Low turnout for General Meeting

The Imperial College Union General Meeting was held on Wednesday 6 June, with several ideas proposed that could see the structure of the Union considerably change.

To make the meeting quorate (or for the attendees to have the ability to put proposed ideas into action) 200 eligible members were required to be in attendance. Roughly 20 attended. The meeting took thus took the form of an informal discussion, with all considered motions to be put forward to Council, after all of the motions were met with general approval for those in attendance.

There were several proposed changes to the way the Union is run. The first proposition would place Sabbatical Officers on the Union’s Trustee Board, which is responsible for the strategic overview of the Union’s finances, objectives and strategy. The reasoning behind this was that the Officers are “most in the know” about the way the Union is run, with the additional claim that such a move would “decrease the power of the President”. The President is currently the only person on the board.

It was also proposed that two student trustees would be elected and two would be appointed rather than the current election of all four. This was said to “even up the representation,” as some faculties are currently underrepresented on the Trustee Board.

The restructuring and reshaping the Sabbatical Officer roles was also considered, with the current position of Deputy President (Clubs & Societies) being renamed as Deputy President (Activities), under the remit of handling Clubs and Societies and their officers. The most substantial change came with the removal of Deputy President (Finance & Services) and the potential introduction of Deputy President (Student Development), who would handle volunteering, fundraising and student citizenship. The introduction of a Postgraduate Sabbatical officer was also met with unanimous approval.

One proposition considered the election process in the Union, following controversies over the running of this year’s Big Elections. The Returning Officer was proposed to become an external individual with no connection to the Union. It was also proposed that seconders be removed from the election process, with the reasoning for this being given that they are a “barrier” to elections, particularly postgraduates. It was touched upon that seconders have the potential to prevent ‘joke candidates’ from standing, but it was decided that the voters themselves choose who is the best candidate for the job “by voting them in.” It was also claimed that this method has been proven to work in other Unions across the country. Union Council has previously rejected the idea of lowering the number of seconders required.