EUSA Student Council meeting produced controversy and consensus

The Edinburgh University Students Association (EUSA) student council met for a tumultuous session on Tuesday evening.

Attendees saw a variety of issues debated by the elected members of the association, including a censure motion against EUSA Sabbatical officer Emma Meehan and a progress report about the newly introduced online referenda.

The main issue of the night proved to be the censure motion proposed by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP Edinburgh). SJP President Liam O’Hare, who was eager to outline his stance on Ms Meehan’s trip to Israel as a “politically motivated trip”, also stressed that this was not a personal attack on Ms Meehan.

The censure motion against Ms Meehan was hotly contested but ultimately failed to pass causing dispute amongst many delegates.

Following the failure of the motion an attempt was made by a handful of delegates to challenge EUSA President Matt McPherson as chair of the meeting for what the opponents described as breaches of the EUSA ‘safe space policy’.

The policy outlines how members should behave in meetings to ensure there is no intimidation and an open forum for debate. After a quick vote however Mr McPherson was allowed to keep his position.

Despite prior disagreements the Student Council showed great unanimity over policy proposals such as a motion in favour of more transparency over how EUSA delegates vote, and the need for a reform of rectoral elections following under-represented races in the most recent elections.

The Student Council also approved a number of motions which will be further debated, including Postgraduate representation, which President Matt McPherson raised as an important issue, explaining that it is impossible to know how many graduates from University are discouraged from further education due to huge financial costs.