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Is there something you want to change about the university? Don't know how to go about it? Writing a UGM motion can be done properly and effectively following these five easy steps.
THIS UNION NOTES
Gather all the facts. Once you have everything you can find on the subject, see how many of them are relevant. If possible, narrow it down to about three or four. This goes under the heading “This Union notes”.
THIS UNION BELIEVES
Why are those facts relevant? What do you think that they mean for this issue? How do they affect YUSU or the university? Take all conclusions, drawn from the notes, and explain them under “This Union believes”.
THIS UNION RESOLVES
What do you want YUSU to do about it? What do you think YUSU can do about it? It’s no good writing “to mandate the President to make us graduate in the Minster” because it’s not in his power, however, “to mandate the President to lobby for us to graduate in the Minster…” is. Think about what you’re writing and make realistic resolves; and ones that are likely to help the motion pass.
After all, once the motion has passed you can email the President, the Campaigns Officer or the Welfare Officer, depending on who has been mandated, and remind them that it’s their duty. Or offer to help the Student Union out with their campaign – after all, saying “the Student Union has been mandated by York students to…” is an added boost in any lobbying. And, well, it worked for FTR.
CLARIFY AND SIMPLIFY
Make sure that you’re not blabbering away – concise statements help the reader. Likewise confusing or contradictory language won’t help. You want all points to be short, sweet and accurate and, where possible, make it obvious why your "notes" lead to your "believes". Try to keep it as accurate as possible to give your opponents less to work with.
SECONDERS
You know those guys who have a lot of respect. You know, the ones who are relevant to the issue. They’re the ones you want to second your motion. Is the motion regarding graduate students? Get current GSA President on the list of people seconding. Is it about something academic? Get the Academic and Welfare Officer to second you. Are you lobbying for a new rugby pitch on Heslington East? Get the captain of the rugby team. Think about who would help the cause, persuade them to make a speech and you’re on the way.
Finally, get the advice of people who have written UGM motions before. Have a look on the list of past motions and see how they’re written. It’s really quite easy! Try to get a catchy title there to help you out as well… it never used to be done but it’s the upcoming thing.
Oh, and don’t forget to vote. That won’t help.
Surely a Union General Meeting is, erm, the meeting, and the motion is what's being written?
Is that not the job of Rules & Revisions to fix that sort of stuff?
Does this really matter? I think in UGMs people vote on the motions based on their content, and it's not a popularity contest based on who's proposed or seconded it.
I'm not quite sure I get the point of this article, it just seems to a rehash of http://www.yusu.org/democracy/ugm/writeamotion.html with some common sense added.
LOL! "How to write a UGM motion" might make more sense!
comment deleted by the author Fair play Jason; a job well done
Thanks, Nadz. Means a lot to me 
I wrote this ages ago so I'm going to refuse to read it in case I see anything horrific in there!
"Is that not the job of Rules & Revisions to fix that sort of stuff?"
No. It's the job of R&R Committee to make sure that it's in order but it should be written appropriately in advance. If R&R don't notice something and it ends up being submitted then people may vote against the motion solely because of phraseology.
"Does this really matter? I think in UGMs people vote on the motions based on their content, and it's not a popularity contest based on who's proposed or seconded it."
To an extent, yes. But if it's an academic motion and has Charlie Leyland's name on it, you can see how people may think it adds weight. Not only this but people who are "more important" on a campus level will generally be a boost when giving speeches too. It's not an essential part but it definitely helps!
Yes, Chris, it is an attempt at making a clearer version of the YUSU write-a-motion page. Not everybody reads that, however, and the Yorker asked me to write this motion with the intent of getting more people aware of it.
Since "the campus left" has been accused by some individuals of having a monopoly on UGMs, any attempt at helping other students write motions can only be a good thing and if it enables a single person to write a motion then job done. This sort of thing is an aid to transparency, in a way.
Btw the blunder in the title was my fault when submitting it - oops!
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