What is CUSU Council?
Council is made up of elected representatives from across the Collegiate University. This page lists the current votes available to individuals on CUSU Council. The votes listed here are subject to provisions in the Union's Standing Orders.
Council 'Voting Membership':
- The Common/Combination Rooms of Affiliated Cambridge Colleges shall each have three voting representatives.
- Votes should normally be allocated to the President and/or External Officer.
- Where there is both a JCR and MCR, the JCR shall hold two votes, and the MCR shall hold one vote.
- Affiliated Common Rooms and the number of votes each has are listed below.
- Sabbatical Officers (of which there are six: President, Education, Access & Funding, Welfare & Rights, Women's and Disabled Students')
- Campaigns Officers of the Part-Time Executive, inclusive of Portfolio Campaigns Officer/s and the Head of Ethical Affairs.
- The Liberation Campaigns shall each have two votes.
- BME, Class Act, Ethical Affairs, iCUSU and LGBT+ shall have two votes.
- DSC and WomCam shall each have one vote (they have two votes as other Liberation Campaigns, however their 'second' vote is held by the Disabled Students' Officer and Women's Officer as Sabbatical Officers).
- The Graduate Union President.
- Twelve School-level Student Academic Representatives.
No individual can exercise more than one vote at CUSU Council.
CUSU Campaigns and PTE and their allocated votes are as follows:
| Campaign | Current role-holder/s | Number of votes held by position |
| BME Campaign | Rianna Davis & Daniella Adeluwoye | 2 |
| Class Act | Laura Lewis | 2 |
| Disabled Students' Campaign | Jess O'Brien & Cecily Bateman | 2 |
| Ethical Affairs Campaign | Alice Gilderale & Jake Simms | 2 |
| International Students' Campaign (iCUSU) | Julia Yan & Nicole Zhou | 2 |
| LGBT+ Campaign | John Cooper & Aiden Jakso | 2 |
| Womens' Campaign | Kate Litman | 2 |
| Access and Funding Campaign Officer | Georgina Gledhill | 1 |
| Access and Funding Campaign Officer | Rachel Johnston | 1 |
| Education Campaign Officer | Ben Margolis | 1 |
| Education Campaign Officer | Rory Kent | 1 |
| Welfare and Rights Campaign Officer | Aleph Ross | 1 |
| Welfare and Rights Campaign Officer | Tyra Amofah-Akardom | 1 |
| Mature Students' Rep | vacant | 1 |
| Part-time Students' Rep | Kerensa Gaunt & Anna Ward | 1 |
| Students Parents' Rep | vacant | 1 |
CUSU council is the decision making body of CUSU. It is a space where all students are welcome to come forward to propose and debate motions whilst holding their elected officers to account. Each college and faculty has voting members who will vote base on their constituents, you can see who your reps are here. In a summary, council includes
| Updates from elected officers | Holding those elected to account | Discussions around suggested policy |
| Debate | Voting | General Union updates |
There is a council held every other week of term. The date, time and location will be advertised in advance on our website and social media channels.
Any student can attend CUSU Council, propose motions and amendments and participate in debates.
- There are usually four Councils in each Michaelmas and Lent, and two in each Easter.
- Extraordinary Councils may be called by the Chair if requested by 16 members of Council, three Sabbatical Officers or two Executive Teams.
- Council may be over-ruled only if its policy is found to be illegal, or by a referendum of the entire student body.
CUSU Council happens every other Monday at 19:00 during term time.
| Council | Date | Agenda Items |
| Mich 1 | 14th October | |
| Mich 2 | 28th October | Elect Elections Committee |
| Mich 3 | 11th Novemeber | |
| Mich 4 | 25th Novemeber | |
| Lent 1 | 20th January | |
| Lent 2 | 3rd February | |
| Lent 3 | 17th February | |
| Lent 4 | 2nd March | |
| Easter 1 | 27th April | |
| Easter 2 | 11th May | Last Council of Academic Year |
Guidance on voting by proxy from the Standing Orders (provision D.7(iii)):
- All Council members should either attend Council in person or send a substitute (proxy) by providing written notification to the Chair. Notification must reach the Chair before the start of the meeting.
- The substitute must be a CUSU Member.
- Council members should inform their constituents of any instance of proxy voting on their behalf.
- The proxy votes of affiloiated Common Rooms must be students from their constituent College.
- Sabbatical Officers (except those who lead CUSU campaigns) members of the Part-Time Executive and NUS Delegates are prohibited from sending a proxy in their place for their particular vote, save for the Heads of CUSU Campaigns (see next point).
- Proxy votes of the Heads of CUSU Campaigns must be members of the respective Liberation Campaign Executive.
- Proxy votes of Student Academic Representatives must belong to the School constituency and represent Ordinary Members at the respective level of study (i.e. undergraduate or postgraduate).