University of Nottingham Students' Union - Governance

Governance

The Students' Union is governed by its Constitution and Regulations. This 150 page document is informally known as the 'Big Red Book'. The Students' Union also maintains a Policy File, which outlines its stance on various issues. The Students' Union is established by the Statutes of the University, which provide that "There shall be a Union of Students of the University" and that "Ordinances shall prescribe the constitution, functions, privileges and other matters relating to the Union of Students." Ordinance XI: Union of Students fulfills this role. The Students' Union is, naturally, subordinate to the law of the land; one of the most relevant pieces of legislation is Part II of the Education Act 1994, which specifically deals with students' unions. Changes to the Constitution, Regulations and Policy File are typically made by Students' Union Council; however, the whole membership can vote on a policy in a referendum. Referendums are generally fairly infrequent.

Students' Union Council is the highest regularly meeting decision-making body of the Students' Union. It meets at least seven times per year. For Council to make any binding decisions it has to be quorate; the quorum for Students' Union Council is set at 50% of voting members of Council. Members of Students' Union Council can be either voting or non-voting members. The voting members are designed to be representative of the membership of the Students' Union as a whole. Most non-voting members sit on Council to represent various views that it is felt important to have represented at this level, but where they do not represent a clear constituency of students; each Student-Run Service, for example, has a non-voting seat on Council, since it is felt that there will be issues that it useful to have their input on, but that those involved in their organisation are already represented through a Council Rep.The Constituencies for Voting Members of Students' Union Council are, for the most part either residential or subject-based. Generally, first year undergraduates are grouped into constituencies determined by their residence (e.g. Hall of Residence)., with students in subsequent years represented through their subject or faculty.The remaining Council positions are held by the Executive Officers, JCR and Association Heads, and Student-Run Service Heads. In 2011 democratic 'reforms' were announced that would in effect abolish Council and replace it with a new 'democratic' structures. The current democratic structures have only been quorate 17% of the time in the past 10 years (therefore a proposed change was made to move to a system with more referenda, which have been quorate 0% of the time over the past 10 years) and it was widely felt that they were not publicised well enough.