Announcement after the 3rd sitting of the ad hoc Commission for the 2023/2024 term on amendments to the Regulations of the Students’ Union

26 04 2024

We would like to inform you that during the 3rd sitting of the ad hoc Commission of the Students’ Parliament of the UW for the 2023/2024 term on amendments to the Regulations of the Students’ Union of the UW:

Commission discussed amendments to the Electoral Regulations of the Students’ Union of the UW and other electoral regulations.

The Commission cross-considered various aspects related to the broadly defined system of student representative elections.

It was unanimously in favour of the Board of the Students’ Union of the UW taking over the competences of the Council of the Students’ Union of the unit only when the number of members of the latter falls below three – at the moment, the Board takes over the competences of the Council when the number of its members falls below half. The Council could therefore operate with three members, provided that the compulsory by-elections would not result in the election of anyone new to the body.

Much attention was paid to the issue of the election of student representatives to the electoral colleges of the faculties. The Commission discussed the situation when, for various reasons, there is a problem with carrying out the entire election procedure in time for the elected persons to take part in the work of the college. As a result of the vote, it was unanimously in favour of drafting a provision that would allow the Council of the Students’ Union of the unit to delegate student faculty electors to a broader extent, but still only in certain cases. At the same time, the Commission did not support the introduction of a similar solution for student representatives on unit councils and teaching and learning councils.

The last major area considered at the meeting was that concerning the institution of legitimacy of election results. The Commission unanimously decided to prepare an amendment introducing a presumption of legitimacy for the election of student representatives on unit councils and teaching and learning councils. In the following two votes, however, it opted against changes to the current form of legitimacy of the results of elections to the Council of the Students’ Union of the unit, and decided to maintain the current presumption of legitimacy of the results of elections to the Students’ Parliament of the UW.