## Metadata - Author: James Coe - Full Title: University_of_Salford_Students_Union_Democracy_Review_Draft_One - URL: https://readwise.io/reader/document_raw_content/187257512 - Date: 2024-06-23 ## Summary Students' unions, like the University of Salford Students' Union, are working on improving democratic participation among students. The focus is on making democracy accessible and engaging for all students, utilizing digital tools and ongoing feedback mechanisms. The goal is to empower students to shape their union and university experience effectively. ## Highlights - ==There is a crisis of social connection==. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12f9g9pmtaeq5f3s5vr5cxf)) - , there is a stream of literature on the ==decline of our shared public worlds==. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12f9npq2ataqrbt0xgdwzez)) - The predominant democratic model in the UK has been about governments and parliaments doing things to people. The UK is highly centralised without a culture empowered local leadership. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12fabyk90xcq8d3s0dgrwh4)) - The 2023 Student Cost of Living Report found that over half (55%) of students have stopped taking part in extracurricular activities because they cannot afford to ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12fb6ftqf5vx36s17xpykeh)) - ==Democratic participation in students’ unions is a good in and of itself==. It is the feature of students’ unions that differentiate them from service providers. It is the mechanism through which students can express control of their union. It is also the thing that gives the union legitimacy to express opinions on behalf of students. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12fc99knrzrr9nnrrjn1ecw)) - ==Democratic participation is feedback plus control==. This means that students in some fora will have a transactional relationship with the Union where they want the Union to do something on their behalf. At other times they want to be actively involved in shaping the work and future of the Union. At others they want to wholly be in control of how resources are spent, and decisions are made. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12fdjpcxm8pz4v9mgsdbd7r)) - , ==students contain multitudes==. They have different backgrounds, different preferences, and different expectations of their students’ unions. Therefore, rather than thinking of democracy as an event or something the Union does, it must become part of the students’ unions DNA. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12fdwrzs026jrjn0krqzycr)) - ==Democracy is about structures, but it is about culture too==. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12feg9b81qad3qqcp925dry)) - how USSU can become a more permeable institution. Where democratic participation is easy, impactful, and meaningful. And where the ability to take part isn’t contingent on the ability to turn up. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12feqwg9k5wxmpgjea5zsdd)) - In the past USSU has operated with a Student Council. The minutes from 2018 demonstrate that the Student Council was discussing quite general issues which would likely attract significant student consensus. For example, the use of microwaves on campus, printer credits, and the use of subtitles for video captured lectures. This structure has not been functional for two years and there is no sign it is being missed. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12fhsj41pjr4zevxk6zqqbs)) - These roles are not always contested, they are unpaid, and their engagement with the Union differs from year to year. The roles are also not tied to a constituent society. For example, the LGBTQ+ Officer is not the Chair of the LGBTQ+ society. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12fkv5hzjd860h1ns6bmmkw)) - Course representatives do not influence democracy as course representatives, or society chairs as society chairs, and so on. This means that in order to take part in the Union’s democracy a student must be interested in both changing the nature of their activities and the Union more generally. It is a high bar for participation. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12fmcg4zfmnbkdktq5ngm79)) - there are limited ways in which students can exercise democratic control over the work of the Officers, but it abrogates a healthy friction that enables Officers to be challenged, learn, and develop their work. Hearing a diversity of views from students across different groups is vital to the work of the Union. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12fnag9wt0vtgzr4xfehvp0)) - The Union can only engage with the members it has. It seems like an obvious statement, but the Union’s activity is shaped by the time, social capital, and economic circumstances of its membership. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12fpdwb12d91bqmqrebapya)) - In short, ==the democracy of a Union must be in line with its potential participants==. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12fpvrhnqtkkz0raheks1ty)) - Anything which asks students to commit additional time outside of their primary interests is likely to be a challenge. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12fxw5qjfhcmgt1d8twe6y5)) - The ==breadth of engagement is important but running parallel is the need to engage deeply with students== ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12fy9xqkeb08je6ve3z1cwh)) - ts. It would be an unsatisfactory system where lots of students are engaged but in such a way that replicates existing social hierarchies ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12fyk0dheb3mdpe3650qwyh)) - LSE students’ union recently carried out a democracy review wherein they introduce a new dual chamber advisory body with student incentives but online engagement is largely used for evidence collation, drop ins, and replicating largely in-person functions. This should be balanced by work shared by NUS that ==democratic engagement is most successful where students are active participants in democracy not just recipients of it==. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12ghz5n93290hmkznfppa8k)) - Liverpool Guild of Students has a well explained, clear, and relatively popular, Change It function where students can submit and vote ideas up and down: ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12gjh8vzf14jen2e6z9g0zn)) - ==Middlesex students’ union has a variation on the work by Liverpool Guild with clearer explanations of where each democratic decision is going with specific functionality for digital representation==: https://www.mdxsu.com/thestudentvoice?parent_link=your-voice-menu- wrapper ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12gjp5pyz2mkgm9ccarksqx)) - Step One: Removing the existing structures ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12gp6s95a4ns88sy82xckwe)) - Step Two: Deciding what is important. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12gp0fqddgq0vhmnybqrf05)) - Step Three: Member segmentation ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12gns3sbshecsxznzfgb06j)) - Step Four: Diversity within existing structures ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12gnq5s3td0ygw4ya7h32jg)) - Planning and running select committees ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12gmjxydxad93vc0ayzwsk7)) - Planning broader democratic engagement ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12gn5shp4ac42g5hj69b4t0)) - Step Seven: Planning officer engagement drop ins ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12gnjxcb3cwc2sx436c3h4b)) - Step Eight: Reopening Big Ideas ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12gpbmhaf0758rdnm7xhkr1)) - Step Nine: Scaffolding the Liberation Campaigns ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12gpes083zz5ahkhrt94fg5)) -  ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12gr4ybkymdsmfk9bgkdhw4)) - utlined above belies the fundamental change advocated within this report. The whole idea is to dispense with a single democracy point like a Council but ==instead allow democracy to flow around the Union by diversifying existing engaged groups and then integrating them into formal decision making== ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12gs43szn84rvnabvdd0bcy)) - It is instead a commitment to ensure that every single student wherever, whoever, or whenever they are available, can take part in shaping their Union and University experience. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j12gsmxv0s0dn9dsq4t7e288))