SU seeking to change quorum again

Warwick SU has approved a motion to lower quorum from 5% back down to 2%. Quorum was raised last year however, due to a lack of student participation in SU democracy it is being lowered to allow motions to be passed.

Quorum is the minimum number of votes that must be cast in order for an election to be valid.

If last year’s increased quorum had been applied retrospectively 85% of motions would have been invalid meaning 85% of motions last year had less than 5% of the student body voting.

The new change conflicts with last year’s Democracy and Development Officer Olly Rice who told The Boar that ‘it’s incredibly healthy, and not unreasonable, to have a quorum of 5%. If a policy is truly necessary then I expect that those campaigning for it will do more than just see it through council and rely on passing at an ASM’.

Warwick Conservatives say the change is undemocratic and have alleged that Marie Dams (Democracy Executive Chair) put the emergency motion forward because a motion she supported was unlikely to reach the raised quorum.