Get Involved
LSESU is working to try and diversify campaigning and related events at LSESU and we want your input. As well as the priority campaign, Defend Education, we'd really like the SU to be behind and supportive of more societies and groups who want to campaign about different issues related to anti-racism, equality and diversity amongst other campaigns. If you would like to put forward any ideas for campaigning at LSESU, please contact the Student Engagement Assistant. Watch this space for up-and-coming campaigns and look at our new Speak Up page to see how we're increasing diversity in the SU.
Follow this link to read the LSESU's Guide to Campaigning
Upcoming events:
Postgraduate Teaching & Research Committee
When: Wednesday 20th March 2013 5pm-6pm
Where: The Quad Mezzanine, East Building
Overall aim: to provide adequate representation for postgraduate teachers and researchers at LSE. This is so problems and solutions can be and shared across University departments in an attempt to find collective solutions and standardise good practice for postgraduates employed as teachers and researchers at LSE.
NUS Teaching Survey results will be presented by NUS Research and Policy Officer, Adam Wright.
Pizza and drinks provided!
Pick up your drinks vouchers for the social in the George afterwards!
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LSESU is happy to be supporting a new campaign by a movement called the Rules, which challenges the global problem of global tax avoidance. The campaign focuses on the City of London as a tax haven, hence the slogan “Visit the City of London – the tax haven capital of the world”.
The City of London is one of the many global tax havens made up of people and corporations avoiding paying their fair share of taxes. This is unfair, unethical, and undemocratic.
As well as drawing attention to the injustice of tax havens in general, this campaign aims to shed light on the secrecy and special rules the City enjoys, such as Freedom of Information Act exemptions.
Join the campaign and meet us for the Day of Action on March 16th at 1pm at the Royal Exchange by Bank Underground.
Watch the short film.
Read more about it.
SU affiliated campaigns 2012/13
The LSESU Student Action for Refugee (STAR) society are running the Equal Access campaign this year.
Individuals who are waiting for a decision on their asylum application or who have been granted Discretionary Leave to Remain (DLR) in the UK as a result of an asylum claim do not have equal access to university. They must pay the same fees as international students and have no access to student loans and grants. This excludes most from furthering their education. As a student network, Student Action for Refugees (STAR) believes that this is wrong and that colleges and universities should have fair admissions policies for all. Have a look here for more information.
Equal Access has two goals:
* All those seeking refugee protection will be able to study as home
students.
* Students seeking refugee protection will be recognised as having
additional needs just like other vulnerable groups and be given the same
access to additional support, such as bursaries.
The LSESU priority campaign this year is Defend Education and as well as defending education for current students at LSE, we want to campaign for a fair and equal access to education for everyone so watch this space for more information.
How can you get involved?
-Please contact the LSESU STAR President Priya Changela for more information.
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W.E. are LSE campaign is demanding greater inclusion of Women and Ethnic minority groups at LSE public events. Women account for only 25% of the speakers at LSE public events and minority groups are even more excluded. This does not reflect the diversity of the student population at LSE nor the wider London community.
What can you do?
Sign the online petition, check out the facebook group, contact the campaign leaders with any questions, and await further progress.
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The 3Cosas campaign is a campaign for contracted workers within the University of London. The University of London (Central administration/Senate House/Intercollegiate Halls of Residence) outsources its cleaning, catering, security, postroom, and maintenance services to Balfour Beatty Workplace and
Aramark. Most of the outsourced workers do not have sick pay, do not have a pension, and have fewer holidays than people who work directly for the University of London. So we are calling for fair sick pay, pensions and holidays. For more information, check out the main website, Facebook page, and look at the video online!
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LSESU talks 2012/13
The SU is developing a series of sessions throughout the year where individuals involved professionally in the Third Sector will be telling their story about their career and the work of their organisation. We want to provide current LSE students with the space to understand and learn from the experiences of real life campaigners, activists, and public sector sector workers.
Previous talks:
Careers in the Charity Sector
A talk led by Jennifer Coleman who previously worked for the NSPCC and now works for the Children’s Museum London. Jennifer discussed aspects of her own career as well as the benefits and challenges of working in the Charity Sector. Since the NSPCC was established in the 1880s, it has helped more than 10 million children in the UK (http://www.nspcc.org.uk) and the Children’s Museum London ‘calls for a new space where children and their families can explore and celebrate the creative potential of a child’s early years, using the developmental power of play’ (http://childrensmuseum.org.uk).
Life in the Fast Lane: Tanni Grey-Thompson Speaks at LSESU
11 time paralympic gold medallist, parliamentarian and charity patron came to LSESU to talk about her life and career.
Tanni gave an exciting talk to students and spoke about the challenges she faced as sportswomen with disabilities and how she overcame them. She also discussed her post-paralympic career including her life in the House of Lords and the importance of volunteering in the Third Sector.
