King's College London Students' Union

Infobox generic
name = KCLSU

img1 = Kclsu_logo.svg
width1 = 270px

lbl1 = Motto
row1 = Student Life Support
lbl2 = Established
row2 = Early 20th century
lbl3 = Location
row3 = London, United Kingdom
lbl4 = President
row4 = Peter William Charles Ellender (Acting)
lbl5 = Members
row5 = 21,500 (approx.)
lbl6 = Staff
row6 = 35 permanent
200 part-time students
lbl7 = Mascot
row7 = Reggie the Lion
lbl8 = Affiliated to
row8 = NUS
ULU
Aldwych Group
National Postgraduate Committee
lbl9 = Homepage
row9 = http://www.kclsu.org

King's College London Students' Union (KCLSU) is the oldest students' union in London, founded just before University College London Union. KCLSU currently enjoys derived charitable status from the College as an educational institution and exists solely to further the interests of its members, the approximately 21,500 students who are at King's College London. The Strategic Plan defines the mission of KCLSU as "student life support'".

History

KCLSU has a long but murky history with records being piecemeal or in the memories of current and past Union officers. An early honour board in the main building dates from 1908 with the name of the first President of the KCL Union Society, the predecessor of today's KCLSU. The most famous President of KCLSU was Sir Ivison Macadam who was President in 1922 and became the first President of the newly merged National Union of Students.

Following the various mergers and de-mergers of colleges in the University of London with King's, many collegiate students' unions records have been misplaced or are possibly stored in the College's archives.

Mascot

KCLSU's official mascot is Reggie the Lion. In his early years, he would often be paraded on sports grounds by teams to support matches. There are three "Reggies" in existence: the original, on display in KCLSU's Student Centre at the Strand Campus, a papier-mâché Reggie outside the Great Hall at the Strand Campus (pictured), and a small sterling silver incarnation displayed during graduation ceremonies. In 2003-04 he celebrated his 80th birthday, which was celebrated by a reunion of students' union officers from years past.

Having such an easily liftable mascot that was often seen in public, meant that Reggie was an obvious target for marauding students from other institutions. In the 1970s, Reggie was buried upside-down in a pit near Waterloo Station, which was filled with concrete; the tip of his tail remained visible. Later, he was lost for many years in the 1990s, and not recovered until he was found in a field. Having been restored at the cost of around £15,000, Reggie has been placed on display in a glass case in the "Lion's Walk", Macadam Building (Strand campus) in 2002, after being filled with concrete to prevent theft, particularly by University College London (UCL) students who, prior to his burial and dumping, had also castrated him. (King's students had also stolen one UCL mascot, Phineas and, in an apocryphal legend, allegedly played football with the head of another, Jeremy Bentham).

Reggie is often styled "His Royal Highness" but there is no recent policy on the matter and this convention has fallen into disuse as mascotry in London has declined.

tudent media

"Roar" (named in honour of Reggie the Lion) is KCLSU's quarterly magazine. It carries stories, reviews and features on a range of topics, reporting on Students' Union events, campaigns, clubs and societies, as well as coverage of the arts, books and fashion. "King's Bench", traditionally edited by students from the Law School tri-annually (though moving to at least four per-year for 2008-9), welcomes contributions from all King's students, alumni and guest contributors. The College itself also publishes a range of periodicals reporting on various aspects of King's [http://www.kcl.ac.uk/media/publications/index.html] .

Services and facilities

The primary role of KCLSU is to provide student representation and advocacy. The Academic Advice service provides much of the individual advice and representation to students, while the democratic structures enable the Union as a whole to express an opinion on almost any matter. However, like other students' unions, KCLSU does not affiliate to any political party or religious group.

KCLSU also provides almost all the sports clubs, societies and volunteering opportunities available at King's with over 50 sports clubs, 60 societies and a thriving student-led Community Action project. In 2003-04, King's came top in the University of London Union overall sporting leagues and the medical school (which, like others, are permitted their own, separate teams) came third, showing the dedication to sporting excellence in London.

In recent years, KCLSU has waxed and waned as a service provider as the numbers of students at King's increased due to the various mergers of different colleges, but also as the spending profile of students has changed with the introduction of tuition fees in 1997, a drive towards a healthier lifestyle and now with the introduction of top-up fees in 2006-07. Following the closure of the student bar at St Thomas' Hospital in 2005 due to Health and Safety reasons, KCLSU currently operates two bars, two nightclubs, three coffee shops and convenience stores, and a gym.

In October 2005, KCLSU was awarded the Investors in People standard. In January 2006, due to increased student concern for the global community, KCLSU took its two-year Fairtrade University campaign as a major priority. In March 2006, the Fairtrade Foundation awarded King's College London Fairtrade University status.

Politics

Although KCLSU is not affiliated to any political party, it is still a political organisation. Those involved in union politics are reflective of the most active students and draw upon the student make-up at King's. From 2003 to 2005, the student elected as President was a Conservative, though from 1999-2003, the President was Labour. However, there has not been a strong history (at least in recent years) of declaring political leanings or running on a political slate. Indeed, it is generally accepted that declaring affiliation to a political party is seen by many KCLSU members as a negative. In the recent past, several candidates for President have avoided mentioning party memberships where possible.

