Monday 14-06-2021 - 15:47

2020 brought many unpredictable challenges, but for Durham SU it meant the launch of the Democracy Review. We opened ourselves up to scrutiny and feedback, starting with open consultation sessions, which resulted in the hiring of an external agency, Miragold, to give us informed, helpful feedback. They used a mass survey of 1,000 people (approximately sampling 5% of Durham students) and conducted interviews with key stakeholders like Common Room Presidents, Associations, Assembly members and specific demographic groups such as first year undergraduates. 

I took three Democracy Review motions to the recent Assembly, focussing on the way that Assembly functions. Assembly is the democratic body of Durham SU, where students get to vote on what policy the SU pursues. I’m really glad to have received Assembly’s support on this vital first step towards a better system. 

The changes that Assembly members passed mean:

• Assembly will meet more frequently.
• Items that Assembly wishes the SU to campaign on and do more work on through collaboration with students can lead to the creation of working groups, accountable to Assembly. The first of these will be a Climate Emergency task and finish group, which anyone can email the SU Assembly Chair and apply to join. 
• A Scrutiny Committee will update Assembly on the Officers’ work, and tell Assembly if they are satisfied that Assembly policies are being implemented and Officer manifestos are being fulfilled to the best of their ability.
• Assembly members will receive better training and be incentivised to take up their role.
• Assembly members will be invited to join various committees to take more control of the way Assembly functions.
• Associations and Officers will no longer send updates to Assembly. Associations attend Assembly and motions can be passed which discuss them, but their everyday operations don’t need to be approved by Assembly.
• Policies will be easier to create, amend and discuss, so that we can ultimately have better quality outcomes – especially as they will now be followed up on with greater accountability.

The changes that I hope to pass at the next Assembly are:

• Changing the membership of Assembly to represent Durham students’ educational interests better and include a broader range of students. The college experience is an essential aspect of our wider student experience, so it’s crucial we find a representative balance between course reps, college reps, cultural/identity reps and other student experience positions. Campus life means different things to different people, and we need to strike a balance between the different Durham communities.

Democratic engagement doesn't just happen through Assembly and we'll be working on improving different areas of engagement that were highlighted in the Democracy Review report, but reforming Assembly is a good first step. Even if we had been able to rush through the Democracy Review so that it was completed by the time I’d left office, I’m not certain we would have made the right decision or been able to build something stable and inclusive. The pandemic has slowed everything down through endless unexpected emergencies which I had to prioritise, but I’m grateful that Durham SU has agreed to continue the Democracy Review into next year and that my successors have been elected on a mandate to continue this work.

If we start by reforming the way Assembly runs, by ensuring it better represents the diversity of student interests in Durham and that those representatives are empowered enough to understand how to make the changes they want to see, I have faith that we will ultimately build a students’ union that better serves Durham students. It will take time, and I’m not going to be able to see through the final product, but I’m really glad to have started something. I’ve been asked why a referendum has not yet been called – but I don’t believe at this point that a referendum is necessary or that it is clear what we should be putting in one. My worst fear is designing a whole new system, taking it to a cross-campus ballot, and it either being rejected due to a small oversight or, worse still, it passing and causing damage because it wasn’t nuanced enough.

That’s why I’m pleased the SU have committed to continue the review into the next year, and that the next cohort of SU Officers will inherit the work. It’s important that we take the time to develop our democracy in the way students want us to, instead of rushing through sweeping changes. I know that next year’s Officers will be able to revitalise the work that I have started and build on the first few steps that I have taken.

The process that we have implemented now will hopefully be far more flexible to change and our democracy can continue to be reviewed, year on year, so that we don’t end up in the same situation with an outdated system ever again. Thank you especially to the JCRs of St Chad’s, St Cuthbert’s Society and University College for their formal letters of response to the Democracy Review’s findings – in a time where there has been so much noise, it has been very helpful to receive constructive, thoughtful criticism.

Here’s for a more transparent, inclusive, representative and broad students’ union that is owned by students, for students.