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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, Scotland.

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.

Today

The QMU, with approximately 6,000 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.

Membership is split fairly equally among the sexes, and the members of the QMU now outnumber those of the GUU at student level, however it remains dwarfed by the GUU's 9,000 life members. 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. In the academic session 2005/6 the University introduced student cards which could not have holes punched in them, the traditional way of marking Union membership. The Unions both now have separate membership cards. This allowed students to join both Unions. NB: This year, the QMU General Elections take place on Thursday 2nd of March, with nominations for the election open until the 24th of February.

Facilities

The QMU offers a number of facilities over four floors for students and guests, all of which are renovated on a reasonably frequent basis (in the order of a few years) to allow for increased capacity, and the preferred taste of the current membership. No student facilities are available in the basement, which is host to stock storage, delivery points, and a tunnel which runs the length of the Qudos hall from under the bar to the store, to roughly beneath the main foyer.

Ground Floor

The ground floor of the QMU contains the widest variety of services to its members: it contains a shop, a coffee shop, cash machines and toilets, the porters booth, and the Qudos venue.

Qudos is the main venue within the QMU for both club nights and bands, and 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. Qudos is also used to host the QMU's club nights (such as Cheesy Pop or Revolution, commonly referred to as "Rev"), and has also seen popular nights such as Film Nights, and more recently, large pub quizzes.

The Coffee shop offers a variety of hot drinks, as well as some snacks, and a number of cold drinks and bottled beers. A number of tables are available just outside Qudos, and some within Qudos itself, which offer a quiet setting in which to savour the products of the QMU Coffee shop.

The QMU Shop stocks items similar to that of a newsagent, and was renovated in the summer of 2004. The new shop is much larger than its predecessor, allowing for it to carry much more stock.

First Floor

The first floor is home to Jim's Bar. The bar was renovated in 2001. Jim's Bar is a popular drinking venue, and is ideal for drinks before heading down to Qudos on a club night, for example. Many small Union events are run in Jim's Bar, including the Wednesday Night Pub Quiz (described by NME as the best in Glasgow), Unplugged Open-Mic night on a Sunday, small bands, DJs and game-shows.

The QMU Games Room offers 6 pool tables, a number of arcade machines and fruit machines, and a small bar (installed in 2004). A number of the tables and chairs once present in the previous incarnation of Jim's Bar are now to be found in the Games Room bar.

Both Jim's Bar and the Games Room have jukeboxes with an eclectic range of music new and old, displaying the on-the pulse nature of this union with regard to the current music scene both in Glasgow and further afield.

Second Floor

The second floor contains the Food Factory, open during the day within the academic year, and limited hours outwith. This floor is largely seating, with both round tables capable of seating up to around 5 comfortably, and edge tables situated in windows with tall stools for seating. The food factory offers a variety of cold and hot foods, most notably sandwiches and pizzas, and a rotating daily menu offering meat and vegetarian options.

Also situated at one end of the second floor is a Delice de France Café which offers items such as filled baguettes, and shares the same seating as the Food Factory itself.

The Food Factory was made a non-smoking area in the summer of 2005, during which time the kitchens were also fitted with a new extraction and ventilation system due to construction work taking place adjacent to the building.

Third Floor

The third floor is left unvisited by the majority of QMU members, due to the design of the building -- the main stairwell does not lead up to this floor; rather, the secondary stairwell and lift are the only routes up to this floor. Various board and administration offices are housed on the third floor, as well as some basic amenities, such as showers, a TV room, laundry room, committee rooms (for use of QMU-affiliated societies) and study rooms (one each for smoking and non-smoking).

Entertainments

• Monday: Film Night
• Tuesday: Revolution - Rock/Alternative night with DJ Martin Bate
• Wednesday: Ben & Andy's Excellent Pub Quiz
• Thursday: RAW Local Bands, followed by Style and Substance with DJ Tam Coyle, Pool Competitions
• Friday: MouseTrap with SEGA Gary in Jim's Bar, Followed by Cheesy Pop with DJ Toast
• Sunday: Unplugged Open Mic Night

External links

• http://www.qmu.org.uk/ - official site
• http://www.qmunity.co.uk/ - community site

• Scottish Students' Unions
• University of Glasgow