During the past couple of weeks, a number of our students have vocalised their unhappiness with the processes operated by, and decisions made by WSU. In particular, there has been an accusation that the SU is “broken” in relation to our All-Student Vote process. 

We take feedback and criticism from our members seriously, and we understand that in some recent interactions on this topic, a small number of our students feel we’ve not communicated well enough. We recognise that it will take time to build confidence in the SU in parts of our membership, and we’re committed to improving the Union for all students. There has however been some unfair criticism of our Officers and staff during this time, particularly in respect of decisions made by formal committees responsible for the running of the SU. 

We acknowledge that students interact differently with, and want a wider range of services, actions and responses from their Union, so we will review how our services can improve and take the necessary steps to show these in practice. Most importantly, we’ll tell you, our members, about changes we’ve made so you can hold us to account.

The Students’ Union is a registered charity and is restricted by law on what it can use its resources (money, staff, buildings) for. We recognise that our members want their Union to take principled positions on matters important to them, however there are times when these positions are either incompatible with the Union’s “charitable objects” (the legal purpose of the Union, laid out in our Articles of Association) or pose a legal, reputational or financial risk to the Union. A recent example of this was a submission received from a body of students in response to the national press coverage of the University of Warwick Conservative Association’s Chairman’s Dinner in term 3 of last year. 

The SU roundly condemns discrimination of any sort and issued a strong statement at the point where the video became public. The UWCA was suspended by WSU whilst an independent investigation, supported jointly by the University and SU, was undertaken. The conclusion of that independent investigation laid out the following:

• That the actions of individual(s), rather than a cultural issue with the wider group, were the cause of the incident
• That those individual(s) involved were sanctioned by the University for their part in the incident
• That a single recommendation was made to the SU to compel the current committee of UWCA to undertake Active Bystander training 

On receipt of the independent conclusions, WSU added additional conditions to the reinstatement of UWCA, which were

• Compulsory training for all UWCA members on Antisemitism for the next 3 years (year one for all members, with years 2 & 3 for committee members). Failure to complete this training would result in a suspension of UWCA activities and MAY lead to derecognition
• Compulsory Islamophobia training for UWCA Committee Members for the next 3 years
• Compulsory WSU Inclusion & Belonging training for UWCA committee members for the next 3 years
• A 3-year “probation” where any future incidents requiring disciplinary action would see the findings of the 2024 investigation considered
• A condition that any new evidence presented relating to the incident would potentially see a further investigation being convened, and suspension of group activity until this was completed. 
• Extending Active Bystander training to 3 years for successive Executive Committee members

A number of students are legitimately concerned that the issues identified in the investigation are contrary to the University and SU commitments to a safe, respectful and cohesive campus community, and as a result have challenged why WSU has not taken stronger action against UWCA. Our response has been proportionate to the findings of the report and to remove, ban or add additional punitive sanctions on this (or any) group without supporting evidence would bring equal challenge to the Union’s commitment to fairness, inclusion and equity. This does not diminish our collective revulsion over the content of the video, where attendees could clearly be observed singing along to the music in question. 

WSU was also in regular dialogue with the students who raised the complaint against UWCA and sought their views ahead of any sanctions imposed. 

We are unable to support use of the Union’s democratic processes to impose sanctions or other detriments on a group which has not been found to be culpable in an investigation we supported, as to do so would undermine the investigation and disciplinary process. We remain open to receiving new information relating to this matter and will take appropriate steps in the event of this being provided. 

The Union’s Officers and Senior Managers are engaging representatives from the campaign to “Fix the SU” to fully understand what they feel needs to improve from a member perspective. This dialogue has been productive and respectful so far, and we openly welcome wider member contribution and direction as we look to improve WSU. Please reach out to let us know where we can improve or where you feel we’re doing well on receptionteam@warwicksu.com