The future of Concrete
Statement from Concrete regarding the minutes from the meeting of the Student Officer Committee 19.01.12Concrete would like to address several issues from the minutes of the 19.01.12 meeting regarding the Union’s meeting with Concrete on 17.01.12.Concrete would like to highlight that the meeting which took place on the 17.01.12 was the first time that society members had been informed about the proposal to cease funding the paid editor, and that no member had knowledge of this prior to the meeting.Concrete would like to state that the Union members present at the said meeting were R. Bloomer, M. Myles, M. Evans and D. Bowden. The other members were not present and there were no minutes taken from the said meeting.Concrete would like to deny any comparison between their situation and the closure of the music school. Concrete would like to highlight that due to the unexpected nature of the meeting, an emotional response from individuals was, to some extent, inevitable and must be taken into account.It was said during the meeting on the 17.01.2012 that Concrete would have a chance to appeal against the decision at Societies Council and Union Council. This would appear futile considering the Community and Student Rights Officer’s comment: “T Ross noted that if a decision to end the funding were to be challenged successfully in Union Council; it would be highly unlikely that the challenge would be upheld by the Trustee Board.” Concrete feels misled in the idea they could contest this proposal. Concrete feels, if it had known this fact sooner, it would have been able to devote its time more effectively to restructuring the society rather than devising proposals and discussing them with Union staff members.Concrete would also like to question the “extensive research” the Union has conducted regarding the editorship issue, as the only information that has been provided to the society by the Communications Officer is limited information from nine other student papers. Concrete would like to request that the Communications Officer offers the society any other research that has been collated. The incumbent news editor has made contact with 15 student papers regarding restructuring the society and would appreciate any information the Union is currently holding.Concrete feels that they are very open to the idea of a fully voluntary editorial team, if some constructive support plans are put in place by the Union to ensure successful continuation. Concrete would like to highlight that it takes issue with the Union’s lack of transparency in this issue, feeling that greater communication between the Student Officers and the society would have prevented any discontent.
Changes to the structure of Concrete
The Union of UEA Students' Management Committee informed the incumbent Committee and Editorial team of Concrete on Tuesday 17 January that it would cease funding a paid editor for Concrete from next year. Concrete has had a paid editor since 1995, when the Union agreed to fund this position due to the excessive burden managing the newspaper placed on volunteer students. Thus, since this year, the editor has become almost a "manager" of Concrete, and is responsible for overseeing the work of volunteer section editors, securing advertising to partially fund printing costs (which are currently funded to an extent by the Union), and managing the newly-launched Concrete website (www.concrete-online.co.uk).
The Union had a variety of suggestions for how Concrete should adjust to the changes. Click here to view the first page from the aforementioned meeting, and click here to view the second and here to view the third pages of the proposal.
Concrete has taken on board the reasons for the Union's decision, and in mind of the significant financial deficit the Union is currently running at, respects the need to reduce expenditure. However, Concrete has been given an insufficient amount of time to adjust to the loss of the paid editor, and the following proposal was sent to the Management Committee of the Union today, prior to a meeting of this body.
Read Concrete's proposal regarding the suggested changes to its structure here.
Email your views and suggestions to our president, Freya Barry.
Annual budgets of the Union of UEA Students show a £246,989 deficit for 2010-2011. View the budget in full.