New Sabbatical officers and student media team prepare for the new academic year

Meet the ICU President and Felix Editor for 2007/08 - News

Monday 1 October 2007
By Naomi Weston

Maths undergraduate, Stephen Brown is the new Imperial College Students Union President and third year physics student, Thomas Roberts, succeeds Andy Sykes as editor of Imperial’s student newspaper for 2007/08. As the autumn term commences, what do they hope to achieve over the coming months?

Meet the ICU President

August was the official handover month for Stephen to take over from previous President John Collins. Now he has settled in and learnt the ropes, Stephen is ready for the challenge ahead.

The President is responsible for the Union’s activities and represents students. Stephen along with his deputies will also oversee elections and the day-to-day running of the Union.

With a lead of 110 votes, Stephen was a popular choice for students. "I want to address all the ongoing issues that affect students, for example the future of Imperial and the University of London, building redevelopment projects, the Union Governance review, the future of the Wye Campus and celebrating the Centenary," explains Stephen.

He added: "I’m really looking forward to the challenge of the year ahead. I aim to encourage more students to get involved with committees and the running of the Union. There are also lots of opportunities for students to join clubs and societies."

RAG week is off particular interest to Stephen. "I want to make sure it is bigger and better this year. This year’s RAG team are very enthusiastic and I am confident that their events will raise a lot of money for charity. I am really looking forward to supporting them on this front as RAG week is always a lot of fun."

To end the Centenary year Stephen wants to be more creative with events and encourage students to take pride in the College.

"I would like to achieve lots of little things," adds Stephen. "We have a great team this year and we work well together."

Stephen has been an active player in student life and worked on Felix for two years as sports editor as well as contributing to the comment pages. He has also been a member of the Football Club, Student Union council and was the 2006/07 RAG Chair.

Meet the new Felix Editor

Thomas Roberts, past Deputy Editor of Felix, is the new Editor of the student weekly newspaper.

With an ambitious agenda for the publication over the next academic year, Tom plans to introduce more pages including a global news page and a photography page for readers to demonstrate their creative skills.

He will also introduce a 'Challenge the Sabbs' page where the Sabbatical officers and Felix staff will compete against the various Union clubs and societies at their own games. "The aims are to raise awareness about the Union, promote the clubs and societies whilst poking a bit of fun at the Sabbatical officers," explains Tom.

"My aim for the year ahead is to get as many new students involved in Felix as possible," he adds. "I would also like to make the content, in particular the comment pieces, a little more light-hearted."

Whilst keeping a similar structure, Tom plans to expand the paper’s team and content, and focus on key issues facing the students over the next academic year. "Big issues we will be writing about include the new Rector towards the end of the year, College Union changes, University of London withdrawal, and the Beit redevelopment project," he explains.

Tom is enjoying a year away from his studies to focus on being an editor. "I would like to go into a career in journalism. I would also consider doing a Masters in science communication after I complete my degree here."

Felix has been running since 1949. In 2006 it won Student newspaper of the year at the Guardian Student Media Awards ceremony and Rupert Neate, a previous Felix Editor, won the student journalist of the year award.