Delivered 14th June 2010.

Check against delivery. 🙂

This speech has been very difficult to write.  Mainly because I don’t really feel like I’m leaving.  I don’t want to leave, I would love to stay forever, but that’s not the nature of the game sadly.  So don’t think of this as a leaving speech.  Think of this as a fond farewell, a casual “I’ll see you later”.

Over the past 4 years the Guild has shaped my life an enormous amount.  We’re all here to get degrees, granted, but I wanted so much more from my Uni experience and I still don’t even think I’ve had time to get involved in things I wish I had.  I never really got active in debating, never did get involved in drama societies, never got involved in sport and sadly, very sadly, I never got involved in Carnival.

My first thank you needs to go to my predecessor Hannah Lazell.  When she was in office she wasn’t appreciated for what she had done, but it didn’t take long to realise that she made a massive impact in reforming guild democracy by forcing the organisation to actually take it seriously.  And this year we were able to move forward and get the job finished, it’s a massive achievement to change archaic structures and allow more students the opportunity to get involved without all the procedure stopping them, without factional interests taking all the seats and only showing up when a debate is relevant to their clique.  No, the new system is all about representation in its purest form and all about flexibility.  I am disappointed not to be able to see it through but as long as the new officer team keep working at it next year, it will work.  Altering the system is an option, going back to the old one I don’t think is.  Progress forward is the only way.

I really don’t feel comfortable talking up my achievements, it’s just not me.  But I do want to mention a couple of things that I managed to do; we had a few different pound-a-pint nights this year which was on my manifesto and I never really had the belief that I could do it.  Yet, some of them worked and some of them didn’t and I really think that it can be successful if used as a one-off stand alone night, so bring on more next year.  In November when all the sabbs are physically and mentally dying, we all went to vale fireworks and afterwards came back to the guild for pound-a-pint night.  I was worried that no one would show because we hadn’t promoted it but seeing Old Joe’s rammed and with queues outside made me so happy.

A vast chunk of my year was spent reforming democratic structures, the hardest and most difficult task I had on my to-do list.  I still have no idea exactly how I managed to do it, and I want to thank the staff, officers and all the students who made it possible.  We achieved record turnouts in the RA elections and the officer group elections.  We mobilised 400 students on campus within 24 hours.  I went to NUS conference. We did vote for students.  I went to my first carnage.

On the building redevelopment every couple of weeks I sit in building meetings that look at how the work is progressing.  These are usually pretty dire, talking about the location of plug sockets for instance.  But one meeting in October we heard of some very scary numbers and faced a massive overspend on the project.  Making the decision to stop building work was difficult, but it was the right one.  We then had to make decisions on small aspects of the new bar to make the budget balance.  Me and Katie fought for some things, like the glass roof that nearly became a plastic cover and I think the new bar is amazing, I really do.  The next phase will be even better so I hope you’re looking forward to it.  So Guild Council, a new bar, delivered.  Not on time but on budget.  And finally, this year, I also went to my first ever Vodbull.

This job looks alot easier than it is.  That was the subject title to my first “please help me” email to Hannah Lazell as early as September.  Yet there is one thing that always keeps your spirits up, or at least has this year for me.  That is staff banter.  In no organisation in my life will I ever be able to drink at midday in front of the Chief Exec.  This was before the staff Christmas party and JT had to come in and ask us to be sensible for a minute, stop dancing on the tables.  Me, with wine bottle in hand, obviously ignored her.  JT you are an absolute legend, a phenomenal woman and I have no idea how you do what you do and I think it would scare me even more if I did.

Students like you have contact with a wide range of our departments, not just venues.  And the un-sung heroes of the Guild are the Representation and Democracy Department.  Or what I like to call, the office of the VPDR.  R+D are an incredible team; I could not have done the elections, the Democratic Structure Review, the referendum without them.  I’m not really supposed to name staff members, but I am going to mention Coolster, Jim, our new inmate Liz, Nick and the amazing and incredible Mother Wedge.

The Guild is in safe hands with our staff, I am in awe of what they do and they never get recognised.

Now onto my sabbheads – the best sabb team in the world.  Fact.

This is genuinely the weirdest, most exciting, fun and rewarding thing I’ve ever done and being with this sabb team has been the best part of it.  It is a true activist sabb team, we mobilised 400 students in 24 hours, we radically changed democratic structures allowing any student the opportunity to get involved and we raised the profile of the officer team like never before.

