Student union election season is now in full swing, as nominations for sabbatical roles for the Cambridge Student Union (SU) opened last Tuesday, 18th February. It is set to be the first ever election held by the new SU, born from a merger of two previously separate bodies, CUSU and GU, whose creation was approved by a referendum last November. 

“The biggest difference is the roles that are available, and that they will be elected to lead the new Students’ Union, Cambridge SU,” the CUSU Elections Committee told Varsity.

Moreover, they stressed that for the first time “candidates will be permitted to use pre-existing social media groups and chats to promote their candidacy”, something previously banned by election rules.

The proposal for the SU was heavily driven by the idea of a unified Students Union that “leads the way in representation for all students, both undergraduates and postgraduates”. The SU proposal also stressed a commitment to “improved BME representation”: 

Voting for sabbatical officers will open on Monday, 2nd March and close on Friday, 5th. There are eight positions available, which are all full-time roles, and each officer’s term will run from 1st July 2020 to the same date in 2021. 

Voting, as in previous years, will be done through Single Transferable Vote (STV) system, which enables voters to rank candidates in preference order.

The following are the sabbatical officer roles on offer in the 2020 election:

• President (Undergraduate) 
• President (Postgraduate) 
• Access, Education and Participation Officer (Undergraduate) 
• Access, Education and Participation Officer (Postgraduate)
• BME Officer
• Disabled Student’s Officer
• Welfare & Community Officer
• Women’s Officer 

The most notable addition is the creation of the BME Officer, who “takes a leadership role in the BME Campaign, in keeping with its constitution”. The SU website pressed that the creation of this new BME officer role will put “the needs of BME students at the heart of the Students’ Union work”.

Moreover, the previous CUSU Access and Funding Officer and the Education Officer positions have been merged into the role of Access, Education and Participation Officer, of which there will be two: one representing undergraduate students and another for postgraduates. 

These officers’ roles will be “surrounding their educational experience at university, equal participation of all undergraduate/ postgraduate students in university life, and fair access to undergraduate/postgraduate study at the University”, according to the SU website.

Unlike in previous years, there will not be a CUSU Ethical Affairs Officer role to vote for in this election.

As in previous years, only self-identifying female, BME or disabled students are able to vote for the role of Women’s Officer, BME Officer and Disabled Student’s Officer, respectively. 

The SU website states it “foresee[s] Cambridge SU as a groundbreaking organisation that leads the way in representation for all students, both undergraduates and postgraduates.”

The joining of the GU and CUSU to create a new Cambridge SU was announced last October and passed by a student referendum in November, with a turnout of 13.5% of registered voters, satisfying the 10% threshold needed to make the result valid. The proposal was approved by both the GU and the CUSU separately.