The University of York Student Union (York SU) has undergone two notable restructures in the last two years, which has also changed the nature of the Sabbatical Officers.
The more recent, and arguably less significant change was the merging of the York University Student Union (YUSU) and the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) which took place officially on 1 August 2024.
Creating a single, unified Student Union involved the evolution of the Advice and Support Centre and YUSU RAG. These became York SU Advice and Support and York SU Fundraising, respectively.
The second change, which will have a far greater impact on the upcoming elections, was rearranging the Sabbatical Officer (Sabbs) roles. This came into effect in July 2024, which means that this year’s candidates are competing to be the second cohort in the new roles.
The changes saw a streamlining of the Sabbs with the removal of an official President and some of the more peripheral roles. This included the LGBTQ Officer, the Environmental & Ethics Officer, the International Students’ Officer and others. These were all conflated into new roles of Equality and Inclusion Officer, Union Development Officer and Union Affairs Officer.
The former two are responsible for advocating for underrepresented communities and making sure the University is socially responsible. The latter is essentially a new President figure, working alongside Vice-Chancellor Charlie Jeffrey and other university staff to represent the Union.
This serves to streamline elections, as there are fewer categories, it is easier to focus on the candidates. One downside, though, is that this could result in important issues falling through the cracks, with fewer representatives, minority groups may not have their voices heard.
It does seem that the Equality and Inclusion, and Union Development, Officers will have a lot of work on their hands.
Going into the election, it will be important to see how candidates pledge to tackle underrepresentation. You can follow it all here at York Vision.