Last week, NUS Wales held a series of Liberation conferences covering Welsh language, black and minority ethnic students, students with disabilities, LGBT students, and women students, over five days, hosted at the Unite HQ in Cardiff.

This year, policy was passed requiring Aberystwyth Guild of Students to elect delegates to these conferences, however the timings necessitated open registration instead, due to rules preventing elections over the Easter period. As a result of this policy, Aber sent delegations to the majority of these conferences for the first time in a while. 4 delegates were sent to LGBT Conference – myself, Joe MacMahon, Rob Davies, and Lorraine Bainbridge.

Policy

NUS Wales LGBT is an autonomous campaign aiming to represent and campaign on behalf of GSM students across Wales, with conference being the sovereign decision making body, where policy is submitted by Student Unions. 10 motions were submitted this year on a range of issues, including campaigning for gender-neutral toilets, ending discrimination in blood and bone marrow donation, and working with women’s campaign on cervical screening. Members of Aber Pride had submitted a motion to conference on the provision of bilingual materials, however unfortunately this was ruled out of order as it had not been ratified by General Meeting here prior to submission. Attempts were made both here,and by NUS Wales LGBT Campaign to get the motion heard, however rules prevented it from being put forward. All valid motions submitted to conference passed.

Policy is held for a 3 year term, and so as a result, policy from 2009 was up for lapsing. However, lapsing policy can be challenged and renewed, and at this conference almost every lapsing policy was debated, of which many were renewed. I spoke on keeping the no platform for BNP and fascists policy, which was then voted to retain. Joe MacMahon spoke on a lapsing policy on bisexuality, which caused heated debate over the use of terminology which many considered to be exclusive and outdated. All Aberystwyth delegates contributed to debates on motions.

Workshops

Between plenary sessions, workshops were held on networking across Wales, and on implementing policy. Myself and Joe attended the latter whilst Rob and Lorraine were at the former. The policy workshop discussed the process of how to fight and win on policy, using gender neutral toilets as an example. Chaired by Vicki Baars, outgoing NUS LGBT Officer (Women’s Place) and NUS Vice-President-Elect Union Development, the session went over starting with the policy idea, why you want the policy, who you need to work with to get it in, e.g. student councils, Equality & Diversity staff, etc. and encouraging the use of SMART criteria in your planning.

Elections

At conference, several positions were up for election, including NUS Wales LGBT Officer, which is a part-time role that heads the campaign, Steering Officer, which co-ordinates and runs Conference, and Wales LGBT Committee, who act as the interim policy making body and work to implement the policies and campaigns of the organisation alongside the LGBT Officer. All elections are by STV, with RON as a candidate. Due to a policy which was ratified at conference, the committee structure changed to that of one Open Place position, one Bi Welfare and Campaigns position, one Womens caucus and elections position,  one Trans caucus and elections position, and one FE caucus and elections position. All positions had at least one candidate this year, and accordingly there is now a full committee.

Ian Morgan, the current NUS Wales LGBT Officer was re-elected unopposed, with 3 delegates voting for RON.

The committee members for 2012-13 will be Jack Oakley, Cardiff University (Open place); Lorraine Bainbridge, Aberystwyth University (Women’s caucus and elections); Rei Griffiths, University of Glamorgan (Trans caucus and elections); Katherine Leahy, Coleg Gwent (FE caucus and elections); and Sarah Lynn, Cardiff University (Bi welfare and campaigns). I ran for Bi Welfare and Campaigns, on a platform of union development to build support networks in mid and north Wales, but lost 8-16 to Sarah Lynn, who emphasised bi-erasure.

Kate Boddington, of Cardiff University was elected as Steering Officer, beating out Rob Davies for the position.

You can read the NUS reports from the other conferences at NUS Connect, where you’ll also see that delegates from Aberystwyth have been elected to the Welsh Language and Womens Campaigns.

Last week, NUS Wales held a series of Liberation conferences covering Welsh language, black and minority ethnic students, students with disabilities, LGBT students, and women students, over five days, hosted...

A phone call to a loved one. An e-mail to a prospective employer. A confidential message to a support service. Under new Government proposals, every single communication you make will be monitored and stored. Every time you phone someone, a record will be made of who, when, and where. Every time you access a website, it’ll be recorded. Your entire private life on display to the government, your friendships, your beliefs, your troubles, and your lifestyle. Everything.

