Stand for Election!
Wednesday 23 Jan 2008
Elections season is almost upon us where you get to decide who will be your sabbatical team for 2008/09.
Taking a sabbatical year involves taking a year out of your studies or doing (as I did) it at the end of your course. The positions of President, Felix Editor and the three Deputy Presidents are all full time jobs and successful candidates will be employed by our Union for one year taking on one of the following roles. I will now attempt to sum up exactly what is involved in these roles. The work of Sabbatical officers is so varied that these descriptions will be no where near exhaustive. So if you are thinking about running for a position I would strongly advise you to get in touch with whoever it is doing the job at the minute; as myself and the other sabbaticals will be delighted to fill you in on what our respective roles entail.
President
The Union President is ultimately responsible for all Union activity and finances. The President meets regularly with the Rector and other senior College academics and managers to provide student input in decision making processes and to raise any immediate concerns that students have. The President also works closely with the General Manager who is in charge of the Union’s staff. Finally the President is responsible for ensuring that the Union’s finances are in order. To answer the question “What the President does?” would solicit a 2000 word essay so all I will say is, it is a very rewarding job where you have a real opportunity to make positive changes for students on campus and within the Union itself. As ever I can be contacted at president@imperial.ac.uk
Deputy President (Education and Welfare)
The DPEW is responsible for coordinating academic representation and welfare provision within the Union and sits on countless College committees giving input on a very diverse range of issues from e-learning to student residences. The DPEW is also responsible for coordinating all the Union’s campaigns and works with the student volunteers who organise them to make sure that as many people hear about them as possible. Kirsty Patterson is the current holder of this office and can be contacted at dpew@imperial.ac.uk.
Deputy President (Clubs and Societies)
The DPCS makes sure that all the Union’s 290+ clubs are kept as happy as possible. The holder of this office can expect to work closely with Sport Imperial, ULU and BUSA to address any issues arising regarding sports teams, competitions or facilities. It's not all sport though with such varied projects this year such as updating the club finance pages, a Beit space audit, and of course Freshers' Fair. The more serious side of this role involves responsibilities for ensuring that health and safety requirements are met across all Union activities so that the organisation is compliant with the relevant laws and College policies. For more information contact Ally at dpcs@imperial.ac.uk.
Deputy President (Finance and Services)
The DPFS is responsible for the day to day financial administration of the Union. The holder of this office will spend a lot of time dealing with budgetary queries from Clubs, Faculty Unions and event organisers. You would also collate and solicit student feedback about the Union’s bars, catering and shop to gauge how students would like to see things run. The holder of this office is also responsible for coordinating the Summer Ball (the preparations for Summer Ball 2008 actually started in November 2007) which is a great opportunity to be creative to make sure thousands of us students have a brilliant time at our end of year bash. Chris Larvin will be more than happy to provide more details and you can reach him at dpfs@imperial.ac.uk.
Felix Editor
The Felix Editor produces a copy of Felix every week during the Undergraduate term time. Your main challenge in this role is to recruit and motivate a willing band of volunteers to do a range of tasks including writing, editing, photography, design work and good old fashioned investigative journalism. Once you have a happy team in place for the rest of the year you keep a watchful eye on both the College management and the work of the other Union Sabbatical Officers and committees on behalf of the student body. Tom Roberts can be contacted at felix@imperial.ac.uk although I imagine dear old Ed has his contact details available on many pages of this fine publication.
NUS Delegates
NUS Annual Conference 2008 takes place from the 1st to the 3rd of April in Blackpool. Imperial College Union is entitled to elect another 8 delegates and these elections will take place concurrently with the Sabbatical Officer Elections. The students who volunteered to come along to the Extraordinary Conference held in December thought it a very interesting experience so without reiterating some of my colourful views of this organisation I would like to encourage you to come along. For more information contact me at president@imperial.ac.uk
Student Trustees
The Trustee Board is the governing body of the Union and is there to make sure that the Union is being managed effectively, has sound finances and is legally compliant. I know this sounds rather dry but the last meeting did formally approve the next phase of the Union Building Redevelopment so I hope you would agree that this is of huge relevance to the student body. This committee is a very important new feature of the Union’s governance structure (more info on our website, governance is not the sexiest topic you encounter as a sabbatical officer but it is an important one) and has 4 student members elected by cross campus ballot in addition to the President and the other Trustees. We are going to be electing 2 student trustees for next year so if you would like to provide some student input into the strategic direction of a charity that turns over millions of pounds a year please stand for one of these positions. Again, drop me an email if you would like more information.
So how do I stand?
If you wish to stand for one of these positions nominations open on Monday 28 January online at www.imperialcollegeunion.org/vote and close at midnight on Sunday 10 February. Depending on what position you are running for you will need to get a certain number of your friends (no more than 20) to log on to the same address and second your nomination. The Returning Officer for these elections is ex-ICSMSU President Daniel McGuinness who can be contacted with any questions about the elections process or procedures at elections@imperial.ac.uk.
Scott Heath
(020) 7594 8060
IC Extension 58061