The first YUSU referendum proposals of the academic year have been rejected by the University of York’s students.
YUSU members have voted against the motion to replace the role of YUSU Women’s Officer with a Gender Equalities Officer by 596 votes to 540, and have also declined an opportunity for YUSU to twin with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem by 891 votes to 144.
The Women’s Officer motion in particular drew much controversy, a possible reason for the unusually high voter turnout. The Women’s Officer vote alone drew more votes than last year’s largest turnout, which was for the NUS-affiliation referendum proposal.
Current Women’s Officers Cat Wayland and Nell Beecham, who were both involved in the campaign to vote against the motion, had previously stated: “Whilst we recognise that gender inequality is detrimental to all persons, not just women, losing the Women’s Officers and Committee allows us conveniently to forget that women historically have suffered and still do suffer disproportionately.”
In reaction to the vote, Wayland tweeted: “MOTION FELL, @YUSUWomens IS SAFE. take that misogynist fuckbags.”
Motion proposer Gareth Bennett said: “I was impressed with the turnout on the motions in general. I was also impressed that, despite the strength of the opposition, the motion was so closely fought.”
Second-year Biology student Matt Ravenhall spoke of his disappointment at the motion’s failure: “Gender discrimination is a problem which cannot be eradicated by creating more discrimination. The creation of a Gender Equalities Committee would have removed the sexism inherent in the Women’s Committee and given all students the right to vote for and stand as official YUSU representatives whose job is to tackle issues of gender discrimination on campus.
“Unfortunately, we remain in a position where men are being excluded from running and voting for official YUSU positions simply because they are men.”
Former YUSU LGBT Officer Emma Brownbill, who supported the ‘Save Wom Com’ campaign, told Vision: “The referendum result clearly affirms the need for specific women’s representation within the Union. It’s vital that marginalised groups are able to choose someone with shared lived experiences to represent them. In the case of the Union bye-laws, this requires the agreement of the wider student body, and I’m pleased that we continue to have that.”
Students can suggest referendum ideas to be considered by YUSU at yusu.org/your-union/you-run-us/submit-your-idea.