Vision can reveal that YUSU have come to an agreement with FemSoc, and the group may be officially ratified in November.
The news comes after the Students Union refused to ratify the society earlier this month, which prompted upset and a major protest.
Alex Wilson, Chair of the group, said in a post on Facebook: “I and several other committee members have just had a meeting with Chris West, Bob Hughes and the Women’s Officers to discuss the future of FemSoc.
“Because of the democratic processes that have to be followed, we would not be able to be ratified properly until November. There is no working round this and so we needed to come up with another solution.
“Therefore, YUSU and the Women’s Officers are offering us all the benefits of being a society. We will have an email, access to room bookings, a table at freshers fair, the whole shebang.
“However, this will happen via us coming under the broader banner of Women’s Network. We will still be self running and be our own entity and be advertised as such (we wouldn’t even need to say that we are part of Women’s Network in our advertising).”
The move will give FemSoc access to “all the services listed above and also access to the huge amount of support that YUSU give to groups that are part of welfare” and it will also “have access to a much funding as we need from Women’s Network.”
Wilson said that until November, FemSoc “can be a Society in all but name, though the solution presented by YUSU and the Officers actually creates more work for them than to just simply ratify us.”
She added: “If the situation turns out be unworkable or if the group as a whole decides that it wants to, then we can reapply for ratification as a Society in November.”
The decision has not been welcomed by all members of the group however, as one vocal member urged: “Reject this shameless pandering and frankly pathetic offer. Stay independent and continue the fight.”
York students will no longer be able to refer to the group as FemSoc, as, no longer technically a society, they are currently taking a vote on one of the following suggested replacement names: University of York Feminists, Feminist Discussion Group or Feminist Group.
Chris West, YUSU Activities Officer, said: “After a positive and constructive meeting with the Women’s Officers and the Feminist Society proposers, both parties have gone to run the ideas past their respective networks, and I am hopeful that we will reach a satisfactory conclusion in the next week.”
It is understood that FemSoc will commit fully to working under the current arrangement and will review the situation in Autumn.
Oh my god who the hell cares
I’m a little sad there will be no want to be BNOC’s arguing over meaningless debates anymore, will have to look elsewhere for my daily amusement.
Oh my god, it does NOT mean they will be ratified in December, it means they can APPLY to, just like everyone else can at that period in the year… It’s not a U-turn, it’s YUSU doing exactly what they wanted to happen in the first place.
Stop with the sensationalist headlines, and stick to the facts.
November sorry, not December.
Well, YUSU rolled over quicker than I expected.
I hope FemSoc isn’t ratified, purely for the amusement of HH’s inevitable fit.
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Why are members of this group so outraged by this decision ? If they can now do all they have set out to achieve with these new benefits (theory discussion, debates ect), then I wonder if anyone still bickering about the official title of the group has it’s core aims and interests at heart.
GO AWAY HELENA HORTON
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There is a lot wrong with this.
1) This offer was what YUSU was always going to make with the society.
2) No decisions have been made yet.
3) It’s POSSIBLE for them to apply for ratification again, whether or not they will, and whether it would be successful, is another thing entirely.
To Helena Horton:
Helena, I am sure you mean well with all these campaigns you are heading. However, please consider the following:
a) The response to your campaigns is overwhelmingly negative – as seen in these comments & the results at the referenda. True, you have 700 signatures on your petition – but I bet that more than 90% of these came from people who hardly read the petition – they just heard ‘feminism’ and signed on the spot.
b) Linked to this, you have not actually convinced anyone of your opinions. The people who agree with you are the ones who agreed before. You can shout all you want that the rest of us do not understand feminism or your points of view. But a failure in communication is rarely the fault of one party. It is the job of the person who initiatives the communication to clarify their position and express it well.
c) Given that most people at York are quite smart, I think we can exclude the option that everyone who does not agree with you is an idiot for not understanding you. This leaves two options either you are really, really bad at explaining your thoughts, or the vast majority of students do not agree with them. If it’s the first, maybe you should realise that instead of antagonising everyone, you should engage in dialogue. Take a step back from the campaigns, engage with students through societies etc. If the latter, maybe you should drop your campaigns period.
d) Regarding your views themselves: it is sad that in today’s world, many women choose to renounce the term ‘feminism’ exactly because of people like you. The kind of feminist who takes issue with the Sun and wastes time campaigning for a Femsoc, whose mission is not clear, is actually damaging to your cause. Personally, I get really annoyed whenever I hear of ‘womens rights’. There are no women’s rights; there are human rights. Instead of focusing on the disadvantages of being a woman, focus on gender equality, noticing that both genders suffer from inequality in different forms.
Don’t you guys get it?
She’s trolling you!
Helena obviously doesn’t care that much about feminism, she’s doing all this crap to whack on her CV so when she leaves uni, all her campaigning will look favourable to employers.
However, no employers are gonna want a devout feminist working at their company.
Oh the irony *chortle* *guffaw* *splutter*