The University of Nottingham’s Students’ Union will hold a referendum to decide whether or not to disaffiliate from the National Union of Students (NUS) after more than 669 signatures were submitted by students in a petition.
The referendum, entitled ‘Should the University of Nottingham Students’ Union continue to be affiliated to NUS?’, will run from 9am on Wednesday 1st June until 12pm on Thursday 9th June.
The voting options for the referendum will be ‘yes’, ‘no’ and ‘abstain’.
As outlined in SU bye-laws, Co-ordinating Committees campaigning to support or oppose the referendum question may be formed. However, nominations to be part of one of the committees must be submitted by 9am on Friday 27th May.
“The debate will take place at 3pm on Monday 6th June in A48 in Sir Clive Granger building”
A meeting with the Returning Officer, Rob Jennings, current SU Activities Officer, will be held for those involved in the Co-ordinating Committees on Tuesday 31st May.
In accordance with the SU bye-laws, the quoracy level for referenda is “1000 Full Members of the Union or 2.5% of Full Members of the Union – whichever is lower”. The quoracy level for this referendum is set at 836 votes.
“A period of 24 hours between the close of voting and the announcement of results […] will be set aside to consider any grievances”
A debate has also been scheduled on the subject of the referendum which Students’ Union members are able to attend. The debate will take place at 3pm on Monday 6th June in A48 in Sir Clive Granger building. Representatives from the Co-ordinating Committees will be invited to participate in the debate.
A period of 24 hours between the close of voting and the announcement of results at 12pm on Friday 10th June will be set aside to consider any grievances which may arise during the campaigning period.
Tamsin Parnell
Image: Frankie Roberto via Flickr
