Tuesday night saw the first Officer Question Time of the year. The Officer QT is a new feature of Guild politics which arose as part of the new Democratic Structures introduced this month after the General Meeting at the beginning of term.
The general idea of the new Democratic Structures was to get rid of the old, stale process of semi-regular 6-hour long Guild Council meetings attended by all officer team, as well as representatives from the Guild staff, each College in the University and each Student Groups Miniforum. The old process left many students feeling disengaged as they could not vote on matters they cared about, but would have to hope that their elected reps would vote on their behalf. The new process aims to be much more accessible to the student body by running almost entirely online. Ideas can be submitted online by students at any point in the year. The recently elected Assessment Group will meet regularly to make sure the submissions are legal, practical and not offensive before launching the online discussion. After a week of discussion, there will then be a week of voting for all eligible students and if an idea receives enough votes it will be passed. The Officer QTs are to make sure all Guild Officers and the Assessment Team can be held accountable for their actions and are open for all students to attend.
Sadly, attendance to the first QT was quite poor from the student body with only 2 students present, other than the officers. This, however, didn’t stop the things. Each full-time officer had recorded a short video to summarise what they have done so far in their role and each part-time officer gave a short speech to summarise their activities. As well as this, the newly elected Ethnic Minority Students’ Officer, Zara Qadeer, and Postgraduate Students’ Officer, Rose Bennett, were introduced. Questions were presented to each officer in turn (excluding the two new officers who only started this week) and the key points of the discussions are outlined below.
It was hoped by all that the next Officer Question Time (likely to be held sometime in the first half of next term) will be much better promoted by the Guild and, therefore, better attended by the student body. Otherwise, it is possible that the new Democratic Structures will fail to meet their primary aim of better engagement with the student body.
Key points from the discussion:
President – Jack Mably
- Spent a lot of time working on the new Democratic Structures proposal ahead of the successful General Meeting in October
- Working with Roberto on a bigger and better “Winter Wonderland” than ever before
- Collaborating with other Birmingham universities to discuss more city-wide issues
Activities & Development Officer – Ben Chapman
- 17 new societies have started, meaning there are now nearly 250 student groups and societies managed by the Guild
- Trying to set up a sponsorship fund for student groups with money from local businesses – groups would compete for money from the fund in a similar manner to the Hands Up Fund
Education Officer – Izzy Lenga
- Preparing for the upcoming QAA review
- In the next few years, the University will be merging the Schools of Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Electronic, Electrical & Systems Engineering into one School of Engineering (this will not include the School of Chemical Engineering)
- Hopes to address the BME students’ attainment gap with the help of Zara
- Working with other officers to review the University’s Policy on Consulting Students About Major Changes as they feel it is not acceptable to expect feedback from students during the Summer Vacation
Housing & Community Officer – Roberto Sorrentino
- The West Midlands Police budget has been cut, meaning fewer PCSOs in Selly Oak
- Campaigning with Lewis to minimise these cuts as much as possible
- The last building work on Chamberlain Hall is due to be finished in January
Representation & Resources Officer – Daisy Lindlar
- Worked hard on the free sanitary products scheme – access to these products has now moved to the ARC
- A new food outlet will be opening in the Guild in the near future to fill Subway’s previous location (next to Joe’s Bar)
- Guild Election Regulations will be changed before Christmas, including removing cardboard signs
- Investigating the issue of self-definition as part of liberation groups in order to be able to vote in certain elections
Sports Officer – Rémy Claustres
- Free fitness classes at the beginning of term were a success and more will be put on at the beginning of next term – particularly Zumba
- Wants to introduce more Intramural sports such as Dodgeball
- The new sports centre is due to open at the beginning of Term 3
Welfare Officer – Ross Strong
- More mental and sexual health campaigning
- Wants to do more work with BME and International students and will be meeting with Zara and Abdul to do this
- A new position was created in the Guild this term to engage specifically with hard to reach groups of students – they organised successful “conversation corners” in Welcome Week
Anti-Racism, Anti-Fascism Officer – Katie Webb
- Wants to try to set up a new Anti-Fascism campaign similar to Not On
Community Action Officer – Lewis Addlington-Lee
- Took a small group to the free education demonstration in London at the beginning of November
- Wants to change the way the Guild organises volunteering for external groups
Disabled Students Officer – Hayley Graham
- Successfully promoting DAMSA
- Lots of events planned for Disability History Month (starts 22nd November) including film nights, discussion panels and anxiety workshops
Home Students Officer – Adam Elmi
- Planned to campaign for 24-hour buses but the council started introducing them anyway
- Locker spaces on campus are in the pipeline
International Students Officer – Abdul Shittu
- Trying to organise an “All Around The World” cultural festival for Term 2
Women’s Officer – Alex Binnie
- Running consent workshops with the help of Sexpression as part of the Not On campaign
- Abortion Rights Student Conference is being held on campus on 28th November
The full-time officer videos can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-wpnogl3sOpm4zFJbBgSSQ/videos
