Staffordshire University Students' Union

Staffordshire University Students' Union

Motto	Every student is proud to be part of Staffs[1]
Institution	Staffordshire University
Location	Students' Union College Road Stoke-on-Trent England
Established	1992
President	Mel Ramsay
Vice president	Tom Hope Yashwanth Nooka Louise Mason Dayo Odubonojo
Trustees	Alex Kirk Chris Warwick Chris Kirk Alex Burnett
Members	c. 17,800
Affiliations	National Union of Students British Universities and Colleges Sport
Website	www.staffsunion.com

Staffordshire University Students' Union is the students' union of Staffordshire University. It aims to represent and to advance the education of students at Staffordshire University. It currently operates over the Universities two main campuses at Stoke-on-Trent and Beaconside (Stafford).

Organisation

Staffordshire University Students' Union has a number of key areas; a student advice centre, student representation, student activities, retail outlets, student venues, along with other back office areas.

Governance

Photo of Staffordshire University Students' Union building at Stoke campus

The Union is legally run by a Board of Trustees, which is constitutionally responsible for its management and administration; with the student body - via Referenda, General Meetings and Council - holding the power to set Union policy. The Board of Trustees has, at its absolute discretion, the ability to overturn policy set by the student body should they consider it to have financial implications, be in breach of legal requirements or charitable objects or if it affects the discharge of the Board of Trustees' powers.

The student body annually elect twelve councillors to sit on council who are responsible for the general policy setting of the union. They are also joined on council by twelve Student Academic Reps (StARs), who are elected by fellow StARs at their conference; alongside the chairs of four standing forums - BME (Black and Minority Ethnic), LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans), Women, Students with Disabilities and International Students. The day-to-day operation of the union is handled by the Executive Committee, who are held to account by Council and General Meetings; alongside the General Manager, who is held to account by the Board of Trustees. All positions, bar the five sabbatical officers, work on a part-time voluntary basis.

Awards

The students union has been awarded a number of awards for the activities it takes part in, especially with environmental issues. This has resulted in moving from a Bronze NUS Green Impact Award in 2008/09, to a Gold in 2010/11.

Student Media

Staffordshire University has two separate groups for media; for radio and online journalism, One Media Group (OMG) and for television and promotional videos, Staffs TV.

Staffs TV is the name for the Students' Union's Television Station. It produces content ranging from documentaries, live studio shows to promotional University and Students' Union Videos.^[2] Staffs TV also cover larger Union events such as The Leadership Race Results announcement and the live sports competition, Varsity.

One Media Group (OMG) is the name for the independent radio station at Staffordshire University Students' Union. It replaced what was previously known as GK Radio. Radio is broadcast online with shows both recorded and live 24/7. ^[3]

Entertainment

For entertainment the Union provides two main venues at each campus; Legends and The Lounge at Stafford, and Leek Road Venue (LRV) and Verve at Stoke. The Lounge and Verve also work as separate, smaller venues for use at other times - alongside the Ember Lounge and the Squeeze Box, both located on the Stoke campus. The union provides a wide range of regular evening events at both campuses: Legends and The Lounge hosts 'Mukky Duck' on Friday nights; and the LRV and Verve hosts 'Gobble' on Wednesday nights and 'Refresh' on Friday nights. Both campuses also host regular karaoke, open mic and quiz nights at their smaller venues.^[4] Throughout the year the union also plays host to live music nights which in the past have included Wheatus, Alan Fletcher, The Hoosiers, Jedward and The Wanted. The Union also used to host The Summer Ball towards the end of the academic year at the Stoke campus.^[5]

Activities

Wednesday afternoons are put aside for the Union's activities groups to carry out their weekly events and fixtures. These include the Netball, Rugby union and Football sides, as well as each campus's 5-a-side leagues. In the 2009-10 the men's Volleyball team rose to prominence after forging links with local club Newcastle (Staffs) Volleyball Club reaching the Volleyball England Student Cup Finals, securing promotion in the BUCS Championships, beating neighbours Keele in the varsity fixture and losing out to Loughborough University in the BUCS Cup.

The 2007/08 Sports season saw the Rugby Union 2nd's based at the Stafford campus be promoted to Staffordshire University 1st's after both winning their league and finishing in the BUSA National VASE top 16. In recognition, they received "Sports Society of the Year 2007/08" by the Student Union. Staffordshire University also holds a varsity competition with the nearby Keele University. This was hosted by Staffordshire in 2009, which they won. However, Keele have won every year since then.

The Union also help organise a variety of clubs and societies for students to get involved in - which range from sporting activities mentioned above to non-sporting groups such as a Politics Society, Film Society, Drama society, Dance club and Afro-Caribbean society^[6]

Officers

Photograph of a sign from the Students' Union building listing the previous sabbatical officer teams from 1992 to present.

The sabbatical officers elected^[7] for the 2014/2015 year were:

• President: Mel Ramsay
• Vice President: Dayo Odubonojo, Louise Mason, Yashwanth Nooka and Thomas Hope

The leadership race for the 2015/16 full-time officer team will take place in March 2015. The results will be announced by Staffs TV on Friday 13 March 2015

The elections for the 2012/2013 officers were the first in the country to have non-portfolio officer titles - becoming a president and up to 4 vice presidents filling the sabbatical roles.

References