The stereotype for YUSU sabbs is that you run if you are blessed with one of the following two attributes: blind ambition, or plain narcissism.
For a cushy few months, in which you are paid to live an extra year with your mates, followed by a nice note on your CV that you “spoke up for students”, there’s a lot to love. The Russell Group Sabbatical Officers read like a list of public school Head Boys and Girls, eager to regain a shred of power over their peers; their face once again a iconographic visage on their institution’s website.
They have visions of students chanting their name after a couple of hours raving at the VC, telling him what’s what in a blue-eyed, American high school rom-com-climax-style explosion of validation and hope.
This, however, is highly unlikely to be your experience as a sabb. You’re not going to be leading your students to freedom, but working hard to battle your way through the cross-stitch of YUSU red tape inherent in every menial endeavour. In reality, you’ll be spending hours trying to make sense of the hashed nonsense of student media, as I bug you for comments on each University right, or wrong step.
But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing – if you are vaguely adept, and hungry enough to get stuff done, there is no better time than now to be a sabb. Far from being stuck in an office, withering away into submission, over this pandemic students have really needed someone to speak up for them: a figurehead putting their anxieties into words against a government who have made it plain they have more important age groups, and classes, to worry about.
There has been a real, recognised need for a student voice; chatting with YUSU has not merely been a box to be ticked for the University, but something that is genuinely valuable, with very real actions built from their advice and campaigns. They have even joined forces, standing united against landlords where before it was simply Steph Hayle, alone, attempting to forge a path through the BBC.
The power of YUSU is no longer something to be idly swept up by a self-important toff, but has genuine backing. They have pressured the Uni into a no detriment policy (say what you like, but it was a damn good policy compared to the crap other unis had to go through at the time), fighting for climate action, and creating spaces or venues for students to have a habitable year despite “unprecedented circumstances”.
This is not to say that YUSU have done brilliantly – no one could deny there have been appalling cockups. There is a lot to improve for someone willing to take on the job, but they’ve surely got a lot to live up to as well.
These elections are a time where it is really vital for our best, and brightest to get involved. If you have something to say – if you genuinely want to make a difference – if you believe in fighting to make the lives of your peers more secure: put down your name. At a time like this, when we desperately need for this to come true, we could really do with someone like you.