Rank Hypocrisy

Despite opposing similar plans whilst in opposition, the Coalition Government are bringing forward plans to legislate a requirement for ISPs and telecoms providers to monitor and store information on every communication you make, providing the government “real-time” access to your data without warrant. The policy also flies in the face of Tory and Lib Dem election promises, and the coalition agreement:

We will be strong in defence of freedom. The Government believes that the British state has become too authoritarian, and that over the past decade it has abused and eroded fundamental human freedoms and historic civil liberties. We need to restore the rights of individuals in the face of encroaching state power, in keeping with Britain’s tradition of freedom and fairness. We will implement a full programme of measures to reverse the substantial erosion of civil liberties and roll back state intrusion… We will introduce safeguards against the misuse of anti-terrorism legislation… We will end the storage of internet and email records without good reason… – Section 3 “Civil Liberties”, Coalition Programme for Government

Technological Ignorance

Every week over 3.5 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook. Every day, over 290 billion emails are sent. Every hour over 1.3 million tweets go out on twitter. As the 8th most connected country in the world, interactions from UK citizens will represent a great deal of that content. With so much data being generated every second, storage costs alone would be astronomical. Then imagine that ISPs will be required to keep all that spam, too. Implementing this law would require widespread reworking of network infrastructure, and investment in provision and upkeep of servers that would make Google’s server costs look like nothing.

The Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) has already hit out at the government over this. But given the Government’s inability and unwillingness to listen in the Digital Economy Act debate, one would hardly be surprised if their concerns are brushed aside yet again.

War on right to privacy

If you’ve done nothing wrong, you’ve got nothing to hide. Only criminals, paedophiles and terrorists should be afraid. That’s the line from Home Secretary, Theresa May, anyway. The Government’s spouting of the fallacy-filled trope is utterly wrong – turning every civilian into a suspect, with everywhere you go, and every connection you make up for government tracking, is nothing short of declaring war on privacy.

Civil Liberties groups have lined up to condemn the move, with Jim Killock of the Open Rights Group stating “The saga of complicity between senior police officers and Murdoch’s journalists should tell us how vulnerable people’s privacy can be. The government should stand by the commitments both parties made before the election to protect our privacy.”, whilst Big Brother Watch have said “It is remarkable that they wish to pry into everything we do online but seem intent on avoiding any public discussion.”

Fighting the proposals

Unfortunately the public don’t seem to like getting up in arms or taking direct action on issues devolved from what they see as “real life”, so your options here are a bit limited to liberal things like writing to your MP or signing a petition, which the Government will happily allow because it makes no impact as they ignore everything said, whilst liberals pat themselves on the back for trying. “At least we didn’t take direct action”, they’ll proudly cry, as this legislation passes.

A phone call to a loved one. An e-mail to a prospective employer. A confidential message to a support service. Under new Government proposals, every single communication you make will...

Last night (Tuesday 21st Feb, 2012), Aberystwyth Guild of Students (AUGS) held its first General Meeting of the semester, which saw a record number of motions on the agenda.

Included in the agenda were two motions written by me on introducing Liberation Officers and Section Officers to the Guild Executive. With support from the Guild Education Officer, and the NUS and NUS Wales Liberation and Section Officers, we set out a viable policy that after much support, has now been passed, in what can only be described as a monumental leap forward for representation within our Union.

As a result of the new policy, The Guild Executive now includes LGBT+ Officer, Women’s Officer, Disabled Students Officer, BME Students Officer as part of a Liberations Executive, and a Mature Students Officer, Postgraduate Students Officer, and International Students Officer as Sections Executive. As part-time officers, elected only by their respective liberations/sections, these new officers will be working hard with the existing part-time Equalities Officer, and the NUS Wales team on delivering hard-hitting campaigns for the previously unrepresented students they will now be supporting.

For any questions about the motions, or these new officer positions at Aber Guild, contact me at andrew@andrewtindall.com or at ajt7@aber.ac.uk, or in the comments section below.

Last night (Tuesday 21st Feb, 2012), Aberystwyth Guild of Students (AUGS) held its first General Meeting of the semester, which saw a record number of motions on the agenda. Included...

'Fools Rush In' - Students queue in the cold, desperate for accommodation (photo credit: Aberystwyth University Lib Dems)

Despite pleas from the Guild for students to remain calm and make informed decisions on accommodation, in a campaign they term ‘Fools Rush In’; students were today seen queuing outside Alexanders Estate Agents in the cold – some from as early as 6am – desperate to get a room for next year from the newly released student property list.