KCLSU and the College are increasingly taking a role of partnership when it comes to issues of common concern such as accommodation and facilities, and anything particularly related to the 'student experience'. Some students, however, have decried this policy as capitulating to the establishment and called for a return to more vocal and active campaigning on issues of contention, e.g. accommodation. Other students have voiced approval for this approach as they see it as taking a pragmatic approach to getting the desired outcomes, while leaving petty and party politcs behind.

Student political groups

The rise in right-wing tendencies was reflected by the deratification of the Labour and Liberal Democrat student societies at the end of the 2003-04 academic year due to lack of activity and fewer members than the legal minimum. The Conservative Society increased its membership that year, with the then-KCLSU President-elect Michael Champion at its head.

Michael Champion was also the Societies Officer at the time with responsibility for societies and with shared responsibility for making recommendations on ratifications and de-ratifications. In early 2005, fresh applications for Labour and Liberal Democrat student groups were put forward and approved with close monitoring.

The Labour and Liberal Democrat Societies were again deratified during the 2006/07 academic year because of a lack of members and having held no events for their members. However, in early 2008, the Labour Society was restarted under a new committee.

KCLCS has the second biggest University branch of Conservative Future in London.

Union Governance

The governance of KCLSU [http://www.kclsu.org/about_structure.php] has changed little in its history, featuring a proportionally elected Student Representative Council (similar to a 'parliament') with a 14-strong directly elected 'cabinet', known as the Executive Committee ('Exec') who are also the Trustees of the union. Five Executive Officers are full-time, taking a 'sabbatical' year either at the end or in the middle of their degree. They are informally described as the 'sabbatical officers' ('sabbs') but in theory hold no more constitutional weight on the Exec than the part-time officers.

The Executive are charged with carrying out the day-to-day running of the students' union, but are in fact supported by 35 permanent staff and over 200 student staff who make up a civil service headed by the General Manager, who acts as a Chief Executive, reporting to the Trustee board.

2004 Governance Review

Background

In 2004 [ [http://www.kclsu.org/governance] ] , KCLSU launched the most ambitious, wide-ranging and grassroots review of student union governance in modern British students' unions. For the first time, a management consultant (formerly a student union General Manager) and a leading firm of charity lawyers worked together to truly examine the nature of the legal relationship between the College and the Union, where the responsibility lay and how best to serve the interests of students. The report was published in early 2005 and suggested a set of proposals that would truly reflect the balance of responsibility and authority within the students' union.

Trustee board

One key proposal involved a slimmed down Trustee board, including non-sabbatical student Trustees and part-time non-student Trustees, in a ratio of 2:1 students and non-student and 2:1 part-time and full-time, with complete Executive power vested within them. The fallacy of the Student Representative Council being the ultimate decision-making body could not be continued as it was incompatible with how the Union actually operated and also Charity lawFact|date=February 2007.

Standing committees

The role of the part-time Executive Officers, who in the main held portfolio roles, was not envisaged within the new Trustee board, which would meet far less frequently than the Executive presently does (on the order of months between meetings, rather than weeks). This would help the Trustees focus on strategic decisions, rather than get bogged down in operational detail, which ought to be left to the permanent staff. However, the creation of more "standing committees" or groups that are able to operate and campaign with less regulation and central bureacratic interaction was approved and the Chairs of these committees would take over the main role of what the part-time officers currently do.

Timescale

Due to the current lengthy legislative process (on behalf of both the Union and the College) that is needed to approve a change in the 'Constitution and Regulations' of KCLSU (the ultimate governing document), the new governance proposals will be implemented over 2005-06 with elections in Spring 2006 for the new system to begin operation on 1 August 2006, for academic year 2006-07.

Trustees

Current Trustees

*Sabbatical Trustees 2008-09
**Christopher "Japers" Mullan - "President" "- Suspended Until Further Notice"
**Emily Rowe - "VP Academic Affairs"
**Tony Sebastian - "VP Student Activities & Facilities"
**Peter Ellender - "VP Student Media & Engagement" "- Acting President"
*Student Trustees 2008-09
** Natasha Tanczos
** Jo Myer
** Ingrid Francis
** Tayab Hasan
*Lay Trustees
**Mike Hansen
**Steve Rhodes
**Amanda Thompson
**Matt Atkinson

Former Sabbatical Officers

Position	2007-08	2006-07	2005-06	2004-05	2003-04
"President"	Adam Farley	Daryn McCombe	Matthew Pusey	Michael Champion	David Dunne
"VP (Education & Representation)"	Jo Williams	Jo Williams	Emma Wynne	Rajesh "Josh" Joshi	Polly Mackwood
"VP (Student Activities)"	Tom AbouNader	Adam Farley	Francesca Doran	Benjamin Philip	Toby Boon
"VP (Media & Publications)"	Peter Ellender	Ed Drummond	Sneha Solanki	Samantha Williams	Alexi Duggins
"VP (Sites & Services)"	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Lee Peterson	Lee Peterson	Caris Hickey

External links

* [http://www.kclsu.org/ King's College London Students' Union]
* [http://www.kcl.ac.uk/ King's College London]

References