Fordy – despite having to hear about every single “fordy fail” and giving you the incident reports to see which naughtie fab attendees were your mates you have made the whole year so much easier for me.  I will miss sacking it off and going to starbucks for a natter.  You have achieved so much as VP Sport and done it with very little support and you’ve inspired so many people along the way.  You are an absolute dream.

Meakin, Sparkes, Sparkles, Sparkatron, Ed – I love you and your cocky ways.  You are Mr. VPHC as well as being the anchor to the guild.  I am gutted that we weren’t that close during the first 3 years but I can genuinely say that you may be the one person this year who’s never made me feel just a little bit shitty.  And with mood-swings like mine that is an achievement worthy of a commendation!

Pacman – I think you might be the first VPSAD in generations that actually has the majority of student groups liking you.  That in itself is a massive achievement.  In fact I think I’ve probably upset more student groups than you this year.  All that just points to your commitment and ability to defuse issues and deal with them in an appropriate way.  Plus, you are really hands-on when it comes to the groups and you want to make sure all their concerns are dealt with properly.  I know that you will be going on to be some humongous amazing businesswoman earning squillions and giving it all away to charity.  Don’t forget the Guild though as we still need someone to pay for the dream Deb Hall refurbishment.

Johnny Davis – I beat you fair and square in 4 arguments and no one will ever take that away from me.  Next years team will find out what that means.  You’ve been a real inspiration to me, 100% committed to getting the job done and never letting anything get in the way of that.  I will though be informing Ashley about potential over-spends from the stationary budget coming from a Mr. J. Davis and I’m sure appropriate action will be sought.

Comrade Jones – This is not a lie.  This is a fact. Brigid is the exact textbook model of a student representative.  I have always been in awe of your ability to disseminate an issue, consult with those affected and act upon it.  Even though I had to hear lots of snide banterous comments about my fellow sociology students you have done an utterly sensational job and you made it look easy.  No one recognized her for it when she was on Guild Council, but she was a councilor who actually knew what had to be done.  I have never seen her ability matched so if any of you lot are actually serious about representing your members, you need to contact Brigid and ask her how it’s done.  I personally hate showing weakness but I am absolutely terrified of life without Brigid.

Lastly the Boss – the amount of people who actually think Fabian is our line-manager is horrendous.  As if you haven’t got anything better to do than tell us off for being in late.  I still hardly ever understand what you’re saying, most of the time I nod and smile and ask someone for a translation.  Fabian I am in awe of your ability and your choice of shirts and your inability to detect sarcasm and your love of your students and of absolutely everything about you.  You are one of the nicest people I know.  I can’t wait to see you in the European parliament, good luck in Oxford you deserve to go to a University, second only to Birmingham.

Listen sabbs, it was difficult wasn’t it and at times we nearly killed ourselves and each other but I don’t think any of us would change anything we did.  I bloody loved it and I bloody love you all.

I want to thank a few groups who have been important for me before I sit down.

RAs, any of you still in the room?  You guys are some kind of weird, amazing, super, incredible, enthusiastic bunch of activists.  I was always worried about asking too much of you, but you have always been willing to help out the Guild!  I expect massive things from some of you and I will be watching closely, do me proud and do yourselves proud.  Next year you need to keep showing your freshers that there is so much more to being an RA than getting hammered.

To my officer election candidates.  All 35 of you.  I really do miss you and I am so proud of you all for what you were able to achieve.  I always maintain that the secret behind a high turnout is enthusiastic, motivated and well-supported candidates.  I tried my hardest to focus 100% of my attention on to you 35, and, with the various crises that emerged throughout the 2 weeks, and the referendum, you probably got about 75% of that, but it paid off massively.  Turnout is not an arbitrary figure that will naturally keep rising, you have to put an incredible amount of effort and thought into it and decisions are made, however small, that can have a huge impact on the turnout.  We have one of the highest voter turnouts in an SU in the country.  Yet we never shout about it.  In that typical Brummie way, we keep our heads down and carry on and push ourselves for more.  That’s great, but let’s shout about our successes more when it’s appropriate.

