May 2023 Student Panel

Policies Discussed

The Policy Proposals discussed at the May Student Panel were:

1. SHOULD THE LSESU LOBBY LSE TO WORK WITH THE LSESU ON IMPLEMENTING A NEW SPORT AND WELLBEING STRATEGY?

Proposer: Romane Branthomme

Issue:

• Improving the sport and wellbeing offer at LSE for all LSE students
• Making sport and wellbeing financially accessible to all LSE students

Solution:

• A new sport and wellbeing strategy has been written by current LSESU staff and sabbatical officers that describe ways to fixing those issues. Please see attached

 

2. SHOULD LSESU HOLD AN LSE SUMMER BALL?

Proposer: Emma Somos

Issue:

• There is a lack of unity across the whole of the LSE student body and wider community
• There is a sense of loneliness among LSE students
• There are few flagship events which are not AU club or department specific
• Few opportunities for students to meet outside of the lecture room or classroom
• There are a lack of events which are attractive to people who don’t drink
• There is a lack of interaction between members across the LSE community (students, staff, faculty and alumni) making it harder for good ideas /information to spread

Notes:

Large scale music festivals have been found to intensify existing friendships (Wilks, 2009)
Attachment to a place is founded from the social network built at the place (Massey, 1994)
The Beaver’s survey on loneliness found that those who felt as though they are involved at some level, attended LSE events, parties and community spaces like LSE LIFE
Student satisfaction has been found to be influenced by social aspects of the university (Universities UK, 2016)
Students who enjoyed their experience said it was down to the people they met and the social life. There were no significant differences between institution eyes (NUS & HSBC, 2008)
Social interaction are significantly related to the exchange of resources (Tsai & Ghoshal, 1998)

Solution: 

• Create a flagship LSE Summer Ball open and attractive to all members of the LSE community (students, staff, faculty and alumni)
• Create a LSE Summer Ball which provides enjoyment for both those who do and do not like to drink through a range of entertainment
• Establish a team of students to organise the ball alongside executive LSESU and LSE staff to provide financial and managerial guidance
• This project would be proposed as a collaboration between all LSE branches (SU, LSE LIFE, LSE Alumni, LSE and more)
• LSESU acts as a mediator/initiator between all involved parties
• This motion has been written and proposed by William Stein and seconded by Hannah Nairn in December 2018 when it was supported by 450 students. 
• Even though students have expressed tremendous support for an LSE summer ball on numerous occasions, LSE and the LSESU failed students and cancelled the LSE summer ball for 2023. 
• This is particularly frustrating as students have been campaigning for an LSE-wide ball for 5 years now, amassing more than 1750 signatures in support, thus once again, we are submitting a motion for an LSE summer ball.
• Organisers should prioritise students leaving LSE the year of the ball, including both final year students in undergraduate courses and postgraduate students
• A festival-style setting would be preferred to a formal dinner

 

3. SHOULD THE LSESU LOBBY LSE TO IMPROVE ITS CHILDCARE OFFER?

Proposer: Tilly Mason

Issue:

• LSE used the pandemic as an excuse to shut down its nursery in 2020
• This not only put student and staff parents in a vulnerable position, but led to the forced redundancy of nursery staff (represented by LSE Unison)
• Instead, LSE has partnered with 3 private nurseries in the Holborn / Clerkenwell area, offering subsidies for students/staff
• However, research by LSESU this year has shown that these partnered nurseries do not work for the majority of students and staff with children
• Because more and more students/staff are working from home, they are less likely to travel into campus / central London for the subsidised childcare LSE provides
• LSE's childcare system is still too expensive for the majority - the cost of living crisis means that it is more important now than ever before to have accessible, affordable childcare provided by LSE
• We need LSESU to continue lobbying for LSE to provide bursaries for nurseries!

Solution: 

• We need LSE to provide bursaries for nurseries to ensure that students can access affordable childcare local to them!
• LSESU to conduct more research on what childcare support is required and preferred by LSE students.
• Responsibility for LSE students with children to be codified into one of the LSESU sabbatical officer roles.

