## Metadata - Author: James Coe and Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal - Full Title: University_of_Salford_Students_Union_Democracy_Review_Board - URL: https://readwise.io/reader/document_raw_content/186347449 - Date: 2024-06-21 ## Summary The University of Salford Students' Union has been experimenting with new democratic approaches to engage students effectively. They have successfully used digital tools and face-to-face interactions to involve students in decision-making processes. However, challenges remain in expanding digital engagement and ensuring consistent officer presence for effective student involvement. ## Highlights - The impact of this (old) model is not that it abrogates good engagement but that it forces the students’ union to act to the will of the minority. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j0xgtxhe84eawtyashvzxj3w)) - What we said we would do We said we would work by the following principles • The Union should make ==greater use of digital tools== but not at the expense of other forms of engagement. Digital engagement is one tool amongst many • Students are busy people who are often studying, working, and caring all at once. ==Democracy should be accessible== to all with clear feedback to students. • The system of democracy needs to ==not create an undue administrative burden to the students’ union==. The system will not function if Union staff spend all their time administrating a system rather than running the democracy • The use of digital tools should ==place student officers at the centre of the democratic work== as both the elected representatives of students and as people with agency in pursuing policy outcomes. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j0xh01aqqrfedg3qk1x1jy7e)) - second challenge has been integrating the part-time officers into this work. The Union and Counterculture held an away day with the FTOs and voluntary officers to plan for the year ahead where plans were made on more regular meetings, synchronising work, and sharing ideas. In the end, these ambitions simply did not come together. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j0xhh102nyse42xx1a0t2rx9)) - The Union may wish to consider the role of part-time officers in the future ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j0xhjnfcz5jtzpwa27zap17f)) - The Union is limited which communications it can send out and they cannot easily segregate communications by student groups ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j0xhkfnh9ynq58xtgk9ccqtv)) - As Unions like Leeds Beckett move toward more ==community organising models== it is worth keeping their work under review to see what this Union might learn from their approach to capacity building and engagement with students ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j0xhm8b7exbernkbn3davfaq))