Now that the proposed OU Students Association Governance Reform resolutions have been approved by the Board of Trustees, we are providing students with the opportunity to take part in an open discussion and debate the change ahead of the 2022 Conference vote.
We are inviting any student who wants to take part to sign up for official ‘for’ and ‘against’ campaigns, which will enable participation in a number of campaign activities to make your case to Conference delegates and the wider student population.
What do the campaigns involve?
Both ‘for’ and ‘against’ campaigns will involve opportunities to:
- Write blogs that will be published on The Hoot
- Respond to written questions that will be published on the OU Students Association website
- Participate in an in-person online debate on the proposed Governance Reforms
You do not need to be able to do all these things to take part in a campaign. You may simply wish to join a campaign to lend your support and share your ideas with others.
Details of deadlines and debate times will be shared with campaigns after the registration period has closed.
What if I’m only against one or two of the Governance Reform resolutions?
You can indicate on the campaign registration form which resolutions you are opposed to and which you support. This will help us to determine which areas to focus the debate and blog topics on. However, other members of the campaign may be opposed to other resolutions, and so you will need to communicate between you which individuals will carry out which activities.
What are the campaign rules of engagement?
It is crucial that individuals conduct themselves in a respectful manner.
Our values are: Kindness and Compassion, Openness, Collaboration, Equality and Inclusivity and Integrity. We expect all campaigners to engage with these values. Our Values and Behaviour Policy applies to all members, and it is important you have read this.
This is an opportunity for sharing opposing views and to debate important issues, but we will not tolerate personal campaigns against individuals, or where deceit or ulterior motives are applied to the argument. We wish for discussion to be focused on the principles and details of the proposed changes taking into consideration the student experience and how we can achieve the best possible outcomes for students.
“Smear campaigns” will not be tolerated. Any individual spreading mistruths or personal attacks may be removed from the campaign or in severe cases will be subject to our disciplinary procedure.
Please refer to the Students Association’s Values and Behaviour Policy for full details of expected behaviours.
Only current students may be part of the campaign teams. Association staff and OU staff who are also students, will not be able to participate.
How to sign up
Complete the campaign registration form to sign up to one of the official campaigns.
The deadline to register for a campaign is Midnight on Wednesday 15th December 2021.
Submitting questions for the debates
Any student can submit a question for the debates here. Questions will be addressed either in the debates, in written form by each campaign, or in the Governance Reform FAQs.
The deadline for question submissions for the debates is Midday on Wednesday Dec 22nd 2021.
One Comment