Two emergency motions on housing and the UK Border Agency Proposals have been approved at the Students’ Union Council meeting.
The meeting on Friday 28 January was the first since the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 23 November 2010.
The motions were proposed by Cameron Tait, the University of Sussex Students’ Union President and seconded by Jo Goodman, Welfare Officer.
The first motion relating to housing and widening access was put forward after the union realised that residential planning would begin earlier than expected.
The motion also comes after the housing shortage at the start of the autumn term.
Included in the motion passed is the wish to mandate the full-time officers to lobby the university to freeze current prices for the next three years.
Officers will also lobby the university to “replace East Slope with non-en suite accommodation which would occupy the position that East Slope currently holds at the bottom of the price range.”
The second motion passed involved the UK Border Agency Proposals and the public consultation. The reason for the urgency of the motion related to the recent discovery of the consultation taking place.
The council also spoke of the resolve to “continue to urge students to fill out the consultation form”, though the consultation ended on Monday 31 January.
The Students’ Union added that they would “urge Caroline Lucas to come down to Sussex on 7 February” and if successful, “to organise an event on 7 February with Caroline Lucas, Keep Your University International, the university, international societies and any other organisations that want to take part”.
In addition to the two emergency motions, the council agreed to make three motions policy including policies on fees and cuts; students against sexual harassment; and the appointment of Jamie Shea as visiting lecturer.
The members of council considered the indicative votes of students which were all in favour of the motions.
Council has also decided that the referendum on the constitution will take place at the same time as the sabbatical officer elections.
