Issues with current title

The current title for this role inadequately represents the community it is responsible for. There are a number of reasons for why this acronym is inadequate including:

• The BAME acronym groups ethnic minorities together and therefore fails to recognise and address the complexities of the experiences of people of colour. It assumes the experiences of those that the acronym tries to encompass are singular and homogenous rather than complex, individual, and multi-faceted.
• The BAME acronym emphasises some identities and is exclusionary towards others including people of mixed heritage and the GRT community. It often becomes a proxy for ‘non-white’ which in itself can reinforce sytems of marginalisation.
• The use of BAME as an acronym has been widespread locally in the UK but not in other countries. This often leads to international students being unable to engage with the role as it is not clear to an international audience what the role is responsible for.

The problems posed by the use of this acronym has led to a stop in usage by many across the Students’ Union sector, and other institutions such as the UK Government, and the BBC.

Route to change

The names of the part-time officers are currently set by the SU Byelaws. This paper proposes putting to a Student Members Meeting on 6th February a vote on a Byelaw amendment that would see the Executive Committee become responsible for the naming of the part-time officer positions.

The proposed wording of the rule change is as follows:

Current wording:

309 There shall be the following Part Time Officers of the Union:

a) Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Officer

b) International Students Officer

c) Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans & Queer Officer

d) Neurodiversity and Disability Officer

e) Class Liberation Officer

f) Women’s Officer

Potential amendment:

309 There will be Part-Time Officers as decided by the Executive Committee, representing marginalised communities at LSE.