Outcomes from the Annual Student Meeting 2022

This year's Annual Student Meeting (formally known as the Annual Members Meeting) was held on Monday 28th November 2022. The meeting gives all students the opportunity to debate and vote on a range of issues and ideas put forward by other students. It also gives students the opportunity to hear updates from the elected Executive Officers and ask them questions, and vote on the approval of affiliations and accounts by students present at the meeting. Over 300 students attended the event, which was held online this year. 

A total of 8 motions were discussed and voted on, with a further motion discussed as part of the affiliations agenda item, where the Students' Union's affiliations are presented and voted upon each year. The outcomes were as follows;

• Affiliation objection: Should Queen Mary Students' Union disaffiliate from the National Union of Students (NUS)? - this motion was passed. We have released a further statement on this motion which can be viewed here.
• Should the Students’ Union create a Give Blood UK Event? - this motion was passed.
• Should the Students’ Union and BLSA boycott sporting or other entertainment events in their venues when there are human rights violations involved in the organisation or country hosting the event? - this motion was rejected.
• Queen Mary Students’ Union opposes the change in internal naming from ‘Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry’ to ‘Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry’, and will prevent any efforts to further this change in University Structure and Governance - this motion was passed.
• Should the Students’ Union publicly support QMUCU in the current industrial dispute? - this motion was passed.
• Should the Students’ Union support QM UNISON’s campaigns on pay? - this motion was passed.
• Should the Students’ Union lobby the University to decolonise the curriculum? - this motion was passed.
• Should Queen Mary University of London support the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement? - this motion was passed, however is subject to review by the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees has the responsibility of considering whether any policy passed at the Annual Student Meeting is or may be in breach of, contrary to or otherwise inconsistent with charity or education law or any other legal requirement. We are currently seeking professional legal advice on this matter, before taking any decision. An update is expected in February 2023 at the next Board of Trustees. For now the policy remains inactive.

The passed motions now become Students' Union policy. The Students' Union will now consider how it can take these motions forward. You can view the full details for each motion on the Annual Student Meeting webpage. 

Due to the meeting running past the 9pm cut-off deadline several motions were passed to the Student Council meeting that was held on Tuesday 6th December. The outcomes from the Student Council are shown below.

• Should the Students’ Union lobby the University to support and invest in a Queen Mary Nightline service and to more broadly improve the Mental Health service offered to students? This motion was passed.
• Should the university look into reducing the financial burden on international students? This motion was passed.
• Should the Students’ Union lobby the University to enable undergraduate International Students studying Law to access Vacation Schemes? This motion was passed.
• Can the Union Shop allow students to heat their own food in the microwave? The proposed was absent so this motion was not debated and voted upon. However the Students' Union will identify a space on the Godward Square side of campus for a microwave. 
• Should the Students' Union organise an annual ‘Idea for Humanity’ summit? This motion was not debated and voted upon as it was agreed that the proposer would meet with the Students' Union President to discuss the idea.
• Should the Students' Union be more generous in using its Liberation funds, society funds and other funds to allow students to spend on food (and not just cultural food) when Students' Union events are organised? Students' Union reps and reps that sit on boards to make financial decisions should also do the same. This motion was passed.

For further details about all the outcomes from the Annual Student Meeting and voting stats please view our detailed document here (downloads PDF).