The Union MMU

Prior to the 2008 review of the Union's governance structures, there were 17 Executive Officers each with their own areas of responsibility in addition to acting in the interests of the Union as a whole.

Seven of the officers were sabbaticals. Two sabbaticals based in MMU Cheshire and the other five in Manchester. The ten remaining officers were based across both campuses, were non-sabbaticals and studied during their term in office receiving no payment.

The Union's sovereign body was Student Council, to which all committees, representatives and officers, either directly or indirectly, were answerable. The Student Council, chaired by an independent non-executive student, was composed of the Executive Committee and students elected from each faculty of the university. The Chair and Vice-Chair of the Athletic Unions, and one representative of each Societies Union were ex officio members of the council.

From the start of 2009, the highest level of governance has been the Board of Trustees, composed of the sabbatical officers and up to 3 external trustees, and 1 co-opted trustee.;[2] The Trustee Board has the ability to call binding referendums on issues and motions as it sees fit, referendums may also be called by students directly by secure petition.

Policy decisions are made by the Union Officers Group, which meets weekly.

The Union Officers Group as of the academic year 2020/21 is structured as; [3]

• President: Evelyn Sweeney
• Education Officer: Bran Catron
• Sports Officer: Fabienne Robertson-Barnett
• Wellbeing Officer: America Fabiana Pardo-Gomez
• Societies and Development Officer: Savannah Middleton

The Union Officers Group consists of five sabbatical officers, and no non-sabbaticals, as of the 2019/20 academic year. The Union Officers Group is held accountable to and must prepare a report to Student Forums.;[2]

The Union Officers Group is structured as;[4]

• President: Anna Welsh
• Education Officer: Lucy Follon
• Sports Officer: Ross Sharmon
• Wellbeing Officer: Andy Harmon
• Societies and Development Officer: Evelyn Sweeney

Student Forums are open to all students, held 5 times a year to discuss any pertinent topic relating to the student experience or Union provision in order to receive feedback and shape the Union’s work in that area. Student Forums are based around 3 Areas

• Better Union - a Forum for discussion of opinions, ideas and plans based around improvements to the union
• Better University - a Forum for discussion of opinions, ideas and plans around improvement to academics and university related issues
• Better Manchester / Crewe - a Forum for discussion of opinions ideas and plans around improving student lives and reputations in the community.

Forums will be run both in meeting form and online via Twitter and email submissions. Any student will be able to submit ideas and changes to these forums and they will then be put up for debate. If a consensus of agreement is reached then the union will pass the policy to the Trustee Board for final approval. If this motion is turned down by those present, it will be rejected and sent back to the owner.

If a consensus cannot be reached the decision will be put to a whole student referenda to allow larger debate and discussion and voting on the issue.

Student Groups are to be chaired by elected Student Reps. They fill the criteria of aiding to represent hard to reach, less engaged and under represented groups of students ranging from Mature and Postgraduates, International and LGBTQ+.

In autumn 2008 the union launched the Late Campaign[16][17][18][19][20][21][22] after consultation with Course Reps, who expressed concern that students were suffering because of late and cancelled lectures that were never rearranged - The Late Campaign was organised to find out how many students across MMU were finding this to be the case.

The University Student Agreement (the statement that the University agreed would be the principles of an MMU education) says that “staff will give reasonable notice of changes to the teaching timetable and will arrange for classes to be re-scheduled or for alternative delivery of the content, or will explain why this is not possible”.

The Students' Union have stated they "think that this is the best way to test whether that's actually happening and to help identify where there are problem areas."

"This is a variation on traditional course rep activity, collecting information in a way that is easier for modern students. We fully understand that lectures may need to be cancelled and re-arranged for legitimate reasons and believe that it is crucial to establish a means of measuring the impact of cancelled lectures. We have faith that the results will demonstrate the professional approach adopted by the majority of staff" Nicola Lee, President

The Students' Union building, Oxford Road

Originally occupying the Righton Building on the corner of Cavendish Street and Lower Ormond Street, the union moved in 1982 to a purpose built building at 99 Oxford Road. The new building was opened by Bobby Charlton and in 1984 it was named the Mandela Building after Winnie Mandela, during the ANC Year of the Woman. Following the death of Stompie Moeketsi in 1989, an event with which Winnie Mandela was linked, moves were made to change the name to something less controversial and for a time it was named the Bruce Forsyth building after the popular entertainer. The name was dropped shortly after.

A Barclays Bank mini-branch was opened in the building shortly after the bank had cut its links with apartheid South Africa, following an NUS lead campaign.

The Union's facilities were arranged over 4 floors and included;

• Ground Floor; Reception, Barclays ATM, The Union Shop, Icycle and the Student Officers Office.
• First Floor; "The met" union bar and club, opened in September 2009, formerly K2 nightclub.
• Second Floor; Student Activities Centre, the VP Student Activities office and a campaigns, societies and students open space.
• Third Floor; Student Advice Centre, accredited as a Community Legal Service. Union Administration, Finance Office, Committee Meeting Rooms and Conference Facilities.

In January 2015, the union moved to a new purpose built building on the All Saints campus, directly adjacent to the University's Cambridge and Cavendish Halls of Residence, on Cambridge Street, next to the Salutation pub, which the Union now runs.[23] The new building incorporates a dance studio, radio studio, media suite, and conferencing facilities, as well as a new large open multi purpose space which is used for club nights, fashion shows, freshers and refreshers fairs and also stalls and campaigns when required.

The Union Building was greatly expanded in 2009 using large studio space given by the University to the Students' Union.[24] The New union building now has a prominent position at the centre of the Crewe campus. The new Union Building has a large retail area, a new Student Advice Centre office, accredited as a Community Legal Service, Student Activities centre, Finance Office, Committee Meeting Rooms, Internet Cafe and the Offices of the Vice President (Cheshire) and Vice President (Student Activities Cheshire).