Democracy

Democracy at Your Union

Aston Students' Union is a democratic organisation that is run by its members.

That means that you have a masssive say in how the Students' Union works. Aston Students' Union's Officers are Aston students, elected by other Aston students, and they lead the direction of the Union. But it's important that all students are able to contribute to the Union's success.

To ensure that every Aston student has the opportunity to influence the Union, Union Council meetings are held throughout the year, where any member can attend to raise ideas, debate policy, and vote on what they want their leaders and the Union to do. The Union Council is the main decision-making body in the Students' Union. It has the power to make decisions about policy, oversee the work of the student officers, and approve motions that can be incorporated into the bye-laws or even the Articles of Association, ensuring that student-led decisions have a lasting impact on the governance and operation of the Union.

Up to 200 Aston students may attend each Student Council meeting, which usually take place in the evening at Aston Students' Union.
Please find our upcoming Union Council meetings below

Submit a motion to Union Council

Any Aston student can submit a motion to Union Council. The documents below explain more about how you can submit a motion, and what it could look like.

Council Motion - Tips & Examples

An outline of how to submit a motion to Union Council, and what it could look like.

Blank Council Motion Template

A blank template for you to use to submit a motion.

Union Council Minutes & Agendas

Minutes are taken at each Union Council so that current and future students have a record of what was discussed and decided at each meeting. These minutes are always provisional until they are approved at the next council meeting. Below you will be able to access the approved minutes from our Union Council meetings.

06 / 05 / 2025

18 / 02 / 2025

18 / 11 / 2024

AGM/AMM Minutes & Agendas

Minutes are taken at each AGM/AMM so that current and future students have a record of what was discussed and decided at each meeting. These minutes are always provisional until they are approved at the next council meeting. Below you will be able to access the approved minutes from the last AGM/AMM meetings.

There are no minutes to display.

If you have any questions about these documents, or would like to view older council minutes, then please contact the Student Voice team by emailing voice@union.aston.ac.uk.

Policy Manual

Welcome to your Unions Policy area

This area contains any motions that were passed into policy through your Students' Union Democratic process. This area does not contain any company policies of Aston Students' Union which can be found here

Please Note: that any motions passed that resolve to change any of the Unions other governing documents, such as the Bye-laws, will not appear in this area but rather the relevant governing documents area of the website.

Using this Area

Below you will find a list of all active democratic policies. When you click on a policy is will drop down to provide you with the following informaiton; Motion Pass Date, Lapse Date, Proposer(s) and the content of the motion itself. There will also be a link to a downloadable PDF version for each motion.

If you have any questions about any policy contained in this area then please contact the Student Voice team by emailing union.voice@aston.ac.uk.

Previously Active Policies

Decolonising the curriculum to be in line with the SU’s core values. UC2021.01.1a

Policy Information

Motion Proposer(s): Jawad Ahmad

Edited by: Ryan Narewal

Union Council Notes

Due to the current climate and racial prejudice in society. Students across the nation are calling for their respective university course reading lists to be more diverse by including more black and ethnic minority writers.
There is a lack of diversity in the curricula delivered by Aston University. This will stifle academic freedom, presenting to Aston students a western history and does not allow them to gain better knowledge from the many other intellectual giants of other cultures.
Curricula that derive from Eurocentric material will narrow the student’s worldview to be Europe focused will not enable Aston students to broaden their view of the world.
Aston University has a very diverse campus with most students coming from BAME backgrounds. However, this is not represented in the delivery of subjects and modules.
BAME staff are also poorly represented in both senior academic and university leadership roles: of 19,000 employed as professors in the UK, only 400 are BAME women.
Recent data shows, 80.9% of White students received a first/2:1 compared with 67.7% BAME students – this will represent a BAME attainment gap of 13.2% nationally. At Aston the attainment gap is 3-5% with the Bangladeshi students showing the largest gap of 5% compared to white students in 2018 – 2019.

Union Council Believes

Aston University should be an inclusive teaching and learning environment. It is worth noting that inclusivity and diversity are a factor in decolonisation, but not the only factors.
By decolonising the curriculum it will enable us to call for deeper thinking about the content of our courses and how we teach them.
Through decolonisation, Aston University will become more open and more racially and culturally aware which will help to make the university safer for all.
Academic schools and disciplines must be more inclusive and represent the student.
The burden of tackling systematic changes should not solely fall on the responsibilities of the minority but by all.
The University staff should be representative of the student.

