Connect and Disagree: A Social Experiment
All Student
Meeting
Introductions
Seun Sowunmi – Student Council Chair & Transformation Committee Member
Emilie Tapping – Change Director
Nikki Smith – CEO
Rachel Hu – Policy & Representation Coordinator
Esther Holland – Communications Manager
Peter Robertson – Director, NUS Charity
Values led leadership
•
Kindness
•
Trust
•
Solidarity
•
Transparency
•
Integrity
•
Collaboration
Agenda
5:30 – Introduction
5:40 – Ice Breaker
5:50 – Transformation Update
6:20 – Policy Formation Workshop
7:20 – Initial Representation Model Feedback
7:30 – Feeding Back & What's Next
Ice Breaker
To get started, find someone that you don’t know.
Introduce yourself and you have 5 minutes to find
something that you have in common and 1 thing that you
fundamentally disagree on. The deeper, the better. We
won’t ask you to report back on this part.
Transformation
How did we get here?
•
Disaffiliations, dissatisfaction, grievances, incidents, lack of impact
•
SU Review launched in Oct 2023
•
Points of critical failure 2023/24
•
February 2024 – Co-option of new trustees on to the Board
•
March 2024 – decision to go into turnaround
•
April 2024 – formation of Transformation Committee
•
Trinity 2024 – student engagement in consultation
Difficult Decisions
What difficult decisions have we had to take?
•
Reduction in the staff team
•
Cessation of non-essential activity and activity that we don't have the resources
to continue
•
Cessation/repurposing of some democratic procedures (Student Council)
•
Temporary reduction of Officers from 6 to 3
The Brief
What are we aiming for?
•
What impact is Oxford SU aiming to have?
•
How do we achieve it in such a complex governance system?
•
How do we work with existing representation structures and avoid duplication?
•
How do we un-do poor culture and mistakes of the past?
•
How do we engage students in a meaningful way?
Transformation
What will Transformation cover?
•
Democracy
•
Elected officer effectiveness
•
Representation & advocacy
•
Relationship management
•
Organisational governance
•
People & culture
•
Financial sustainability
•
Service provision
Consultation
What have we done so far?
•
Survey – 31 responses
•
Consultation meetings – 10 x RepComs; 7 Common Rooms (so far)
•
3 x individual meetings with Change Director
•
Desk research including governance reviews, previous reviews into the
organisation, previous complaints, Student Council evaluation etc
•
This all student meeting
•
Over the summer – alumni, ex-officers, University & College staff
•
More direct consultation with students to come in Michaelmas
Sector Analysis
Where have we looked at?
•
Liverpool – use of sortition, consensus building, use of Student Ideas, preferenda
and all student votes, fewer but more impactful priorities
•
Exeter – use of insight to generate organisational priorities, use of sortition,
survey super-heroes, longer-term organisational priorities
•
Durham – semi-collegiate university, uses demographic splits to create an
assembly, much clearer delineation between governance & democracy
My Assessment...
...So Far
•
Not enough work done to bring the Union (students) together to agree
priorities for students
•
Spreading ourselves too thinly – no way to prioritise – trying to be too many
things to too many people
•
Democratic structures are too complicated – not accessible – not doing the
intended job and not kept up with modern approaches
•
Blurring of democracy, representation & governance – operational decisions vs
political/rep
My Assessment...
...So Far
•
Organisational failures with Officers preventing impact/progress
•
Blurring of employment and democracy
•
Lack of outcomes/policy/visibility of 'the work'
•
People & culture – we need to invest in and develop high-quality staff team
•
No clarity on relationship and approach with the University
•
Unclear relationship with the Colleges/Common Rooms
What's next?
•
Loads more consultation, research & analysis
•
Develop a coherent theory of change – what is the actual purpose of Oxford SU
and what impact are we hoping to achieve for students & the University
•
Begin developing our organisational model based on the outcomes of
Transformation
•
Have any changes to constitution, bye-laws and funding changed within
appropriate governance structures
•
Student engagement & involvement in decision-making improvements
•
Do better
Questions?
Purpose
•
Providing individual advice and guidance for students
•
Creating spaces for students outside of their Colleges – community
building
•
Providing training and support for representatives
•
Representation to the University
•
Being a parental role model for students
•
Academic policy development within the University
•
Providing spaces for representatives to collaborate
•
Ensuring that student priorities are on the University agenda
Objectives
•
Wellbeing
•
College Disparities
•
Cost of Living (inc accommodation)
•
Improving & increasing opportunities for representation within the
Colleges & University
•
Protecting student rights and safety
•
Local & National Representation – government policy
•
Consent & Sexual Violence
Accountability
& Scrutiny
•
Clearer, more public information about what we are doing
•
Better communication with representatives of the Union so that they are
aware
•
College based scrutiny for the SU – are we providing value for money
•
Clearer, more public information about our finances
•
Published minutes from decision-making bodies
•
Clearer, more public information about trustee board
•
Publish impact & outcomes information
•
Votes of no confidence – Officers?
Colleges/
Common Rooms
•
Focus on the things Colleges/Common Rooms can't do (?)
