A Student Idea opened on 25 May, proposing to review the Student Ideas system.
The justification of the Idea, called “Repeal and Replace Student Ideas” criticises the platform for being “ineffective, unengaging and a liability for the Guild”.
The creator of the Idea claims that last year, there were sixty ideas compared to eight this year. It is unclear to Exeposé whether this year’s numbers are accurate. It also criticises both the moderation of comments on some Ideas and the fact that ideas go live which would be “legally questionable to implement”.
The Idea has been criticised for not offering a viable alternative to Student Ideas. Gary McLachlan, Change, Policy and Research Manager, also commented defending the Guild’s moderation of Ideas, writing: “We don’t moderate student ideas unless the law will definitely be broken at the point the Idea goes live… I worry about actual illegality, not potential illegality which has not yet had our members’ views expressed through voting”.
Student Ideas were introduced in 2014 after a democratic review of the Guild. According to the Guild website, they have improved student engagement with the Guild and have been “the largest participatory democracy in the UK student sector” for the past two years.
The Idea closes at midnight on 7 June.