My final thank you, goes to the most influential student group.   Labour Students are the most wonderful, most committed group of people I know.  It has been so difficult to step back a bit this year, but I felt I needed to let the club move on and I’ve not been disappointed.  You’ve recruited tonnes more active members that get involved in our campaigns to make our party stronger.  My politics are very important to me, but I don’t like to preach about them to anyone.  My values are my values, no one elses.  I have never forgotten Labour Students, and I don’t know how many people know this, but I’ve been surprised to get away with it quite frankly.  Every day this year, on my lanyard I have had a labour rose attached, reminding me of what I believe in and at times, who my friends are.  It’s past time for censures now but if you’re really upset about that you can make an official complaint to the President.

I just want to make one final point, and although it might sound like the controversial angst part of the speech it actually isn’t.  It’s supposed to be some words of encouragement.  Guild Council, I have had enough of the nay-sayers, a special group of people who always pop up when you least want them.

The nay-sayers who belittle guild politics, belittle guild activism, campaigns and belittle representation.

We are steeped in history when we see these names on this wall and I have often found myself thinking about what discussions they had in here with people like us.  Were they also made to feel ashamed to be involved?

I say to those nay-sayers look what we have done…400 people to challenge tuition fees rises in 24 hours mobilized on campus, democratic reforms that make sense and the highest ever turnout with more candidates than ever before in elections.  Look what it is to be involved in Guild politics, look what change you can make.

There are good times and bad times, I nearly abandoned the Guild because of them, but instead I chose to stay and change it from within.

So when you see one of the nay-sayers ask them; what is it you have done with your time here?  What change have you made possible?

Don’t give in to their petty routine.  Make change happen and do what is right to make this amazing organisation even better. To put it quite simply and to employ the great idiom of our time…Don’t stop believing.

With that, that is all.  I wish you good luck, thank you and good bye.

New Joe’s officially opened just over two weeks ago and the response has been amazing.  Not only has it become a political hub, regularly visited by BBC Midlands, it is also bringing in many new people who may have not spent much time in the Guild previously.  I feel really positive about it and I’m really excited.  Ok so at first I was really protective and making sure people were keeping their feet off the seats and being careful not to spill snakebite on the balcony, but all that paranoia has passed as people are treating their new bar with respect.

So now my focus turns to the super membership area taking the place of old Joe’s.  It will house, democracy, the ARC, JobZone, Community Wardens, Mentors and Student Development along with a brand new social-learning space.

I want to report that the builders found an old fireplace behind where the old bar used to be.  After the designer looked at it I can confirm that this will be fully restored and be a really nice feature for the coffee area that’s going to be around there.  I’m really happy about this and here is a photo of said fireplace in its current form.  Enjoy!

So this term I learned a few crucial things about the job.  The true value of the blackberry during the elections should not be underestimated; waking up first thing in the morning to answer texts and emails from candidates was always a pleasure.  RAs are some weird species of banterous folk.  Sugarfree red-bull is the world’s best creation.  One must always be on the lookout for missing apostrophes.

Rumours of life outside the Guild are spreading like wild-fire but I am still looking for tangible evidence and I am also becoming much better at understanding what Fabian is saying.

Here is a summary of some of the main super-cool things I’ve been working on, in no particular order;

Officers and Staff Away Day

After a stressful term 1 the officers scurried off for 2 days to get away from the Guild and plan for term 2.  The term was panning out to be the most exciting yet with Know your Guild, the referendum, elections, don’t rush housing campaign and much more.  So it was really important to get away as a team and plan properly.  It was also nice to spend time planning with core Guild staff who would help deliver our projects.  It snowed lots!!

Pound a pint night

Pound a pint night is something we’ve tried in a lot of different ways this year.  In term 1, we had a stand alone special night after Vale Fireworks which was really well attended.  We then attempted a stand alone night for a month in November on a Sunday.  This did not go well.  So it was back to the drawing board.

In February we created pound-party, with the help of the RAs we had a really great turnout with new DJs and the usual drink offers.  Feedback I got was positive and I thought the night was amazing.  It has taught me though about the need to sometimes be flexible with manifesto promises, especially when it comes to commercial activity.  I think the future of pound a pint nights in the Guild is that it will be used more as a special one off event.  I think the event attracts a different crowd and it’s important to diversify.

Vote for Students

Early in term one the NUS launched its Vote for Students campaign.  With the knowledge that the General Election was fast approaching it was important for student unions to support each other and encourage students to get involved and excited about the election.

