LUSU FTO candidate admits that he does not know ‘what the FTOs do’

During candidate questions on Monday night, one Presidential candidate for the Lancaster Students’ Union elections admitted that he does not know what Full Time Officers (FTOs) do in their roles.

Adam Baguley, who is running to be a part of the Full Time Officer team for 2025/2026, revealed this in response to a question from another candidate, Ollie Earnshaw.

Ollie asked the other candidates about how they would combat the “distrust” that he said students currently have for the Students’ Union with their aims to increase “transparency and communication”.

Adam said that students are “reasonably distrustful” of the union, adding a personal note when he said: “I do not know what the full time officers really do.”

He argued that the university needed to be opened up to being run by “a wider layer of students and staff”.

Via LA1TV on YouTube

Other presidential candidate Ben Carter said that his aim in regards to union transparency was that “every member of the university feels that they have a University Assembly member that represents them,” that is not “someone high up that you’ve never met.”.

Candidate Rory O’Ceallaigh also spoke of his plans to improve communication between the Students’ Union and the student body. He spoke about his plans to improve awareness of the University Assembly, where FTO reports are given and LUSU matters are discussed, saying that he wants to livestream it to make it more accessible for students. He also advocated for a wider use of social media to improve student awareness of LUSU. “The social media is stretched,” he said, adding that he wants to look at ways to work around this to improve communication.

Lancaster University has been contacted for comment.

Lancaster University Students’ Union declined to comment as the election is ongoing.