Role of Sabbs to be reviewed

The seven Sabbatical Officer’s roles are to be reviewed significantly through external moderation
starting Mon 14 Nov, for the first time in ten years.

This review has been ordered to assess what changes need to be made to modernise the Sabbatical
Officer roles. In the last few years, the roles have undergone only minor changes.

Chris Luck, SU Democracy Officer, explains that a review is important in order to keep Sabbatical
Officers relevant and representative of the students to the highest degree, as the needs of students
have changed dramatically in the last decade.

Chris said: “The reasons students come to university is constantly changing; in the past it was to have
the student experience but with fees being introduced and now increased, they are different now.”

SU President Leo Boe thinks the titles of officers and descriptions of their roles do not fully explain
to students what it entails. Leo and other officers have been corresponding with other universities’
student unions to assess what will work at Warwick. “The SU has stagnated over the last ten years
and it is not if but when the Union will be changed,” he said.

Sean Ruston, Education Officer, believes it is necessary to have a review in order to make sure
resources are spent on ways which most benefit students.

“Some officers have far too much operational work and do not have the time to represent the
students,” he said. He believes that staff should take on more of an administrative role to free up
the Sabbatical Officers for more important matters.

The possibility of creating new Sabbatical Officer Positions for post-graduates and international students will be taken into consideration.

The review and any proposed changes must be completed by Week 3 of Term 2, in order for them to
be passed by the Union Council.

Luke Blease, Undergraduate History student said that “Understanding what the officers do is not
straightforward. I wouldn’t really know what the President does to represent us.” This is precisely what
the review and resulting changes aim to address.