I attended a planning day in London, hosted by the NUS, to exchange ideas about the best way to get the campaign moving.  We prepared for activity on campus, in halls and online.  The campaign centres on the pledge for candidates who promise to vote against a rise in tuition fees.  Students can sign up as well and receive information about their local candidates in both their home and term-time address.

What’s great is that it is accessible and allows student unions to do what they want with the campaign, so we’ve been able to engage a completely new group of students who have no history of political interest and it is amazing to see them talking about the election and getting excited about the vote for students campaign.

Fab Security Shift

Every week I get incident reports from our security team.  These are usually about various misdemeanours caused in our venues.  I was invited to shadow the security team during Fab in February and although it was an unusually quiet night it was a great chance to get to know the team more and find out how the respond to various issues.  It was an incredibly useful experience which I wish I had done earlier in the year.  I am encouraging the VPDR-elect to do the same thing, either before the end of the year or at the start of next year.

Democratic Structures Review

With term 1 focussing on creating a consultation model on a new method of democratic decision making in the Guild, term 2 focussed on garnering opinion from all sections of students.  Consultation lasted about 6 weeks and included online submissions, questions in the Guild’s “Your Voice” research survey, several focus groups and larger meetings with student groups, student reps and Guild Councillors.

Changes were made to the model based on the consultation process.  As a VPDR it was incredibly rewarding to hear students actively talking about democracy and the way they felt they should be engaged in the Guild.  I was pleased to finally get a model to be taken to the wider student body via a cross-campus referendum.

NUS Delegate Elections & Officer By-Elections

We held elections for 7 delegates to NUS conference and also by-elections for vacant non-sabbatical positions.  We were able to fill the positions of Home Students Officer (Jahmahl) and Disabled Students Officer (Claire).

The announcement of the results was delayed by twenty-three hours.  The cause of delay in the announcement of the NUS Delegate Results was due to the complex calculations that are required to determine the winner in an election like the NUS Delegate Election, where multiple positions are available. It was felt necessary to double check these calculations through conducting an exploratory paper count of Rounds One and Two. This exploratory paper count confirmed the original e-count. There was never any problem with the voting system and the measures taken were simply precautions.

Officer Elections

The Officer elections were quite simply the most fun I have had so far this year! It was also the most stressful and tiring but the record turnout we achieved, in votes and in candidates made it all worthwhile.

It was also amazing to see so many more campaigners than ever before and a lot more excitement on campus about the elections, particularly from first years.  I only hope that enthusiasm continues.

I want to make a big shout out to RedBull who got me through the elections as well as eat natural bars.  Staple food products of any political activist!

Referendum

The referendum gave a clear steer of approval for the new democratic decision making structure.  I am gutted I won’t be around next year to see it in action but the VPDR-elect is more than capable of ensuring its success.

The work is not yet complete.  The new bye-laws need to be approved by Guild Council, the trustee board and the University and the Guidance and Strategy documents also need to be written.  These will be done in consultation with incoming officers as well.  So there is still a big project to finish and I won’t let you get rid of me until the work is done! J

New Bar & Guild Build

Following on from the difficulties of the redevelopment we faced in October/November.  I and Katie have put extra focus on building meetings this term.  The build on the bar began in January and since then there have been very few minor issues.  The new kitchen has been a priority, getting the menu right, recruiting full-time and student staff to prepare the meals.

I am really excited to hear your feedback.  It’s a new venture for the Guild so let us know what you think.  It can only get bigger and better, and these are early days so if there are some issues then come forward.

Whilst this has been going on we’ve also been working on plans for the next phase of the redevelopment, the most important and exciting part – the brand new membership area.  Work on this is progressing well and we hope for everything to be finished June/July.  It’s been designed and built by the same companies that have done phase 1 (retail) and phase 2 (the bar) so it will all fit in nicely and should give you a good feel for what it might look like! Expect the new membership area to give an even better “wow” factor.

I attended NUS Annual Conference in Newcastle Gateshead last week.  I was not elected to be a delegate.  I had to take someones place at the last minute.  I therefore think it is only right that I present an extended report for members that details exactly how I voted, who I voted for and some information on the reports.  Please take a read and feel free to answer questions on anything contained (or not)!

