There never seems to be a good time to reflect on the officer election process.
Just after ballots have closed everyone is too exhausted, the summer is rightly about inducting the victors which quickly gives way to autumnal freshers fairs and then, as we digest one too many mince pies, we’re back at the coalface with the next round of candidates.
Another big challenge for unions is trying to decide what to tell students who might run for election what they can or even (whisper it) should be thinking about in terms of the officer role and their campaigns. In an election it’s important to trust the electorate and let candidates have a range of options to show themselves in a good or negative light and too many restrictions damage this principle. The famous phrase attributed to Mario Cuomo is that we “campaign in poetry and govern in prose” and we want elections to be exciting and optimistic showing what could be possible for students.
I’m privileged enough to spend the summer with new officers who are forming their plans and discovering what their roles mean in practice. On the whole this is a time they get to reflect on their promises and get excited about what can change for their members. At times though, it can be frustrating as they realise that the poems that they used in elections can’t be turned into a success story.
One of Graham Smith’s “democratic goods” that describes effective democracies is that the electorate should be able to make “considered judgement.” An electorate that doesn’t know what is possible for leaders can’t judge them against realistic criteria and candidates end up making promises they can’t keep.
Plenty of officers use the summer to revisit their goals and come back with something more aligned to reality. No one wants to set new officers up to fail and I can see why staff members rightly don’t want to intervene in an election campaign to guide candidates away from a dead end path. However, below is what I think we should be getting across to candidates and the electorate and, if unions wish, you can pass these thoughts on to those running for election.
The biggest changes made for students won’t be made by you directly
Generally student officers are well respected in universities and are listened to.
However, the power they wield in university spaces is not direct. You are unlikely to be able to make a speech and get a new timetabling process in place. Instead you’ll be looking to influence and persuade those who do wield that power, helping them prioritise your work over other areas.
This persuasion can be done in a number of ways, with stories and evidence, with passion and alignment to strategies but your power isn’t going to be based on folks immediately enacting your requests.
The best officers are enablers of students
I recall a colleague once visiting a students’ union to help build towards a national day of action. They found the officer team painting placards over their lunch break. There’s a seductiveness in actions that give quick rewards (if not impact) because the alternative is more gruelling.
Painting placards rather than talking students through the apathy staircase so that they are the ones getting involved and coming on the demonstration. Writing a proposal for a new set of societies rules rather than changing the culture within those groups. Raising awareness with a social media post rather than going to a student meeting to raise aspirations.
This is a different type of persuasion but where the biggest impacts occur. As the phrase goes, you want to build a movement not a moment and time spent talking with students and helping them develop their own ideas and plans is never time wasted.
Meetings are the work
An education officer once told me “I can’t get any work done because I’m in too many meetings” and I’ve lost count of the times students complain that officers are “never in the union office” because they are instead somewhere in the university’s administration buildings.
Even with all the persuasion and movement building, universities are bureaucracies of meetings and procedures. You may disagree with this and may aim to change or simplify it, but worth bearing in mind that the change you want will likely be agreed in one of these spaces, even if it’s accepted because of the pressure or persuasion that has built elsewhere.
Candidates should know that most of the change they do will happen away from the SU building. You might want to ask current candidates to capture in a weekly calendar the time spent in university committees getting change and the time spent with students discovering what that change should be.
Legal framework
There is such a thing as society and we live in it. Society is governed by laws and we can operate within them or try to change them through elections or campaigning. Many frustrations hit candidates when the laws that students’ unions operate in are explained to them once in office.
There’s supplier contracts to follow (“we can’t just change the website”), due process in employment law (“we can’t just change the staffing structure”) and the union’s charitable considerations (“we can’t give our SU money to striking miners”). That last point has guided students’ unions for 50 years and yet each summer I meet at least one despondent officer that believed their election meant using funds for a purpose they legally could not do so. In some cases they’ve gone on to lead brilliant careers in activism for other causes than higher education, but would have done so a year earlier had they realised the constraints.
Students’ unions should be campaigning organisations and if a candidate wants to campaign on educational issues (the purpose of the union) they can come in both arms swinging. If they want to campaign on other areas, they’ll have one hand tied behind their back.
If you’re a candidate wondering why the union hasn’t done more on climate change or geopolitics, maybe check what the legal barriers are for them to do so? And if you’re a union where a candidate is promising the electorate to do something you know is outside your charitable purpose, maybe take time to explain the legal framework and risks to them early on.
Public servant leadership
I struggle to explain this point – both the following points are true. Student officers shouldn’t be exploited and should be supported in their role. Being a student officer is also a public service for others and the key driver is altruism and care for others.
Both these things are true but candidates should be aware the role involves aspects that are more intense than other jobs, especially for those early in their careers, and commitments that might not be expected of others. There is greater accountability to the electorate (who gave you the role) than you’d have in an entry level role elsewhere. As a trustee you’ll be taking decisions affecting maybe dozens of staff members and as a representative in the university helping make ones that change the lives for thousands of students. There’s less leeway in these roles to miss meetings or ignore important emails.
Staff will support you and I’ve written elsewhere about the importance of good democratic structures to reduce stress through accountability but candidates should be aware that there will be challenges as well as the glory of attending events and leading projects.
Collaboration, that’s what you need
I’m a huge advocate of student leadership and officers making political decisions to improve things in their institutions. The promotion of superhero leadership models can mask the truth though that almost all leadership is about collaboration and building support.
The best officers I know are willing to take tough decisions and respond to the consequences but do so by building collaborations with others. This includes union staff delivering advice and insight based on their experiences, other officers in their SU or beyond to make connections about problems, student groups (including those they disagree with) and university colleagues to implement change.
All of the above are my opinions based on experience and people are very welcome to disagree and ignore them. If I were a staff member in a students’ union I’d be nervous about passing on the above to election candidates directly in case it appeared to be election interference. As someone who doesn’t know your candidates, is outside the SU and writing this long before elections start, I hope that this might inform prospective officers a little more and make their experience smoother.
