By Oliver Hanlon
In a surprise to many at the AGM, the Students’ Union proposed and passed a change to the sabbatical officer structure that will see the VP for Heath Park axed and replaced with a VP Undergraduate Officer. Heath will be relegated to having two campaign officers, unlike a sabbatical role—campaign officers are an unpaid position, which is unlikely to work for Heath students.
This is because that portion of the student body is almost entirely composed of healthcare students, who are unlikely to have the time or energy to effectively or actively represent students at Heath Park in an unpaid position. This is part of the reason that the role is being axed; the union struggled to find candidates to run, eventually resulting in a by-election, which saw Joshua Tandy elected as VP Heath.
This poses the question: Are Heath Park students less deserving of adequate representation than students in Cathays?
Rightly, the answer to that question is “no”, but by proposing to axe the VP Heath, the Union is effectively showing they consider Heath students an afterthought. It also brings into question whether the Students’ Union is acting as a union for all students. Heath students’ representation is already questionable. Of all the people, Heath students would have expected to be speaking on behalf of this proposed reshuffle. Their own representative and the VP for Heath, Joshua Tandy, would not have been high on this list. It is ludicrous that Tandy was the one speaking on behalf of this, the person supposed to represent Heath, advocating for Heath to lose its sole representative.
Whoever considered the optics of this move—likely nobody—miscalculated greatly, as this is not the first time the Union has flip-flopped on whether or not to have an Undergraduate or Heath VP.
This change has been made before, and if it didn’t work when it happened last, what makes the Students’ Union think it will work this time?
Arguably, these are two of the most important sabbatical roles. Most of the student body is made up of undergraduates, and in the AGM this year, Heath was central with the “My scrubs, my choice” motion being considered and passed. Heath Park students face vastly different issues from students studying on the Cathays campus, so they deserve and need a dedicated representative. A union should ensure that it is representing all students effectively, no matter how hard it is to find students to stand. Both an Undergraduate VP and a Heath VP are vital, but an Undergraduate VP is unlikely to be able to deal with the distinct, specialised issues faced by Heath students.
“This structural flip-flop has already been proven to fail. The Union is betting on the same flawed model that struggled previously, while simultaneously ignoring the current crisis of trust created by the VP Heath advocating for his own role’s removal.”
This is not governance; it is a repetition of failure at the expense of students. The purpose of a union is to represent all students, ensuring that minority voices and distinct concerns are not drowned out by the majority. By sacrificing the VP Heath role, the Union has clearly prioritised convenience over adequate representation
Image (Top) – Alan Hughes via Wikimedia Commons. Image (Bottom) Jaggery via Wikimedia Commons