4(% $25'3 )335% THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA
Issue 182 November 9th 2005 www.concrete-online.com Free: Please Recycle
#OUNCIL TO BE CONSULTED ON 3PORTS !SSOCIATION FEE
%XPLORING THE BRIGHT LIGHTS OF THE CITY
5NION #OUNCIL WILL SET UP A WORKING GROUP TO INVESTIGATE ALTERNATIVES TO THE CONTROVERSIAL a FEE 4RAVEL PAGE "Y *!-%3 #/.7!9 $%0549 %$)4/2 The democratic procedures of Union Council were put into full force last Thursday as a proposal to remove the £25 sports fee was overwhelmingly voted through. A new working group, com- prising two Union executives, four sports club representatives and two further council members, has been elected to re-examine the whole fi nancial situation and re- port back to the Union Council. Although the ruling will not take affect until the next academic year, and it is still possible that the £25 fee will be reintroduced, this new resolution assures that the process will take place in an open forum with the entire Union reaching an informed, democratic decision. Ben Williams, the Union Fi- nance Offi cer explained to Con- crete that although the introduc- tion of the £25 fee was probably unavoidable, he believes that;; “it is fundamental to the democracy and status of the Union of UEA Students that the students get to decide on the best course of ac- tion.” Indeed it is not the fee itself, but the fact that the decision was made over the summer without public warning that has caused the most upset. The issue of Sport Club fund- ing is a long running one and over the last year the relationship be- tween the Sports Clubs’ Peer Sup- port Groups (CPS) and the Stu- dents’ Union has been analysed closely. In November 2004 the pre-
vious Finance Offi cer sent out a memorandum to all clubs and societies highlighting the prob- lems. It reminded members that;; “the relationship between the Un- ion and the CPS is two way” and explained that, as Sports Nights were increasingly hosted off cam- pus, not enough money was being fed back into the Union. The memorandum concluded that;; “if the present situation of diminishing numbers attending Union nights was continuous, be it LCRs, Sports Nights, Society Nights, etc then the lack of rev- enue as a result will develop into a serious issue”. This matter was also reported on the front page of Concrete. However, despite further ne- gotiations between the CPS and the Finance Offi cer, including the introduction of Union funded Sport Nights, there were still sig- nifi cant fi nancial short falls. On January 24th 2005 the Sports Sub- Committee discussed this situa- tion and recorded in the minutes of the meeting that unless the sit- uation changed, “the Union would be unable to continue its current level of funding for Sports Clubs and would have to introduce a charge for membership of the Sports Association or withdraw from BUSA”. The minutes from the meet- ing were made available in Union House and were also reviewed and approved by the Executive Committee the next day. However, the actual issue was not discussed and no record of the Sports Sub- Committee meeting was brought before Union Council. The actual decision took
3AVE THE TREES FOR %NVIRONMENT 7EEK
4URF PAGE
4HE 3PORTS !SSOCIATION MEMBERSHIP CARD place over the summer when the fi nancial forecast revealed that a solution was needed immedi- ately, but the Union Council were not present. The full-time offi cers recommended the introduction of a Sports Association Member- ship Fee as the only other choice was to withdraw from BUSA and therefore pull out of all national sporting competitions. The Man- agement Committee approved and the £25 fee was set. The subject was brought up at the fi rst Union Council meeting in October and members were so troubled by the circumstances that when Union Council met again on Thursday 3rd. Two different mem- bers had separately proposed a motion to rectify the matter. After initial confusion, the two proposals were effectively
combined so that one could be dropped. The Union could then vote on an amended version of a proposal from Jack Guest (Athlet- ics representative). The vote was almost unanimous and the fi nal ruling has removed the fee, taking effect next academic year. No re- funds will be offered for this year’s fee. The proposal also established a working group of eight Union members to fully investigate the fi nancial details and bring all pos- sible solutions back before council by the end of the year. The Council’s chair, Leigh Bis- sett, explained after the meeting: “The council recognised that the Union has a fi nancial defi cit but felt that it was unreasonable to introduce a system of collecting money to fi ll this black hole with-
out a full consultation process.” There was some hesitation on the resolution that removed the £25 before the working group had made a decision, as it may prove necessary to bring the fee back anyway. Yet it was agreed by most that to set the situation right, the proceedings needed to start from scratch and by scrapping the fee the process could begin demo- cratically. Martin Jopp, the author of the proposal that was dropped and combined into the fi nal resolution, was elected onto the new work- ing group. Speaking to Concrete he said that along with the seven other chosen members;; "I will be working hard to fi nd a range of so- lutions to sports funding in the fu- ture, but the fi nal say will be made by Union Council."
$25'3 3526%9 2%35,43 PAGE
The Event MEETS ILLUSTRATOR 3ATOSHI +ITAMURA