EGM News Articles
Vote Vote Vote
Published: 22 September 2025, 14:00pm
Every time your Officers want to change anything, they can’t just decide it themselves. Your SU have to put it to a student vote. Think of it a bit like when governments hold referendums such as Brexit or Scottish independence, except instead of waiting years for one we can call what’s known as an Extraordinary General Meeting. That’s what’s happening this Thursday at Oxstalls SU from 4 to 6pm. An EGM is exactly what it sounds like, a big all-student meeting where every member of the Union is invited to come along, hear what’s being proposed, and vote yes or no on a major issue. This time it’s two of your Officers Bianca and Iffat bringing forward a proposal to change our democracy structures. In plain terms, they want to make it easier for students to have their voices heard and for your opinions to directly influence the way the SU is run.
At the moment, access to Student Council is quite limited. The idea is to open things up by creating three new Sub-Councils. One would bring together every Course Rep, chaired by the Education and Community Officer. Another would bring together every Club and Society Committee Member, chaired by the Activities and Opportunities Officer. The third would bring together all Welfare Reps, chaired by the Welfare and Diversity Officer. Each of these Sub-Councils would then elect representatives to sit on Student Council itself. In practice that means hundreds more students would be directly part of decision making, so the voices shaping Union policy are much broader and closer to everyday student life.
So how would this work for you in real terms? Imagine you have feedback about your course. You tell your Course Rep, who takes it to the Education and Community Sub-Council. If lots of other reps agree, they can write a proposal together and put it forward for Student Council to vote on. Or say you want the SU to campaign for more gender neutral toilets. You speak to the LGBTQ+ Welfare Rep, who raises it at the Welfare and Diversity Sub-Council. If that group supports it, they can put a motion to Student Council so the SU can lobby the university. Or maybe you’re part of a sports club and think Varsity planning should involve more students. You chat to your committee, they bring it to the Activities and Opportunities Sub-Council, and if others agree it’s important it goes up the chain. It’s a simple route that makes it easier to go from an idea or a frustration to real action.
That simplicity is the whole point. Bianca and Iffat want to cut down the barriers and give you a clearer path to get your voice into the room where decisions are made. They want more students engaged, more issues raised, and more of the Union’s priorities shaped by students themselves. This is your Union, your voice and your democracy.
Now there is one important condition. For the vote to be valid we need at least 50 students to turn up. That’s the quorum, the minimum number of people needed to make a democratic decision. But of course the more who attend, the stronger the result. That’s what’s called a mandate, the authority you have to act based on how many people voted for something. If only 50 people show up the decision still counts, but if hundreds take part the Union can say with real confidence that this is what students want.
Democracy can sometimes feel like a complicated or loaded word, but here at UoG SU we believe it should be simple. It means you having your say, shaping what we do, and making sure the Union is genuinely led by students. This Thursday you get to be part of that. Come to Oxstalls SU at 4pm, take part in the debate, and cast your vote on whether to update the way our democracy works. It really is that straightforward, and the decision starts with you.
Written By: Your Students' Union