Union Council Resolves

To ensure that the Students’ union updates the Byelaws so that the union will continue its work with the university to decolonise Aston.
To lobby that the university must improve diversity among academic staff and representation of the minority.
To lobby for the colleges to ensure that their curricula is a reflection of all.

Printable Version of this Policy

Disabled Students at Aston University UC2021.02.1b

Policy Information

Motion Proposer(s): Annas Mazhar

Edited by: Ryan Narewal

Preamble

The union supports disabled students to achieve full accessibility on the Aston University campus and in the wider community.

Union Council Notes

The union acknowledges that successive Disabled Students Officers (DSOs) have worked extensively to raise awareness of ableism present in the University, and have, lobbied the University to improve accessibility.
The University buildings remain architecturally inaccessible in many areas to disabled people. For example, much of the Main Building is still without automatic doors.
The Union recognises that disability covers a wide range of conditions and that the existence of this diversity within the disability community means that there are a wide range of issues to be covered.
The Union recognises that the Disabled Students’ Officer has the responsibility to represent all disabled students within the Aston Community.
The Union recognises that there is a diverse range of disability experiences, from physical, mental, intellectual, visual and more. The creation of a Disability Committee would help the Union better understand the needs of, and represent/advocate on behalf of, all disabled students.

Union Council Believes

That at the Union level,to advocate for people with varied and different disabilities effectively, disabled student representation must be cross-disability and self-advocating in nature.

The Union recognises that this means the participation of people with physical, mental, and sensory disabilities who want their voices heard.
That the University has a legal obligation to provide parity of experience for disabled students.
That the University must do more to achieve full parity of experience for able and disabled people.

Union Council Resolves

To create a Disabilities Committee.
1. The Disabilities Committee shall be appointed via self-nomination and ratification by Students’ Union Council so different disability experiences can raise awareness of issues from and not limited to a physical, psychological, or sensory disability perspective.
2. The Disabilities Committee shall be chaired by the Disabled Students’ Officer.
3. The Disabled Students’ officer shall be accountable to Students’ Union Council for the work and conduct of the Disabilities Committee.
4. The Disabled Students’ Officer can choose to delegate chairing responsibility to another member of the committee.
5. The Disabilities Committee shall work to promote the rights of disabled students, reasonable adjustments, and the correct ways of thinking about disability to educate and support everyone through Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion training.
6. Together with the Disabled Students’ Officer the Disabilities Committee shall be responsible for:
  1. Internal communication with the wider Students’ Union on Union disability-related issues.
  2. Liaison with the University on disability related issues.
  3. Providing support to Students’ Union members regarding disability issues.
Any full member of the Union who self identifies as disabled shall be able to nominate themselves as a member of the committee. The committee members shall be ratified by Students’ Union Council and subject to accountability via the Disabled Students’ Officer and Students’ Union Council.

Printable Version of this Policy

Introduction of a Mature Students’ Officer UC2021.02.1c

Policy Information

Motion Proposer(s): Safa-Atiya Ahmed (Vice President Welfare)

Edited by: Ryan Narewal

Union Council Notes

A mature student is used to refer to someone aged 21+ going to university after a hiatus from full-time education. This means anyone who is over 21+ at the beginning of their undergraduate studies or over 25 years of age at the beginning of their postgraduate studies.
Mature students often balance their studies alongside work, childcare, and or other caring responsibilities.
We have a Mature Students’ Common room upstairs in the Students’ Union building, but no specific officer representation to represent the voices and views of mature students.

Union Council Believes

The Mature Students’ Officer shall be a mature student.
The Mature Students’ Officer will be elected in the Students’ Union elections.
The Officer would communicate their work in whatever format they feel appropriate whether that is in person and/or online.

Union Council Resolves

The Officer will represent Aston mature students’ community and be their voice on the issues they face at university.
The Officer will be expected to listen and address all issues and concerns surrounding their academic experience.
The elected Officer shall engage with the University, Union, and other relevant organisations to achieve improvements for mature students on the issues they face as students at university.

