Students' Union Rule Changes (Apr2024)

Proposal 01 – Amendments to the Constitution of the Students’ Union - Democracy Review

“Do you support the proposal on Democracy in the Students’ Union (attached) to amend the Students’ Union Constitution and Rules?”

SUMMARY

Current System:

• Students can submit a detailed policy idea to the QSU Student Council (of 140 elected students) who debate and vote on the idea.
• If approved by the Council, the Students’ Union acts on the idea.
• Annually Council decides if all of the current list of priority ideas should remain, or if some should be removed.
• Non-members of Student Council have limited input into shaping and making decisions on QSU priorities.

Proposed System:

• In general, there will be more opportunities for every student to shape and decide what the Students’ Union works on.
• Any student can submit an idea to QSU. A student-led committee will help that student to shape the idea - providing more info and suggestions for actions.
• If the idea is straightforward, it will be put on the SU website where students can provide feedback and vote on the proposal. If a large majority of voters agree with the idea, then QSU acts on the idea. If the idea is not successful it can be revised to include feedback from students.
• If the idea is not straightforward and/or affects certain groups of students and needs greater input, the idea will be developed by a Student Assembly, who will be a group of students randomly selected to be reflective of the student body in Queen’s. The Student Assembly will invite input from affected students and develop a detailed version of the idea. This will then be voted on by all-students. If a majority of voters agree, then QSU acts on the idea.