New campaign group launched to try and make UCLU more democratic

Supposedly fed up by the consistent violations of democracy, a group of independent UCL students have launched a new campaign called ‘UCLU Democracy‘.

The inception follows a wave of criticism against UCLU regarding undemocratic processes. In the past week, UCLU has come under fire for “failing to represent” some 30,000 students studying at UCL.

The Tab exclusively revealed how elected union representatives used threatening and intimidating behaviour whilst canvassing for votes which some have claimed amounts to harassment: a clear breach of UCL regulation which should be investigated thoroughly but was instead branded “unfortunate” and swept under the mat. 

On top of this, UCLU controversially passed a BDS (Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions) motion last Tuesday night without the expected advertisement and consultation warranted for a motion of this magnitude. UCLU rejected an amended motion for the decision to be debated at the UCLU general assembly, where every student gets a vote.

UCLU Democracy will support the petition calling for the motion to be moved to the general assembly after listening to the concerns of thousands of UCL Students. The petition is gaining traction and well over 300 students have signed the petition, for which 770 are needed.

Run by a group of students from a range of backgrounds and affiliations, it will campaign to ensure UCLU remains open, transparent and democratically aligned with the voice of all UCL students, and not just the small number of students that participated in the UCLU elections.

You can follow the campaign on Facebook: UCLU Democracy and twitter @UCLUdemocracy