VPDR_nus_delegate_report

Will report back in more detail but wanted to share a photo of Levi Roots who today delivered an outstanding talk on developing new projects and ideas and making them successful! Finding NUSSL agm really interesting and useful!

Hey everyone,

Thought I’d post a link to my blog which explains the detail behind the proposals.  Take a look and feel free to comment or email me questions @ vpdr@guild.bham.ac.uk

Time for change – vote YES in the referendum

This is the first time in 90 years the Guild has proposed reforms to its way of democratic decision making.  The status quo is tired and archaic, but most of all it simply doesn’t work.  I’ve sat on Guild Council for nearly 4 years (geek points!) and I’ve constantly been a loud voice for reform along with many others.  I am determined to take power away from a small group and give it to the student body at large.  I can completely understand the concerns and emotion around the proposals.  This is a really important decision for people to make but I wanted to express my views on this group for people to take into consideration as well.  This is the great thing about referenda…everyone gets a chance to have their voice heard on the issues!!
Some key things among the changes;

1)  New completely open meetings on key themes that all students can attend – question officers and raise important issues. These will happen monthly.  There is room for cross-over, so you can raise an entirely different issue in the welfare forum for instance (the only down-side to that is that it may take more time for it to be dealt with).
2)  A clearer Guild Council, ensuring students are all fairly represented by well-trained and resourced individuals. Making policy relevant, well-informed and truly student-led.  Smaller Guild Council means the meeting runs more efficiently but more importantly that representatives can be given much greater support and training.  We currently have over 400 people sitting on Guild Council with very poor training and very little support because of their numbers.  Out of 160 academic Guild Councillors there are only 64 and very few turn up.  Student groups make up the vast majority of a meeting but only because they’re forced to attend and most of them leave half way through.
3)  A one-stop shop for all students to quickly have their issues resolved without having to attend meetings or navigate archaic bureaucratic guild procedure. The steering group (working title) which will report back to Guild Council on every decision made, GC can appeal those decisions and hear any policy submitted by ANY student that was not given a hearing by the steering group.  Officers form this group because they’re always around and it will work quickly to respond to students but decisions made will always have the scrutiny of a more effective Guild Council at mind.
4)  Annual referenda, giving ALL students a chance to finally have their say on important policy decisions. Taking power a way from a small clique and giving it to the majority of students!

Most of the questions asked in this group are answered in my blog above, so please take a look at that.

However, for the last 6 months I’ve always asked for personal feedback, if you’d like to meet up and discuss these reforms please let me know, or if you’d like to email me please do so contact: vpdr@guild.bham.ac.uk alternatively you can post anonymously on my blog if you wish.

Thanks for reading (sorry for the essay),

Tom

Vice-President Democracy & Resources

P.S. Before anyone says they’re not – funds are made available for a “no” campaign on campus.  Let me know if you wish to access them…vpdr@guild.bham.ac.uk

Your Voice, Your Choice!

Vote in the Referendum 2010

15^th-19^th March 2010

The Guild of Students is currently reviewing its democratic decision making structures for the first time in nearly 90 years.  The aim of the review is to make the Guild more relevant to students by ensuring that they can easily and effectively influence the decisions that are made in the Guild.

Through market research, and consultation with students, the Guild has developed a proposed model for how students can engage in the decision making processes of the Guild.  The proposed model is designed to ensure that YOU can raise any issues that YOU may have with regards to life as a student at the University of Birmingham with the Guild in a safe and effective way, and that YOUR issue is acted upon by the Guild.  The proposed model is outlined below.

It’s now up to YOU.  For this model to be accepted we need YOU to vote Yes to the proposed model in the upcoming Guild Referendum. The Referendum will be held from 15^th-19^th March 2010 alongside the Guild Officer Elections.  All Voting is online.  To vote, you need to log into the my.bham portal and click on the elections link to go straight to the e-voting page.

For more details, please visit: http://www.guildofstudents.com

The Proposed Model for Decision Making in the Guild:

Open Forums

There will be Open Forums in the new model which any student will be able to attend and raise issues as well as question officers.

