My Challenges for the New MMUnion Executive

This week, the new MMUnion executive officers begin their new jobs. In a year of change for the union I have decided to challenge the union's officers with five goals for the academic year. These are by no means a must, but I believe they also shouldn't be ignored.

Big-Up Student Forums

I am more than happy to help with this! As the indirect replacement to the General Meeting and the political side of Student Council, this will be the best opportunity for normal students to tell you what they want. Stop telling them what you're going to do, and get them to tell you what to do.

My challenge is for at least 100 students to attend every Student Forum, so big-up Student Forums in your lecture shouts and the freshers fair.

Ensure Effective Communication

One of the most annoying things in my time within the union, is that the student body has no idea what the union does! There is no effective communication between the officers and the students. How should this be overcome? Well there's no one way to reach every student in the university.

I suspect less than 5% of students read the digest email. I suspect less than 5% of students read the posters around the union buildings. I also suspect they're the same people.

I would like to see every officer have a blog which they regularly update. I would like to see officers give a monthly update on MMU Radio (I'm sure Glenn would be more than happy to set this up). I would like to see officers go around every kitchen in Cambridge and Cavendish Halls in September and again in January. This is achievable!

PULP. Is it working?

What I really mean, of course, is anyone reading it? The simple answer is probably not. I really am at a loss as to what to do about this and my conclusion is that Pulp should be dumped.

Last year Bolton University joined Salford and the University of Manchester in distributing Student Direct. Considering some friendlier people have just been elected down the road, this might be the ideal time to join the party. Salford and Bolton both have their own inserts to the newspaper, and I see no reason why we can't do the same.

If this is to be done for launch in September then obviously the wheels have to be put in motion now. More likely this year would be the last for Pulp with SD taking over in 2009.

NUS Governance

You don't have to tell me, I know you're already board with it. As I bloged about the way forward for NUS Governance, the students must be told about the review. Something for a Student Forum perhaps. Let the interested students make an informed decision, and encourage them to stand for the NUS delegation. Our informed delegates can then talk to other union's delegates, or even make speeches (in favour, I hope) so we can pass the review at conference.

While you're at it, the students will learn about the national union and maybe they will view it as more than a discount card!

Achieve 10% Turnout in Elections

OK, we've got about 33,000 students. An achievable turnout target is 3,300 in my opinion. By far and away, the best way of doing this is at least an equivalent of three full slates of candidates standing. Forty-eight candidates (for 16 positions) should bring in over 4,000 votes. That would be 1,500 more than UMSU had this year without electronic voting. Lets see if we can beat them when they bring in the e-voting this year.

And finally ...

Above all, I ask the executive, in the forthcoming twelve months, to do their best; the only thing anyone should expect of them!

Have fun over the next year. I'll be watching you!

JR

Radio Goes 80s and 90s With Special Guests

My fifth and final radio show of this academic year is now available. You can listen to it by clicking here.

The show is full of my favourite tracks from the eighties and nineties, but the real draw for this show is the special guests in the studio. Martin and Greeny from the Cricket Club joined me to add their own banter and bad jokes. Not to be missed.

The MMU Radio website is off-line at the moment as a new site is being launched before the start of term in September, but don't despair as the link above takes you directly to the listening portal.

More shows due in September!

JR

UPDATE: My fifth radio show can be listened to via the show's page on the MMU Radio website.

Somebody Reads This Rubbish

I have just found out that the Academic Affairs Officer at the University of Manchester Students’ Union, Chris Jenkinson, has linked to my blog from his. I have therefore decided to return the complement, so here you can find his post entitled This is not positive discrimination.

I have also included a permanent link to his blog in my blogroll on the right of the page.

JR

(Un)Happy Birthday

Gordon Brown has spent a year at number ten but what has changed? Why have Gordon and the Labour party found themselves in free fall?

Nick Robinson says that Gordon has made misjudgements and mistakes over important issues, like the 10p tax rate and the election that never was, but I think that the reason is much simpler. Gordon can't deal with so many things happening at once, constantly puts off the big decisions, hoping they will go away or solve themselves.

But I asked at the top of this blog post, what has changed? The answer for the PM is nothing! We just didn't notice it before because Gordon only had the treasury to deal with. However I don't think that he's incompetent but mis-guided in believing that everything he does is right. We all make mistakes, but a real leader can admit when those mistakes are made, and they earn respect for those admissions.

The country has lost respect for Gordon Brown, and the Labour party. That's what's changed.

JR

Handover Day

Today is Handover Day. The day where officers of the union change from the incumbents to those elected for the ensuing twelve months.

It's my first Handover Day (as I was elected in a by-election in October) but I am not attending; not least as it would cost me £70 in fuel. The problem is that I'd be handing over to myself and the position will probably not exist after the board of governors meeting in October, because of the constitutional changes made recently as I explained in MMUnion Goes Governance.

Of course I've sent my best wishes to those leaving the union today and I hope they'll keep in touch.

JR

NUS Governance - The Way Forward

Prompted by the Education Guardian article, complete with catalogue pose photo, of the new President of the National Union of Students, Wes Streeting; I have decided to put down my thoughts about the way forward for NUS Governance.

As I bloged in my Conference Report in April; the first attempt at passing the review was narrowly defeated at NUS Annual Conference, but a motion to scrap the proposals all together and start from scratch was clearly defeated.

The reforms themselves are, in my opinion, correct and necessary. What is required are some sweeteners for the doubters in the membership of NUS.

Firstly, whoever decided to change the name of conference to congress needs to be shot! If the event wasn't changing then why give the opposition ammunition to say that it was?

Are these reforms going to make affiliation fees less in years to come? They probably should do, and if they do then tell people that!

Stop trying to convince the hard left over the review, they're never going to accept it while it contains capitalist ideas like a board of trustees. Better to find concessions at the margins where pseudo-left delegates are; the swing voters.

But overall, make sure that normal students know about the review. If they're not interested then so be it, but at least they know about it. Put a spiel about it in the NUS Extra booklet and on the front page of the NUS website, not hid away on officer online (the union networking site and intranet of NUS). Make an effort!

Timing of the extraordinary conference for the first reading of the reforms needs to be before Christmas. Whether there should be a second extraordinary or ratification should be done at Annual Conference like it was attempted last time out, is something I'm indifferent about.

Of course, whatever happens, it needs to pass!

JR

I haven't gone away

Not that you had noticed, but I haven't been bloging recently.

Will update you soon.

JR