{"id":358,"date":"2018-02-15T17:51:27","date_gmt":"2018-02-15T17:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=358"},"modified":"2018-02-15T18:05:37","modified_gmt":"2018-02-15T18:05:37","slug":"ten-minutes-to-discuss-your-own-enabling-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/02\/15\/ten-minutes-to-discuss-your-own-enabling-act\/","title":{"rendered":"TEN MINUTES TO DISCUSS YOUR OWN ENABLING ACT"},"content":{"rendered":"

While student wanna-be societies might be yearning for the return of an autocratic fascist state, the University\u2019s governance bodies seem to be doing a pretty good job of dismantling their own democratic structures. Next Wednesday’s Senate papers suggest substantial changes to the University\u2019s statutes are on the agenda. These cover not only the abolition of Court (which was expected) but also significant weakening of the constitutional position of Senate in relation to Council. Instead of Council acting on a ‘recommendation by Senate’, they will instead act ‘following consideration of the recommendation by Senate’. In other words, Council can overrule Senate on a number of issues just so long as they ‘consider’ the recommendation first. This formulation is proposed for several statutes, all relating to matters where currently Senate has the power.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is also a proposal to change the procedure for making ordinances by removing the requirement for Senate ‘concurrence’ with any changes or new ordinance. As for Council itself, there is a proposal for extending the maximum term of office from six to nine years – for lay members, not for University representatives. There are other changes that look innocuous but probably will have the effect of increasing Council’s powers. And the amount of time allocated on the Senate agenda for discussing this power grab? TEN WHOLE MINUTES! It remains to be seen whether our senators show any more spine than usual when faced with what essentially amounts to rendering the body they sit on powerless if Council wants to push something through, even in areas that are absolutely central to Senate\u2019s remit.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While student wanna-be societies might be yearning for the return of an autocratic fascist state, the University\u2019s governance bodies seem to be doing a pretty good job of dismantling their own democratic structures. Next Wednesday’s Senate papers suggest substantial changes … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":568,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,205,38],"tags":[208,232,146,226],"class_list":["post-358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-newsflash","category-official-meetings","tag-democracy","tag-issue-173","tag-senate","tag-university-council"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-5M","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":522,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/04\/26\/bad-governance-update\/","url_meta":{"origin":358,"position":0},"title":"BAD GOVERNANCE UPDATE","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"April 26 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Next Wednesday's Senate meeting will be, if the Chief Administrative Officer has her way, its final one as one of our two senior governing bodies, alongside the Council. Major proposals to amend our Charter, Statutes and Ordinances, originally proposed in February but deferred to May, following a refreshing lack of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":560,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/05\/10\/senate-report-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":358,"position":1},"title":"SENATE REPORT","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"May 10 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"It was a somewhat subdued Vice-Chancellor who opened Senate with his usual verbal report, and it is fair to say that he had much to be subdued about. There was the small matter of Lancaster's rather large gender pay gap \u2013 one of the highest in the HE sector and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "official meetings"","block_context":{"text":"official meetings","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/official-meetings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":231,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/11\/23\/subtext-169-their-tongues-are-silver-forks-theres-a-lack-of-wisdom-you-can-hear-it-on-their-breath\/","url_meta":{"origin":358,"position":2},"title":"subtext 169 – \u2018Their tongues are silver forks. There’s a lack of wisdom, you can hear it on their breath\u2019","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 23 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Fortnightly during term time. Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk In this issue: editorial, disability cuts, subscriptions, hods, senate report, short stuff, rent pasta, stretford surveys, dept merge, UA92 bodies, VC twitter, shart, zionism review, letters ***************************************************** EDITORIAL In today\u2019s issue, we report once again on the proposed gutting of University\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "editorial"","block_context":{"text":"editorial","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/editorial\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":728,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/09\/13\/power-grabs-by-the-top-table\/","url_meta":{"origin":358,"position":3},"title":"POWER GRABS BY THE TOP TABLE","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"September 13 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Along with completely obliterating the University Court, the top table has further gutted the responsibilities and the powers of the Senate, and given them to the University Council. The Senate consists of all department heads, all faculty deans, all college principals, four faculty lecturers, four faculty associate deans, two SU\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "history"","block_context":{"text":"history","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/history\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":732,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/09\/13\/university-court\/","url_meta":{"origin":358,"position":4},"title":"UNIVERSITY COURT","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"September 13 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"2018 saw the demise of the University Court, one of Lancaster's oldest and most diverse decision-making bodies. The University Court was an annual gathering bringing together a whole array of stakeholders. It made recommendations to the Senate and the Council of the university, was responsible for appointing the Pro-Chancellor, had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "history"","block_context":{"text":"history","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/history\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":246,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/12\/07\/letters-5\/","url_meta":{"origin":358,"position":5},"title":"LETTERS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"December 7 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"An Open Letter to readers of subtext The announcement at the annual meeting in January 2017 of a review of the effectiveness of the Court \u2013 a body often likened to the annual shareholder meeting in a private company \u2013 seemed at the time relatively inconsequential. Six months elapsed before\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "letters"","block_context":{"text":"letters","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/letters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/568"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":359,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358\/revisions\/359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}