YUSU president Kallum Taylor has revealed plans to abolish the position of Campaigns Officer.
YUSU officers will vote on the proposition prior to it being put to referendum.
Taylor told Vision: “Campaigning for and representing students should be like breathing for all elected Officers – not just the Campaigns Officer. It’s just a strange fit which is open to huge conflicts of interest.
“We’ll be asking students if they still see the role as being relevant under a new YUSU in this term’s big votes on the big matters.
“If students agree with their directly elected officers, then we’ll look to phase the position out before the next elections.”
The plans to remove the position provoked a stinging response from current Campaigns Officer Leon Morris, who argued that the move is part of a continual agenda of abolishing positions “to make it look like there are changes happening.”
Morris added: “The position of campaigns officer should be a major role. When I was the LGBTQ Officer, there just wasn’t the support to run a campaign and, whilst that situation is improving, I feel that students don’t have the knowledge or the time to run their own campaigns.
“This is another example of blindly supporting high-level decisions. I understand that the Sabbs wants to leave their stamp whilst their in power.
“I will only support this decision if there is a unanimous agreement within the Union that this should go to a referendum.”
The Campaigns Officer’s role is designed to support students who’d be interested in running any sort of University campaign.
The job description details how the officer should be on hand to offer “training, publicity or support” to those who need it.