On Thursday Week 2 President Joel Pullan officially opened discussion for LUSU’s new strategy. The strategy will enable LUSU to set itself targets so that it can monitor the extent to which it is serving the needs of its members. The new strategy replaces a previous strategy, which expires in 2014.
The discussion is defined by the Twitter campaign “#iwantLUSUto.” The campaign aims to ask students which areas of policy or campaigning they would like their union to get involved in.
Pullan spoke to SCAN about the campaign. “The #iwantLUSUto campaign is going really well and is allowing us to get in contact with students who are involved in the students union who may not necessarily realise it, such as clubs and societies and volunteers,” Pullan said.
At the time of writing the #iwantLUSUto campaign had gained a large momentum since its reveal on Thursday Week 2. Responses to the campaign on Twitter have varied, though issues such as accommodation, women’s rights and the colleges were among those which were particularly prominent. “We’re getting a high volume of responses with some strong themes and we will absolutely consider them,” Pullan told SCAN.
The #iwantLUSUto campaign is part of an overall consultation plan aimed at formulating a strategy for LUSU in the next few years (the number of years the plan will cover is currently undecided). Pullan told SCAN that he and his fellow officers intend to hold open forums, pop-up cafés and themed discussions when trying to gauge opinion in the formation of a coherent strategy for LUSU. “[We want] to ensure we are reaching out to our members as much as possible in a variety of ways,” Pullan said. “Obviously our strategy has to be broad, but we will consider each and every response and feed it into our vision, which should be built and shared by the student body.”
When asked about what he hoped the strategy would achieve, Pullan replied: “A successful students’ union is one that responds to its members’ wants and needs both now and in the future.” This, Pullan argued, should be focused in three main areas: representation, support and opportunities. “The strategy will enable us to assess these needs and set a vision on how we are to achieve this vision,” Pullan said.
“We need a union with a personality that reflects that of our members.”
