SFS member coordinator Leo Jonason summarizes an eventful member meeting in Uppsala.
What joy we felt when we stood in Uppsala and knew that we would finally get to meet the members at the first members' meeting of the year. Just over 40 participants per day from a total of 27 member bodies gathered to discuss SFS's present and future. Top of the agenda were proposals to the SFS council, how we can improve student representation and the doctoral committee's work on changing migration legislation.
First of all, a microphone was thrown around the room, so that all participants could introduce themselves. Then we were thrown into the art of writing motions for SFSFUM led by Anna Larsson from the board. A basic course in cat jokes was also offered, which is an important part of SFS meeting culture.
Three cat jokes from the members' meeting:
– Cat ate SFS, became united
– Cat ate eraser, disappeared
– Cat ate broken calculator, got speech impediment
The bill that gave rise to the most lively discussions was Bill 1, on the SFS business plan and political focus issue. The discussions partly revolved around the well-being of students, and how the social aspects of student life have suffered during the pandemic. Another issue that many had opinions on was where student housing should be, including where new housing should be built, as new housing is often built further from universities. The housing allowance was also discussed.
SFS PhD Committee Chair Pil Saugmann spoke about their work on migration legislation, which since changes last summer have prevented PhD students from non-EU countries from staying after graduation. Pil explained how they thought about being long-term in their work and keeping the issue alive for a long time by having continuous debate articles during the spring.
The host Uppsala Student Union's chairman Jacob Färnert held a session on student representation where he shared how they work to fill their advertised positions. The members discussed different strategies for lowering the thresholds, spreading the assignments over more people and achieving sustainable commitment so that a few don't take on everything. A major problem that several spoke about was the poor foresight from universities when new student representatives need to be nominated for assignments, where there is no time to advertise in a good way.
We thank the Uppsala Student Union for the wonderful hospitality and for allowing us to see several campuses and experience what it might be like to attend a classical nation. We also had the privilege of ending the days by entering the old auditorium and taking some very lovely group photos and soaking up the historical environment that Uppsala University is.
Please,
Leo Jonason, member coordinator