By Zofia Godlewska
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 benefits of physical activity, in many ways, LSE has failed to help students find 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 afternoons, many LSE students cannot get involved in sports training or competition, regardless of their fierce determination.
Providing Wednesdays off 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 afternoons.
The LSE Student Union has been fighting for Wednesday afternoons off 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 in-person classes and lectures in the academic year 2022/2023, Wednesday classes remained.
The Activities and Development Officer, 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 afternoons. The problem seems to be insufficient space for classes on different 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
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 make Wednesday afternoons off 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 sport-related timetable changes could be a significant step forward and a more realistic solution to the problem than tackling the issues of room capacity.
The sabbatical officer noted that collecting data and advocating the needs of students to have time to engage in physical activity can expectedly make all Wednesday afternoons off in the future. However, while the pursuit will most likely prove effective for undergraduate students, for postgraduate students, it will probably take another several years to implement change. As the Officer concludes, “It is all hopes and dreams, but hopefully, it will work”.
