by Alan Coleman
This year's conference was one of the best that I've ever attended. Barring a few "language problems" that materialised from having a conference in a French hotel in the suburbs of Birmingham the whole event ran smoothly and we were able to progress the business of the Union with some good and informed discussion.
In the unexplained absence of Earl Goldbourne, the MSU's National President, Paul Taggart opened Conference as National Deputy President and hastily prepared himself for chairing the Conference and, most importantly, the opening session with less than ten minutes notice and surrounded by MP's with differing viewpoints on the Higher Education White Paper gearing up for a cross-party debate. To his credit the "frightened bunny" look soon disappeared as the "headlights" of the potentially political battle of "Question Time" quickly faded and the MSU is most grateful for the time and effort put in by Mike Foster MP (Lab), PPS to Margaret Hodge MP (Minister for HELL), Tim Boswell MP (Con), Shadow Minister for Education and Skills, and David Rendel MP (LibDem), Spokesman for Higher and Further Education, in attending Conference and allowing a full and informed debate, especially as every one of them had prior commitments for that day.
In a refreshing change to NUS and other students' unions' conferences and meetings we proved that it was not necessary to have all your guest speakers agreeing with each other and with the union's policies to have a productive debate.
This session, coupled with Sunday's open forum and further consultation will form the basis of the MSU's formal response to the White Paper proposals and the response will be issued soon. Issues such as healthcare provision by postcode, lack of financial support for families, loss of National Insurance contributions towards pensions, Housing Benefit and many others were discussed and will be included in our response but if you have any further issues which you think need to be considered then please contact us using the Contacts page on the website.
The one regrettable issue of Conference was the removal of Earl Goldbourne and National President following a vote of No Confidence being passed by Conference delegates. It was almost unanimously agreed that his unexplained absences, failure to arrange, attend or submit a report to Conference and his general lack of involvement in the MSU's business over the past year was damaging the Union's integrity and ability to function and so he was constitutionally removed from office with immediate effect by the Union's sovereign body.
Other motions passed at Conference were Constitutional amendments allowing an expansion of our membership outside the United Kingdom as and when the National Executive felt appropriate (an "enabling" clause in case of external affiliation requests), a streamlining of the National Executive to seven officers, the establishment of a Conference Committee to plan, arrange and oversee all elements of National Conference, thereby freeing up the smaller National Executive to concentrate on Union business and a minute's silence in recognition of the service personnel lost in the current conflict in Iraq.
Elections to the National Executive
Following the amendment to the Constitution streamlining the National Executive and the vote to bring the entire amendment into effect immediately rather than at the end of Conference, the following were elected to the National Executive:
National President - Alan J Coleman
National Secretary - Barry Donovan
National Treasurer - Chris Gage
National Welfare Officer - Mark Reynolds
National Education Officer - Margaret Davine
National Equality Officer - Mandie Parker
National Communications Officer - No Nominations
(suggestions and volunteers for co-option to comms should contact the National Secretary)
Conference Committee
Chair - Chris Gage (ex officio as National Treasurer)
Members - Paul Taggart
- Martin Lindsay
- Jon Clark
As all those elected were either incumbent or taking up a new role they all take office immediately and are therefore contactable on mature students with immediate effect.
By popular demand we substituted length for quality (please keep your comments on that clean!) by reducing Conference from three days to two, upgrading the quality of the hotel and making the Conference one of the most productive ever in one of the most important years for education in our thirty year history. We broke the mould for student conferences by allowing differing opinions to be heard without resorting to factionalism and came away informed and prepared for the coming year. I attribute this solely to the intelligence, dedication and professionalism of the delegates and observers at Conference and trust that they and their colleges will continue to support and guide us through the coming year and beyond in championing mature student issues.
