Imperial College Union

Imperial College Union
Institution Imperial College London
Location South Kensington, London, England, United Kingdom
Established 1907
Sabbatical officers

Athanasius Andriopoulos (President)
Rachel Blythe (DP Finance and Services)
James Cox (DP Clubs and Societies)
Luke McCrone (DP Education)

Emily-Jane Cramphorn (DP Welfare)
Members c. 17,000 total
Website www.imperialcollegeunion.org

Imperial College Union is the Students' Union of Imperial College London. It is host to many and varied societies, and has student bars situated around Albertopolis. The Union is based in the north wing of the Beit Quadrangle on Prince Consort Road.

History

The establishment of a students' union was recognised with the construction of the north building of Beit Quad in 1910-11 designed by Sir Aston Webb. The original idea for the building came from Sir Arthur Acland, a member of the governing body, who saw the need for a place for students to congregate and develop a collegiate social life.[1]

Timeline

Relationship with the NUS

Imperial College Union is most noted for the history of its relationship with the National Union of Students (NUS). Despite being involved in the founding of the NUS in 1922, Imperial College Union withdrew its membership of the NUS a year later. Since then, Imperial College Union has spent long periods outside the NUS, interspersed with brief periods of membership. A referendum for NUS affiliation held in 2002 was overwhelmingly rejected by members of the Imperial College Union.

In November 2006, after a petition proposed a debate to affiliate with NUS at Freshers' Fair 2006 collected 617 valid signatures, from just above the 5% minimum of Imperial College Union members necessary to call a referendum , a referendum was held between Tuesday 14th and Thursday 16 November 2006. The result of this referendum, which had a record turnout of over 30%, was a yes to NUS affiliation by 53.26% for to 46.74% against.

After the failure of governance reform measures supported by Imperial College Union at the NUS conference in 2008, the union council voted in favour of holding a referendum on disaffiliation from the NUS.[3] The resulting referendum showed that the Members of Imperial College Union decided that their Union should no longer affiliate to the National Union of Students.

Organisation

The Union is controlled by a variety of democratically elected representatives who sit on Union committees, control Union resources and represent the views of students to the College and external bodies. The Union is led by officers who act as representatives to the 14,900 Union members. The most senior officers are the five sabbatical officers who work full-time for the Union on a variety of areas ranging from commercial services to campaigns and representation. These officers are supported by 35 full-time and up to 250 part-time staff, and the 2,600 elected officers of the Union's 320+ clubs and societies.

In 2013, the Union successfully registered as a charity.

Constituent Union Structure

There are six constituent unions which run as constituent parts of the Union. These are largely historical in origin and retain many traditions, such as their names when most of the actual faculties now have different names. Some represent the students in their respective faculties: the City and Guilds College Union (for engineers), the Royal College of Science Union (for scientists) and the Imperial College School of Medicine Students' Union (for medical students). They are all run by part-time officers elected from the student body, with the exception of the Medical Union President, who is an elected full-time sabbatical officer with a one-year tenure.

In 2002 the Royal School of Mines Union was absorbed into the City and Guilds College Union and became a clubs & societies committee. However, in 2012 after running autonomously from City and Guilds Union for many years, The Royal School of Mines regained its constituent union status, solely looking after the social aspects of its students.

In the same governance review of 2012, Silwood Park Students' Union and the Graduate Students' Association (representing all postgraduate students) also became a constituent union.

Clubs, volunteering projects and societies

Imperial College Union has a large number of student-led clubs, volunteering projects and societies, with over 400 in total. Funding for clubs and societies at Imperial College Union is significant, taking up a sizable portion of the Union's annual subvention provided by Imperial College London.

Clubs, projects and societies at Imperial College Union are grouped by interest and are administered by either Clubs and Societies' Committees, who deal with the majority of procedural issues and who are responsible for representing the clubs within their care to Imperial College Union. Examples of notable student groups are Project Nepal which sends Imperial College students to work on educational development in rural Nepal[4] and the El Salvador Project, a construction based project in Central America.[5] Other societies include sports-related societies, such as Imperial College Boat Club and Imperial College Gliding Club, music societies such as Imperial College Sinfonietta or ICSO, but also social societies as for example the Imperial College Debating Society.

The clubs contained within Imperial College are supported by a number of features, including 15 minibuses which are available for clubs to hire. Imperial College also owns a mountain hut in Snowdonia, Wales, which it lets clubs use free of charge.

Facilities

Bars

The main Union bars are located in Beit Quadrangle. There are three:

Theatre

Imperial College Union has a theatre located in the Union Concert Hall (UCH) which is found on the second floor of the Main Union Building, Beit Quad. The majority of performances are put on by the student societies of Imperial College, ranging from serious drama through to Gilbert & Sullivan Marathons. The space is shared with the Imperial College Dramatic Society and Imperial Cinema and other student societies as a multipurpose space. The theatre has a fly tower with a selection of lighting and fly bars, the venue has lectriflex, DMX and sound & comms multicore installed throughout.

In the Summer of 2014 the Union Concert Hall underwent an extensive redevelopment after a grant was awarded to do so. In early 2015, the Dramatic Society installed a considerable amount of brand new cabling which will make the venue even more useful to anyone who wishes to use it.

Cinema

Imperial College Union has a student run Cinema located in the Union Concert Hall, in Beit Hall. The Cinema is considered a club under the Arts & Entertainments Board, however provides a service to members and non-members.

The cinema is a professionally equipped cinema with a 33 ft screen, Dolby Digital surround sound system, Kinoton (35mm) and Barco (Digital) projectors and seats up to 200. Pre-show advertisements are provided by Pearl & Dean.

Redevelopment of the Union Building

As of August 2006 £2.2 million had been raised out of the total £6 million required for the redevelopment of the Union wing of Beit Hall. All three phases of the building project were completed by 2011, including the full bar and nightclub refurbishment and moving the Union Gym to level 3 of the building.

Former ICU Presidents and Sabbatical Officers

Notable former sabbaticals include:

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ See Felix issues of "6 March 1969" (PDF).and "20 March 1969" (PDF).
  3. ↑ Live! - Council Calls NUS Referendum
  4. ↑ Felix Online Archive, November 30 2011 Article on new Project Nepal group at Imperial College and partnership with InterVol. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  5. ↑ El Salvador Project Sponsors Page El Salvador Project lists Imperial College Union as an official sponsor. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
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