Student apathy halts union plans

A farcical meeting of the students’ union failed to implement any changes because there weren’t enough people there.

Johannes Butscher’s first General Meeting as Union President – billed on posters as a chance to “Stir It Up” – ended in a shambles on October 3rd when a number of proposals had to be shelved because there weren’t sixty people to vote on them.

There had been more than sixty, the minimum required, earlier in the meeting but it dragged on for so long that many had to leave for class before the big matters could even be discussed.

The postponed movements included scrapping 300 supposedly outdated Union policies, instituting a ban on sponsors handing out plastic bags and, most notably, forcing the university to stop scheduling any sort of classes on a Wednesday afternoon.

Discussed in the meeting in the preceding hour, when people were still present, were elections to the CED committee (Communities, Events & Development) and the FRC (Financial Resources Committee) in which candidates were told to stay in the room but to shut their eyes so they didn’t see who was voting for them.

There was also a debate about proposed changes to the executive structure of the Students’ Union, even though other changes were rejected in a referendum held last year.

Conn O’Neill, currently running for International & Exchange Students’ Officer, was happy that the meeting failed, saying on Facebook: “This was a sham and another attempt to sneak poorly thought-out reform proposals past the student body.”