UCU: Campaign for democratic governance

Motion

Motion text: 1. HE/FE across the UK suffers from a generalised crisis of governance, with structures increasingly hierarchical and unaccountable.
2. Existing, nominally democratic governance structures (e.g. Senates; Boards of Governors) have been progressively hollowed out, and are either incapable of holding management to account or have stopped representing best interests of staff and students.
Congress resolves:
a. To campaign for democratic governance with publicity and social media.
b. To aim for reinstatement of functional senates/equivalents, including representatives of staff and students, across all our institutions, making VCs/Principals democratically elected by these representatives.
c. Following consultation, UCU to campaign to make roles such as Deans and Heads of Departments elective, as in other countries.
d. Where possible, to coordinate campaigning with other Unions and NUS to maximise unity and organisational efficiency.
If demands for democratic governance are not met, UCU will ballot for industrial action up to and including strike action.