City, University of London Students’ Union (the Union) hosted its annual Student Members Meeting on Tuesday 11 February and it was attended by well over 130 students.  During the 90 minute meeting, a number of key issues submitted by students were debated and voted upon.  It was exciting to see that all student motions were supported by those in attendance and the Union will be working to achieve these over the coming months and years.

You can see all the papers by clicking here and below are some of the key highlights.

Affiliations
The meeting supported all the affiliations and the Union and student groups can continue to access the support from a number of great organisations.

Oppose PREVENT
The meeting continued to show its firm opposition to PREVENT and for the Union to not engage with the duty and its measures.  One of the resolves include releasing a statement expressing our opposition to Prevent and the Prevent duty for being racist and a threat to civil liberties.

Academic Certainty
After some concerns raised by students about inconsistent marking and insufficient justification, the meeting passed a policy to ensure the Union is support students to get further justification.

Friday Prayer on Campus
As a previous motion lapsed, a new motion has been approved to continue to support students to have Friday Prayer on campus.

The Right to Clean Praying Facilities on Campus
Students shared their experience of having to use unclean prayer facilities on campus and after attempts to clean them were stopped, the Union now has policy to lobby the university to keep them clean.

Graduation Prices
Guests of those graduating have to pay £25 to attend the Graduation Ceremony and then the Graduand has to also pay £45 to hire academic dress.  The meeting approved a policy to lobby the university to not charge for gown hire and to subsidise tickets.

Keep Wednesday Afternoons Free
The Union commits to lobby the university to ensure Wednesday afternoons are free for students to participate in extracurricular activities.

Tackling Sexual Harassment on Campus
The meeting agreed that awareness and training is key to battling sexual harassment on campus and a number of key actions have been agreed to tackle sexual harassment on campus.

Increasing Participation in Sport through Student Groups
Student groups in the Union can currently not participate in sport in a way they would like to and the approved motion commits the Union to lobby the university to insure Union student groups.

City Students’ Union to Affiliate to Nightline
The meeting agreed that the university mental health and counselling service is not sufficient for student use, specifically during out of hours timings. Nightline is an independently registered charity offering listening, support and information to higher education students by way of a confidential helpline.  Over two thirds of those at the meeting agreed to affiliate to Nightline.