Union to put new petition in place for members

Imperial College Union will start looking into creating an online petition system, following the success of a paper at this week’s Union Council meeting.

The paper, which was proposed by Ansh Bhatnagar, Undergraduate Ordinary Member for the Faculty of Natural Sciences, was raised following a number of popular petitions relating to Imperial issues that had been opened this year on other platforms.

The paper argued that, while such petitions can be an effective way of drawing attention to certain problems, “anyone with an email address can sign these external petitions, meaning there is no guarantee that everyone who has signed is a student at Imperial.”

A number of other students’ unions already have petition systems in place, including UCL and Sussex. As part of ICU’s 2017-20 Strategy, they have promised to “support students to ensure their voice is heard”. The paper passed overwhelmingly, with 94% of those present voting in favour of the proposal.

“A number of other students' unions already have petition systems in place”

There was not enough time in Council to discuss the finer details of what form such a petition system would take; Alex Chippy Compton, ICU President, will be meeting with Bhatnagar and other students to discuss the overall structure of the system, and will return to Council with a proposal later this academic year.

Bhatnagar told Felix: “I'm glad to see Council have approved the proposal for a petitions system. The vast majority of students do not wish to be involved in the bureaucracy of the Union, so a petitions system that puts power directly into the hands of students would be a powerful tool.”

This academic year alone has seen a number of popular petitions relating to topics at Imperial, including ones asking to expand Ethos gym, and to bring Stella 4% back to Union bars – something that was done at the beginning of this term. The most recent petition is to stop the closure of St. Mary’s Swimming Pool at the end of the academic year. It has been signed by more than 2,000 people.

Fintan O’Connor, Deputy President (Welfare), told Felix: “Petitions and campaigns are growing in number every year at Imperial, and a new and accessible petitions system will only help channel the energy and ideas of our members. We were already thinking about introducing one as part of our review of our democracy and governance, and we’re glad that Union Council has now thrown their weight behind the idea.”

A number of other papers were also discussed at Union Council. As well as the petitions paper, Council passed papers in support of the UCU strike, as well as ones relating to tankard policy and minuting of ICU meetings. A paper on use of Union space was moved to a future Council meeting.