Today’s scenes comes just months after the university was forced to put bunk-beds into single rooms, and ask non-UK European students to defer entry, in a bid to make enough room available for incoming undergraduates who arrived this September.

It’s nothing new that there’s a crisis in the accommodation sector in Aberystwyth. Every year since 2007, students have been left out in the cold, and every year the University says it’s resolved the issue, only for the problem to inevitably arise again due to lack of real action coupled with rising admissions. In 2008, 56 students were left in hotels; whilst in 2010 83 had no accommodation and several dropped out as a result. This academic year, 600 students ended up in bunk-beds, whilst international students were told to stay away.

The crisis has meant many students have felt the pressure to sign onto private property for second year just a few months into their first semester, leaving them paying extortionate rents for housing that often fails to meet quality and lacking proper licensing.

With a seeming lack of real action from the University, the Union, or private landlords, is it time for students to step up to the plate and get involved in the Council, to ensure better regulation, and student housing provision? Or maybe the Union should revisit the idea of a student letting agency or housing co-operative. One thing’s for certain, for yet another year, the welfare of students has been sidelined in favour of private sector profit.

Despite pleas from the Guild for students to remain calm and make informed decisions on accommodation, in a campaign they term ‘Fools Rush In’; students were today seen queuing outside...

I want Aber Guild of Students to be a successful, purposeful union, I really do. That’s why I get so mad when the Union handles things as badly as it has handled the supposed elections for Student Trustees and NUSW Winter Council Delegates.

Firstly, at a time when it is crucial that we engage students in the Union, the Union failed to adequately advertise the opening of nominations, or to clearly explain the election process or the roles of trustees prior to the closure of nominations.

Secondly, when voting was opened, it was observed that no elections were being held for NUSW Winter Council Delegate positions. The Guild says this is because 4 candidates stood for 4 seats, so all were elected. This is not how elections should work. In such a case, students should have been able to vote for these candidates, or RON, as in any other election. As of publication, it is still not known who the 4 “elected” delegates are, and it is insane that the Guild thinks students should just accept 4 people to represent them without knowing who they are or what they represent, and without giving student the opportunity to reject or approve those candidates.

Thirdly, it was observed by several students that RON was absent from the voting that did go ahead. In response to this, the Guild, without any announcement, added RON to the list of candidates, in the middle of the election: Without voiding prior results or rerunning the election. This alone undermines the integrity of these elections to the very core.

I find it hard enough to have confidence in individual staff and officers of the Guild as it is, but this year I’m increasingly finding it hard to have confidence in the institution as a whole. The Guild is rotten due to unaccountable staff, and people refusing to take the blame or responsibility when things don’t go how they should.  Without radical reform to introduce real accountability, real democracy, real transparency, the Union has no chance of surviving, regardless of any short term political or financial fix.

As an undergraduate, I can only refuse to acknowledge the result of these “elections” due to the entirely unsound manner in which they’ve been conducted. I call on those responsible for the running of these elections to declare them void and rerun them with proper regard to the democratic processes we expect, and require of a students union.

Update 21:14 10/11/11: I have received a response from Geraint Edwards, the responsible staff member:

“Having discussed the issue with the Returning Officer, Ann North of NUS Wales, she is content that the integrity of the student trustee elections have not been significantly affected by the ommission of the Re-Open Nominations options for the first part of voting. I have therefore informed the candidates of the elections result and will be updating the website accordingly tomorrow morning. “

Once again I find myself disappointed, yet entirely unsurprised at the actions of the Union that is supposed to represent me.

Update 13:52 11/11/11: Students have now been informed that contrary to  the above statement, the elections have now been declared void.

“The Elections Returning Officer, Ann North, has decided that due to Re-Open Nominations not being included from the outset in yesterday’s elections that the results are to be voided and the election re-run on Tuesday 15^th November 2011 between 8:00am and 7:00pm.”

I welcome this move from Ann North to declare the elections void as a vital win for accountability and for regard for democratic processes. In holding the Union to account as students have done in the past 24 hours, we can help ensure that in the future the Guild is operated to the high standards which we expect without incidents such as this.

I want Aber Guild of Students to be a successful, purposeful union, I really do. That’s why I get so mad when the Union handles things as badly as it...