Queen Margaret Union
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- This page is about one of the students' unions at the University of Glasgow, and not the students' union for Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh.
The Queen Margaret Union (QMU) is one of two students' unions at the University of Glasgow.
History
The union was founded in 1890 for women students at the University, as opposed to the older Glasgow University Union (GUU) which offered membership only to male students. Both unions retained single-sex status until 1979, when the QMU admitted the first men to its board and allowed males to join for the first time. The GUU followed suit soon after, allowing female members to hold membership of the union.
QMU.jpg
Today
The QMU, with nearly 4,000 members, is based in a building at the end of University Gardens, near to the rear entrance of the Boyd Orr building — both of which were constructed at the end of the 1960s. Thankfully, its internal structure is more pleasing than that of the outside: as well as being nicer to look at, it contains a shop, three bars, a concert venue, a games room, several meeting rooms, a cafeteria called the Food Factory, and several other amenities.
Qudos, the main venue within the QMU for both club nights and bands, is an important venue within the Glasgow music scene. With a capacity of 900 for gigs, it often plays host to up-and-coming bands who will later move on to the larger venues around the city. However, it also runs new band nights, where the latest local talent gets the opportunity to perform on the same stage that Nirvana once played.
Membership is split fairly equally among the sexes, and the members of the QMU now outnumber those of the GUU. For many years there has been discussions about allowing students to be members of both unions. To this end, a concordat was reached between the QMU, the GUU and the University Court at the end of the 2003/2004 session. The QMU held an EGM to facilitate the appropriate changes to the constitution. These changes allow for Automatic Joint Student Membership, whereby all matriculated students will become a member of both unions. However, similar changes to the GUU constitution failed to pass their SGM, as the motion was dismissed on a technicality. There is no news as to how this will proceed but the QMU board of management is still in favour of AJSM, but are awaiting the GUU.
External links
- http://www.qmu.org.uk/ - official site