The STAR National charity, which is a national network of student groups working to improve the lives of refugess in the UK, came to speak at LSESU about their Equal Access campaign. This year, LSESU STAR society are running the Equal Access campaign in conjunction with NUS which aims to ensure that people in the UK seeking refugee protection have equal access to higher education and can join us at universities as equals (see above).
The first talk hosted by LSESU, entitled "South Africa and the National Democratic Revolution", was by Denis Goldberg, a South African political and social activist who was sentenced to four terms of life imprisonment in 1964 in the notorious Rivonia trial which also sentenced Nelson Mandela for fighting against the Apartheid system. After serving 22 years in prison, Denis Goldberg continued being a political activist for the ANC in London until 1994 when he returned to South Africa. Click here for more information.
Denis went on to found the registered charity Community H.E.A.R.T.[Health Education And Reconstruction Training] in 1995 and work as a Special Advisor to the South African government. He wrote his autobiography - The Mission - in 2010. Denis has also given a number of talks at universities around the world - recently he spoke during Israeli Apartheid Week 2012 at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa - watch his talk here.
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Other events from 2012/13
Previous Campaigning Successes
Campaigning and campaigning successfully is a part of our heritage and something the Student Union continues implement as part of day to day life at LSE. Here you’ll find information about just a few of our previous campaign victories.
The Only Way is Ethics
The SU priority campaign for 2011/12 term entitled The Only Way is Ethics called for the school to have a more transparent and ethical investment and donation policy. Along with this, the Union also called for more student input and representation into the financial decisions being made by the University.
By January 2012 the SU had secured a promise from LSE that they would create an ethics committee, with a school wide ethics consultation to discuss what a new ethics code at LSE should look like. This consultation is now under way and students are being given the opportunity to feedback on this issue and to fight for what they want this ethics code and ethics committee to be.
The Return of the £300k Gaddafi Payment
In February 2011 the Student Union successfully led a campaign to obtain a commitment from the university to return £300k to the people of Libya, that an independent investigation would take place over their links to Libyan regime and that all relations with the Libyan Gaddafi regime would cease with immediate effect.
The Student Union used a variety of techniques, including face to face organising of students, lobbying and maximising press exposer, to ensure the student voice was heard by the university and the wider world during the campaign.
Along with securing the return of the £300k to the people of Libya, the campaign also led to student participation in how the money should be returned. A decision was made that the money should be given in the form of a scholarship, which directly allows young people in another country to come and study at LSE.
Freeze the Fees
In 2011 the Student Union led a priority campaign with the main focus on freezing the fees for all students at the LSE and to ensure that LSE remained a progressive institution, in-line with its founding principles of social justice.
There were weekly campaign meetings to help mobilise the student population and to give them the chance to develop their own skills. There were also a number of campaign tactics used, such as videos, a 35ft banner drop and interactive street activities, to get the attention of the student body, the University and the press. Along with this the SU also forged a number of links with Further Education colleges, providing resource, support and joint campaign sessions to show solidarity in the face of cuts affecting their institutions and prospects.
The campaign resulted in a number of quantifiable victories. The students of LSE became very involved within the campaign, which was organised around a broad local demand that politicised student about national issues. At a local level the university was forced to make a public statement against privatisation, even though many decision makers within the university were keen to look at pursuing this route, and through their work with FE colleges the SU made a strong campaign network outside of LSE.
Although the campaign did not succeed in stopping the increase of tuition fees at LSE as a whole, it did ensure that the university did not raise its tuition fees to the full amount of £9,000. This was a direct result of the Freeze the Fees campaign and not only did it have a positive impact on future LSE students, but it also made it harder for vice-chancellors at less renowned universities to justify such high charges.
The Living Wage Campaign
In 2007 LSE Students' Union successfully mobilised hundreds of students to campaign alongside low paid staff at the university to ensure the School adopted the London Living Wage, which meant all staff were paid a minimum of at least £7.20.
This particularly benefitted cleaning staff who had been struggling to survive on minimum wage, but it also sent out a strong message to other institutions that poor practice would not be tolerated.
As a result we joined London Citizens and continue to campaign with them to ensure the Living Wage is adopted for lower paid staff outside of LSE and across London.
Save Our Nursery
The Save Our Nursery campaign saw LSE students join forced with parents and toddlers to ensure that the much loved LSE nursery was saved from closure, despite the university’s plans to do so.
Children, parents and students campaigned on Houghton Street and met with Howard Davies, the Director of LSE at the time, to demonstrate their concern over the issue.
The campaign was successful and the nursery was saved from certain closure, providing a considerable win for the students and staff alike who had felt passionately about the issue.
Way, Way Long Ago
LSE SU has a long history of successful campaigns. From being at the forefront of campaigning against the Vietnam War, to organising mass sit-ins in order to make Houghton Street pedestrianised after two students were hit by a car, LSE has always been proud to take a stand over the issues that matter.