Trustee Board consultation launched
Thursday 03 May 2007
Delivering better governance for our Union
Who is ultimately in charge of ICU? Is it the President? The Sabbatical team? The Executive Committee? The Union Council? Or is it even the College itself?
There is a saying in legal circles that if you ask two lawyers a question then you’ll get three answers. After months of squabbling with the College’s barristers and solicitors over the legal status of ICU and the implications of the recently introduced Charities Act on our Union, we have come to the view that this old adage is entirely correct.
What's wrong with ICU's governance?
Unlike most student unions in the country, ICU is technically a legal part of Imperial College, although this matter has been debated for nearly a decade. This unusual legal arrangement has never really been a problem because the Union Constitution and unwritten etiquette has meant that the College has largely kept its nose out of our affairs. They are mandated by the Education Act to keep an eye on our finances and elections, but the same act restricts their right to barge in and fire the whole Sabbatical Team without a decent reason.
This year a new bill of parliament that governs how charities are run will become an Act. This act, known simply as the “Charities Act 2006”, will call for large student unions to register independently as separate charities from their parent institutions. After much discussion it has been agreed that ICU, in spite of its unusual legal position, should register as a separate charity and this is exactly what we intend to do.
Putting trust in Trustees
However, charities are, as defined by this Act, usually governed by identifiable, small, highly skilled Boards of Trustees. Currently ICU has no Trustee Board of any kind, except perhaps (depending on which lawyer you ask) the Imperial College Council, which has just one student member. This is a situation that, in the words of our legal expert, “is a highly unsatisfactory state of affairs”.
We want to use this opportunity to strengthen the democratic pillars of our organisation whilst ensuring that the nitty-gritty tasks of running a complex charity are effectively executed. We want to allow for students to lead our Union but be supported by experts from diverse backgrounds and fields of expertise. Most importantly of all, we want our Union to retain its autonomy from the auspices of the College so that our members, Imperial’s students, can set out a vision for the future of our organisation. Finding a model that strikes a balance between democracy and pragmatism and romantic notions of independence and realism has not been easy, which is why it has taken us nearly a year to complete a complex governance review that has touched almost every part of the central functions of ICU. However, we now have a proposal that has been warmly received by every committee and focus group that has seen it so far.
The big idea
We are proposing that the Union establishes an identifiable, apolitical, highly skilled, relatively small Board of Trustees to act as the ultimate governing body of ICU. Underneath this body we suggest that the powers of the Union Executive to pass new Union Policy be transferred to the Union Council, thus strengthening our most democratic committee and clarifying its role as the paramount policy making body in the Union. It is further recommended that the Union Court’s role as an independent and apolitical judicial body should remain and be strengthened. This creates a tripartite governance structure with a sovereign “Privy Council” body at the very top.
The Trustee Board would be unlike any other Union committee and be tasked to do all of the boring but highly necessary governance tasks that no other Union committee currently undertakes. This Board would meet six times a year and would consider financial strategy, long term planning, risk, human resources issues and anything functional that requires a vision that extends beyond the 12 months that a President remains in office for.
The members of the Trustee Board would be:
Position | Voting member or observer? | Elected or appointed? |
ICU President | Voting member | Elected |
ICU Council Chairman | Voting member | Elected |
ICU Court Chair | Debated | Appointed by ICU Council |
4 Student Trustees | Voting members | Elected (for 2 year terms) |
3 External Lay Trustees | Voting members | Elected (for 3 year terms) |
1 College Lay Governor | Voting member | Appointed by ICU and College Council |
3 Deputy Presidents | Permanent Observer | Elected |
1 Honorary Senior Treasurer | Permanent Observer | Appointed by the Rector |
1 General Manager | Permanent Observer | Staff member |
What do you think?
Last week the Union Council discussed these proposals in detail and the intention is that they will be formally considered at the next Council meeting that will be held on May 21st. If everything goes well, we could see the first meeting of this body next term and notable improvements in the way the Union is governed over the forthcoming year.
We welcome and indeed strongly encourage students to let us know what they think about these proposals. Granted, governance is not the most exciting topic we have dealt with this year, but it is important that we get this right.
If you want to express a view on this debate then you can:
1. Come to any of the following Union meetings:
a. RCC Meeting: 6pm Monday June 4th, Mech Eng 342
b. Arts and Ents Board Meeting: 12:30pm Thursday June 7th, Union Building
c. Union Council: 6pm Monday June 11th, Union Dining Hall
2. Write to your representative on the Union Council – a list of representatives can be on our Union Council Members page
3. Write to the Union President, Jenny Morgan.
Further details of the trustee board proposals can be found in the presentation below.
Trustee Board Proposal (1.3 MB)
