The Board of Trustees of UEL Students' Union has approved a proposal to amend the Articles of Association. A referendum of the members (i.e. all UEL students) will now be conducted in accordance with Article 7 of the Articles of Association.
Voting
All UEL students can vote on the proposed changes. Students can vote between 10:00 and 18:00 between Monday 28 October and Thursday 31 October in East Building (Docklands), Computer and Conference Centre (CC building) (Stratford) and the USS foyer. Students can vote at any campus and must show their UEL ID card.
When you vote, you will be asked if you agree with the proposal to reform the Students’ Union.
- Vote YES if you support the reform proposal. If yes wins, the Board will implement the proposed changes.
- Vote NO if you do not support the reform proposal. If no wins, nothing will change.
Process
In autumn 2018, the Board of Trustees appointed an external expert to review the Students' Union's representation structures. The expert consulted with Students' Union student officers, staff and students and developed a list of recommendations. Students were asked for their opinions on an earlier draft of the proposal in spring 2019. The Board adopted the expert's recommendations and, on 07 October 2019, unanimously approved (i.e. every trustee agreed) a proposal to put to a referendum (vote) of student members.
Open meetings were held on 14/15/16 October 2019 where the Students' Union outlined the final proposal. Students were invited to submit amendments by 17 October 2019. No amendments were received.
Proposal
A document outlining the reasons for the changes is available here. This should be read in conjunction with the motion text above and the Articles of Association.
The formal proposal is to amend the Articles of Association as follows:
| Article/section |
Proposed amendment |
| 15.1.2 |
Delete |
| 15.1.3 |
Delete “, or a two-thirds majority vote of the Student Council” |
| 15.1.4 |
Delete “the Student Council or by” |
| 19.1 |
Replace “five” with “three” |
| 19.2 |
Replace “one” with “two” |
| 21 |
Replace with "21. Student Trustees
21.1 Student Trustees shall be appointed by a simple majority vote of the Appointments Committee subject to ratification of each appointment by a 75% majority vote of the Executive Committee. For the avoidance of doubt, such appointment shall not take effect until it has been ratified by the Executive Committee.
21.2 Each Student Trustee must be a Student at the time of their election and for the duration of his or her term as a Student Trustee.
21.3 A Student Trustee may not be a member of the Executive Committee or an employee of the Union for the duration of his or her term as a Student Trustee.
21.4 Student Trustees shall remain in office for a term of up to one year commencing in accordance with the Bye-Laws.
21.5 Student Trustees may serve for a maximum of two terms which may either be consecutive or non-consecutive. For the avoidance of doubt, time served as a Student Trustee shall be disregarded when calculating the maximum term of office that person may serve as an Executive Officer Trustee or a Lay Trustee." |
| 22.1 |
Replace “Student Council” with “Executive Committee” (two instances) |
| 24 |
Delete “or the Student Council” |
| 24.2 |
Replace “Student Council” with “Student Members at a Student Members’ meeting” |
| 26.2.2 |
Replace “Student Council” with “Student Members at a Student Members’ meeting” |
| 28.3 |
Delete “or by the Student Council” |
| 30.2 |
Replace “may” with “shall” |
| 30.2.3 |
Delete |
| 30.2.4 |
Delete |
| 30.2.5 |
Delete |
| 30.2.6 |
Delete |
| 30.2.7 |
Delete |
| 32.1 |
Replace section with "The Executive Committee shall be established in accordance with the Bye-Laws and shall include the Executive Officers." |
| 32.3 |
Replace section with “The Chief Executive shall attend meetings of the Executive Committee. The Union’s senior management team may attend meetings of the Executive Committee at the request of the Executive Committee.” |
| 33 |
Insert “(“ before “Unanimous” |
| 40.2 |
Replace “at least four Executive Officer Trustees” with “at least three Executive Officer Trustees or Student Trustees” |
| 46 |
Delete section |
| 47 |
Delete “and the Student Council” and “jointly” |
| 51.6.3 |
Delete “that will include the President, the Chief Executive, two Executive Trustees, two members of Student Council and a person nominated by University of East London” |
| 56.1.22 |
Delete |
| 56.1.29 |
Delete “or by the Student Council” and “and Article 46 respectively” |
| 56.1.30 |
Delete |
| 56.1.36 |
Delete |
| 56.1 |
Re-order terms and definitions in an alphabetical list |
| Entire document |
Replace all instances of “Executive Committee” with “Student Leadership Committee” |
| Entire document |
Amend all numbering errors and re-number all Articles and references to Articles according to the amendments above |
| Table of contents and comments |
Amend table of contents and comments according to the amendments above |
Further information
If you have any queries about this proposal, please email su.elections@uel.ac.uk