After a vote by the LSU Union Affairs Committee, the Exec positions are on the way to having their tiles changed. Instead of being known as VPs they shall now be called Executive Officers, awaiting the Board of Trustees to pass this motion.
Back in 2013/14, members of the Loughborough Students’ Union Executive Team had a variety of position names which split a Vice President team and section heads. Vice President titles existed as they do now for the non-section head roles such as VP: Education, VP: Finance etc, while heads of sections were known by section unique titles such as the Head of Media, Societies Federation President, Rag Chair, Action Chair and AU President.
In an attempt to create uniformity across the roles it was decided that the members of the Exec would all be referred to as Vice Presidents, which raised questions at the time. Two years on and confusion among students has yet to have been resolved over the post titles: is there a Societies President or Sport President that sits above the Vice President: Societies and Vice President: Sport respectively?
Other Students’ Unions call their student sabbatical officers a range of titles including “Officers”, “Vice Presidents” “Sabbaticals”, “Student Leader” and “Executive Officer” positions. So why have those involved with the LSU democratic process decided on the term Executive Officers?
We caught up with VP: Union Affairs, Max Crawford, regarding the change:
This change was put forward by Governance and Procedures Committee who felt that the “VP” title often causes confusion among anybody new to LSU. It was felt that, as the exec are referred to as Executive Officers throughout the Constitution, it makes sense to alter their official titles.
The decision now requires passing by the Board of Trustees, which many believe they shall do at their meeting next week.
The changes will likely come into effect for the start of next year (2016/17), meaning any candidates running in the 2016 Exec Elections will be running for the ‘Executive Officer’ positions. The LSU President will retain their title.
Does this mean Bryn Wilkes will be LSU’s only ever Vice President Media? Apparently so!
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