The Student Exec’s Residential Rep has resigned from the position for “personal reasons.” This comes mere weeks after the former Finance and Strategy Officer also resigned from her post, with the by-election last week electing a replacement for the position. At their weekly meeting last Thursday morning (including new FSO Daniel), the Exec decided against holding a second by-election for Residential Rep.
Much like the previous week’s meeting, agenda item 18 ‘By-election for Residential Rep discussion’ opened the floor for just that: a very big discussion. The role of the Residential Rep on the Student Exec is to “make sure that the residential experience is the best it can be” – extending from malfunctioning dryers in halls of residence, to condensation and mould in flats.
For those unfamiliar, as elected representatives the Exec are paid through an honorarium rather than with a wage. Each quarter, in order to be paid their honorarium, every Exec member must submit a report basically proving that they’ve done the work they’re employed to do. At a meeting prior to Stella resigning, the Exec had voted to halve her honorarium after her report wasn’t up to scratch.
Discussion during last week’s meeting centred around whether it would be worth electing a replacement so late in the year given, as many members pointed out, most of the work of the Residential Rep should be done before now, when students are looking to sign flats. Academic Rep Stella said, “We need one that’s competent and ready to go today.” International Rep Ibuki echoed this: “It’s a role that needs that lead-up to plan and understand how everything works,” saying he would “feel bad” for anyone elected so late in the game. “I don’t think we should thrust that on them.”
Pols Rep Liam, who has recently spent time submitting on policies relevant to renters (and defending their ever-decreasing rights), emphasised that the role of the Residential Rep “is more important now than it has ever been.” In the absence of someone in the position currently, while there is “no perfect solution”, Liam suggested the Exec split the responsibilities between them.
In the period of time leading up to her resignation, President Keegan took over many of the responsibilities of Residential Rep herself – including flatting talks with halls of residence (arguably a pretty big part of the job). Keegan said she was more than happy to continue to do so, and suggested the possibility of collaborating with the University for a Q&A session for students regarding tenancies.
The general election for the 2025 Student Exec will run in September. The Residential Rep for next year will be elected then, and Keegan is eager for that person to begin training for the role later this year (rather than early next year) “out of the goodness of their heart” – perhaps with a big fruit basket come Christmas time.