Bristol University’s Independent Student Newspaper Issue 247
•
Monday 20th February 2012
• www.epigram.org.uk
AGM draws 75% more students
Free stuff! Like us on Facebook and win an iPad 2
17
• After fierce abortion debate, pro-choice stance remains > page 2 • Sabbatical team announce return of bursaries > page 3 • Editorial - A long way to go for student politics > page 16 Alice Young News Editor
Jamie Corbin
Students voted to improve access to Bristol through contextualised offers and admissions targets at the Annual General Meeting of the Students’ Union this month. The motion voted to the top of the priority ballot and thus discussed first called for stronger enforcement of contextual offers of places to students from underprivileged backgrounds. Proposer Josephine Suherman met resistance from some students who questioned whether the motion was useful, with Kyle Mulholland arguing that the motion would, ‘reduce the university’s prestige and reduce the value of your degree’. Suherman, a third year Politics student, responded to these criticisms commenting, ‘We all know the campus would look very different if this policy was enforced’. The motion passed with 68% of the vote. Adam Ludlow’s motion, controversially entitled ‘Ending Bristol’s Silent Private School Bias’, called for the University to publish figures regarding the proportion of state and private school students at the University and set targets to redress the balance.
It sparked a heated debate over the benefits of awarding places based on the type of school attended, with Sophie Mew, the UBU Widening Participation Officer, arguing that it would be better ‘not to end the private school bias but the low-income student bias’. Mulholland, a second year Economics and Politics student, took to the stage again to oppose this motion as well, claiming, ‘Applications from state schools are low in general because state schools are terrible in general’. Ludlow, a third year History student, argued this was not the point of the motion, saying, ‘I don’t agree that state schools are awful’. His motion narrowly passed with 56% approval. A series of motions were aimed at improving availability and access to
existing sport facilities. The ‘Campaigning to Save the Ice Rink’ motion was passed with 70% of the vote with speeches from proposer Paul Charlton and President of Ice Soc James Lumsden.
414
students attended this year’s AGM, 2% of the student body
Rosemary Drummond and Hamish Hay both proposed motions to help more students use the swimming pool and gym, with Drummond arguing flexible and cheaper sports passes would make ‘sport more accessible to larger numbers of students’. Both motions were passed with over 85%
approval and Dom Oliver, UBU VicePresident for Sport and Health, had earlier announced in his annual report that the University Sports Centre would be introducing termly instalments for sports passes. In his report at the beginning of the AGM Gus Baker, UBU President, also announced that the sabbatical team will be working on a widening participation assessment to address the access figures published by Epigram in October. These figures detailed how Bristol University was one of 25 UK institutions failing to meet its own targets on widening participation. The AGM ended on a jovial note, with a motion to force UBU elected officers to wear suits every day of the week.
The Couture Show
Nicola Roberts
Getting to grips with the c-word this season
Looking at the world through Cinderella’s Eyes
e2 Fashion
Music 23
Chris Ruff, Vice-President for Activities, then proposed an amendment to limit the dress code to Fridays only, arguing that it ‘retains the hilarity of the motion but doesn’t require me to buy another suit.’ Both Ruff’s speech and the passing of the motion were met by roaring applause, with 64% of the AGM in agreement that UBU officers should be forced to wear suits on Fridays. The AGM is held every February to decide on the policies that UBU will pursue over the coming year. Motions are either voted through to become policy or voted out. This year’s AGM attracted 414 students, the highest turnout since 2001 and a 74.6% increase on last year, despite representing just over 2% of the total student body.