RSU Presidents' Committee

This is the central webpage for Roehampton Student Union's democratic system: Presidents' Committee. Here, you can find out how to:

  1. Submit a campaign idea
  2. Contribute to calls for evidence
  3. Understand Students' Union Policies
  4. Find out what your elected student officers are working on
  5. Call for a petition

If you'd like more information about how to get involved, contact us at studentvoice@roehampton.ac.uk

Submit a campaign idea

The Students’ Union is here to promote and address issues that affect you at Roehampton University. We are student-led, run by elected sabbatical officers and informed by your feedback.  

We therefore require your ideas and feedback to direct what campaigns are run and how they can improve your university experience.  

An idea can be anything from new university bus routes, to new relaxation spaces on campus, to how to improve student support during exam periods.  

If you have an idea for change, you can start a campaign process by letting the President’s Committee know. You will need to do this here: Campaign Ideas (roehamptonstudent.com)

Contribute to calls for evidence

Once an idea has been received by Presidents' Committee, relevant students and student networks will be contacted for comment. You can find out how you can contribute to calls for evidence here: Submit Feedback (roehamptonstudent.com)

Read about passed Students' Union Policies

When an idea has been commented on by enough students, your elected student officers will meet to determine if there's general student consensus for or against an action. If they deem there is consensus, they will pass your idea as Students' Union Policy. 

The purpose of Students' Union Policy is to help steer the work we do. This may be by stating the collective postion of the Students' Union on any given issue or mandating the Students' Union to direct our work towards a particular set of actions. 

If passed, Students' Union Policy will last for two years unless it is overturned, amended, or renewed. 

You can view all passed Students' Union Policies here: Students' Union Policies

Find out what your Sabbatical Officers and College Presidents are doing

Seven students make up the membership of Presidents' Committee. For 2023/24, this is:

  • RSU President, Amy Hopkins
  • RSU VP Education, Laura Johnson
  • RSU VP Welfare, Sharon Azams
  • Digby Stuart College President, Riley Burchell
  • Froebel College President, Simran Gill
  • Southlands College President, Michela Spotti
  • Whitelands College President, Yasamin Mehrasa

All agendas, minutes, and decisions from Presidents' Committee are accessible to our members. So are reports that your Sabbatical Officers prepare for Accountability Panels. You can find all of this right here: Presidents' Committee

Call for a petition

If you believe that the Presidents' Committee have acted in error or made a decision that you disagree with, you can call for a petition to overturn their decision! 

All petitions will be up for exactly one week and all Full Members of the Students' Union (e.g., Roehampton students) are able to sign it. You will need 5% of students to sign the petition for it to be acted upon (for 2023/24, this is 625 signatures).

You can call for a petition here: ... 

What is Presidents' Committee and how did we create this system?

 

Presidents' Committee is the central operation of student leadership and representation at RSU. Every campaign idea goes through this committee. It has been designed with the following requirements at its core:

  1. It's able to make decisions quickly
  2. Avoids presenteeism (the requirement that students must be present to contribute to something)
  3. Is easy to use and administrate
  4. Focuses on data-led insight

Presidents' Committee succeeds Students' Union Council as the predominant process for students to create change at Roehampton. New Bye-Laws were approved in October 2023 to reflect these changes. 

To contribute to Presidents' Committee, students should first submit a campaign idea. This will be received by the Presidents' Committee, where they will identify the students and student groups to gather feedback on the idea. Then, Presidents' Committee will receive and analyse all the feedback, and decide if there's student consensus for the idea. They can make one of three decisions here:

  1. If there is consensus, they will approve the idea as Students' Union Policy and begin working towards its aims
  2. If there is consensus against the idea, they will reject the idea
  3. If there is not consensus either way, the idea shall be sent to referendum, where all students can have their say