021. Well done to everyone that’s made it through a ridiculous year and thank you for those that have contributed towards finding a solution.