DEAR STUDENT DIRECT,
A FEW points of correction and clarification with respect to your coverage of NUS Annual Conference 2008:
The ratification of the proposed Constitution was discussed directly after accepting new constituent members, not because of a Presidential Decree, but because constitutional ratifications are always discussed at that point in the agenda, before new policy is considered. It would have required a Presidential Decree in order NOT to discuss it "first".
It is also worthy to note that, contrary to the impression of the opinion piece on the
Union Pages last week, Conference voted FOR peacekeeping troops in Darfur.
In the Governance Review, Annual Conference was to be renamed "Congress", and not simply abolished. Similarly, the National Executive Committee (NEC) was to be renamed "Senate", and not simply abolished. Last time I checked, a name change is not equal to abolition.
The final result from the count regarding the Governance Review showed 65 percent of delegates supported the Proposed Constitution. This is a majority, and thus the review passes into policy. However, it did not reach the two-thirds majority required to adopt the proposed Constitution into practice. In addition, Conference voted overwhelmingly to
reject calls to scrap the entire Governance Review that had been conducted.
Naomi Balabanoff
UMSU Delegate to Annual Conference 2008
Well, that is a relief. If the NUS says peacekeepers for Darfur, get on the phone to Ban Ki Moon and tell him a higher force has spoken.
No wonder the uni is a mess if this is what they are wastig their time talking about.