First ASM of the year meets low turnout

Warwick student politics was under the spotlight at the first All Student Meeting (ASM) of the academic year on Monday 11 November.

The Students’ Union (SU) sabbatical officers, including president Ben Sundell, postgraduate officer Lucy Gill and sports officer Zoe Buckland, joined students in discussing three separate motions.

The motions were titled ‘supporting fair pay in higher education‘, ‘combating payday lenders and protecting students financially‘, and ‘SU affiliations‘.

There were few moments of contention in this autumn’s meeting, with the main source of tension proving a low turnout of around 20 students, and the presence of very few student councillors.

While the first two motions were resisted by a section of students, all three indicative votes were overwhelmingly in favour of their implementation.

The indicative vote to ratify the SU’s affiliations with organisations such as the National Union of Students for a further year was greeted with a unanimous vote of approval.

However, voting to decide whether the motions are passed or not is done by students, and not at the ASM itself.

Polling opened on Tuesday 12 November, and closes today (Friday 15 November) at midday.

Second-year student councillor Remy Osman was unimpressed by the ASM.

He said: “With a turnout so embarrassingly low, it is clear to me how SU ‘democracy’ really functions; a dozen or so students on the far-left organise to draw up malicious policies under the guise of seemingly innocent names such as ‘supporting fair pay’.

“These often pass with just a few hundred votes from the student population. So much for representing all students.”

Katie Bergstrom, the SU’s environment and ethics officer, saw the ASM in a more positive light: “It’s great that students are so passionate about issues as important as fair pay in higher education and protecting our students against payday lenders.”

“It was reassuring to see almost unanimous agreement to pass these motions.”

The opportunity to vote is on the Warwick SU website here.