SU sabbs in annual meeting controversy

SU sabbs are facing a revolt from society leaders after the president refused to answer questions because he didn’t want to. 

Last week’s Annual Members meeting ended in uproar after students were told to vote on budget matters, but sabbs seemed unable to tell anyone why they were voting.

The meeting was attended by more than 110 students involved at a significant level with the University’s student groups. Set to last for just one hour and finish at 7.30pm, the meeting overran by an hour meaning many society presidents had to leave to attend events held by their society.

SU President Dan Flatt… He does what he wants…

It emerged that the SU held a surplus of £178,000 from last year’s budget, although the sabbs could not provide details of how the money would be auctioned off, despite rigorous questioning.

Members also became disgruntled when they were asked to vote on last years budget as it was not made clear what they were actually voting for. The sabb team then huddled together to decide on what students were voting for.

The Students’ Union Sabbatical team then clarified that members were giving a show of hands to indicate that they had seen the presentation and last years budget, not whether they approved of where money had been directed. Many abstained from voting.

#ulsucouncil waste of two hours. Complete shambles. “Democracy”. Hah! Feel happier now that there’s cider to drown my sorrows. Rraaaaarrrgh.

— Lizzie (@Castaras) October 29, 2013

One attendee told The Tab: “When one speaker asked SU President, Dan Flatt, why he would not provide an explanation as to why 2/3 of union staff were let go in 2011, considering there was no injunction into why, he said: “Because I don’t want to.”” When other questions were asked, he simply responded “send me an email.”

So we’ve come to a meeting but were not allowed to ask questions about our societies were representing, sure #ulsucouncil

— Georga Reed (@GeorgaReed) October 29, 2013

Is ANYONE happy with ANYTHING? #ulsucouncil

— Mike Greenhalgh (@MikeGreen89) October 29, 2013

The student group leader added: “He (Flatt) also indicated that he was not at liberty to divulge the Union’s motivation for, or provide a record of this mass layoff.”

The lack of transparency from the Students’ Union Sabb team and the fact that the meeting was always going to overrun, only contributed to the dissatisfaction of the attendees; many of whom had to leave to attend events organised by their societies.

It was also alleged that the doors were locked to prevent anyone from leaving – even for society events.

One Student told The Tab: “When I went to leave the meeting to attend one of my society’s events I was told that I had to stay for the duration of the meeting. It was ridiculous, surely I could fulfill my committee duties better if I was actually representing my society at events rather than being forced to indicate whether or not I had seen a presentation or not.”

What are we even voting for? #ulsucouncil

— Will Morris (@willmginger) October 29, 2013

Another student said: “Just as I was leaving someone shouted to stop people going through the door and I’ve heard they then locked them and had someone there who had to open it for you.”

It also emerged that despite the minibus service for societies making a profitable turnover, Flatt and SU could not provide an explanation as to why 1 out of the 2 vital buses had been axed.

Students took to Twitter to voice their opinions about the meeting using #ulsucouncil, the official hashtag of the meeting. Many of those present added #Revolution to their tweets about the meeting.

20 members rose to speak at the meeting, and only 2 voiced their approval of the SU’s policy and actions.