So, it’s time for Union Council already! As it was Union Council who mandated the blogs I thought I’d take some time to consider what the difference is between my blog and my Council reports (which you can read here by the way) and my hopes for Council this year.

In my Council report I’ve tried to simply give a factual run down of the work I have been doing over the Summer without going in to too much of a list of what meeting I went to when (because that I can easily put up in a blog and if you want that much detail you can have it!). I’ve tried not to witter on about any current events or issues which arose in detail, keeping the report to simply project I have worked on.

With blogging I hope to continue to find the time to write about things I feel passionately about, such as my earlier blogs about liberation and feminism. And also to continue to post a monthly diary letting you all know where I’ve been either so you can hold me to account or so you can see what it is really like to be a sabbatical officer if you are interested in standing next March (lets not get into the who’s running for what conversation right now though – its too early people!!).

I’m really excited to see what changes Cai Robbins will be bringing to Council as the new Union Chair. She had some fantastic ideas in her election speech so let’s see what happens! I hope that Council becomes more open to the average student and becomes a really forum for holding officers to account and setting the political direction of Kent Union. We had lots of fantastic motions last year shaping the way Union Council works and making Union Council more transparent but little in the way of policy direction for officers.

When it comes to Welfare policy, housing is an area we are particularly lacking in. The University are going to build around 1,000 new rooms in the near future so when Helen Wood (Union President) and I are talking to the University we need some direction from Council on what to fight for.

The same applies to the issue of tuition fees. It is Union Council who should be setting Kent Union’s political direction on this, and not individual officers depending on their personal views. The current policy is to ‘keep the cap’ which was passed on 29^th January 2008 which means it expires this January so we will need to renew it or pass new policy soon.

I think what I’m trying to get at is that Union Council needs to be making more of the difficult decisions, setting the political agenda and making sure officers are adhering to this and delivering on their manifesto promises. I hope I get questioned on my work and my decisions this year, because if I don’t it means I haven’t been trying hard enough!

This blog is also published on Facebook and you can always get in touch with me by emailing s.m.kennedy@kent.ac.uk