If you do one thing today....

If you do one thing today, aside from exam revision and coursework, then make sure you register to vote.

It's quick and easy to vote, and means you will make your voice heard in the upcoming European Parliament elections (they only happen once every five years).

1. Between 12-2 outside Spar we will have a unit open where you can register and also enter a raffle to win tickets to the Love Music Hate Racism festival in Stoke on May 30th.

2. Online at www.aboutmyvote.org.uk - this site will also give you lots of information about the European Parliament and why you should vote.

If you live in halls then you will have been registered by the University, so for now sit back, but make sure you vote on June 4th!

If you live in Selly Oak I should be dropping round voter registration forms today (weather permitting!) - obviously I'm not going to be able to do every house in Selly Oak but some should be arriving soon.

Sound Impact - Birmingham takes Silver!

I am pleased to tell you all that at the NUSSL dinner that I attended earlier in the month, Birmingham Guild achieved a Silver Standard in the Sound Impact Awards. The Sound Impact Awards are run by NUSSL and look at how green the union is. Myself, Pippa (EEO) and Mike (Facilities Manager) worked hard on completing the workbook in the autumn term, which consisted of criteria relating to lots of different aspects - such as energy usage, environmental policies and lobbying, and how integrated the "green" culture is into the union. When we first entered we got a "working towards" standard, and last year we achieved Bronze standard, which means we have been making a year on year improvement.
Although it will be very hard for us to achieve a Gold Award (unions that achieved Gold do things such as have Solar Panels on their roofs and are carbon/waste neutral!) there are other awards for most improved and most innovative, which are things I think we should aim for! So if you have any ideas on how we can improve our environmental performance, or any innovative ideas to get students more involved in environmental activities, let me know!

GC elections

Will be taking place in the new academic year due to GC review, and the fact that we get more interest in the elections in October rather than the summer term, meaning that more elections will be contested which is ultimately better for GC.

Just to clear up any confusion.!

NUSSL and beyond!

Hello again to all my avid readers!

So it's almost the end of April and I haven't blogged for a while. Naughty Hannah! However, this is because, yet again, I've been off and away doing fun and excting things.

NUSSL

From 6th-8th April, myself, along with Pippa (EEO) and our Venues Manager headed up to Liverpool for the NUSSL AGM and Convention. NUSSL stands for NUS Services Limited and they supply our bars (in other unions they supply the shops too, but our shop is a franchise) and also give advice on all things related to commercial services and, more recently, ethical and environmental issues.

When we were in Liverpool (at a hotel which resembled the Titanic, and was like stepping back in time) not only did we collect our Silver award for Sound Impact, but we also had the opportunity to take part in sessions and discussions. I went to several - the Ethical and Environmental session, a session on NUS Extra and developments that NUSSL are doing, and another on Alcohol Policy, which also related to policy passed at NUS conference the week before. In addition to this, I attended the AGM where the accounts are presented and where we voted for new committee members. There was also a plenary on ethical investments, given by the co-op, and this is something I am going to be working on for the Guild.

The E+E session focused mainly on the Sound Impact awards and other campaigns that unions had done. Go Green weeks are popular, and although we have not done this here, they aim to promote all things environmental to students and promote more ecological living.
The NUS extra session looked at developing NUS Extra to make it better for students, so introducing features such as auto renewal each year, as well as adding more discounts that may be specific to the local area.
The alcohol policy session was very interesting, and focused on why unions should/shouldn't have minimum pricing, but I'll be doing more on this at a later date. But, essentially there is a movement to introduce minimum pricing in student unions to protect student welfare - however, there is a danger that this could price some students out of drinking at their unions. Ben Whittaker has to be admired for giving the Welfare point of view in a roomful of commercial services officers!

...and beyond!
On getting back from NUSSL I gave myself half a day to recover at home (after doing NUS conference, the VC's leaving dinner and then NUSSL I was very tired!) before going back to the Guild to spend the day doing....budgets. Myself and two staff members form a group that meet with all managers to set budgets for the 09/10 year and I must say that it is incredibly difficult to balance the needs and wants of the organisation, not least because of the impact of the recession. The process lasts until the end of May.

I then took a holiday and went to Poland (definately recomend a trip!), and now I am back, raring to go...!

Any questions - give us a shout!
h.lazell@guild.bham.ac.uk

NUS Conference - elections

The last post on conference I promise!

Elections were held on the second and third days for the full and part time officers to serve on the National Executive Committee for 09/10.
The full time officers were elected on the wednesday, and a tremendous amount of hard work went in, but the results were fairly predictable, and were as follows:
President - Wes Streeting (incumbent)
VP Welfare - Ben Whittaker (current NEC member + Derby University)
VP Higher Education - Aaron Porter (incumbent)
VP Further Education - Shane Chowen
VP Union Development - Richard 'Bubble' Budden (incumbent)
VP Society and Citizenship - Susan Nash (current NEC)

The part time officers (Block of fifteen, with 5 places for FE students) were a little less predictable, but not unexpected all the same:
John Cox (Exeter University)
Jak Codd (Leeds University)
Usman Ali (University of Salford)
Alice Bouquet (University of the West of England)
Liz Williams (University of Liverpool)
James Haywood (Goldsmiths)
Tobin Webb (Bristol University)
Ed Marsh (University of Hull + current NEC)
Christina Yan Zhang (Loughborough University)
Yemi Makinde (current NEC)

(I'm afraid I don't know the results of the FE places)

Well done to all candidates, and I'm sure you'll be great!

