EUSA roll out cash incentives to boost attendance to 'prohibition AGM'

EUSA’s Executive Committee have put plans in place to encourage over 300 students to attend the General Meeting on 17 November that include cash incentives for societies.

The current constitution states that the meeting must have over 300 students present for a motion to be ratified. In the past three years only three of the six meetings have been quorate.

VPSA Camilla Piery told The Journal that she was optimistic about the changes to this year’s agenda: “I can’t wait for the GM – we’re pulling out all the stops and it’s going to be brilliant."

“The new focus on questions has been a roaring success – they’re on a huge variety of topics, though I don’t want to spoil the surprise.

This time last year, the meeting began with just above the required number of students present but later motions failed to be legally voted upon as people left the hall before the end.

However, the rebranding of the GM as ‘Ask EUSA Anything’ has attracted more interest than any other year with six motions and 65 individual questions submitted.

Miss Pierry said: “It’s great to see so many students engaging in the work that EUSA is doing and wanting to hold us to account; people often don’t realise that we are here to work on their priorities, so I can’t wait to see what comes out in the meeting.”

Miss Pierry spoke of the tactics they have for encouraging people to attend: “Getting 300 students into one meeting will always be difficult.

“On top of a set of really controversial motions,we're offering free drinks and up to £300 for societies who bring people along. If it doesn’t work this year then I don’t know what will."

EUSA are also funding free taxi rides from Pollock Halls on the night of the meeting.

Out of the six motions that have been submitted, some are more controversial than others.

One student has submited a motion that suggests EUSA cease the sale of cigarettes from all union outlets on the grounds that the union should not be profitting from the sale of harmful substances.

After EUSA decided that Bibles were to be removed from Pollock bedrooms, a motion has been placed that plans to bring them back.

EUSA's status on Israel is also expected to provoke heated debate.

A no platform policy that is similar to the one NUS currently hold to the BNP and other suchlike organisations is also being proposed.

An additional motion is also to be added by the Executive Committee. When the governance review is due, people will be able to vote in an online referendum instead of having to attend a specified meeting with 299 of their peers.

Explaining the significance of this, Miss Pierry said: “Unfortunately meetings like this can never reach out to all students – many have to work or look after dependants – so it will be really interesting to see what people think about online referenda as part of our research for EUSA's governance review next year.”