LSE Students' Union
| Institution | London School of Economics and Political Science |
|---|---|
| Location | Houghton Street, London, UK |
| Members | 8,810[1] |
| Affiliations | NUS, ULU, National Postgraduate Committee, Aldwych Group |
| Website | www.lsesu.com |
The London School of Economics Students' Union (LSESU) is the representative and campaigning body for students at LSE to the London School of Economics and to other bodies, covering areas such as quality of education, hall of residence provision, fees, equalities and accessibility for students with disabilities and other related areas. It also provides welfare support, through an Advice and Counselling Centre and various support funds. All students at LSE are automatically co-opted as members of the Union.
The LSESU has around 150 societies and 30 sports clubs, three bars, a cafe, a Media Group (consisting of a newspaper (The Beaver), journal (The Script), radio station ('Pulse! Radio' formerly PuLSEfm) and TV network (LooSE TV), gymnasium and photocopying shop. London Student also distributes on campus as members are also members of the University of London Union.
History
The LSE SU has often been in national focus for its activities.[2] In 1967, David Adelstein, president of the Students' Union, and Marshall Bloom, president of the Graduate Students' Association, were suspended from the School for taking part in a protest against the appointment of Walter Adams as Director of the School in which a porter died of a heart attack. Adams had previously been in Rhodesia and was accused of complicity in the regime's white minority rule. The suspensions were reversed five days after students began a hunger strike in opposition to the move. [3] An American citizen, Bloom committed suicide in 1969 when he was called up to fight in Vietnam.
The LSESU once again made the news during 1969 for its student activism when radical students closed the school for three weeks.[4] The protest were against the appointment of Walter Adams as director of the LSE and his order of installation of security gates at the LSE. These gates were later removed. [5]
The LSE SU elected Winston Silcott, one of the Tottenham Three who were originally convicted of the murder of PC Keith Blakelock during the Broadwater Farm riot and then released when the evidence used to convict him was found to be unsage, as Honorary President as a protest against miscarriages of justice. This led to a large amount of hate mail, much of it racist in nature, including death threats being sent to the LSE SU. There was media outrage, particularly amongst the tabloid press, at the action.
Historically, the LSESU is politically left-leaning with many strong socialist, and more recently[when?] green political societies. Currently, its largest party political society is the LSESU Green Party.
The LSESU voted in March 2005 to stay affiliated to the National Union of Students (NUS) and is also part of the University of London Union (ULU) and the National Postgraduate Committee (NPC). The current Honorary President of the LSESU is the Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the Honorary Vice President is Khaled Al-Mudallal, the Bradford University student of Palestinian origin who was stranded in Gaza due to the closure of all borders to the external world by the Israeli military occupation.[6]
Recent Achievements
The LSESU has recently[when?] campaigned successfully to secure a Living Wage for the cleaners on campus and within the LSE's residences. The campaign was led by students, cleaners, academics and The East London Citizens Organisation (TELCO) and has involved several high profile protests, petitions, UGM motions and consistent lobbying of the School's administration in an effort to lift cleaners out of poverty pay.
In 2006, the LSESU voted to divest from 14 listed arms companies and are currently lobbying the School to do the same.
In 2007, the LSESU voted to twin with An-Najah National University Students' Council in Nablus, Palestine, and to affiliate to the Right to Education Campaign in support of the Palestinian Right to Education. [7]
Union General Meeting
The LSESU is the only students' union in the UK to retain a weekly General Meeting which all members can attend. The UGM is the sovereign body of the Union. There are reports and questions to all the various officers and committees of the LSESU before motions.
The UGM can remove any elected union official from office and sets union policy to which all elected officials must adhere.
Any two people can move a motion on any subject, which is then debated at the UGM. These motions can be serious, setting policy and making major financial decisions, or can be much more light-hearted.
Executive Committee
The LSESU Executive Committee is comprised of sixteen officers.
Four of these positions (General Secretary, Treasurer, Education & Welfare Officer and Communications Officer) are full-time positions, known as Sabbatical Officers or 'Sabbs'.
These sabbatical officers are LSE students, usually at the end of their period of study, but sometimes in between years, take a 'year out' and are paid to help run the LSESU. They are paid circa £22,500 - a recent UGM motion reduced their salaries after criticism that their pay was the highest in the country compared to other students' unions.
The remaining twelve officers are part-time and include two non-voting members - the General Course Students' Representative and Athletics Union President (non-voting because they are not elected in a cross-campus ballot). The 'Exec', particularly the four sabbatical officers, carry on the day-to-day running of the Union.
Positions are elected annually by use of the Single Transferable Vote system, apart from the union goat, which is generally unelected and procured from a nearby field.
Committees
There are two principal committees to which students are elected that help in the running of the LSESU; Constitution & Steering, which ensures the actions of the LSESU are legal and in accordance with the Constitution and Codes of Practice of the LSESU, and Finance & Services, which assists the Treasurer in the preparation of the annual budget and acts as a check on the financial actions of the LSESU. There are other minor committees and sub-committees that administer the daily affairs governed by the LSESU.
Staff
Apart from the sabbatical officers, there are an assortment of full- and part- time staff. These include a General Manager, Finance Manager, Societies Manager, Sports Administrator and Entertainments Manager. Students are also employed on a part-time basis, involved in the provision of services such as the Union shop, copy shop, bars, cafe and advice centre.
Notable Sabbatical Officers
- 1994-5
- General Secretary - Martin Lewis
- Entertainments and Societies - Gary Delaney
Notes
- ^ "Table 0a - All students by institution, mode of study, level of study, gender and domicile 2005/06". Higher Education Statistics Agency online statistics. Retrieved 2007-03-31.
- ^ Testing the student political mood
- ^ 1967: Protest over student suspensions
- ^ 1969: LSE closes over student clashes
- ^ 1969: Once a rebel
- ^ Campaign to support Khaled: http://www.letkhaledstudy.co.uk/
- ^ Right to Education Campaign website: http://right2edu.birzeit.edu/