• Open Forums will be chaired by the relevant Guild Officer.
• Students can raise problems and suggestions in an informal manner at the most appropriate forum without doing anything before the meeting.
• Any issue raised will be actioned by the relevant officer where possible or referred onto Guild Council if it is too big an issue to be decided on at the forum.  This will be the responsibility of the Officer chairing the meeting.
• Any contentious issues can be voted upon in the forum to determine a steer for future action.  Before being passed on to guild council.
• These forums can also be used for two-way communication, getting feedback on activities, making announcements and giving updates.
• The forums can also be used to question Officers about what they are doing/ will be doing.
• There will be five forums covering the topics of – Guild, Welfare, University and Education, Sports, Student Groups
• Forums will occur monthly, but be on a cycle so that there will be a forum held at least fortnightly.

Steering Group

A student will be able, at any time, to email the new Steering Group (working title).  The Steering Group will determine whether an issue can be dealt with simply by an officer on the student’s behalf or if it needs to go to an Open Forum for discussion along with other relevant issues.  If neither of those solutions is appropriate it may be presented at the Guild Council meeting.  Throughout the process the student will be kept informed of the progress of their issue.   The Steering Group will be the Officers of the Guild.  Decisions made in the steering group will be presented in a report to Guild Council.  Any motion recieved will be presented in this report, making the process much more open and democratic.  Officers will have to make their decisions knowing that the detail will be effectively scrutinised by students representatives in a new and stronger Guild Council.

There will be a set of criteria agreed by Guild Council outlining how decisions are made as to where student issues are sent within the model.  These criteria will be used by the Steering Group to make a decision.

The Steering Group will present a report to Guild Council at each meeting outlining motions not accepted by the Group, and reasons for the rejection.  Guild Council can then hold the Steering Group to account if they feel that the criteria weren’t followed.  This may also enable policy not heard an opportunity to be given another consideration.

Guild Council

Policy can reach Guild Council for decision via two methods;

1)      An issue  raised in an open meeting that affects the student body as a whole, or is a decision of a political nature  would be given a recommendation by the meeting and passed up to Guild Council via the Steering Group.

2)      A student or Officer contacts the Steering Group with an issue to determine the best decision making body for that issue, and may submit it to Guild Council.

• The meeting will be chaired by an independent chair and vice chair both elected via cross campus ballot (at the same time as Officer elections).
• There will be 80 Guild Councillors elected from the following constituencies:
  • Academic Representatives – 1 from each School (27)
  • Society Representatives – 2 from each Mini-forum excluding the liberation forum (20)
  • Association Representatives – 1 from each Guild Association (8)
  • Residence Association Representatives – 1 from each Residence (13)
  • Cross Campus positions open to any student – 12 positions of which 2 must be 1^st year, and 2 must be Postgraduate.
• Guild Council will be an open meeting where any Guild member may attend and speak.
• Guild Council can hold officers to account and make decisions on Guild Policy via voting on motions that are submitted.
• Some decisions may be deemed too big to be voted on at Guild Council and instead be sent to Referendum.
• Guild Council shall occur once each term, but may be called more frequently than this by the President of the Guild if deemed necessary.

Current Sub-Committees of Guild Council

Some of the current sub-committees of Guild Council will still exist.  These are:

• Resident’s Executive
• Equality and Diversity Committee
• Elections Committee
• Student Group Committee

• These committees will become sub-committees of the Sabbatical Officer Group and can implement non-political issues or send political issues on to the Guild Council.
• Where there are currently members of these committees elected through Guild Council, this will still occur.
• All other committees will be disbanded and issues in these areas dealt with in open meetings.

Referendum

• There will be the ability to hold referenda each academic year.
• Guild Council will have the ultimate decision in which policies get voted on at referendum.  Ideally there would be no more than 5 issues put before the student body.

This model is designed to make it easier for YOU to let the Guild know how we can make life better for you as a student here at Birmingham.  It affects every student so you need to get out and have your voice heard by voting in the Referendum from 15^th-19^th March 2010.

For more information, please visit www.guildofstudents.com, or email vpdr@guild.bham.ac.uk

I’ve just returned from a luxurious one week holiday…in London!  The President was kind enough to grant me leave and I came back to the Guild today in a flurry of optimism and excitement for all the events coming up in the second half of this term.  I thought I’d blog to update you all on the NUS Delegate Election results.

From February 1^st to February 3^rd, over 700 students voted in our NUS Delegate Elections. The winning candidates were Ed Sparkes, Emma Packham, Mark Harrop, Callum Anderson, Gideon Mendell, Alexander Zatman and Abigail Goodman. They will attend NUS Annual Conference alongside the Guild of Students’ President Fabian Neuner. In addition Claire Lister was elected Disabled Students’ Officer and Jahamal Rowe was elected Home Students’ Officer. Congratulations to all successful candidates.

