Why do we need a Sabbatical?

The job of the City & Guilds College Union President is immense. The President has the job of representing over 5,000 students to Imperial College Union, the College and various external bodies as well as coordinating the activities of dozens of student officers and representatives from all departments in the Faculty.

Over the past few years the role of City & Guilds College Union and the range of union activities has expanded dramatically. The Union's focus has shifted recently from "traditional" social events to concentrating on service provision. Key examples of this are the successful Buddies Scheme and Internship Centre initiative as well as a greater emphasis on academic representation.

Compared to events, services require far greater sustained management effort with the Internship Centre in particular requiring year-round management. It is extremely difficult for student volunteers to guarantee this level of support, particularly during the exam period or over the summer vacation.A sabbatical President would be able to effectively support other officers managing these services and would be able to troubleshoot any particular difficulties that arise.

Events are still a key area of activity, with examples ranging from the enormous Freshers' Ball to the ever-inventful Egg Race. With the advent of the College's new Faculty structure, coordination of departmental events and activities has become more important than ever. Inter-departmental and inter-faculty competitions require careful and sustained management of a kind difficult for part-time students to provide.

The summer holidays pose a particular problem for Guilds. A vast amount of planning for the upcoming academic year takes place over the summer, particularly for activities in Freshers' week and the Freshers' Ball in particular. Most Union officers are undergraduates and in recent years the Union has relied on at least some living in London or being around college for most of the summer. This has on several occasions posed serious problems - particularly with so many engineering students coming from overseas. A sabbatical President would be expected to be at college for the vast majority of the summer.

It is important to understand that a sabbatical President would in no way replace the small army of student volunteers who already work tirelessly to keep Guilds running. There's no way that one person, even working full-time without any distractions, could possibly run the whole range of the Union's activities. The strength of a full-time President is as a central point of coordination, capable of assisting the part-time officers and allowing them to do their jobs more effectively. Experience from the Medical School Union shows that having a sabbatical President actually leads to greater volunteer involvement through better recruitment and support for part-time officers - the benefits of a sabbatical therefore extend far beyond the simple additional time dedicated by a single person.