Edinburgh Napier Students petition for transparency, representation and democracy within its Student Association.

A student organization should be designed to empower students in a democratic and open way to take control of our education and our lives on campus. It should be made up of students and open to every member of the student body regardless of whether they are fully or partially paid by the institution.

Our students should be able to communicate to the student union and to the trustees of the organization, any concerns they have, without fear of retribution and with less bureaucracy, less delay, and more forcefulness than the current system allows, which currently prevents students doing so.

Student Senate should be an open forum for students to voice their concerns and ideas about our organization and the institution. Students should have a right to voice its concerns over the union’s policies and the organization should take immediate action in response to those concerns, unlike the present case where actions that elected officers, executive or long term staff disagree with, can be delayed to the detriment of current students.

The student union, elected officers and long term staff need to stay up to date with the changing concerns of students and by doing that embracing student opinions, enthusiasm and initiatives. All Student Union members should have the power to engage with the Student Community through a Forum of discussion or through a simple process of signature collection.

Communicating with off-campus media and working with local organizations to put community pressure on the administration in favor of student interests should be the right of every student.

This petition is being presented to MP’s, MSP’s and the Institution, to prove that all other avenues for students to hold their student union into account have been exhausted. With this in mind the under signed feel that the institute and the association are both in breach by failing to provide a fair transparent student union which provides a democratic, unprejudiced representation of the student body.

We the undersigned request  the Scottish Parliament on our behalf to request a full independent inquiry into the Napier Students Association and their past operations, also an inquiry into whether there is fair and impartial representation for the students who attend Edinburgh Napier University.