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10 Reasons why Students should vote “NO” in the referendum.

  • 23-03-2012 4:14pm
    #1
    KarmaBaby
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 299 ✭✭


    The Tralee SU is introducing a new constitution which Tralee Students have been asked to vote on at the same time as the Student Union elections. Students should vote “No” to this regressive constitution for a number of reasons which I’ve listed below.

    There are some positives in the proposed constitution such as more defined roles for the part time officers and removal of the right of the sabbaticals to canvass from within the union office, but on balance the majority of the changes being brought in are regressive.

    I think we can all agree that it’s important that students are armed with accurate and unbiased information before they vote in this referendum. Unfortunately on this occasion that is not the case.

    Vote NO!


    1) The New Constitution will make the Union WEAKER, not stronger, by putting more decision making power in the hands of an even smaller minority.

    2) he Union executive wants to remove transparency and accountability. The union president dismissed proposals which he did not like and did not present them to the CR Council for discussion. One of these proposals was that the union present a full set of accounts at the end of each academic term. This should be standard practice in any students’ union.

    3) The Union President lied about the vote at CR Council being “unanimous”.     Actually, only about half the class reps showed up, and two voted against.

    4)     Students have not been fully informed of the changes they are voting for. In an email the union sent to all students, they left out much of the original constitution’s text meaning students are not fully aware of all the changes that are being made. Therefore, students have not been give adequate information with which to make an informed decision.

    5) The Class reps council doesn’t work, and should not take priority over a UGM which any student in the college can attend.

    6) A “One Class = One Vote” system is ridiculous and undemocratic. Some classes are many times bigger than others. Under this system a class of 6 students would have the same voting power as a class of sixty. This is clearly unfair.

    7) It will be more difficult for grassroots union members to have their say. The Union will reduce the number of UGMs per year from 2 to 1 and the quorum is still too high. The number of signatures required for a referendum remains proportionately much higher than in other colleges.

    8) No Quorum has been set for the Class Reps Council. This means that the union executive can make sweeping policy changes even if only one student showed up to a class reps council meeting.

    9) The President will have the right to censor election candidates canvassing material, even in an election in which the president is running.

    10) The proposed constitution is poorly written, contains typos and contradicts itself.

    a) Section 5.9.3. reads as follows: The Sports Officer is elected by and sits on the College Sports Council. (elected by who?)

     b) Section 5.8.4 says that the societies officer will be elected by societies, but section 6.7 says that all union members are entitled to vote on executive positions including the societies and sports officer. So which is it?

     c) What has been presented as the original text at the bottom of section 5.7 is not in the existing constitution at all. As a result, a change to the voting process for the mature student officer position has been hidden.


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