Lund University Student Unions, Lus, have advertised their new chairmanship positions for this fall. Well, some of the Student Unions have done so. Five out of nine Student Unions are yet to be a part of the election process.
Lund University has nine Student Unions. Together, they are supposed to represent around 30,000 students, via Lund University Student Unions, Lus. The principal spokespersons for Lus are the chairperson and the vice-chairperson. Every year, new chairpersons are elected by an election committee, consisting of representatives from all Student Unions.
But at the moment, more than half of the Student Unions of Lund University have no vote in this year’s election.
Five out of nine students are not represented
When the candidature period set off last Monday, five out of nine Student Unions had chosen not to partake in the election process. The chairperson of the election committee, Nikolas Pieta Theofanous says that the Student Unions have been approached, but that not everyone have been able to, or have wished to contribute.
“I have asked the Student Unions to choose a representative to the election committee. Of course, it would be optimal if there was a complete election committee – but there are those who want to get involved and those who do not wish to do so,” he says.
“The Student Unions have to live with it”
Lund Doctoral Student Union, the Student Union at LTH, the Student Union for Science Students in Lund, Lundaekonomerna, and Studentkåren vid Musikhögskolan i Malmö, SKFM, are the five Student Unions that have not yet engaged in the election process. That is a majority of the student representatives.
“All Student Unions have received a chance to be in on this – they will have to answer for their decisions themselves. I will work with what I have. This creates a problem in that our workload increases,” Nikolas Pieta Theofanous says.
What do you think about the fact that so few Student Unions seem willing to get involved?
“I have several opinions about several things, but there are certain contexts in which you talk about them, and some where you do not. I can accept that the Unions do not have enough staff. But the Unions will have to face the music and live with it.”
Consumes energy
The vice chairman of the Student Union at LTH (TLTH), Alexander Theofanous, does not quite have an idea about his Union’s partaking in the election process.
“To be honest, I do not know why we have not yet chosen a representative. But there are educational issues that we are working on that take up a lot of our energy and our time. There are many other things that are higher on the agenda than the election committee,” he says.
How important is the election of Lus-chairpersons to you as a Union?
“It is immensely important. We want to be in on the action. But the way I have understood it, it is not yet too late to appoint a representative – we will work on that at full speed now,” TLTH’s Alexander Theofanous says.
Another Union that is yet to appoint their representative is Lundaekonomerna.
“We have not appointed our representative yet. But it is underway. When something that is ahead of you does not need to be done at that instant, it easily happens that you postpone it. But this question has not been deprioritised,” the chairperson of Lundaekonomerna, Lisa Fjellström, says.
Has communication from the election committee faltered?
“No. There have just been other things that have come in the way for us,” Lisa Fjellström says.
The election committee are responsible for generating two alternatives for the chairperson positions. The final decision concerning employment will be taken by Lus’s highest authority.
Text: Casper Danielsson
Translation: Richard Helander
First published at lundagard.se
