We’re reshaping how democracy works at LUU, together.
Students like you deserve to have a say in shaping your Union and improving the student experience at Leeds.
Why Does Democracy Matter?
Democracy is what makes LUU student-led.
However in recent years, through data and feedback from students, student leaders, and staff- it has become increasingly clear that our democratic system needs to change.
What Do Students Want?
Data from The Democracy Diagnostic 2024-25 (an analysis of our Democratic model) found that:
- Students want to see how their voices lead to change.
- LUU’s current ways of working can feel distant, complex, and overly formal.
- Clubs and Societies (the biggest communities of student life at Leeds) sit outside of formal decision making.
- Officer roles (for example, our Student Exec) are heavily concentrated, leaving limited space for wider student participation and community leadership.
- Students want visible, accessible ways to influence what LUU does and how it advocates for them.
In response, we have set out to design a new democratic engagement model.
We want our new model to be inclusive, participatory, and rooted in student communities.
This will create more pathways for leadership and collective action.
How Did We Get Here?
Making sure that students love their time at Leeds is an ongoing process.
NOV 2024 – FEB 2025 – Democracy Diagnostic; engaging students, student leaders, and staff.
MAY 2025 – Discussion – A direction of travel was approved by students through Better Forums. This established the ambition to rebalance Officer roles, and expand paid student leadership.
JUNE 2025 – Endorsement – Our Appointments and Governance Sub Committee’s endorsed our direction, giving the green light to design a new leadership structure.
SUMMER 2025 – Creating Foundations – Our 2024/25 Student Exec team worked with staff and facilitators to co-create the foundations of our new model, identifying the design principles that guide our work today.
How Does Our New Model Work?
Our new model is guided by six ‘design principles’ developed with the current 2025/26 Student Exec.
Each principle reflects our feedback and data from the Democracy Diagnostic, and reflects student, student leader, and staff voices.
The new model captures the ambition to make LUU’s democracy inclusive, sustainable, and genuinely student led.
Grassroots First
Representation starts from student communities such as societies, networks, and grassroots groups.
Power should flow from the base, officers and trustees should stay grounded in the lived experience of the students that they represent.
Equitable Distribution of Power
LUU’s system must balance influence across different roles. This will reduce concentration of power, and ensure that all communities can shape decisions.
This will result in = widening leadership opportunities, empowering more students to lead, and giving every voice a fair platform within LUU.
Paid and Valued Leadership
Financial barriers should not prevent students from taking part in democracy.
This will result in = the introduction of part-time paid officer roles, creating a fairer, more representative group of leadership students who might otherwise be excluded
Integration of Clubs and Societies
Clubs and Societies are LUU’s largest student communities.
They should be embedded within the democratic model, ensuring that these vital student communities are formally recognised in decision-making processes.
Transparency and Accountability
Students must be able to see how their voice leads to action.
LUU’s democracy should be visible, understandable, and trustworthy. This starts with strengthened feedback communication between assemblies, committees, forums, and trustees.
Feasible and Sustainable
Our new model should be realistic, resourced, and capable of evolving with student needs.
Our new structure should be financially viable, operationally efficient, and designed for long-term success.
We’re Making Changes
Our Student Exec
NOW
6 Full-Time Elected Officers
14 Paid Faculty Officers (stipend)
13 Volunteer Activities Exec members
8 Volunteer Liberation Committee members
PROPOSED CHANGE
A rebalance to create a mixed officer team:
26 roles focused on representation, advocacy, organising, and mobilising.
21 Paid Part-Time Officers
5 Full-Time Elected Trustees
1 Part-Time Trustee (PGR)
WHY?
To make leadership more representative of the student body.
To provide fairer access through paid opportunities.
To empower more students to lead without leaving their studies.
To create a dual structure:
Full-time Elected Trustees focusing on strategic leadership and institutional collaboration.
Part-Time Officers focusing on grassroots activism ad community.
Together, they form a healthy democratic ecology, working in partnership to deliver change, and broaden LUU’s influence.
Clubs and Societies
NOW
Clubs and Societies currently operate separately from formal democratic representation.
Officer-student connection varies by area.
PROPOSED CHANGE
Integrate Clubs and Societies within the new model.
Create structured links between officers and the societies, networks, and groups.
WHY?
To recognise Clubs and Societies as the foundation of student life.
Ensure that their voices directly influence decision making.
This will ground democracy in authentic student experience, builds community, and delivers a grassroots-first ecosystem of representation.
The Student Voice
NOW
There are currently no consistent large-scale spaces for open deliberation on student issues.
PROPOSED CHANGE
Introduce Student-Assemblies- a space for open participation, debating issues, sharing ideas, and shaping collective priorities.
WHY?
To enable mass participation and deliberation.
To build inclusive forums for discussion and consensus.
To amplify the impact of student voices across LUU and the University.
Feedback and Communication
NOW
There is only limited transparency and little visible impact from current systems.
PROPOSED CHANGE
Establish clear feedback and communication loops between students, assemblies, committees, and forums.
Provide regular and accessible updates.
WHY?
To enhance inclusivity, motivation, and accountability.
To show students how their feedback translates into change.
Rebuild trust through visibility.
What Happens Now?
We’re currently working closely with student leaders across Clubs, Societies, Faculty Officers, and Liberation Networks to test and refine our new proposed model.
How Can I Get Involved?
Your Union. Your Say – 3 November 2025
A student-wide opportunity where you can share your ideas and feedback. Hosted by our Union Affairs and Communications Officer, Amara!
Other ways to get involved:
Focused Workshops- work with the Activities Exec, Liberation Student Committee, and Faculty Officers. Your feedback shapes our decisions.
Campus Conversations- informal pop-ups where you can ask questions and share your thoughts. Get involved, and add your voice!
All insights from this event will feed into a final proposal for the Trustee Board in December 2025, ready for launch ahead of LeadLUU Nominations in January 2026.
Together, we can create a democratic model that’s grassroots-first, inclusive, transparent, and truly student-led.
A model that helps students love their time at Leeds.
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