EUSA forecast £320k deficit at poorly-attended annual general meeting

Poor turnout marred proceedings at the annual general meeting of Edinburgh University Students' Association last week, as around 70 members of a 29,000-strong student body gathered at George Square Lecture Theatre on 23 November.

Presenting EUSA's financial accounts and 2012/13 budget, Vice-President Services Philippa Faulkner revealed that despite overall turnover of £9 million last year, the union's operating deficit has ballooned to just under £320,000, a three-fold increase from last year.

Profit margins for catering and entertainment services suffered badly in a difficult year for the union, despite the strong performance of EUSA's retail offering, especially the profitable shop at Pollock Halls. Ms Faulkner blamed the deficit on large capital expenditure projects, including investments into the Dome Cafe at Potterrow and EUSA's festival services, but defended these investments as likely to reap significant financial rewards.

She also signalled that EUSA could no longer absorb the impact of soaring supply costs, which the union has not passed on to students in the last year. The union's new financial plan, which includes cutbacks in the entertainment budget, hopes to reach a surplus by 2013/14.

Ms Faulkner vowed that there would not be job losses or cuts to student representation and support services.

Five policy motions were submitted to the AGM, and while the meeting's failure to reach quorum means that no decision made there is binding, EUSA's four sabbatical officers pledged to take a “strong steer” from the outcome of each vote.

A motion seeking to boycott the University of Birmingham's Guild of Students in protest against the suspension of guild sabbatical officer Edd Bauer divided the meeting, though it eventually passed. Mr Bauer was suspended as vice-president of education at BGoS following his arrest during a protest at the Liberal Democrat party conference in Birmingham earlier this year. Supporters of the motion challenged the suspension, which took place without consulting the student body, saying it was just one example of a disturbing, "undemocratic" trend threatening student democracy.

EUSA will now lobby the university to disinvest from Cobham plc, the UK's third largest defence company, on ethical grounds. The motion, which passed easily, claimed that Cobham's activities in Pakistan and Lebanon infringe on human rights. For similar reasons, members also voted in favour of disinvesment from oil giant Shell in protest against the disruption to Nigerian livelihoods caused by repeated oil spills, environmental pollution and corruption.

One motion attempted to address the issue of poor attendance at EUSA meetings, proposing the introduction of a 'day of action' to increase student engagement on green issues. That motion also passed.

Students at the AGM also said no to lobbying against the University due to the reduction of exam and revision time. It was felt that the amount of time is still adequate now that earlier problems with the exam timetable have been resolved.

Matt McPherson ended by saying the AGM had been “undemocratic” due to the low turnout and endorsed the move away from AGMs towards online referenda, which following the passage of a new constitution in October will become the primary decision-making process for EUSA next year.