Changes to SUSU AGM

This year’s SUSU Annual General Meeting, being held in The Bridge on May 8th, will be following a new format designed to make decision making simpler and more accessible. Newly […]


This year’s SUSU Annual General Meeting, being held in The Bridge on May 8th, will be following a new format designed to make decision making simpler and more accessible.

Newly elected President, and current VP Comms, David Gilani, announced on a blog that online submissions and proxy voting will be introduced to the policy making process. Of the new changes Gilani said that “AGM is most successful when we make it really easy for students to put forward ideas, discuss things that actually matter.”

Between Tuesday 16th April and Wednesday 24th you can submit a one sentence idea for changes you want to see in SUSU, which will then be put to a one day poll. The four most popular ideas as voted for by you will then be developed in to motions by the Democracy team and put forward for debate at AGM. This makes it possible to share ideas without having to undertake policy work, which for many students can feel tedious and off-putting. You will then be able to register voting preferences online if you are unable to attend, making it much easier to have your say.

Exclusion was a major problem of last year’s AGM, where a very small pool of SUSU insiders voted for an unwanted and unsuccessful NUS referendum, which set the tone and direction of the union during first semester. Time will tell if SUSU’s new approach to AGM will lead to long term improvements in direct democracy and policy making, but here at The Tab we warmly welcome news that the union is consciously changing its practice to become more inclusive.

Will these new additions make the SUSU AGM more accessible? Or is it a case of too little, too late? Let us know in the comments!