Students voted to change the structure of the Students’ Union officer team for the first time in over a decade in a referendum held on 21 January. These changes are intended to allow for better inclusion and representation of marginalised groups within the officer team.
The changes that were voted on include seven full time officers, who will work for the Students’ Union for one year and who will be voting members of the Student Executive Committee and Students’ Union Council and Trustees of the charity.
These full time officer roles are: President, Education, Activities and Development, Wellbeing and Sport, Welfare and Sustainability, International and Community and Liberation.
There will also be six part-time officers: Postgraduate Students’ Officer, Mature Students, Women Students, BME Students, Disabled Students and LGBT+ Students.
These officers will be paid students elected to work for one term of the academic year. They will also be voting members of the Student Executive Committee, and members of the relevant Representative Committee.
Women’s Officer Lily Grimshaw said: “The new role of the Liberation Officer and the introduction of the Part-time Officer positions are a monumental shift in Student Union history.
“For too long, students from minority communities at Sheffield have been carrying out unpaid emotional labour which has failed to get the recognition and support that it deserves.”
The job priorities of the Liberation Officer will not differ from the current responsibilities of the Women’s Officer, which focus on supporting the work of the representative committees. The new structure of the officer team is to allow greater clarity and accountability, in addition to increasing representation.
Grimshaw added: “I’m personally really excited about this as, having been in the role for the past six months, I know how much these changes are needed and the potential they bring to empowering our diverse and amazing student body.”
Grace Thambyrajah, Chair of the BME committee said to Forge Press:
“BME committees have been rallying for changes to the Student Union officer team for many years. We feel that the role change of Women’s Officer to Liberation Officer and the addition of a BME Officer is a significant step in the right direction towards creating a more inclusive university experience for future students.
“We hope in the future that the SU will make these important part time officer roles full time positions, in order to pay all the officers equal wages for the emotional and physical labour they will be doing to make the SU a better place.”
Nominations for the full time officer roles open 22 February with voting starting 22 March. Elections for the new part-time officer positions will open later this semester.
Image: Forge Press
