The SU is broken, let’s fix it

This article is the opinion of another organisation and is not affiliated with The Boar

The Disband the Tories campaign is expanding to fight for the SU to serve its students, by protecting student democracy and disbanding the Warwick Tories. The SU is broken, we need to fix it.

Following the SU’s decision to allow the Warwick Tories to glorify Nazism openly without repercussions, we submitted a motion to the All Student Vote (ASV) to derecognise them as a society for three years. The SU has sided with the Warwick Tories and Nazism, by blocking our motion from progressing to a vote. In fact, all 8 motions submitted for ASV, on a wide variety of topics, were blocked from advancing, with no further opportunity for amendments – cancelling the entire ASV for term 1. This is an unprecedented move with huge ramifications for student democracy

It is clear that there are fundamental failings in the SU, if it cannot take action against the Nazism and antisemitism of the Warwick Tories. Every single motion has been blocked by the unelected Directors of the SU. Our motion complied with all SU rules, however the unelected SU Board of Trustees and Directors have revealed their utter contempt for democracy and the over 100 societies and 560 students who support Disbanding the Warwick Tories.

We will not stop campaigning until we have a responsive SU that actually listens to and respects the student body, not treats it with contempt

The fact that the SU is not fit for purpose in its current state is glaringly apparent. All the other motions are not political – the SU even blocked a motion to continue to play the song Angels, by Robbie Williams, at the end of POP!, as has been tradition. A motion titled “Let’s fix the lack of transparency and unaccountability in Warwick SU’s Board of Trustees” was ironically also vetoed by unaccountable bureaucrats in this process almost no students were aware of. The recent actions of the unelected SU leadership are farcical, and this is not the first time that they have abused their power to stand in the way of democratic processes. We will not stop campaigning until we have a responsive SU that actually listens to and respects the student body, not treats it with contempt.

We are encouraging Societies and Sports Clubs to boycott Societies Assembly on Monday 11th November – it is beyond belief that the Warwick Tories will be there, down solely to the SU’s contempt for student wellbeing and democracy. Let’s show the SU that students are willing to stand up against Nazism and antisemitism.

It’s time to make our voices heard and fix the SU.