•
Highlight & lessen disparities between Colleges
•
Be the umbrella body for Common Room representation
•
Represent College students to their respective Colleges
•
Facilitate joint campaigns between Colleges and to the University
•
Improve the quality of College representation
•
Facilitate cross-college communities
•
Enact Common Room policy
Colleges/
Common Rooms
•
Have no connection with Common Rooms – retain
absolute independence
•
Provide negotiation support for individual Common Rooms
•
Train representatives
•
Specific SU representatives to act as bridge between Common Rooms
and SU
Marginalised Students
•
Centralised information for marginalised groups
•
Forums for marginalised communities to talk about issues affecting them
•
Build communities for minoritised students
•
Better insight/information for representatives
•
Support for existing societies
•
Provide direct representation spaces for students impacted by policy changes
•
Build networks with marginalised groups for policy development & feedback
Political Positions
•
Don't take positions because it will always alienate and marginalise groups
•
Take positions but only when they affect students as students
•
Take a position if you have a democratic mandate to do so
•
Take positions where it relates to holding the university accountable and standing
with the students
•
Create a space to debate positions without necessarily taking on the position as an
organsation
Student Voice
•
Where should student voice come from?
o
Common Rooms
o
Direct in-depth surveys
o
Campaigns
o
Pulse surveys
o
Democratic processes (i.e. through Student Council)
o
SU Officers
•
Focus should be on holding the University accountable for decisions, not
providing student voice
Misc.
•
Centralisation of scattered information
•
Internalised and more impactful networks
•
Welfare
•
Making our purpose clear to the freshers
•
Transparency and visibility
•
Having clearer goals and communicate those well
•
Institutionalised support for divisional and course reps
Workshop Format:
•
This is
not
a decision-making space – this will come later
•
You have infront of you a variety of outcomes
•
Your job, in groups, is to come to a consensus on what we should take forward
•
You have a facilitator
•
You can add new things, rule things out
•
Please take notes
•
We will ask you to feed back at the end
A Starting Point
•
Student Ideas platform
- for new ideas
•
Student Executive Committee
- to make quick decisions and direct where ideas
need to be considered, prioritise and move forward
•
Conference of Common Rooms
– Common Rooms & Div Reps together as a
deliberative space to flesh out ideas and hear consultations from Officers & the
Uni
•
Taskforces
- per Officer, themed around priorities, decide how to take things
forward and support with representation
A Starting Point
•
Working Groups
- interested student can join a specific working group within
a taskforce to contribute to the taskforce's work
•
Scrutiny Committee
- responsible for scrutinising the work of the
Sabbatical Officers and the Taskforces.
•
All Student Meetings
– for organisational accountability
•
Sabbatical Officers
- Sabbatical Officers would be elected on the basis of their
skills, experience and ability to deliver the existing priorities of the Union
and supported by taskforces
Feedback?
Thank You
Find a stranger, discover common ground and fundamental disagreement in 5 minutes. Dive deep to explore differences without judgment. The exercise aims to foster understanding and empathy between unfamiliar individuals.
Download Presentation
Please find below an Image/Link to download the presentation.
The content on the website is provided AS IS for your information and personal use only. It may not be sold, licensed, or shared on other websites without obtaining consent from the author.If you encounter any issues during the download, it is possible that the publisher has removed the file from their server.
You are allowed to download the files provided on this website for personal or commercial use, subject to the condition that they are used lawfully. All files are the property of their respective owners.
The content on the website is provided AS IS for your information and personal use only. It may not be sold, licensed, or shared on other websites without obtaining consent from the author.
E N D
Presentation Transcript
To get started, find someone that you dont know. Introduce yourself and you have 5 minutes to find something that you have in common and 1 thing that you fundamentally disagree on. The deeper, the better. We won t ask you to report back on this part.
Organisational failures with Officers preventing impact/progress Blurring of employment and democracy Lack of outcomes/policy/visibility of 'the work' People & culture we need to invest in and develop high-quality staff team No clarity on relationship and approach with the University Unclear relationship with the Colleges/Common Rooms
Providing individual advice and guidance for students Creating spaces for students outside of their Colleges community building Providing training and support for representatives Representation to the University Being a parental role model for students Academic policy development within the University Providing spaces for representatives to collaborate Ensuring that student priorities are on the University agenda
Wellbeing College Disparities Cost of Living (inc accommodation) Improving & increasing opportunities for representation within the Colleges & University Protecting student rights and safety Local & National Representation government policy Consent & Sexual Violence
Clearer, more public information about what we are doing Better communication with representatives of the Union so that they are aware College based scrutiny for the SU are we providing value for money Clearer, more public information about our finances Published minutes from decision-making bodies Clearer, more public information about trustee board Publish impact & outcomes information Votes of no confidence Officers?
Focus on the things Colleges/Common Rooms can't do (?) Highlight & lessen disparities between Colleges Be the umbrella body for Common Room representation Represent College students to their respective Colleges Facilitate joint campaigns between Colleges and to the University Improve the quality of College representation Facilitate cross-college communities Enact Common Room policy
Have no connection with Common Rooms retain absolute independence Provide negotiation support for individual Common Rooms Train representatives Specific SU representatives to act as bridge between Common Rooms and SU
Centralised information for marginalised groups Forums for marginalised communities to talk about issues affecting them Build communities for minoritised students Better insight/information for representatives Support for existing societies Provide direct representation spaces for students impacted by policy changes Build networks with marginalised groups for policy development & feedback
