Free Wednesday a ernoons for LSE Students: Principle vs Practice

by ZOFIA GODLEWSKA & illustrated by CHARLIE TO

From beginners to professional athletes, getting involved with one of the countless sports clubs at LSE can bring valuable life and social skills and experiences. Yet, while there is no doubt of both the health and mental bene ts of physical activity, in many ways, LSE has failed to help students nd the time to engage in sports by providing busy class schedules and compulsory activities on most days of the week. With lengthy classes on Wednesday a LSE students cannot get involved in sports training or competition, regardless of their erce determination.

Providing Wednesdays o for compulsory classes and lectures has been a policy many British universities tried to implement to encourage more students to participate in sports. In accordance with the strategy, most competitions and meetings organized by the British Universities and Colleges Sport BUCS and other local sports leagues events take place on Wednesday a ernoons.

e LSE Student Union has been ghting for Wednesday a ernoons o with some success for a long time; however, the pandemic interrupted the progress, and sports were once again put aside on the university’s agenda. It was argued that due to social distancing, many sports competitions and training were canceled and hence, Wednesday classes were added onto the class timetables of many students. However, despite the massive change that came with the reintroduction of inperson classes and lectures in the academic year 2022/2023, Wednesday classes remained.

e Activities and Development O cer, Romane Branthomme, has indicated a small survey carried out by the SU found that quite a few undergraduate students and many postgraduates cannot participate in their sports of choice due to classes on Wednesday a ernoons. e problem seems to be insu cient space for classes on di erent days and issues with capacity and room booking, especially with an increasing number of students. However, Romane highlighted that there appears to be a paradox since this lack of space emerges as LSE continues to open new buildings and facilities. e sabbatical o cer noted that collecting data and advocating the needs of students to have time to engage in physical activity can expectedly make all Wednesday a ernoons o in the future. However, while the pursuit will most likely prove e ective for undergraduate students, for postgraduate students, it will probably take another several years to implement change. As the O cer concludes, “It is all hopes and dreams, but hopefully, it will work”.

Nevertheless, Romane is hopeful that the report the SU is conducting alongside the Athletics Union on sport strategy at LSE will bring a positive impact and ernoons o for at least the undergraduate students a reality from 2023. As she indicates, the senior management at LSE is not against the idea, and the question is not if but how they should process it.

One of SU’s postulates is to accept students’ requests for class timetable changes due to their sports commitments. So far, most LSE Departments have been reluctant to consider sports competitions or training as a valid excuse for the timetable change. In contrast, work commitments or health reasons have been generally accepted. Romane Branthomme, who was previously denied the request to undertake tennis games, says that allowing sportrelated timetable changes could be a signi cant step forward and a more realistic solution to the problem than tackling the issues of room capacity.

I knew that the Beekeeping Society existed and that LSE had beehives somewhere on campus, but it felt more like a myth. When I ran into Salsabel Abuazza, the President of the Beekeeping Society at the Welcome Fair in September, it was the rst time I had ever actually seen proof of their existence. I couldn’t wait to interview Salsabel, to learn everything about it and LSE’s bees.

Salsabel rst got into bees through her sister. “She was telling me all about the bees and what they do. And then I got interested.” Salsabel started researching online and got really fascinated. ere were also a few beehives in her town that she went to see. But it was only a er coming to LSE that she had her rst chance to actually get involved in beekeeping.

LSE started beekeeping in 2010 as a sustainability initiative. Salsabel noted that “ e reaction at rst was: wow, you’re crazy! How are you bringing bees onto campus? But eventually it kind of became a trend. So, there’s quite a few beehives now dotted around London. LSE was the trendsetter, I would say.” ere are ve beehives on the roof of Connaught House at LSE. It is a truly beautiful sight – a patch of green on a random roof in central London with bees buzzing around. e Beekeeping Society is one of LSESU’s een Sustainable Societies; it currently has just over 50 members. Salsabel and her committee members have a few core objectives. e rst is to reinvigorate the society and get as many people involved in beekeeping as possible. “We also kind of saw that a lot of people were interested, but they’re quite scared of going up to the bees. So, we want to break down that barrier, make it a bit more inclusive, and then show how the bees play a role in our everyday lives.” ey aim to teach members about beekeeping, not just in terms of the hive, but also about how bees work together in di erent groups, and how they all play di erent roles to help their queen. e society harvests honey from the LSE beehives, which they sell to students and sta e proceeds from the sales go towards maintaining the beekeeping equipment and towards society events such as artisan honey tasting, candle wax making, or gardening in the space around the beehives. Salsabel added that they are thinking of organising a competition asking students to design the label to make the honey jars extra special and unique.

