Frequently Asked Questions about the Student Union

So what is the Dudley College Student Union exactly ?

The answer is... you are. When you become a student at Dudley College (including Rowley) you automatically become a member of the Dudley College Student Union (unless you specifically state you do not wish to be a member). 

So what does the Union do? well looking at the dictionary definition we see:

That is what the Student Union is, an alliance of people, namely an alliance of students working together for the benefit of everyone in the union.

What's the point?

Well have you ever heard the saying "United we stand, yet divided we fall" or "In numbers, there is strength". These two sayings are never more true than in today's world. The Student Union is an united alliance of all Dudley College students who, through one voice and collective action are able to achieve things within the college that one single student on their own couldn't. 

Who runs/heads the Student Union ?

Every organisation needs one body at the top of it to co-ordinate it. In the Student Union that is the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee are a group of students who are elected by the Student Union (remember the Student Union = the college students) in elections to head the organisation. 

The Executive Committee is responsible for:

• Investigating into student issues

• Talking to the college management to resolve those issues as best we can

• Helping to organise student entertainment (e.g. End of Term parties, day trips etc)

• In the most extreme of situations, organising protests for the Student Union to demonstrate the seriousness of an issue to the college. 

The Executive Committee does what the name says, it executes (turns a plan into reality) the different policy and plans put together by both itself and the students in the union into action.

Who is the Student Union Liaison Officer and what do they do?

The Executive Committee needs a representative from the college management to help us co-ordinate events, arrange meetings with the college management and advice us on college policy and procedures. This representative is the Student Union Liaison Officer. This person has a double role, to the Student Union he/she is the Liaison Officer, to the college management, he/she is the Student Services Development Officer. It's the same job basically but the names reflect the different perspectives of the two groups, the Student Union and the College Management. 

• From the perspective of the Student Union, the Liaison Officer helps us to liaise (communicate and co-ordinate) with the college management. 
  
  

• From the perspective of the college management, the Student Services Development Officer is responsible for developing the services available to the college students, this is achieved by going through the Student Union. 

How does the Executive Committee create plans/policy ?

The Executive Committee needs feedback from students so it is aware of the different issues. This is achieved either by the different Executive members discussing matters with students, or students contacting the Executive about issues. 

During OCEM's (Ordinary Executive Committee Meetings) different executive members can raise the issues under the "Any other business" section of the meeting agenda. The Executive member(s) inform the rest of the executive committee on the issue. The executive then discusses the issue and what action should be taken. A simple QMV (Qualified Majority Vote i.e. the majority wins) determines if the Executive Committee will look into the issue/take any action on the issue. If the issue is very serious, the Executive Committee will adjourn the OCEM and call an EOECM (Extra-Ordinary Executive Committee Meeting) which is scheduled for as soon as possible and has only that issue to discuss.

Once an executive member(s) has raised the issue at an OECM, the Executive will usually ask the member(s) to draft a formal proposal with what the issue is and an action plan on how they think it should be dealt with. The Executive will also determine what persons should be involved with this issue, this usually means making Executive Members who should take an interest in the issue because it falls into their portfolios e.g. if the issue was a women's equality issue, the Female students representative would be made to co-ordinate on this issue since it is her job to deal with female equality issues.

At the next OECM (or EOECM (extra-ordinary executive committee meeting) if one was called) the Executive reviews the proposal and votes on if to put it's recommendations into action or to amend the purposed action and then put it into action. 

Once a plan/policy has been passed by the Executive Committee, the members who are charged with putting into action work with the Student Union Liaison Officer to put into action.

The process is illustrated here in a flow chart.

What are the different types of meeting the Executive and Student Union can have?

The constitution states that there are three main types of meeting, however a fourth type is often used by the Executive Committee as well.

The three main types of meeting are:
  Ordinary Executive Committee Meeting   [OCEM]
  Extra-Ordinary Executive Committee Meeting   [EOECM]
  A General Meeting/Annual General Meeting    [GM/AGM]
  A Briefing Meeting    [BM]

An Ordinary Executive Meeting:
These are the regular meetings of the Executive Committee where policy/plans are viewed and debated, updates are issued and matters of the Student Union are discussed. They do not have a set time in the constitution, instead the Executive Committee decides on when, how long to hold them and how often. This can be altered at any point in time. At present, Ordinary Executive Committee Meetings are held every two weeks on a Wednesday morning from 9:15 - 10:15 (although it usually lasts longer). They are usually held in an empty classroom or any available room since the SU Office is to small for the entire executive to fit in. 

Extra-Ordinary Executive Committee Meeting:
These are called in response to an emergency or crisis. The crisis can be any of the following:

• A VERY important issue has been brought to the attention of the Executive Committee and it must be discussed immediately.

• Internal Crisis within the Executive Committee (i.e. a vote of no confidence is being discussed against a particular member).

• A Crisis situation is occurring with an organised event e.g. the plan for it is falling behind schedule.

Extra-Ordinary EC meetings are not held often. When they are held it is a very important. They are called in response to an executive committee member(s) asking the Secretary or Liaison Officer to organise one. They are usually held within 3 days of being called for. The only topic of discussion is based on the topic the meeting was called for.

A General Meeting / Annual General Meeting
In the constitution it states "There shall be an annual general meeting during the Spring Term of the College Academic Year". But another one can be called if necessary. The General Meeting is where the Student Union Executive Committee invites members of the Student Union (there must be 25 members or above present) to cross examine the Executive on it's work the past year. The Executive provides to the Union a full report on what it has been doing, what progress has been made etc. The Union members can then question the executive and submit proposals or motions of their own for the Executive to discuss and debate. 

So how many people are on the Executive Committee and what do they do?

You can find the full information on the positions on the Executive Committee here. To summarise. The Executive Committee has four types of position: Officer Positions, Members with Portfolios, Members without Portfolios, Additional Portfolio's.

What is a Portfolio?
A portfolio is a job description/a role/a specific set of area's which that person has responsibility for. The dictionary gives this definition:

The officer positions include: President, Vice President, Student Treasurer and Secretary. They are called officer positions because these posts don't represent the students like for example the Black Students Representative does. There job tends to orientate around running the Student Union rather than representing it.

The members with portfolios tend to handle an area of responsibility e.g. Asian Students Representative is a member with a portfolio who has the responsibility for handling issues with Asian students. In total there are are 17 positions with portfolios.

The members without portfolios do have a specific responsibility. These are the co-opted members. There job is just to represent all students and assist the rest of the Executive with the running of the Union.

The Additional Portfolios are given to existing members of the Executive. They include the positions of Student Governor, Student Representative to the Cross College Committee for Environmental Affairs, Student Representative on the Cross College Committee for Equality and Equal Opportunities and Student Representative on the Cross College Committee for Student Support. 

For full details of all the positions and what they involve click here.

How would someone join the Executive Committee after the Elections had taken place?

The Executive Committee can bring new people onto the Executive through a process known as 'Co-opting'. Co-opting is where the Executive takes a simple majority vote either in favor of allowing the person to join, or not. Co-opting can be used to appoint people to the specific positions on the Executive or if they are all full, they can co-opt five extra people who are members without portfolios or 'Co-opts'. 

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