ALC approved the changes to the AL Representative Structure by a very narrow majority last Saturday - a huge relief as I think without the change the structure would have withered away fairly soon.
But what was I letting myself in for? Huge amounts of work getting the new structure off the ground.
Watch this space.
Comments
inertia or anti
Hello, I am trying to understand how the various committees work and the attitudes of representatives. Why was the new structure only voted for by a narrow majority? Just inertia or tangible negative reasons?
Thank you
Wendy
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Hi Wendy,
Sorry for delay in responding - I've only just noticed your comment.
The main reason, I think, was a justifiable worry that we had no assurance that the new structure will work - all we knew was that the old one wasn't being very effective. The people who had to vote were, by and large, people who had been in the old structure for a while and understood it thoroughly - and the new one seemed difficult to get one's head round in comparison.
There was also a second justifiable worry that while we were changing the representative structure, we weren't in a position to change the region/nation consultative structure to match (because it involves students and OUSA are in the middle of their own reorganisation and not quite sure what they were going to end up with) - so there is a rather untidy set of interim arrangements in place until such time as the consultative structure is reviewed, and people worry that this will weaken region/nation representation.
My feeling on both points is that it is up to us to make sure the new system works, and that we forge and maintain good links with the regions/nations from a position of greater strength than we were able to previously.
Cheers, Isobel