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Student Council

Do you want to create change? Email change@upsu.net or tweet us @portsmouthsu

Student Council Events

Next student council is on Tuesday 19th February, take a look at the agenda and motions here.

Get involved, use the Twitter hashtag #upsusc

 

Student Council

 
Student Council meets once a month and consists of 10 part time officers, chairs from each standing committee, 5 faculty reps and the 5 elected sabbatical officers.
 
All University of Portsmouth Students are invited to attend Student Council; you will have the right to voice your opinion in response to any motions or reports. In the first Council of the year, we voted on a motion to give the student body a vote on Council. Prior to the vote of Council, we will now conduct a preliminary vote of all students in attendance, and the majority result will count as one vote on Council. This really is your chance to directly influence the decisions we're making.
 

So what happens at Student Council?

 
Each Sabbatical Officer will present a report on their last month's work to Council, the members will scrutinise this report and may ask the officer to justify their decisions. If the members are not happy with an officers decision or conduct then this will be recorded in the minutes and council have the power to overturn an officers decision. Student Council is designed to allow students to guide the running of the Students' Union and the work of the Sabbatical Officers.
 
Anyone can submit a motion to Student Council, if you wish to submit a motion or policy, you can complete our online form, or pop into the Union and talk to Enzo, your VP Education and Democracy.
 
Motions and Agenda Items must be submitted by 4pm, 4 working days before the meeting.
 

Find the latest Student council agenda and minutes of previous meeting here: http://studentcouncil.upsu.net/index.php/23rd_January_2013

Coming Soon

How to submit a motion

 

Submitting and writing a motion

 

A motion outlines the facts about an issue, proposes what the Union’s stance should be and what action it should take to attempt to resolve it. Motions are by debated by students and elected officers and representatives at Student Council meetings.

 

After the debate the council and the floor will vote on the motion.If the motion becomes policy, the stance outlined in the motion will become the Union’s stance and Union officers and staff will be expected to carry out the action proposed.

For example, if someone’s motion resolves “The Union should campaign to improve IT facilities” the relevant officer will have to carry out this campaign.

In a few occasions  the board of trustees may overturn a motion if it will affect the union financially or if there are legal or safety issues.

 

How do you write a motion?

 

Motions should be written in a particular format:

 

Title: A short heading describing the motion

 

The Union Notes: This is where you list  any facts related to your argument.

 

The Union Believes: This is where you add what opinion or stance the Union should take on the issue.

 

The Union Resolves: This is where you list any actions you want the Union or Union officers to take.

 

Proposer and Seconder: Every motion needs a student or officer to propose the motion and another to second it.They must both be present at the council in order to discuss the motion.

 

And here’s a very simple example of how it could look like:

 

HAND-INS AT 2 AM

The Union notes: 

            That currently, hand-ins of most departments are at noon.    That students have requested more time to write their essays.

 

The Union Believes:

                 That students should have more time to write their essays.
  1. That having hand-ins at mid-day is arbitrary

 

The Union Resolves:

                
  1. That the VP Education and Democracy should campaign for hand-ins to be moved to midnight.
  2. To make midnight hand-ins the official union stand on the issue.

 

Proposer: Liam Neeson (Captain of Lacross)Seconder: Russel Crowe (Course rep)

 

Feel free to use our template (LINK!)

 

How do I change a motion?

 

If you are happy with a motion to go through, but would like to propose an alteration, you can submit an amendment.

Amendments must not substantially change the motion’s purpose, and can be proposed directly at student council, or via e-mail before the meeting. Amendments will be discussed and voted before the main motion is voted.

 

How do I submit a motion?

If you want to submit a motion, send it by email to studentcouncil@upsu.net  a week before the council date and it will be discussed and voted on in during the next student council! Please note that on occasions, emergency motions may be accepted, and can be proposed during the meeting, but this is at the discretion of the chair.