LSE Students' Union - History

History

Founded in 1897, LSE Students' Union is one of the oldest Students' Unions in the UK and is often regarded as one of the most politically active in the country, a reputation it has held since its origins, when it held fortnightly political debates known as the 'Clare Market Parliament'. In 1905, the Students' Union founded the Clare Market Review journal, which ran until 1973 and has since been revived in 2008.

After the First World War, the Students' Union expanded the range of societies and sports clubs its offered, aided by then Director of the LSE, William Beveridge, who expanded the LSE estate, including securing the Berrylands sportsground at New Malden, Surrey. The political nature of the organisation continued in the 1930s, when the Communist Party were banned by the School from being active at LSE and a communist Students' Union President was expelled and deported. In 1937, the Students' Union gained its first premises, which became the Three Tuns Bar. The Athletics Union (AU) was created as a constituent body of the Union in the 1940s, and The Beaver newspaper was established in 1947.

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. An American citizen, Bloom committed suicide in 1969 when he was called up to fight in Vietnam.

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. 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, one of the Tottenham Three who were originally convicted of the murder of PC Keith Blakelock during the Broadwater Farm riot, as Honorary President as a protest against miscarriages of justice. Silcott was released when the evidence used to convict him was found to be unsafe, but the Students' Unions decision led to national press attention and a large amount of hate mail, including death threats sent to officers that led then General Secretary Amanda Hart to go into hiding. Controversy has continued as, in 2005, the AU's 'Barrell' event led to students doing a "fun run" down to Kings College and causing £30,000 of damage to the college's buildings. There has always been a great rivalry between the LSE Students' Union and Kings College. Students from LSE stopped MP Enoch Powell speaking at Kings by occupying the lecture theatre and blowing whistles, followed by a small section of Kings students retaliating by leading a violent attempt to steal election ballot boxes during the 1983 officer elections.

Recent campaigning activities include a Living Wage campaign on campus. In 2005, the Union campaigned successfully to secure a Living Wage for the cleaners on campus and within the LSE's residences. The campaign was led by students, cleaners, academics and The East London Citizens Organisation (TELCO) and has involved several protests, petitions, motions and lobbying of the School's administration in an effort to lift cleaners out of poverty pay. In 2006, the Union also voted to divest from fourteen listed arms companies and are currently lobbying the School to do the same. In 2008-9, the priority campaign of the Union was to save the on-campus nursery from closure, and in 2009-10 it campaigned to force LSE to allow students to have resits in their examinations. More recently, the 2010-11 priority campaign was to fight against tuition fee increases. Following a motion passed in March 2011, the priority campaign for 2011-12 will be for an ethical investment policy after the recent LSE Libya Links scandal, as well as a one person, one vote system for electing a new Director after Howard Davies' resignation.

The LSE Students' Union, and particularly its Palestine Society, has become famed for campaigns in solidarity with Palestine and Palestinian students. In 2007-8, LSE students elected as Honorary Vice President Khaled Al-Mudallal, a Bradford University student of Palestinian origin who was detained in Gaza. In 2007, the Union voted to twin with An-Najah National University Students' Council in Nablus, Palestine, and to affiliate to the Right to Education Campaign in support of the Palestinian Right to Education. In January 2009, a 40-strong cccupation of LSE's Old Theatre by the Union's Palestine Society occurred in protest to the Gaza Massacre, as part of a wave of occupations across British universities. Students and alumni of the London School of Economics also began a campaign to allow a student, Othman Sakallah, to be able to leave Gaza and continue his studies at the university, which was supported by the Students' Union. In late 2009, the LSE Students Union passed a resolution to twin with the Islamic University of Gaza and support the Right to Education for students in Gaza. In 2011 the Students' Union successfully ended LSE contracts with Israeli water company Eden Springs.

The LSE Students Union was central in the demonstrations against cuts and a trebling of fees in 2010. The campaign at the LSE was named the "strongest organising drive of any campus in two decades" by the leadership of the National Union of Students (NUS). Students went into occupation for 9 days and were profiled on Newsnight, CNN, Sky News and dozens of other news organisations. The LSE Students' Union led demonstrations and occupations, one of the Director's office, in protest to LSE's ties to Libya's Gaddafi regime. The Union was chiefly responsible for LSE agreeing to convert all £300,000 it had received from Gaddafi into scholarships for Libyan students and forcing LSE Director Howard Davies to resign in March 2011.