The Democracy Support Team (DST) is the office of the Union that provides support to the Unions members on all elements of elections, representation, Union committees, decision-making and campaigning.
The aim of the Democracy Support team is to try to deliver reliable, accessible and effective opportunities for members to get involved in their Union.
As well as being responsible for organising and running elections and referenda the team provides operational support, training and guidance to election candidates.
If you would like to stand for an election, want to write a motion for referenda or just want to know more about how to vote then you should contact a member of the team who will be able to provide more information.
In regards to representation, the Democracy Support Team recruits and elects 27 faculty based student reps (called UAR's) whom they train and provide support to each year. If you are interested in becoming a faculty representative, want to know who your faculty representative is or just want to know more about the UAR's you can contact the team who will be happy to help you.
As well as working with faculty based representatives the Democracy Support Team works with Course Representatives who are elected within Schools. There can be up to 650 course representatives in the University at any time. The democracy Support team has contact details for the course reps and delivers training modules to them after they have been elected.
Each year students elect members to sit on Union Council and to chair Union Assemblies. The Union Council is the highest decision making body of the Union and is responsible for overseeing the work of the Executive officers as well as the direction of the Union itself. The Democracy Support Team provides training and support to these elected members to ensure that they can represent you well. If you want to know more about how Union Council and Union assemblies work or how you can get involved then contact the Democracy Support team for more information.
The Democracy Support Team is responsible for running LUU's 2 big annual decision making vote processes which are called the referenda. The department is responsible for printing up motions submitted by students, organising the referenda Council meetings, organizing debate meetings on referenda motions, setting up ballot boxes for voting and training involved members.
The team is available to give information and advice to anyone who wants to write a motion, run a campaign on a specific motion, know how to vote or has a question about any part of the referenda process. If you want to read more about LUU's referenda you can look at www.luuonline.com/representation/index
The Democracy Support Teams office can be found on the first floor of the Union building next door to the Executive office.
The office is normally open from 9.00am until 5.00pm Monday to Friday. You can also contact them by email at unicej@leeds.ac.uk or telephone 0113 380 1460