Printable Version of this Policy

Changing LGBT+ Officer Title UC2021.01.1b

Policy Information

Motion Proposer(s): Paige Dawson (LGBT+ Officer)

Edited by: Ryan Narewal

Union Council Notes

The current title for the Student officer representing the Aston LGBTQ+ community in the Students’ Union is “LGBT+ Students’ Officer”.
A poll conducted by the LGBT+ Students’ Officer found that out of 60 Aston students, 65% were in favour of re-naming the position to LGBTQ+ Officer.

Union Council Believes

Aston Students’ Union should be understanding of the desire for the LGBTQ+ community to be represented fairly.
This inclusivity will improve wellbeing of those associated with the students’ union.
Students in the students’ union should be represented by the acronym or title that is most appropriate to them.

Union Council Resolves

To mandate the change in title of the “LGBT+ Students’ Officer” to “LGBTQ+ Students’ Officer”.

Union Council Resolves

Currently no actions have been taken in relation to this policy.

Printable Version of this Policy

Non-compliance with Prevent Duty ‘Students not Suspects’ UC2021.01.1e

Policy Information

Motion Proposer(s): Safa-Atiya Ahmed (Vice President Welfare)

Edited by: Ryan Narewal

Union Council Notes

The UK Government’s ‘CounterTerrorismandSecurityAct2015’ places a statutory requirement on public bodies, which includes Universities, to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism” through the implementation of Prevent.
According to the Prevent Strategy, potential indicators of “radicalism” or “extremism” include:
1. “a need for identity, meaning and belonging”
2. “a desire for political or moral change”
3. “relevant mental health issues”
The Prevent duty,as part of the government’s ‘counter-extremism’ agenda, has been used to create an expansive surveillance architecture to spy on the public and to police voiced opinions, systematically targeting Black people and Muslims. It threatens academic freedom and freedom of speech as it has been used to shut down politicised conversations within institutions notably the topic of Palestine.
Under Prevent, students are reported for being ‘at risk of radicalisation’ for merely taking an interest in political affairs in class, or for observing their religion more closely.
The Government’s counterterrorism/security policy is fundamentally flawed in its approach; its concepts of ‘extremism’ and ‘radicalism’ are ill-defined and open to abuse from political ends.
The National Union of Students (NUS) and University and Colleges Union (UCU) have both passed motions at their conferences opposing the Act and Prevent, publicly speaking against it. At present, there are 31 Students’ Unions who have passed similar motions about Prevent with the addition of Warwick University condemning Prevent too.
In January 2019, the government announced that they would be conducting an ‘independent review’ of Prevent.
The terms of this review are likely to be narrow and focused mostly on building support for Prevent rather than deal with its root issues or call for its scrapping.

Union Council Believes

Students are not suspects.
Universities are places for education, not surveillance.
Islamophobia is massively on the rise across Europe and legitimised by the mainstream media. We do not tolerate Islamophobia at the Union.
The government-identified ‘warning signs’ of “radicalisation” are problematic and dangerously affect those with mental health difficulties.
There is no legal definition for the terms used by the government such as radicalisation and extremism - they are just terms used to reflect the government’s political agenda.
The implementation of the Prevent Strategy does not only isolate Muslim students but also undermines the civil liberties of other groups such as environmental, political, and humanitarian activists. This ultimately feeds into the causation of further alienation and dissatisfaction within the student body.
As a Charity, we as a Union are not legally bound to engage with Prevent and should seek towards a non-compliant approach.

Union Council Resolves

To mandate the Officers of this Union to oppose, not engage with or implement any of the Prevent duty measures not only to protect its students but also in solidarity with students of all backgrounds and beliefs.
To constructively challenge the university, where legally possible, on the development and implementation of the Prevent Strategy.
To ensure that students are aware of their rights and what help is available should they be concerned about Prevent.
To support and lead Islamophobia Awareness Month as an annual initiative.
To lobby the university to be open and transparent about how they are engaging with Prevent and other similar initiatives. This involves the publication about how the policy is operating within the University and the material that is being used to train staff and/or students.

Union Council Resolves

Currently no actions have been taken in relation to this policy.

Printable Version of this Policy