Put the Union on trial to Rein in Crap Policy

As The Tab has reported, the Union Council has seen sense and will now let us watch RBS-sponsored rugby in the pub. Democracy in action, big whoop.

It shouldn’t have come to this. And they only watered down their original policy because UEA students were so vocal about this particular bit of nonsense.

There will likely be more boycotts in the future, more self-righteous protests and more policies that seem daft to your average student. What can those of who don’t care about student politics do?

Well, I’ve got an plan that should help to stop the Council’s over-reaching – put them on trial. Or rather, set up a jury.

Out in the real world, twelve members of the public can decide if you’re guilty of a crime. I say we randomly draw some students, and let them accept or reject the stuff that the Council churns out. (I’ll concede that a students’ union might be as complicated as two murder trials, so let’s have 24 people in this Jury.)

24 randomly drawn students could have quickly told you that boycotting TV sport coverage is a load of crap. Sitting together as a jury they could have told the Council, “no chance, students will resent this”, and we could have avoided this whole sorry episode.

With a jury this banana republic would gain checks and balances to counter the student politicians who are keener, greener and louder than the rest of us. This is the way real democracies are designed – even Afghanistan has a ‘bicameral legislature’.

Randomly draw 24 students. Give them the right to refuse to be jurors, and keep drawing randomly until we have 24 who accept. Pay them £10 per hour. Give them a few hours training, then let them have eight two-hour meetings through the year, just like the Union Council. At that rate they would set us back 5000 quid, or add 0.22% to the Union’s £1.7 million wage bill.

The politicos can still stand for elections, they can still print posters and vote to pass policy – just like they do now. And then the Jury can give the thumbs up (and the Union has a new policy), or thumbs down (the Council tries harder to think like the normal people whose interests they are meant to represent).

Sure, student politics seems boring, predictable and irrelevant. But reforming the Union has the potential to pay off – we could eat Kit Kats again, and the Israeli Prime Minister might finally support the Union’s right to exist.