As you may have read in Redbrick, the announcement of the results was delayed by twenty-three hours.  The cause of delay in the announcement of the NUS Delegate Results was due to the complex calculations that are required to determine the winner in an election like the NUS Delegate Election, where multiple positions are available. It was felt necessary to double check these calculations through conducting an exploratory paper count of Rounds One and Two. This exploratory paper count confirmed the original e-count. There was never any problem with the voting system and the measures taken were simply precautions.

A fuller explanation follows, but I’m afraid that to fully explain what happened we have to include technical details about the STV process that the Guild of Students uses. If you need more information or have any questions about this, please email elections@guild.bham.ac.uk.

The Guild of Students uses the Electoral Reform Society STV 1997 set of rules.  Under these rules, in the case of multiple-position elections candidates are successfully elected once they have reached quota. This quota is the Number of Votes divided by the Number of Positions Available + 1. Should a candidate be elected with votes in addition to what they needed to meet quota, then these surplus votes will be redistributed to other candidates via a process called ‘fractional transfer’. This is where a candidate’s surplus votes are used to reflect the breakdown of the second preferences cast by their voters. This is done by dividing the surplus votes by the total number of transferable votes, with a transferable vote being a vote with a next preference for a candidate still in the election. This division would then set the transfer value for all votes that were transferring. So for example if Candidate A had exceeded quota by a surplus of ten and had fifty votes with next available preferences, then you would divide ten by fifty which would give the fifty transferring votes a transfer value of 0.2.

However in some cases (for example when a large number of a candidate’s first preference votes have no available next preference) the number of transferable votes is less than the surplus by which they have exceeded quota. In such a case, the transferable votes are transferred at their present value and the remainder is non-transferable. So for example if Candidate B had exceeded quota by fifty but only had ten votes with a next available preference then the ten transferable votes would be transferred to the remaining candidates and forty votes would be non-transferable.

In this election, due to the large number of first preference votes for candidate Ed Sparkes that had no next available preference (that is votes that had a preference for a candidate other than Emma Packham or Mark Harrop) it was this second process that was followed. This is very unusual, and the Returning Officer and the Chair of Elections Committee both took the view that it was important to check that this was correct by conducting an exploratory paper count. Having counted all ballots and conducted the transfer of votes from Ed Sparkes to the remaining candidates in the election we are now fully satisfied that the original e-count and its simulation of the STV calculations was correct.

This year I’ve been experimenting alot with Pound-A-Pint night, one of my cornerstone manifesto promises.  We’ve had the standalone quiet night in Joes which no one attended and then we had a really amazing after party following the Vale Fireworks that saw a packed Guild!  Now we’ve got something different, better, new, interesting, exciting and most of all amazing!

I give you…..

THURSDAY 4TH FEBRUARY 11PM-3AM

In exactly one weeks time Pound Party will be launched, introducing brand new DJs to the Guild and £1 on selected drinks – ALL NIGHT LONG!!  All this for £4 (tickets from Joes and ticketsellers.com) and the beauty part?  You don’t even have to pay for a cab home, you can walk it!

POUND PARTY – It’s exactly what it says on the tin!

This follows on from my last blog about the decision making reform proposal.

Here is a list of all consultation dates:

Meetings:

Student Group Megaforum – 18th January, 6pm Guild Council Chambers

Forum for Student Reps – 27th January, 7pm Guild Council Chambers

Open Students Meeting – 2nd February, 4pm Guild Council Chambers

Res Exec – 2nd February, 6pm Guild Council Chambers

Sports Forum – 4th February, 5.30pm Raising the Bar

Focus Groups (participants will be re-imbursed £6 for their time):

•Monday 25th January 3-4 pm – Thompson Training Suite

•Wednesday 27th January 2-3 pm – Council Chambers

•Wednesday 27th January 5.30-6.30 pm – Rosa Parks

•Thursday 28th January 2-3 pm – Council Chambers

•Wednesday 3rd February 1-2 pm – Council Chambers

•Wednesday 3rd February 5.30-6.30 pm – Council Chambers

If you are interested in discussing this further please sign up now or email council@guild.bham.ac.uk