With the LSESU election campaigning underway, voters will have to familiarise themselves with the different Sabbatical Officer roles available, which were amended by referendum held a few weeks earlier.
The role of Treasurer has been replaced the Board of Trustees, which is made up of Sabbatical Officers and student members. The role of Education and Welfare Officer will be split into an Education Officer, and a Community and Development Officer.
An Activities and Development Officer will replace the Societies Officer, whilst specialist staff will take over the role of Communications Officer. The Athletics Union president will now become a voting member of the Executive Committee. A part time paid Postgraduate sabbatical position has been created to reflect the importance of the postgraduates at LSE.
Part-time officers, the General Course Rep, Mature and Part-time Students Rep and Returning officer will not be on the Executive Committee.
Commenting on the changes, LSESU Treasurer George Wetz, said: “The long redundancy of the Treasurer and Comms Sabb positions meant that reconfiguring the Sabb team as a whole in response to the findings from extensive consultation was a must. Naturally, some of the functions of the part-time executive roles were incorporated into the full-time roles. Without negating the outstanding work of previous Societies’ and Residences’ Officers, the new system will mean full-time officers can be devoted to these issues, ultimately leading to more effective student representation.”
The reforms were proposed by the LSESU last term as part of an agenda to make the student voice more important. Changes to the governing documents were also crucial, so as to ensure it was in line with the rules of the Charities Commission. Opponents to the reforms, however, claim that it will give more power to the executive officers of the LSESU.
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