By Adam Coe
Turkeys, long-coats and West Coast rappers were the hot-topics of last week’s ‘exhilarating’ Union General Meeting, which also marked the presentation of a new drafted constitution.
There was a distinctive ‘Cult of Personality’ impetus last week, with formal debate considering two motions focusing on famous people: Dr Dre and Brian Blessed.
The Facebook phenomenon, the group supporting the motion to bring Dr Dre to York, now numbers over 800.
Richard Costello, the second year Politics student proposing ‘For’ the motion was unopposed.
In a more bizarre turn, the excitement of last week’s UGM reached its peak with a proposal to name the centre for quiet study after Brian Blessed, an actor noted for his booming shout. A supportive contingent of leather and long-coats stormed the UGM just before Chris Reynolds, the motion’s first propagator began his speech.
Mirroring the evening’s randomness, Dan Walker, Democracy and Services officer, announced that he was a turkey. Walker used the announcement to illustrate his wish to dissolve the Sabbatical position that he currently occupies. “This turkey’s voting for Christmas,” he said.
He revealed that about three-quarters of the way through last term, he decided that the five-figure a year position was just not worth it. According to Walker, the position “doesn’t really represent any particular group on any level, we need to move forward and we need to face the facts.”
The elimination of one of the six sabbatical positions was not the only revolutionary change presented at the UGM. YUSU President Tim Ngwena proposed two motions to update the constitution in line with new nationwide union regulations.
He told attendees, “passing the constitution is the first step in setting a strong foot for this union because it clearly defines our key legal and charitable responsibilities as a student union.”
Concerning the particulars of the document’s formation, he said, “YUSU have used an NUS guidance template to draft a new constitution for approval from its members”. The change comes following YUSU’s Democratic Review last term, which proposed a number of alterations to current union legislation.
In Ngwena’s view, the current constitution is “fragmentary and outdated… several aspects aren’t working in the way that members want them to”. Students have been encouraged to feedback through a dedicated democratic review email account, on what Ngwena believes will eventually prove to be a “visionary” document.
The results of the UGM were revealed on the YUSU website yesterday, following the largest student vote for a general meeting in over 2 years. 1,592 students got involved, and all motions were passed.
Particularly popular was the motion to persuade the University to refer to the New Building Study Space as “The Brian Blessed Centre for Quiet Study”, which received 1052 votes in its favour, and the motion to mandate Dr Dre to play at York Central Hall, which received 865 votes.
The Removal of Democracy and Services Officer position was voted for by 470 students. This means that there will be no Democracy and Services Officer vote in the upcoming elections.