Welcome to my first blog! I’ll be on here regularly to keep you updated with what I get up to. This way you can get a feel for what goes on in the Union, what changes are being made and what affects you. So here goes with what I’ve done in the past few week. I’m writing this on the day before I officially I start my term as Union President….
With my exams over, and with handover yet to start, I headed over to ‘Students’ Unions 2013’ Conference with Marissa (incoming Deputy President Welfare) and two of the Union’s senior managers. Being a conference run by the NUS (the National Union of Students- to which Imperial College Union is not affiliated!) we were often given dirty looks and tirelessly bombarded with arguments for joining. We held our ground and used the opportunity to network, making dozens of useful and interesting contacts from other Unions. Talks and workshops helped us get to grips with the future of higher education fees and gave us insight into how other Students’ Unions work.
Soon after I attended a meeting of the Aldwych Group. This is a meeting of the Students’ Unions from the Russell Group Universities. We come together a few times a year to share best practice and bond. More contacts were made and presentations given. Things got heated when the president from LSE Students’ Union suggested changing the Aldwych constitution in order to ‘gender balance’ the co-chairs of the group. This meant ensuring that one of the positions was reserved for a woman. A vote will be taken to decide whether or not to pass the motion at the next meeting. Whilst I may be personally against it, I intend to bring the subject up at the next Union Council - this is the democratic, policymaking, arm of the Union composed of students elected by cross-campus ballot. This will allow me to gauge our students’ opinion on the matter and make a good case for them, whatever they may be, before the vote is held.
Handover started a week later. The other SABBs (sabbatical officers i.e. your student representatives such as me and the Deputy President Welfare etc.) and I participated in intensive training sessions and locked ourselves in our offices with our predecessors at any opportunity we could get. We absorbed every piece of advice we could squeeze out of them. We lunched with all the Union staff and got to know them and what they did. In the evenings we went out as a team, bonded and got excited about the year ahead.
In this time I had various meetings with College staff, including the Rector, in order to introduce myself. I was very encouraged by how keen the majority of them were to work closely with the Union. I attended a few committees (with plenty more to come!) including a meeting of College Council. This is the highest board in the College, of which the Union President is a member. This allows me to influence the College at the highest level by presenting the opinions of students.
Tomorrow I officially start my term as Union President. I’m feeling ready and incredibly excited. The sabbatical team this year is fantastic and we each have plenty of ideas for how we can improve your experience here. Next week we are going on a residential away day in order to learn valuable skills and to go over our manifestos together. We will be developing plans for each of our points and identifying where we can work as a team to accomplish them.
I’m looking forward to telling you all about our plans! Until next time…
David
