A referendum is due to take place in April in which students will vote whether or not to rejoin the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) This comes 13 years after the students voted overwhelmingly to leave
A college-wide referendum to rejoin the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) has been announced by the UCD Students’ Union Returning Officer, after a petition was run by USI in the last week.
The referendum proposes that UCD would rejoin USI, and will authorise the University to collect an additional levy from students to cover the cost of the affiliation and engagement. At present, USI currently charges a membership fee of €5 per full-time student, and €2.50 per part-time student, per year.
The referendum is to be held in conjunction with the Students’ Union Executive Elections, with voting taking place from April 1st - April 3rd, with results announced on Thursday April 4th.
The University Observer can report that the referendum seeks to add to Article 2 of the UCDSU Constitution, which sets out the objectives of the Union, and will fall below Article 2(xi). The addition to Article 2 will read, “To represent the members of the Students’ Union nationally, through its membership of the Union of Students in Ireland (Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn)”
The Press Release seen by the University Observer highlights that voting will take place electronically, and that all members of the UCD Students’ Union (which means any currently enrolled student), are entitled to vote.
Students who wish to form part of a bona fide group to campaign for or against the proposed changes to the constitution are encouraged to register their interest with the Returning Officer by 5pm this Thursday, 13 March.
A referendum to rejoin USI was put to the student electorate most recently in 2023, whereby the majority of those who voted, voted YES to rejoin USI. However, the referendum failed to reach the 12.5% quorum needed to pass constitutional referenda and therefore failed.
In 2012, UCD voted overwhelmingly to disaffiliate from USI, with more than 64.4% of students voting to leave USI. In 2016, an overwhelming 76% of students voted to continue to be apart from USI.
The Union of Students in Ireland is the national representative body for more than 360,000 affiliated students in third-level education on the Island of Ireland. Members of the union include students’ unions from the likes of Trinity College Dublin, DCU, TUD, NCAD, UCC, Maynooth, Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University.
This announcement comes after USI have delivered two presentations to UCDSU Council this academic year, and have spent the last week collecting signatures to trigger the referendum.
UCD Students' Union President Miranda Bauer provided the following comment to the University Observer about the referendum to rejoin USI:
"It's an important question for UCD students to engage with and I'm looking forward to seeing the campaign unfold"