Thank you for engaging in our democratic process! 

 

Above you can see the journey your Idea will take once you've submitted it. The Ideas tool is all about making sure student issues and ideas get the spotlight they deserve. It's designed to help us gather what students are thinking and take action in the most efficient way possible. This is all to make your student experience even better!

It all starts with a student having an Idea to change something; they can then let us know about it either at a house meeting with the Student Community Organisers, or through submitting to the Ideas Board. If they submit to the Ideas board, it will be checked by L&C staff to make sure it’s within our guidelines, and then published live on the website. At that point, all students can vote on it, and it is the proposer’s responsibility to build consensus for their idea. There is no vote threshold for an Idea to be brought to DSC; all Ideas submitted in time will be taken to the monthly DSC meeting, but if there are lots of motions being proposed to council, DSC will use the popularity of the ideas to prioritise which motions get added to the agenda. In their monthly meeting, DSC will allocate the Ideas to either

• Be implemented by a staff member if they are a simple change that has enough consensus
• Be turned into a motion and added to the next democratic meeting's agenda
• Be brought to SRA so student leaders can action it

Please read the guidelines below before you submit your idea – ideas are reviewed by a member of staff alongside these guidelines before they are approved – it can take up to 5 working days before your Idea is approved. If we have any concerns that your idea does not meet our guidelines, we may need longer to review it; we will keep it offline while we do so and come back to you with more information.

If your Idea is regarding an academic issue, please make sure you've spoken to your Academic Rep first. You can Find Your Rep here.

Our next Student Council is on Thursday 6 November. For your Idea to be considered for that democratic meeting, please submit it before Wednesday 15 October.

What are our charitable purposes?

Our purposes are to advance the education of Bristol University’s students by:

1. promoting the interests and welfare of students at the University and representing, supporting and advising students;
2. being a recognised representative channel of communication between students and the University, and other external bodies;
3. providing social, cultural, sporting and recreational activities and forums for discussions and debate for the personal development of students

What is Ultra Vires? Why do we need to comply with it?

Ultra Vires is a phrase that is used legally to mean ‘anything beyond our stated aim’. Being a registered charity, Bristol SU is governed by charity law, meaning that we cannot spend money or – in this case – campaign on anything that is Ultra Vires (beyond our stated aim). What does this mean for the purpose of submitting your Idea? It means that your Idea must tackle an issue that affects “students as students”.

Code of Conduct

You can read a full version of our Code of Conduct here. For the purposes of submitting your Idea, outlined below are the relevant rules and expected behaviours all ideas must abide by:

• Adhere to the Bylaws and policies of Bristol SU
• Not endanger or is anti-social towards other individuals and to abide by Bristol SU’s Health and Safety policies at all times.
• Ensure all members feel welcome to participate in non-judgemental and non-threatening discussions, activities, services or events
• Avoid actions which could bring the Students’ Union or sponsors, funders or partners into disrepute
• Conduct themselves in a reasonable manner relating to language, noise and behaviour
• Not encourage or pressure others into acting against the Code
• Do not bully, harass, discriminate against or victimise others