The Edinburgh’s Student Association’s Student Council had their first meeting on Thursday, 26 September with a focus on widening participation representation.
A motion to introduce a widening participation liberation officer working in the same capacity and alongside the other liberation officers passed with 92% in favour.
The new liberation officer would aim to widen access for students of lower classes.
However, concerns were raised about overlap with other officers and who would be included in widening access.
An argument that these students were already represented by the 93% club society – which advocates for state educated, low income students, and first generation students – was also made.
A separate motion on changes to the current widening participation representation failed with 64% voting in favour.
For larger motions, a two thirds majority is needed to pass.
Had it passed, the motion would have removed five student representative roles, including the Part-time Students’ Representative and the Mature Students’ Representative, in favour of the creation of digital spaces for these student communities.
Introducing the motion, Vice President Welfare Indigo Williams said:
“The roles are often not filled, and the representatives struggle to communicate with the students they represent.”
Hayley McCormack, the Mature Students’ Representative, spoke against the motion and asked if there was another solution to the issue.
The council meeting also included an accountability section for the existing sabbatical officers, which discussed issues such as divestment, student homelessness, and desk-hogging in the library.
Meanwhile, the student experience discussion focused on welcoming back new and returning students.
It covered positives – such as ample information about societies and events – and negatives – such as affordability, availability of housing, timetabling issues, and switching courses.
Criticism was raised at Domus – the university’s student lettings site – for helping to make accommodation unaffordable because of its limited number of properties, the majority of which are reserved.
You can find a full recording and detailed summary here.
“McEwan Hall, University of Edinburgh – Welcome Week 2017” by Stinglehammer is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.