Exec Elections -> Facebook Groups

It seems like you can't do anything these days without Facebook, not least of all stand in an election!

Therefore we've have put links to all of the candidates' Facebook Groups on the Guild website.

Click on the link below link to head to the Elections page: http://www.guildofstudents.com/DisplayPage.aspx?GroupId=553&id=7751

Exec Elections -> Video Hustings

Lights, camera...
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The video hustings of each candidate can now be found online by typing each candidate's name into www.youtube.com.

sss

Alternatively, you can watch them on the Guild website by clicking this link and scrolling down:

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http://www.guildofstudents.com/DisplayPage.aspx?GroupId=553&id=7751

jj

The videos are great for seeing & hearing from next year's potential Executive Officers and can help you decide who to vote for next week.

kk

...action!

Exec Elections -> It Begins!

The Executive Elections 2008 have arrived!

Now is the time for all 28,000 students to decide who they want to see running the Guild over the upcoming year, both leading on campaigns and making life better for students across campus.

Campaigning began at 9am on Friday. You can view all of the candidate's manifestos on the Guild website. Just hit this link ->

http://www.guildofstudents.com/DisplayPage.aspx?GroupId=553&id=7751

The online voting will take place between 9am on Monday 3rd March and 12 noon on Friday 7th March.

Make sure you meet all of the candidates and hear their ideas & plans for next year! No doubt you will see them flyering, door-knocking and lecture-shouting over the next two weeks.

There will also be an opportunity to question the candidates at the Guild Council hustings on Wednesday 27th at 6pm in the Guild Council Chambers. Join the Facebook event at the link below and invite your friends.

http://ubrm.facebook.com/event.php?eid=8943827653

Choose the direction of your Guild next year by voting in the Exec Elections 2008!

The Sound Impact Audit

Last Wednesday, the Guild was visited by Catherine Dishington from NUSSL who audited us for the Sound Impact Award.

Catherine checked we had supporting evidence for the criteria we awarded ourselves in the self-assessed workbook (submitted mid-December) and overall Catherine confirmed that we indeed achieved the 307 points that we thought we had achieved.

This would have put us in the top three Unions last year and earned us a Gold Award. However, most Unions have upped their game since then and it is only the three highest-scorers who get the illustrious Gold!

But the audit was very promising. Unions are also asked to submit any other random environmental best practise that they undertake in the final Bonus Section. None of this will be marked until nearer NUSSL Convention but it does allow us some scope to gain extra points!

We won't know for sure what award we have achieved until Convention on the 18th March.

But watch this space and I'll keep you all informed as usual :D

The 'Go Green' March!

On Thursday, the Guild People and Planet society organised a march over to the Aston Webb building to ask the Vice-Chancellor to help the University 'Go Green.'

The campaign focuses on three main points:

1) Public support for the University to focus on environmental issues.

2) A full environmental audit of the University.

3) An environmental policy with clear targets.

The march was widely attended by all (click on the picture to see a larger version) and students arrived with pots & pans to bang, green flags, green face-paint and much enthusiam! The 'Go Green' tree was also wheeled out of my office to take part in the march :)

People & Planet received 1000 signatures for their petition, which was reeled out on the day and was approximately the length of a swimming pool.

Med-student Amy Squires, who led the march on the day, was allowed to enter the Aston Webb building with the petition to present it to the Vice-Chancellor's office in person.

It was an exciting march that combined student actitivism with a clearly set out campaign and all who took part thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Let's Go Green!

A Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Charity

Last weekend, I took part in the Carnival charity hitch-hike to Edinburgh and raised £50 for local Birmingham charities.

And my team was given the Fastest Hitch Award! Admittedly, this was after a whole weekend of debate because we actually arrived third. But we didn't hitch a single train (which is widely considered to be cheating) and were therefore given first place, woo!

It was a fantastic weekend which made me feel like a student again and it was memorable for the following reasons:

• I was hitch-hiking with a French waitress and Superman. I was a Jedi :)
• We got from Tesco Express to Edinburgh in eight-hour, including stops for breakfast and scones!
• I was dragged shoe-shopping.
• I rode in a Tuc Tuc.
• I had a swordfight with Mel Gibson (far right).
• We toured the Scottish Whisky Experience and learnt the art of tasting whiskey. Slanjeva!
• We climbed the extremely narrow Sir Walter Scott monument and were almost blown off.
• We went on aghost tour underneath Edinburgh and I photographed what could only be considered as a poltergheist much to the alarm of everyone else.
• We partied in a Church-converted nightclub.

It was my tenth charity hitch-hike with Carnival and was one of my all-time favourites. Congratulations to Sam and Johnny from the new Committee who organised the entire weekend!

Guild Council -> February

Last Thursday, February Guild Council took place.

It was memorable for a variety of reasons:-

• It was Valentine's Day.
• The Referendum was ratified by Guild Council.
• All motions passed without debate, which shows that Guild Council was united in their support for them.
• I presented the Building Redevelopment plans.
• Guild Councillor, Simon Menashy, presented a black and white photo of Guild Council from several decades ago.
• I had provided Guild Council with two chocolate fountains!

I was also commended for my campaigning work during the Referendum for which I continue to be grateful so thank you Guild Council. I will frame the certificate and put it on my office wall to remind myself to campaign just as hard to engage students for the Exec Elections.

