Quorum to be lowered from 5% to 2% by Student Council

Warwick University’s Student Council (SC) have voted in favour of lowering quorum at All Student Meetings (ASMs) from 5% to 2%, at their most recent meeting last Tuesday 8 November.

The decision must now be approved by the Student Union’s (SU) Board of Trustees and then the University Council before being brought into action.

If approved the new quorum will mean that 2% of the student population will have to vote in a referendum in order for a motion to pass and become policy, rather than the current 5%.

It is unknown whether this would come into effect in time for the upcoming ASM on Monday 14 November.

The reduction of quorum was proposed by the democracy exec, and then presented to the council by Marie Dams, as the exec’s elected chair. It was not on the original agenda for the meeting put was put forward as emergency business.

The SC, consisting of the Sabbatical Officers, part-time officers and chairs of the execs, then voted in favour of the motion by 8 votes to 2, with 2 abstentions.

Quorum was only increased to 5% from an original 1% in the final term of last year.

Quorum was only increased to 5% from an original 1% in the final term of last year, as part of a review by previous Democracy and Development Officer, Oliver Rice. This too was voted on at a SC meeting.

In the review it was stated: “The quorum for motions proposed to an SU Referendum shall be 5% for all motions except those within the Liberation and Diversity Zone, votes in SU affiliations, and any other business that ordinarily would not go to an all Student vote. The quorum for these exceptions shall be 2%”.

Oliver Rice believed this alteration would help to ensure truer democracy and engagement within the Student’s Union (SU) and at the time told the Boar: “If a policy is truly necessary then I expect that those campaigning for it will do more than just see it through council and rely on it passing at an ASM; I hope to see them persuade at least 5% of students that it’s worthwhile.”

Now only a few months on from this, quorum may be reduced again (although will still be 1% higher than it was originally).

Marie Dams explained the democracy exec’s reasoning is they feel it “unfair” to expect a single campaign group to engage 5% of the student body.

While they agree that, it is important to engage more students in SU democracy, they felt this needed to be done prior to raising quorum, because the engagement necessary to meet a 5% quorum doesn’t currently exist.

Marie argues that if motions are rejected because it is not met: “This will disengage those who did vote, as they will think there is no point. We cannot risk this and cannot ignore the will of a significant amount of the student body, merely because they make up less than 5%”.

Marie argues that if motions are rejected because it is not met: “This will disengage those who did vote, as they will think there is no point.”

However, the proposal has been the subject of some controversy, as an article published by Warwick Conservative Association highlights that it comes ahead of an ASM in which a controversial motion to boycott the National Student Survey (NSS) is to be voted upon. This has received the backing of Warwick for Free Education, of which Marie is a supporter.

According to the article, written by History finalist and University of Warwick Conservative Association’s Exec member Lewis Hutchinson: “With quorum now set to once again fall, motions such as the boycott of the NSS will likely be passed far more easily.”

Sam Carter, the University of Warwick Conservative Association’s Deputy Chairman Political has been quoted in the article saying: “This is a blatant conflict of interests case. Dams supports a motion unlikely to receive near 5% backing at an ASM, and has used her position as Democracy Executive Chair to alter SU policy to the organisation she support’s benefit”.

In response to this Marie told the Boar: “This has nothing to do with the content of the motion put forward (or with me as a person and my involvement in other campaigns). I’ve consistently argued against raising quorum, but last year there was a majority in favour of raising it on the exec.”

She also pointed out that it was unusual that the Boycott of the NSS is the only motion put to referendum at the next ASM and questioned whether students “felt it wouldn’t be worth it because they wouldn’t be able to achieve a 5% quorum?”

However, the proposal has been the subject of some controversy, as an article published by Warwick Conservative Association highlights that it comes ahead of an ASM in which a controversial motion to boycott the National Student Survey (NSS) is to be voted upon.

This view is not shared by Lewis Hutchinson and Sam Carter of Warwick Conservatives, who have now set up a petition urging the Board of Trustees not to vote in favour of a 2% quorum.

In this they argue: “The SU formerly used a quorum of 5% for student referendums before it was lowered to 1%…we believe that with quorum at a level consistent with the past and with elected officer positions the quality of our SU democracy is greater, with a clear impetus for policy proposers to campaign and engage more widely, in order to justify the SU’s resources needed to implement the motion.”

In a statement on the issue, Warwick SU have clarified that irrespective of the arguments and motivations for each side of this debate, any change will be subject to the proper checks and balances which are in place to oversee policy alterations.

The statement clearly emphasises that: “All democratic procedures were upheld and the results of this week’s Referenda will be deemed legitimate,” regardless of whether quorum is altered.