Love my union though I do, I'm not entirely convinced by our new 'democratic system'. The grounds for change seemed to be based on the fact that not enough students voted in the referendum, but the answer to this issue is not to take away the power to vote altogether but to do more to lessen apathy. Although, one can see why students might be apathetic with such riveting proposals as 'Should the Union change water machine to stand at arm level?'. The jury system cannot help but be unrepresentative and undemocratic; even if only 30 out of our thousands of students vote, its better than picking 18 at random. Why not make voting something students have to do to get to their VLE every term?
Thanks for your comment about the new democratic system at LUU, I hope this will answer your concerns - however, if you'd like to discuss it further or have an Idea for how to make the system even better please don't hesitate to get in touch. The new democratic system was informed by two years of research and consultation with over 9,000 students regarding how they want to make collective decisions at Leeds. This research revealed that the referendum was the most popular aspect of the democratic system - however there was a concern that some of the issues that went to referendum were too frivolous. There was also a challenge that, while students weren't generally happy for representatives to make decisions on their behalf, they also didn't want to be asked to feed into every small decision about the Union. Another short coming of referendum is that it failed to provide a space for in depth discussion between students. The forums provide a opportunity for this deliberation. Although there are only 16 students on the "jury" their decision is informed by the views of all the students who feed their views to the relevant rep before each forum. Presenting the jury with the Ideas is also an excellent way of testing which Ideas are divisive and would therefore from a referendum and which Ideas are relatively consensual and do not require this process. Under the new system referendum will be used to make a decision about any divisive Ideas at the forums - this may mean having as many as five referendum per academic year.
The opening times for Essentials are awful. For those of us that have to be placed before 8:30 there is nowhere affordable to buy food and drink, instead we have to pay rip off departmental cafe prices.
We have received a lot of feedback from members who want Extras and Essentials to be open longer, and as a result of this, with effect from the 4th January, Extras will open from 8am and Essentials will be open until 10pm.
There should be more places to lock up bikes at LUU!
We're pleased to say that this is being done as part of a large project of works to the front of the Union in the spring of 2010. The University and the Union are working on a plan to re-shape Lifton Place to make it better for students by turning it into a pedestrianised area, with new green spaces, cycle lock ups, trees and seating. Plans of the development are going to be ready for students to see and feedback on, they will be available to see in the Union and on the University of Leeds website.
Essentials is really great to use and convenient, but the prices should be displayed more clearly.
We agree! All of the shelf-edge labels in Essentials have now been replaced so that prices are easy to see.
I would like to see water coolers, when purchased, donate money to water projects in the developing countries. I would also like to see One Water foundation donation boxes next to water coolers so people can donate money when they use a water cooler.
Thanks for your comment. We are currently looking at how we can improve the availability of free drinking water in the Union. We are committed to removing still bottled water from our retail outlets by Green Week 2010 next February. As part of our planning for this our Bottled Water Project Group will consider how charity boxes could be placed next to our drinking fountains and water outlets.
I want the bars to recycle plastic and cans again, especially in Stylus and Pulse.
Good news! We still recycle all of our cans and plastic across the entire building! We do still separate some of our cans and plastic into different bags/bins and these are collected for recycling in the same way that we always have done. As well as this all of our ‘general waste’ that goes into the black bin bags and then into the green bins is collected and is sorted at a recycling depot. Provided that the waste is not contaminated by food waste (this should go into the composting bins) then everything gets recycled.
Why don't you accept cards at The Terrace?
We do! As of February 2010 you can pay by card, and get cashback in The Terrace and the Old Bar.
The union shops should sell BRITISH milk. Dairy crest is not 100% British milk. The farming economy is in turmoil and we should support our own. There is no difference in price for us but a big difference for the farmers. The bars should also use British milk in their teas etc and british produce should be promoted in the union. The Union is so high and almighty about being ethical - boycotting Nestle etc but is doing nothing to help those on its own soil.
Dairy Crest have confirmed that all their milk is British and sourced from farms all over Britain.
Why is there no men's netball?
If you would like to set up a men's netball club, we would be more than willing to meet with you to discuss your ideas and talk you through the formation process. Just contact Wendy Voo, Sports Development Co-ordinator on w.k.voo@leeds.ac.uk