Annual General Meeting 2024
Our Annual General Meeting took place on Thursday 21st November. 801 students (including proxies) attended to debate and determine the direction of their Students’ Union. Below you will find a summary of the results of that meeting. For each motion, the 'AGM Resolves' section is included below, along with details of whether the motion passed or fell. Officers are mandated to work on these and will keep students informed on progress.
Read the agenda pack and full motions here
Agenda Items
ITEM TWO: Minutes from previous meeting approved
The minutes from the previous meeting are reviewed by attendees to ensure that a record of decisions is accurate.
Action: Minutes to be published on the Students' Union website.
ITEM FIVE: Affiliations approved
The Students' Union confirms its affiliations at every AGM – the two affiliations are: National Union of Students (NUS), and British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS).
Action: To continue to be affiliated with NUS and BUCS.
ITEM SIX: Questions to the Trustees
Questions submitted to the trustees were answered by the Sabbatical Officer team.
ITEM SEVEN: A resolution to approve proposed changes to Cardiff Students’ Union’s Memorandum and Articles of Assocation.
Changes to the Cardiff Students’ Union’s Memorandum and Articles of Association were approved.
Motions
Motion 1: Securing Justice: A Renewed Call to End Sexual Violence. PASSED
1. Cardiff Students’ Union Officers should make and take preventative measures to protect victims of sexual misconduct, we recommend that this is done by working with other organisations such as ‘Our streets Now’ and campaigns (which are yearly or biyearly reviewed) promoting consent around both Cathays and Heath Campus.
a. The campaigns could include information on support offered to victims, what consent is, healthy relationships etc.
2. Cardiff Students’ Union Officers should lobby the University to implement Bystander training for all staff members, as well as promote it to students yearly, through numerous platforms; such as but not limited to enrolment, society and sports clubs committee training, university intranet pages, posters. Cardiff Students’ Union Officers should also work to implement such training for all staff members in the Students’ Union.
3. Cardiff Students’ Union Officers and Cardiff University should publicly acknowledge possible failings of protecting and supporting previous victims of sexual misconduct.
4. Cardiff Students’ Union Officers and Cardiff University should provide better information around healthy relationships through posters, informative videos, training to societies/sports clubs and pages on the student intranet page.
a. These informative posters should be made in line with Women’s Aid Survivors handbook on health relationships
b. These informative posters should also be made with awareness of current student culture, particularly surrounding dating and relationships. We recommend this is done by questionnaires and reviews of what students want to see.
5. Cardiff Students’ Union Officers and Cardiff university should promote the fact that “Coercion is not consent” and that consent is not in relation to the relationship the victim has with their perpetrator.
6. Cardiff Students’ Union Officers should aggressively lobby the university to promote its support offered to victims
7. The Cardiff Students’ Union Officers and Cardiff University should acknowledge the fact that healthcare students are particularly vulnerable to sexual misconduct on their placements. In response the Students Union and Cardiff University should ensure that students on placement can report the incident, change placement locations and are offered numerous forms of support. Students should also be continuously informed that reporting will have no impact on their academic progression
8. The Students’ Union and Cardiff University should advertise SSIT better, this should be followed by a questionnaire of different ways students wish to see it promoted.
9. The University should have more security and safety measures to protect students on Cathays and Heath campus from sexual misconduct, particularly following the recent assault of a woman under Senghenydd bridge.
Motion 2: Oppose Cuts to Teaching Opportunities for PhD Students PASSED
1. Cardiff Students' Union's elected officers should oppose the university’s decision to reduce teaching opportunities for PhD students.
2. Cardiff Students' Union's elected officers should lobby the university, advocating for the reinstatement and expansion of teaching opportunities for PhD students, emphasising the benefits to both PhD and undergraduate students.
3. Cardiff Students' Union's elected officers should run awareness campaigns, potentially including open letters, petitions, and events, to highlight the importance of PhD teaching roles.
4. Cardiff Students' Union's elected officers should work with relevant departments, student bodies, and faculty members to explore alternative solutions that could maintain or increase teaching opportunities for PhD students.
Motion 3: Protect our freedom to express solidarity with Palestine PASSED
1. To publicly express solidarity with universities in Palestine that have been destroyed by Israeli bombardments, and with the families of those university workers and students who have been killed, on the basis of condemning scholasticide as a matter of academic and moral importance for the SU.
2. To publicly express solidarity with students at Cardiff, in the UK and around the world who are exercising their right to peacefully protest, and who have been subject to violence and punitive measures for supporting Palestine.
3. To publicly condemn and resist punitive measures against pro-Palestine student activists enacted by Cardiff University and other external bodies, such as the police or the Home Office. As well as to provide practical support and advice to members who are subject to these punitive measures as an urgent matter regarding student safeguarding.
4. To lobby the university to request provision of legal guidance to support and empower students to take part in peaceful activism in solidarity with Palestine.
5. To write to Cardiff University's executive board requesting a public statement:
a. confirming that all students can express solidarity with Palestinians under academic freedom and the right to freedom of speech.
b. clarifying to all staff (such that students are treated correctly) and students, that expressing solidarity with Palestine is not inherently antisemitic, as AntiZionist beliefs are protected under the 2010 Equality Act(17). [7]
c. confirming that the university will take proactive steps to protect students from defamation, intimidation and harassment linked to Palestinian solidarity, including those made on social media platforms and in the press, and to protect students from online surveillance concerning their public or private, personal social media accounts.
d. confirming that the University will not work with the police or private bailiffs to pursue punishment against students involved in activism for Palestine, in line with the Students’ Union’s Cops Off Campus Task and Finish Group’s findings and recommendations published in November 2023, which should also be in line with the Cops Off Campus motion that was already passed at the 2022 AGM.
Motion 4: Protecting Students' Right to Parking Permits in Cardiff PASSED
For Cardiff Students’ Union Officers to publicly oppose the removal of parking permits for students and advocate for students’ equal access to these permits.
2. To mandate the Students’ Union officers to actively lobby Cardiff City Council, in partnership with Cardiff University, to ensure that students retain equal rights to parking permits as other residents.
3. To mandate the Students' Union officers to engage with Cardiff City Council's consultation process to advocate for an approach to sustainability that does not unfairly penalize students.
4. For the Students' Union Officers to collaborate with other Students’ Unions in Cardiff, if possible, to create a united front in supporting students’ rights to parking permits.
5. To call on Cardiff University to formally support this position and advocate alongside the Students’ Union for students’ equal treatment regarding parking access.
6. In the event the legislation passes the elected officers should consider alternative options to oppose the legislation including calling for a judicial review.