Student Council has resolved that the Rules of Council will be the same as they were at the end of Trinity Term, with the exception of meetings being held twice a term, down from four. This follows accusations of the SU Trustee Board acting unconstitutionally by changing the rules without the consultation of the Student Council.
The SU Trustee Board – which looks at the SU’s “strategic overview” – is made up of twelve board members: the Student Trustees, External Trustees, and Sabbatical Officers, including the SU President. The motion stipulates that the Student Council believes that the Board had acted “ultra vires” in its amendments and that the rules at the end of Trinity “stand as the authoritative rules.”
The SU told Cherwell: “As a charitable organisation, the Trustee Board is responsible for making decisions on the governance of the Student Union and therefore acted within its own remit and power to adopt rule changes.” They added that the rule changes were “driven by a need to protect staff welfare, align with financial implications and crucially, to increase student engagement.”
Following the motion’s passing, the president is now mandated to inquire into the process behind the decision to amend these rules and report towards the next Ordinary Meeting of Council. This includes whether the decision was “know [sic] to be ultra vires.” It further invites the Trustee Board to “propose amendments properly, so the changes can be debated openly.”
The proposer of the motion, Niall Pearson-Shaul, stated that he was not concerned about getting a full answer from the president, but rather knowing what the mindset behind the decision was. He added that “the vast extent of the rule changes… goes beyond the scope of [the trustee boards’] legal and financial duties in English Law.”
He explained that “Student Council is the way we hold you to account,” emphasising that they can only do so in so many ways.
Joe Bell, who seconded the motion, further stated that the change from four to two meetings was “by no means the only change”. Cherwell understands that changes were made to remove extraordinary council meetings after 7th week, to invoke a two-to-three-month grace period for a no-confidence vote of Trustees, and to abolish emergency motions.
The motion also notes that the newer rules were “very different and much vaguer”, containing incomplete sentences and grammatical errors. It emphasised that “changes to the Rules must be done through the proper channels.”
Bell further stated that “there was no obstacle for them having the meeting in Council in first week.”
The VP for Activities & Community, Mia Clement, added that “the SU does what it’s meant to do”, encouraging the society to have “two good student councils a term.” The motion was subsequently amended to keep two meetings a term, rather than changing this back to four.
It was also mentioned that about 20 hours of work goes into preparing each Student Council meeting.
The SU told Cherwell: “Most importantly, we were grateful and open to hearing feedback on the motion during Student Council and we are fully supportive of the democratic function of this body in providing a space to listen and platform student voices and views.”