Yet the Beekeeping Society has been an empty shell for the last two years, only getting revived this year by Salsabel. “For the past two years, nothing. I really, really wanted to get involved. And I just thought to myself, why not me? Why not just restart the society? So here we are.” Although the society was dormant it still had members, and Salsabel was voted in.

Beekeeping members also usually help clean the hives. However, during winter the hives are le alone to preserve them from the cold. Salsabel hopes to foster a community of like-minded people and give them the chance to partake in a hobby that they otherwise would not have had the opportunity to do. e society plans to run a number of sustainability talks and charity events, raising money for bee conservation, while also bringing in experts who can talk about the role that bees play in the ecosystem.

Salsabel detailed the level of detail and care that goes into looking a er bees. First, the process involves checking the temperature, ensuring that the bees are not too cold during winter. ey also clean the bottom of the beehives as “the bees actually clean the hive themselves and then drop [any dirt] at the bottom. So, all we need to do is just take out the tray and empty it. To be fair, I think most people taking care of the bees will tell you this: the bees take care of themselves.”

But the most important part is looking out for parasites or any invading insects. at is the job of the professional beekeeper, Barnaby Shaw, that LSE hires. “He’s absolutely great and takes care of the beehives year round.” Dan Reeves, who is part of the sustainability team, also assists in looking a er the bees.

Last year, Salsabel was the SU’s Environment and Ethics (E&E) O cer. She noted that although it was a really interesting role, it wasn’t what she was expecting. Salsabel wanted to make tangible change at LSE and build on the previous E&E ofcer’s work.

She explained that the previous o cer had done an amazing job. “For example, she worked towards divestment.” It became very clear throughout the interview that divestment [from fossil fuels] was a cause very close to Salsabel’s heart. Salsabel’s manifesto for the E&E o ce position mainly focused on working towards divesting from the “damaging holdings that LSE has taken on, thus removing investments from holdings that are carbon intensive.”

Yet, Salsabel wasn’t given the necessary tools to work towards that goal. Even though the previous E&E o cer had been on the investment subcommittee, Salsabel was not allowed to be. “When I transitioned into the role, they sneakily removed my role from the investment subcommittee. I didn’t even know until the day of the meeting. I was going to join and then they told me they had removed my role from it.”

Salsabel tried to get her role reinstated, as she really wanted to make a change and believed being on the subcommittee was essential in doing that. She explained that she was stonewalled. Salsabel received a hard ‘no’ and was not allowed back on the subcommittee. “ e thing that I based my manifesto on, I was basically told I couldn’t do much about it, because I wasn’t allowed to have any information from there. So that kind of hampered my work in the Environment and Ethics role.”

Although she isn’t the E&E O cer this year, Salsabel has not abandoned her work towards divestment and continues to work with the student-led Divestment Alliance at LSE. She has also had di erent opportunities, such as being in the Grantham Institute meetings. e Grantham Institute is an organisation between LSE and Imperial College London that researches climate change and environment policy.

Salsabel stressed the importance of intersectionality in the sustainability movement. “It is necessary to make this movement for everyone. Climate change and race discussion are very much intertwined. We can’t win in one place without winning in the other. And I think if one fails, the other one is going to fail as well.”

As we reached the end of our conversation, I asked Salsabel where her dedication for the environment and nature came from. She believes it rst started from reading about climate change online. at led her to create the concept of eco-ambassadors in her school with a few friends. en, in college, she was part of her local Extinction Rebellion group. ese developments cumulatively impassioned Salsabel to further delve into issues surrounding sustainability.

She believes that her Muslim faith is where her dedication to the environment truly originated. “I feel like I have that kind of duty, to be good to the environment, and to speak up for when injustice is done to it.” She noted that taking care of the environment is a central part of her practising her faith, and that it inspires her to continue this work, even when she faces hurdles.

Interview by Ambre Pluta, Flipside Editor