For those of you that might not know, Union Council is a vital part of our democratic structure and gives students the chance to be part of the decision-making process at uea(su). It is open to every single UEA student but for those who weren’t at the last one, on the 9th May, here’s everything you need to know!  

As this was the last union council meeting of the academic year, Oli Gray proposed the budget estimates which were approved by Union Council. 

We also approved these new societies: 

· Cancer Research UK 

· Commuters 

· Ghanaian 

· Ghost Hunting 

· Mahjong 

· OSCE Aid 

· Social Work 

· Wine and Cheese 

· WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) 

· Kenyan Soc 

· Pantomime Soc 

We went through the Student Officer Reports on SOC (student officer committee) and discussed what I’ve been up to over the last month including: 

· Attending NUS National Conference in early April which saw reform go through!! 

· Working with the newly elected officers who are doing some planning together to look at our aims for the next year. 

· Visiting 7 different SUs to learn about what they're doing democracy-wise to feed into the review that is taking place. 

· The Aurora biannual took place at the end of May. 

· The TEAs and the STARs took place- it was great to celebrate so many achievements this year. 

 

We also passed these new policies: 

· Amendment to the Bye-Laws - An Officer for Black Students 

· Give Us Peer Support Groups! 

· Making Labs a Better Learning Environment 

· Don’t want to attend Council? Don’t sit on Council! (Amendment to the Bye-Laws) 

· Amendment to the Bye-Laws – Course rep and convener 

· Allow Associate Tutors to Supervise Dissertations at Undergraduate Level 

· UEA SU-assistance in end of year on-campus/off campus accommodation collection 

· LGBT+ Policy 

· UEA SU to demand that the university declares a climate emergency 

· No to Rent Hikes 

· Proper Silent Spaces 

· The real cost of being a student 

We discussed lots for the last council for the academic year. If you’re joining us next year as a Union Councilor, we have training taking place on the 14th June, 4-5pm in bookable room 6 (the final one for this semester). If you can’t make it, there’ll be more in September! In the meantime, if you have any questions for me about Union Council, feel free to email me at [email protected].