gair rhydd
gair rhydd | free word Cardiff’s student weekly newspaper Papur wythnosol myfyrwyr Caerdydd Issue 1107 | Rhifyn 1107 27th November 2017 | 27ain o Dachwedd 2017
Cardiff Uni’s student paper | est . 1972
Agendas Gather Momentum AGM sees living wage denied and roles changed
Voluntourism: more harm than good?
p.8 Conservatives reveal autumn budget p.12
No Hair? Don’t care! Dealing with hair loss p.23 George Watkins
T
he Annual General Meeting of the Students’ Union saw a sharp divide between those engaged, and those who may feel disenfranchised, as motions split the room. The most controversial motions included debates on whether to raise the wage of staff in the Union to £8.75, and whether to change the VP Welfare role to VP Welfare and Campaigns; and the VP Societies position to VP Activities, which would encompass both societies and volunteering. Hundreds of students flooded the Great Hall, as the five motions saw heated debatefrom across the hall. One student described how “engaged” she felt about the event, having expected that she would struggle to concentrate. This seemed to be quite the opposite for the vast majority of voters. The meeting began with a discussion of the
Annual Report from 2016-17, the Financial Report from 2016-17, and the minutes from the previous AGM. As the floor opened for members of the audience to question the trustees (involving the sabbatical officers and two student trustees), a wide range of questions were raised. Attracting the most attention was whether the SU should charge £1 for VKs, the most popular drink sold at club nights and in The Taf. A roar of approval arose, along with much laughter, but the economic reality was swiftly brought into focus by Hollie Cooke, the SU President. The first motion, concerning the representation of Muslim students in the Union, particularly around religious practices clashing with timetables, initially went unopposed. However, two students joined the debate, one concerned that Jewish customs should also be included, and another, a Hindu student, explaining how she simply worked it into her timetable. Ultimately the motion passed convincingly. The second mo-
tion was much more contested, addressing the issue of whether to raise the wage of Student Union staff to the National Living Wage, currently sitting at £8.75. Labour Students took to the stage to defend the motion, and suggested that feeling poor after a night out of drinking VKs was perhaps equivalent to feeling dismay at exploiting underpaid Union workers. Despite this, the initial air seemed to suggest warmth to the motion, until Geoff Jukes took to the stage. A current Masters student, and an employeee of the Union venues team, he passionately defended the current wage as easily adequate on top of his Postgraduate student loan, a position which was met with loud cries of agreement. The mood changed swiftly, and the motion failed. Fadhila Al Dhahouri, the VP Education, motioned next, asking for student representation on the University Executive Board (UEB). There was no oppositon, and the motion passed by a visible landslide. It was much the same story for Jake
Smith, VP Postgraduate’s motion to introduce “Real financial support for postgraduate students in need”, which passed by another landslide. The final motion surrounding the change of the VP Welfare and VP Societies roles to cover Campign Officers and Volunteering/ Activities under their respective remits raised concerns from two key players in the room: student media and sport, including the AU President Tom Kelly. Student Media had engaged with the motion, with many concerned that it could be encompassed into the Activities bracket, with the potential for abuse of power by a future sabbatical officer. Concerns stemmed from the previous VP Media and Marketing position, which was scrapped in a storm of turmoil and criticism a few years previously.Tom Kelly was concerned that the new Societies position would remove the necessity for an AU President, and requested an amendment for the role to be VP Socieites and Volunteering.
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