 

4. SHOULD THE LSESU LOBBY LSE TO ALLOW STUDENTS TO CHAIR SOCIETAL EVENTS WITH A GUEST SPEAKER?

Proposer: Dylan Sellors

Issue:

• LSE students are currently not allowed to chair events with a guest speaker.
• Recently, as president of the PPE society I managed to get the Labour MP and Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry to come in to talk to LSESU PPE and LSESU Labour Society. I would have loved to have been able to chair the event myself, but unfortunately due to current SU policy, this is not permissible. 
• This is particularly frustrating as the University of Oxford and the University of Reading both allowed students to chair a similar event when Emily Thornberry visited them!  
• UCL also allows their students to chair similar events (such as with Richard Burgon MP). 
• This policy change will vastly benefit LSE students as it will:
• Allow LSE students to enhance personal skills such as questioning and public speaking.
• Allow events to be better catered to the interests of the audience.

Solution: 

• Allow LSE students to chair events, and choose whether they chair events.
• Under my proposal the LSESU would still be able to offer guidance and/ or 'strongly recommend' an academic chair but the final say would be with the hosting society. This would allow LSESU societies to rightly enjoy the same benefits that many other students at societies at other universities already enjoy!
• Any student who wants to act as a chair for a guest speaker must undergo media, moderating & de-escalation training.

 

5. SHOULD THE LSESU LOBBY THE FAITH CENTRE TO OPEN A NEW PRAYER ROOM FOR MUSLIM WOMEN?

Proposer: Salsabel Abuazza

Issue:

The current female islamic prayer room is too small. The womens prayer room is much smaller than the male prayer rooms, unfortunately, the womens prayer room is so small that it gets busy and filled up really quickly to the point that during prayer times, many of the female muslim students have to wait outside the prayer room until it empties. This means being late to classes and being unable to pray alongside other students. Moreover, in comparison to UCL and KCL, the LSE prayer rooms are lacking. The LSE prayer rooms do not have any space for contemplation or reading religious texts, which is an important part of our faith. We usually have a 'sisters circle' each week (gathering where we share religious reflections and build community with each other), but we are unable to hold these sister circles in the prayer room as it is too small and we often have to hold these circles in random places on campus, whereas the male students are able to hold their 'brothers circle' in the male prayer room as they have a larger prayer room. 

Solution: 

LSESU to lobby the Faith Centre to:

• Open a new female prayer room on campus
• Ensure that the new prayer room is large and in a different part of campus
• Ensure that there is a dedicated area for reading and reflection
• Ensure that there is enough space to hold the sisters circles without impacting the use of the space for those praying individually
• Work alongside myself and the islamic society in planning this space and ensuring that it fits the needs of the Muslim women on campus
• If a new room is sourced and meets requirements, then the old room should be opened up as an interfaith space

 

6. SHOULD THE LSESU RESTORE CODIFIED PROVISIONS FOR THE FUNDING OF STUDENT MEDIA GROUPS SUCH AS THE BEAVER? 

Proposer: Aarti Malhotra

Issue: 

Through this policy proposal, we are attempting to resolve issues related to the funding issues The Beaver has faced over the last year. Due to the removal of the LSESU bye-laws last year, The Beaver has lost access to its annual media grant going forward, which is the primary and critical source of funding for the publication's printing costs. You can read more about the issue and our policy suggestion in the following article: https://thebeaverlse.co.uk/lsesu-defunds-the-beaver-after-74-years/

Solution:

By codifying and restoring provisions in the LSESU byelaws, the LSESU can guarantee Student Media Group societies a secure source of funding so they can continue their job of keeping the LSE community informed and reporting on meaningful, pressing issues around campus. Codifying provisions for Student Media Group societies’ funding will benefit both the societies and wider student community, who rely on the Student Media Group societies as essential sources of information.

 

Voting Outcomes

1. Should the LSESU lobby LSE to work with the LSESU on implementing a new sport and wellbeing strategy? PASSED
2. Should LSESU hold an LSE Summer Ball? PASSED
3. Should the LSESU lobby LSE to improve its childcare offer? PASSED
4. Should the LSESU lobby LSE to allow students to chair societal events with a guest speaker? Pushed to all student vote, and PASSED by referendum
5. Should the LSESU lobby the faith centre to open a new prayer room for muslim women? Pushed to all student vote, and PASSED by referendum
6. Should the LSESU restore codified provisions for the funding of Student Media Groups such as The Beaver? Pushed to all student vote, but failed to reach quorum at referendum

 

To follow along with the SU's progress on these proposals, take a look at our Passed Policies page.

If you have any questions or concerns about the policies passed above, please get in touch at su.democracy@lse.ac.uk

Find out more about the Policy Proposal and Student Panel process here.