Lastly, there was some concern that FOCSOC's RA bye-election results were not included in my Elections Committee report. I have discovered that this is because we do not know how many FOCSOC members exist, therefore we cannot calculate what percentage of them voted in the election.

Nevertheless, we know twenty-six FOCSOC members voted, which is more than twice the number of members who voted last time. Therefore, FOCSOC should be commended for such a high increase in their voter turnout.

All in all, it was another memorable Guild Council. Thank you to all who attended.

Referendum -> The Result

Voting closed Saturday at noon and we all had a nervous wait over the weekend before Rhea announced the results breakdown on Monday.

But it was all worth the wait!

The total vote count was 4,010 (which means I won Tom Marley's sweepstake because I guessed 4000!)

4,010 votes is roughly 14% of our student population and is reportedly the highest voter turnout that we've had in fifteen years.

Abstain received 93 votes.

No received 197 votes.

Yes received 3,740 votes (which is 93% of the total voter turnout!)

Our expectations were surpassed and I am so proud of our students for engaging in this issue and making sure their voice was heard. And 93% is a very reassuring amount of support with which to move forward with our change in company status.

Thank you once again everyone. Whether Ranger or voter, you have ensured your Guild remains student-led and better run than ever!

Referendum... done!

Referendum -> Reaching Quorum!

On Friday morning we received some fantastic news... We had reached 3,250 votes!

This means that overnight we had surpassed our quorum target of 10% of the student population and therefore the result of the Referendum would be valid!

Look left for a host of happy faces after being told the good news!

Regardless of reaching quorum, we weren't done yet. The more votes the merrier, so we headed back out into Selly Oak, onto campus and of course onto Facebook (standard) to engage a larger percentage of our student population with this issue.

Morale seemed higher than ever and fancy dress costumes were unveiled, including big wigs, police hats, a shark costume and Carnival's infamous gorilla Gustav!

nvn

The sun was shining and the votes were rolling in. It was a great end to the week :)

Referendum -> Door-Knocking Round Two

Towards the end of the week, we decided to hit Selly Oak with a second wave of door-knocking because the voting wouldn't have been active the previous week when we visited.

Plus, it served as a reminder to students living in Selly Oak and provided us with the opporutnity to talk them through any technical difficulties.

We also took free muffins and donuts with us to provide students with a little incentive.

It was a great move. The Rangers were remembered from the previous week and students had been given a week to consider the changes before they were prompted by the second wave of door-knocking.

The value of door-knocking has proven its worth in this Referendum and has instigated discussions about having unbiased Rangers for the Exec Elections who can remind students to vote throughout the week. To be continued...

Referendum -> Taking the Vote to the Halls!

Each evening, after a long day of campaigning on campus, we headed out straight away to the Halls of Residence for more door-knocking. Coinciding with the RA bye-elections, each RA hosted their own Referendum event to inspire their residents to vote.

These ranged from Referendum parties in Jarratt to a Chinese foodfest in Pritchatts in conjunction with the Chinese New Year. And Tennis Courts hosted their event on Pancake Day and spent the evening cooking pancakes in the rain and running them round to their residents! Guys, please send me any photos if you have them!

E-stations were assembled in communal areas, foyers & laundrettes and First Years turned out to vote in their hundreds!

A massive thank you to all of the RAs for their enthusiasm and hard work, we couldn't have done it without you :D

Referendum -> The Big Green VOTE

On Monday morning, once the voting had opened, we could finally unleash our giant inflatable VOTE sign!

Situated in the centre of campus, it caught everyone's attention and sparked much interest in the Referendum.

Many students, staff and even lecturers approached us to talk about the Guild's changes and nearly all of them wanted their picture taken with it :)

It was an absolute pain to inflate and deflate every day but the head-turning effect it seemed to have on our students was well worth it!

No doubt we'll see it again for the Exec Elections. Coming to a campus near you...

Referendum -> Flyering!

Following our week of door-knocking, our Rangers began to focus on campaigning on the campus itself.

Voting was now open online so flyering was essential and we had a great turnout from the Rangers!

Even the torrential rainstorms didn't halt our morale (see left) but our box of flyers suffered quite badly!

Referendum -> Door-knocking

After a weekend of banner-painting, we began door-knocking in Selly Oak.

Each day of Week 4 saw us tick off a couple more roads and by the end of the week we had covered Bournbrook, Alton, Rookery, Harrow, Selly Hill, Dawlish, Tiverton and Hubert.

Some days were rainy, one day was snowy and all days were cold - but it was worth it.

Once again, a big thank you to all of those Rangers who helped us in our campaign. It was a great week of building up enthusiasm before voting opened...

Referendum -> Banner Painting!

Following on from the Rangers meeting on Friday 25th, we spent the weekend banner painting.

Myself, Rhea, Naush, Sean and some of our eager Rangers flexed our arts & crafts skills and painted some awesome greeny-blue banners.

These banners were quite important, as they would become some of the only items of campaign material that would feature the word 'YES' on them.

We later hung these banners on the Grange Road Gate, South Gate and the wall of the Basement to spread the R-word further across campus.

Fun. Arty. Messy. Love it.

Blogs?

You may have noticed that I've not posted on my blog for about two weeks.

Most of my activities have been sidelined by the Referendum but it was totally worth it, as we recieved 4,010 votes and 93% of them were YES to the Guild transition! Woo!

But anyway... the next few posts will be a nice little flashback and provide insight into what I've been doing these past two weeks.

jj

I photographed the entire Road to Referendum so all is not lost...