LSESU

The London School of Economics Students' Union (sometimes referred to as LSESU) is the representative and campaigning body for students at the London School of Economics (LSE). Like other students' unions, it also funds and facilitates student activities of campus, including societies, sports clubs through the Athletics Union (AU), the Media Group, and Raising and Giving (RAG) charitable fundraising initiatives.

The Union is affiliated with the National Union of Students (NUS), as well as being part of the federal Union for University of London students.

History

In 1905, the Students' Union founded the ''Clare Market Review'' journal, which ran until 1973 and has since been revived in 2008. The Athletics Union (AU) was created as a constituent body of the Union in the 1940s, and '' The Beaver'' newspaper was established in 1947.

Activism

LSE Students' Union made international headlines in the late 1960s during the well-documented LSE student riots in 1966–67 and 1968–69,. In 1967, David Adelstein, president of the Students' Union, and Marshall Bloom, president of the Graduate Students' Association (that then existed as a parallel Union for postgraduates), were suspended from the School for taking part in a protest against the appointment of Walter Adams as Director of the School, in which a porter died of a heart attack. Adams had previously been in Rhodesia and was accused of complicity in the regime's white minority rule. The suspensions were reversed five days later, after students began a hunger strike in opposition to the move.

The Union once again made the news during 1969 for its student activism when students closed the School for three weeks. The protests were again against the appointment of Walter Adams as Director of the School and his installation of security gates at LSE. These initial security gates were removed by students.

On 24 October 1968, Adams, fearing an occupation and growing support by the students for the anti-Vietnam War demonstration on 27 October, decided to close the LSE for the weekend. As this questioned the right of the administration to close LSE against the wishes of lecturers and students, the move led to 3,000 students occupying. During the occupation, the School was policed against intruders, and cleaned; teach-ins and discussions were organised; and medical services were set up and staffed. The occupation ended that Sunday night.

In 1969, a "Free LSE" was organised at ULU in response to the suspension of lecturers Robin Blackburn and Nick Bateson. The radical tradition of the Union continued in the 1970s. However, in 1971 there was a reaction against the student activism of the previous 5 years. It was seen as a major swing against the student activism of previous years, but after his term ended the Union returned to its previous status albeit far less activist. The banner of the Students' Union in the early 1980s stated "Arm the workers and students – Education is a right not a privilege". Occupations of LSE occurred throughout the 1980s, including the 1983 occupation to secure the LSE Nursery. The name of the lead officer of the Union was changed from 'President' to 'General Secretary' during this period to show solidarity with striking miners. Meanwhile, Raising and Giving (RAG) Week activities were set up by future New Zealand MP Tim Barnett in the same period.

In 1986, LSE students occupied the Old Building for 7 days, to protest against LSE investment in South African companies supporting the apartheid regime, following a decade of earlier such occupations and protests on US campuses. When the riot police attempted to storm the building, the students left immediately en masse without confrontation, marching to South Africa House to protest outside the Embassy, leaving the police at the Old Building in confusion.

In 1989, the Students' Union elected Winston Silcott

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