Have a referendum on the brand change
Anonymous submitted on
Wednesday 18th May 2016
Complete
There has been a lot of anger from the student body about an apparent lack of involvement in the rebrand, especially the final design. So to prove to everyone that susu/us truly represents what students are wanting and feeling, put it to a referendum. Stay with the old brand (susu), go with the new one (us) or potentially choose a third option (created by students at winchester).
This is really the only course of action that could bring a vast majority of students back onboard with susu/us. If it's not done, then the level of disenfranchisement will only grow. Just have one look at the uni tell him/tell her page or yikyak, and you will find it completely full of angry posts about susu, their decisions and overall attitude around the rebrand.
Unfortunately this isn't something which can just be ignored in the hope that it will all sort itself out. There is a very real risk that the student body will reject susu/us, and this referendum is really the only way to stop that from happening.
Responses
Here, you can view the complete set of official responses from the sabbatical officers regarding this submission.
Students' Union replied on
Wednesday 18th May 2016 2:17pm
The reason there was not a referendum on the rebrand was because the old brand had received criticism for years, and so there was an obvious need to improve. Those suggestions for improvement could not be captured in simple ‘Yes/No’ format, and so we set about on the brand review – a huge piece of consultation – to determine what exactly students felt about the branding, a far more detailed issue than ‘Should it change, yes or no?’
The consultation was a process of several months, and I accept that there are flaws in the way we encourage people to engage with such decision making – from the old Union Council system, to our communication issues in making sure that all students know that such large scale change is on the horizon. To rebrand for a short while then revert back would be an enormous step back for the Union, incurring additional costs to undo a change that in itself is not bad, but does bring to light the faults in our system of decision making and representation.
I have no intention of ignoring the issue – I’m trying to actively respond to all YMC questions in a day, I’ve holding an open meeting tonight (Wed 18th) in The Bridge at 6pm, and I’ll continue to answer all questions that come my way about the rebranding process. What I don’t want to do is have a kneejerk reaction to what is a very common period following a rebrand, especially when the level of positive reception to the new brand grows constantly. If this remains a large issue, students have means available to them in the constitution to challenge the changes, and I’ll happily cross that bridge with you when we can more objectively review the whole process.
Ben Franklin
Union President
Actions
Forwarded to Union President
Wednesday 18th May 2016 9:42am
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