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The LSESU became famous during 1969 for its student activism when radical students closed the school for three weeks. See BBC archive news article. Historically, the LSESU is politically left-leaning with many strong socialist, and more recently green political societies. The LSESU voted in March 2005 to stay affiliated to the National Union Of Students ( NUS ) and is also part of the University Of London Union (ULU) and the National Postgraduate Committee (NPC). The current Honorary President of the LSESU is the Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal and the Honorary Vice President is the Burmese student activist Thet Wing Aung. UNION GENERAL MEETING The LSESU is the only students' union in the UK to retain a weekly General Meeting which all members can attend. A taste of the UGM can be found at LooSE TV's website . There are reports and questions to all the various officers and committees of the LSESU before motions. Any two people can move a motion on any subject, which is then debated at the UGM. These motions can be serious, setting policy and making major financial decisions, or can be much more light-hearted, concerning the popular soap Neighbours , for instance. The UGM is known for being a humourous meeting, with much banter between those on the stage and in the audience. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE The LSESU Executive Committee is made up of sixteen officers. Four of these positions (General Secretary, Treasurer, Education & Welfare Officer and Communications Officer) are full-time positions, known as Sabbaticals or 'Sabbs'. Students, usually at the end of their period of study, but sometimes in between years, take a 'year out' and are paid to help run the LSESU. They are paid circa £22,500 - a recent UGM motion reduced their salaries after criticism that their pay was the highest in the country compared to other students' unions. The remaining twelve officers are part-time and include two non-voting members - the General Course Students' Representative and Athletics Union President (non-voting because they are ''not'' elected in a cross-campus ballot). The 'Exec', particularly the four Sabbs, carry on the day-to-day running of the Union. Positions are elected annually by use of the Single Transferable Vote system. The Exec positions are: COMMITTEES There are two principal committees to which students are elected that help in the running of the LSESU; Constitution & Steering, which ensures the actions of the LSESU are legal and in accordance with the Constitution and Codes of Practice of the LSESU, and Finance & Services, which assists the Treasurer in the preparation of the annual budget and acts as a check on the financial actions of the LSESU. There are then myriad other committees and sub-committees that administer the LSESU. STAFF As well as the full time 'Sabbs', there are assorted full- and part- time staff. These include a General Manager (Gethin Roberts), Finance Manager (Sam Kung), Societies Manager (Alice Kington), Sports Administrator (Jarlath o'Hara) and various people, including students employed on a part-time basis, involved in the provision of services such as the shop, copy shop, bars, cafe and advice centre. CONSTITUTION The Constitution and Codes of Practice are the documents that regulate the actions of the LSESU. The Constitution requires the approval of the London School Of Economics Court of Governors to amend, while the Codes of Practice can be amended by the SU alone. The documents provide for a weekly, sovereign meeting (the UGM) which all members can attend, question the Executive and other committees and officers of the Union and propose and debate policy. The Constitution and Codes of Practice were amended in 2003 by a Constitutional Review Taskforce constituted under Tuuli Kousa. The amendments included:
The previous major changes to the Constitution and Codes of Practice were carried out under Jonathan Black's tenure. There have since been other, less substantial changes. LIST OF GENERAL SECRETARIES
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