In marking a decade since 2016, I see both my friends and those online yearning for a return to Kylie Jenner’s blue hair, the ‘Rio De Janeiro’ filter on Instagram, and for ‘Tumblr Girls’ by G-Easy to be on the radio once again. You may be asking what your President is yearning for from this era. I have one answer: a Democracy Review referendum for the Students’ Association.
2026 officially concludes the 10th year since our last Democracy Review, a comprehensive analysis and assessment of the ways in which our students are best represented across the University. Our last review saw the introduction of our fifth Sabbatical Officer, the Vice President Welfare, new Elected Representative roles, and an impartial Council Chair, among many other changes.
However, a lot has changed in the last 10 years for students, as over 2000 shared in recent consultations with Sabbatical officers. For one, our schedules look different: due to the cost-of-living crisis, students are working alongside their studies more than ever before, they’re commuting further, they’re packing in extracurriculars to build their CV, and all that means we are more selective with our time. This changes the way we see asks like coming to Council, running for election, or taking up year-long posts. Moreover, we’re seeing empowered political engagement in various spaces – from individual societies to coalitions and unofficial groups – but without the critical infrastructures, networks, and channels of escalation within the Association to facilitate opportunities for change at Edinburgh, you’re left asking whether it’s worth your time to be involved.
With our Review taking place over the last academic year, we have arrived here – a student-body wide referendum proposal from your Sabbatical Officers asking your permission to change our approach to student voice. As the pivotal cog in our machinery, passing this referendum proposal allows us to begin work on operationalising a new system, a better system, for you, me, and students everywhere. If the proposal passes, students will be central to the next steps, shaping them into a reality.
Before I run ahead with the utopian dreams, let me break down what the recommendations offer. Firstly, a core strengthening and expansion of our academic representation across all levels, from undergraduate and postgraduate to programme, School, and College levels. At a time where the university is pressing ahead with huge changes to its academic offering, we need students who are empowered with the capacity to work with University, learn its oft-bureaucratic structures, and consistently be a part of decision-making spaces consistently. To achieve this, we are proposing three changes: for School Representatives to be appointed rather than elected, paid instead of voluntary, and to create new College and department-level Representatives too.
Our current system has gaps: decision-making at the College level is missing key channels for student voice beyond our VP Education or School Representatives; we are running Elections that leave multiple School-level roles unfilled every year, and some of our hardest working student representatives are improving the student experience, without any remuneration. Therefore, we have proposed an appointment based-system, with Reps selected by student-led panels, and supported by School and Students’ Association staff to ensure the best chances of achieving a full roster of Representatives, accountable to students.
Looking beyond Academic Reps, our Liberation Officers also work hard to represent everyone across our diverse student body. However, for years they’ve shared how tough it is to do that alone. We want to see issue-based campaigning opportunities for more than six elected Officers a year alone: we want this opportunity for all. That is why we’re proposing the introduction of multiple campaigning channels: our Liberation Networks, providing space for marginalised and underrepresented students and the societies that already represent them to come together, Thematic Working Groups that will focus on impactful campaigning and lobbying on key issues facing our communities, as well as flexible Campaigner positions, for active students who want a temporary leadership role. This collection of spaces and roles will secure action on issues pivotal to both Liberation and student living more generally, from highlighting the cost-of-living crisis to championing accessibility on campus and online, or working collaboratively to challenge the BME awarding gap.
Finally, the Student Council. In our current model, it is the place to propose motions, hold Sabbatical Officers to account, discuss hot topics on campus and to set the Association’s political policy. However, with declining participation and the reduction in motions brought over the years, we need to accept this model no longer works and re-energise our powers of policymaking and accountability. For the former, we believe in the might of Referenda (like this one) and the Annual General Meeting as the place to collate and vote on big principles proposed by students, and to set actionable directions for future years to come. Instead of technical motions voted for by 50 students, we’ll have powerful statements backed by thousands of us, ensuring they can’t be ignored. For the latter, we propose an emboldened Accountability Panel, with a jury of current students, sitting alongside Sabbatical Officers and student-voice experts from across Scotland, to review the work we do, and ensure we are in-step with the students we represent.
When I ran for President in March, I was entrusted with this role to campaign for a student-voice led culture here at Edinburgh. I believe this referendum, based on the recommendations of the Democracy Review, is a watershed moment in taking this forward. Now more than ever, we need to enable and empower students to show up, work together, and support our communities as we press for a better University for current and future students – academically, politically and tangibly.
Vote #yestotheref between 12 and 15 October.
Image by Isobel Beiboer for The Student.
