Ready for the biggest shake-up to student democracy since 1989?
Are you ready for it?...
In January 2024, we launched the Change Programme to build a roadmap to refresh and reinvent the ways in which the Union works to ensure we can do as much as possible for you during your time here at St Andrews.
As part of the Change Programme, the team have been working away reviewing all elements of the Union and we’re now gearing up for you to see the first major part: the Democracy Review.
Some Context
Over the last few years, there have been quite a few challenges within the students’ association. From a global pandemic, to RAAC in the roof of Club 601 - student life has been quite different, and we’ve noticed.
So once the Change Director, Antony Blackshaw, and the team joined us in January they have been on a mission to discover the highs and the lows of student life in the Union. As part of this, the team has been reviewing our democratic practices, working with current and previous Student Representative Council members, the university, and union staff to figure out what we do well, what we could improve, and what we could do differently to include more students in our decision making processes.
What’s covered in the Democracy Review?
The Democracy Review outlines the Heads of Terms of a proposed new look for how we make decisions. It focuses mainly on some of the high level processes that are undertaken in the Union and will ultimately change the way we represent you. From accessible meeting structures to sabbatical roles overhaul! The proposed changes in the document will need to be captured in changes to the Laws of the Union, and the plan is to work with SRC in the next semester to build out those new Laws with them.
It doesn’t look at policy and processes with regards to academic representation, subcommittees, and societies (though we’re doing some separate bits of work in those areas in the coming months!).
Next steps
On Monday 18 November, we’ll be launching our Democracy Review webpage which will include the key areas of change highlighted in this report, as well as a full version of the Democracy Review report for you to read through.
Following the launch of the campaign, we’ll be holding a referendum on 26 & 27 November, asking you if you agree to take forward the recommendations set out in the Democracy Review.