I've got a few observations about elections.
1. The number of candidates, considering it is a national union with 7 million people eligible to stand, is not that great. There were 21 places available - and 36 candidates. Thats only a few more than we got standing in our elections for fewer places. So really we didn't do that badly.
2. If you aren't in a faction, then you have very little chance of getting election. Factions operate by block voting to ensure that they get representation on the NEC. Very clever, but not necessarily representative of what students want and what is best for them. Also, if you are an ordinary student, who hasn't been a sabbatical and aren't part of a faction then you have a very minimal chance of getting elected - which isn't very inclusive really.

NUS Conference - Policy

Ok, this may sound really boring, but each year at conference unions submit motions, which then get debated. If they pass, they become NUS policy and the officers are mandated to carry them out over the next 12 months.

Motions fall under four zones - Education, Strong and Active Unions, Welfare and Society and Citizenship. Each zone gets allocated a certain amount of time to be discussed, but unfortunately there is not time to discuss all motions. This year, the education zone was first and it ended up taking the most time which is fair enough, as we are all here for an education, but it also meant that very little Society and Citizenship policy was passed, which is important to a lot of people.

Some motions of note that passed:
1. If you're a PG student, good news - the NUS are now mandated to lobby the government regarding PG funding. Obviously undergrad courses are government funded (to a certain extent) but PG courses are completely marketised - but hopefully this motion will kick start a debate around this issue (I voted for this)
2. Policy has also been passed to continue to support degree reform so that extra curricular activities are included in degree classifications. I voted against this because I think it is subject to terrible abuse from people who just do something for their CV without caring, and also devalues the hard work that people do on their degrees and other activities who still do well.
3. More policy was passed mandating the NUS executive to lobby the government for an alternative funding system, and to demand student (NUS) presence on the government review group. I voted for this.
4. If you're more interested in student groups than representing, then fear not - NUS now has policy to strengthen the networks for activities officers (such as Rich) to share best practice and to increase the work they do with other organisations such as BUCS. I voted for this.
5. There is now policy against initiations - I voted for this.
6. The NUS will now be more involved in promoting student rights at work - if you are being exploited by your employer, and if you are working to help fund your degree, then the NUS will be doing a lot of research and lobbying into this, as well as presenting the findings of this to be included in the 2009 fees review. I voted for this!
7. Policy has also been passed regarding responsible drinking. This means that NUSSL (the commercial branch of the NUS who supply bars) may be forced to operate minimum pricing in the bars it supplies (Birmingham Guild is one of them) to ensure that students drink more responsibly - higher prices = less alcohol consumed apparently. The VP Welfare at NUS is also mandated to lobby supermarkets regarding their prices as they are often low for alcohol. I voted for this - but I must say I sort of regret this. From my point of view, with responsibility for finance, which is as perfectly valid as any other, higher prices will drive away students from the Guild, to places in town or Selly Oak that are often less...interested in student welfare, which is bad for all involved. Plus, less people will spend their money in the Guild which means less funding....bad times!


I must say, I was disappointed by the level of debate that was held. Almost every debate focussed on the recession, and it felt that every time we debated a motion, the same old arguments were coming up again and again. Big respect to the delegate who stood up and spoke against the votes at 16 motion - although I disagreed, it was a new argument that hadn't been heard.
It was also interesting to see the content of the motions - only one was on student housing which I would say is one of the biggest issues to students at Birmingham...
The outcomes were also fairly predictable, due to the fact that motions are often backed by factions, and therefore have block votes which swing it one way or the other - conference would have been more unpredictable if this wasn't the case!

NUS Conference - the first post about fun stuff!

Hey one and all,
This last week along with 16 other people from Birmingham University I have been at the Annual Conference of the NUS (National Union of Students). The NUS exists to represent all 7 million students who belong to their member institutions - of which we are one of them. Annual Conference is where policy is passed and Officers are elected - and brings over 1000 people to Blackpool, where it is held!
I've got several different aspects to blog about - the first will be about the fun side of it all!

We travelled up uneventfully, after a very early start (think 6.30am at the Guild) with delegates from all over the West Midlands. When we got there it was a matter of waiting about for a while in the Winter Gardens (where conference is held) looking at the stalls that were there with information about various groups. The Winter Gardens is well, past its best - I'm sure it looked good about 50 years ago but nowadays it needs some serious TLC! Just the place for a bunch of students then....

Our hotel was similar, in that it had seen better days. We also had a sea view room, which was nice. But that bit is boring.

On the Wednesday night (second night we were there), it is tradition to go to the party at Flares (I swear you find Flares in every town and city!) where lots of people who are running for election the next day (more on that later) campaign, and everyone gets generally merry, including our own president elect, who embraced the mood well....

On Thursday, our last day, we left mid afternoon on what we thought would be a comfortable ride back....we were all tired and all just wanted to get back home to sleep! But a few miles out of Blackpool, it emerged that well, not all windows on the bus (a double decker one, none the less) were secure. One of the upstairs windows was coming loose, and aside from the hour spent in a service station, we also go to sit on the side of the M6 for a bit...very exciting!

Thats it for the "fun" bits - the next posts will be about motions and elections, but apart from that, I'm off to Liverpool for the NUSSL (NUS Services Ltd - they supply our bars) AGM tomorrow - wow!