Another hetic week at the union is underway. the week began with the OAP valentines lunch, which in my opinion was an excellent success, many thanks to all those volunteers that helped out! Today we have Course Rep Council at 3.30pm in function room 1, a chance for you all to moan about your course to me, and hopefully I can give you answers.

On thursday we have Union Council at 4pm in function room 2, and it would be great if lots of you attended as there is alot of debate to be had.

Also on thursday at 7 pm we have the great fees debate at park building.

So hopefully see you at one of these events.

I figured it was about time that I wrote a blog as I've avoided doing so for the last 3 years! And to mark this fine occasion I hope to open up a huge can of worms surrounding our lovely monthly event at the union - UNION COUNCIL

For those of you lucky enough not to know me I'm Steve Topazio and I am chair of Union Council. Union Council is the ultiamte decision making body of the students union and is the place where the sabbatical officers are held to account by the students for their actions. There are currently 14 people who sit on the board of Union Council - they are the six sabbs plus the chair of RAG, VIP, SOCIETY EXEC, AU EXEC, MEDIA EXEC, EED EXEC, HALLS EXEC and COURSE REP EXEC - a role which i combine with the chair of the council.

These 14 people put an enormous amount of time and effort into the running of the Students Union and are extremly passionate about what they do, however they need to be guided by you the students as it is YOU the STUDENTS that we are representing.

 This is where we hit a problem, Attendance at Union Council is poor - and that is an understatement, only 8 people were in the audience when the Council was last in session. The reasons for this are two fold in my opinion, the first is that students are not aware that there is a Union Council let alone when it is in session and this is an issue that the reps and sabbs shall be addressing in the near future. The second reason is that I dont think students are aware of what goes on at union council and why they should care about the events that take place. Students are very good at moaning about the union, but if you want action then you need to come to union council and tell us what you want doing and how you want it doing.

So this is a call to all students, Come to Union Council on Thursday Feburary 21st Function Room 2 at 4pm and make a difference. Union Council is YOUR Union Council so come along and exercise your right to voicing  your opinion and hold us accountable for our actions. Union Council - For students by Students