The 1990s started with Liverpool Polytechnic and Liverpool Polytechnic student union (LPSU) and ended with Liverpool John Moores University and LiverpoolSU (LSU). It was clearly an important decade for our students union and all of our lives as students today. Matt Robinson, who is a former LSU member of staff from 2004-2006 stated the 90s at LiverpoolSU in the early part were about the societies, the latter part was all about employability and the middle part was the real heyday of LiverpoolSU with great commercial success.

 1990 began with over 30,000 students marching in London against student loans. The student loan crisis is an issue that hit all students and student unions hard and continues to do so. January 1991 welcomed several awareness weeks arranged by the LSU, including weeks on awareness for women and issues such as Aids. The students union also organised a hitchhike to Paris to raise money for a Liverpool polytechnic of South Africa scheme and this was hugely successful and tickets for the hitchhike to Paris were sold out. Redevelopment work on the Haigh was taking place and the development of the James Parson’s hall into an SU centre was also starting its build. It was a busy way to start the year for LSU.

In the February it was expected that over 700 students were due to turn out for the gradation ball in July which was a better number than expected. The student union has always supported free nurseries for students and in March 91 the SU won a battle to keep nurseries free and ensured that students don’t have to pay for childcare. In May it was decided that the Haigh would have improvement work taking place on the building costing around £150,000 which was the start of making the building the hub of the commercial success of the union.

The student union was also the main factor behind turning the derelict Church of Scotland site into a central library and learning centre to be built. This is now the John Foster campus and the Aldham Robarts library so the student union succeeded in providing great facilities for the future. During this time the student union also started to run the canteen and this resulted in a major upturn in the quality of food and service. In June, a decision to close the Tithebarn Street shop was made to improve the long term profitability of retail services provided by the Student unions, again a small step in the resulting commercial success.

Over the summer, the student union finally gained computers for their offices which is a big step towards modernisation. Come the new academic year the work on the Haigh building had gone well and the opening of the ‘new’ Haigh received really good reviews and the bar was busy throughout the year. Over 2000 more students signed up for an NUS card at this fresher’s which was also a really good sign that students wanted to be more involved with their union. Equality awareness was being promoted correctly and even more redevelopment of the unions facilities were pencilled in. It was a very busy time and all this development did pay off in the end. In December 1991 a new name for Liverpool polytechnic had been passed by the board of governors with student advice, as a number of students were against this name! Alongside this, a 1991/1992 NUS report stated “the long awaited abolition of the binary divide between universities and polytechnic”. Liverpool John Moore’s University was born. These were exciting times for the SU and the university and they finished the year with a Christmas ball at the venue with a 3 course meal, a disco and a raffle with all proceeds going to children in need, as a positive way to conclude 1991.

1992 began with a national review of student unions. It was suggested that they were given more power as they are a valuable asset and can fix student issues. In the newsletter in April 1992, really critical issues were discussed. It was decided that the size of the Haigh and the current union facilities would not be big enough by 2000 with the increase in students attending LJMU. The potential for a new city centre campus was discussed. Today we stand a few years away from a new city centre campus Copperas Hill being launched, the work towards that started here.

A suggestion box at the Haigh declared that ‘dancing queen’ by Abba was to be played at a Wednesday night disco at the Haigh, proof that students voices are heard by the SU regardless of whether they are concerning a serious matter or a personal point. Work on the Mount Pleasant learning resources centre was set to start in May 92 and to end the academic year the students union stated they would not increase drink prices even though the budget had increased tax on alcohol, a definite reason to stay popular with students.

Jumping ahead to February 1993 an article in the right wing Daily Telegraph said that Student unions should only receive public funding for core services, all other services should be self-financing or funding by students themselves. Currently LSU received around £500,000 and was carrying out excellent work so the students union were quick to dismiss the telegraphs suggestions. Even with the £500,000, women’s officer Emma Gibson had to ‘wrestle’ money from the University for a Late Night Shuttle Bus. In the March the union implemented a recycling scheme ad started working towards being more ‘green’. In the April, the James parson’s student centre plan was approved, the centre included a bar, shop meeting room and an office. The student union was also behind the organisation of one world festival week which raised issues involving the 3rd world and the environment. By May the Liverpool comedy festival took place, with a high number of student spectators at the Haigh building and the current president of LSU Gareth Dixon wrote a notice to LSU staff concerning energy and environmental conservation. Come July the telegraph article that had highlighted potential government plans to cut finding to core services started to be implemented, but for LSU the impact was very minor and motivated the union to become more commercially active. Training opportunities for all staff at the union were listed at the SU office as proof that LSU train their staff better than anyone else. In October 1993 special measures were introduced on improving services for students and Liverpool Footballer John Barnes visited a student bar on campus. LJMU really was the place to be!

However the 1994 education act did hit student unions but due to vigorous protests by student unions they really were watered down and basically only two key issues were changed. Students could now opt out of student unions as they are automatically enrolled but they can opt out if they wish. The other impact was now student unions had to only be involved with student issues. In the decades before, SU’s would be involved in NHS funding and political disputes all over the world, however now it was solely student issues. They had to support students as students and have less focus on national issues and therefore be more commercial and more academic, this change while not ideal was the catalyst for great LiverpoolSU success from 1996 onto around 1999 commercially. In 1994 a new LSU logo had started to be used more around campuses and negotiations with a nursery on Brownhill Hill for student use had begun. In the February of 94 the first example of LSU using focus groups to gain feedback on what they were doing was used. The results gave the union an actual gage of what they could do better and what they were doing well. It helped meet student’s needs.

By the March it was announced that commercial trade had increased 35% from the previous year with Hardy’s Bar and the Hope Street shop being major successes. This meant that the union could make a major investment in IT which of course helped. The success of 1994 resulted in 5 new staff being recruited in the august and a new student centre being opened at IM Marsh aswell as an expansion in advice resources increasing student participation with LSU. By the October the Haigh had been granted a later bar licence and now it was open until 2am Friday and Saturday, increasing the chances of students basing their weekends around SU activities. Alongside LSU advice the university had introduced a new semester system and it was the student unions responsibility to show students how it is better for them. A standout year for LiverpoolSU ended with a new student centre being built located in the former Blakes garage.

1995 started with students and union staff raising over £1000 for comic relief by having their hair cut off in the March. This went alongside the good news that LJMU rugby team had just won the British University sports association cup and the bad news the blakes garage student centre would have to be stopped due lack of university funding. In the May the general manager of LSU Marc Ramsbottom did a series of meetings outlining the future of the students unions. In July LSU’s equal opportunities policy was planned to be reviewed, simplified, and amended and even more developments to SU buildings were pencilled in, including more work on the Haigh building. In September 1995 base fitness centre was opening. The next month GM Marc Ramsbottom spent a whole day in the Haigh to see what the day to day issues of LSU were and learn how to improve them. By November and December 95 Marc Ramsbottom after his day at the Haigh suggested that LSU services should be available 7 days a week as this is what students wanted and it’s crucial to listen to what students want.

At the annual NUS conference in 1996 LiverpoolSU submitted a motion to the NUS regarding global warming. They stated that LSU have become increasingly aware of their impact on environmental issues and that all SU’s need to start being aware. This was deemed successful and a real positive on the annual conference by LSU. At the same conference LSU also supported actions on NUS housing policies. This was that housing benefits should be reinstalled for students and better facilities must be made. Of course nowadays LJMU students have excellent housing options and LiverpoolSU were looking out for the future at the conference in 96.

In 1996 Nick Berg arrived at LiverpoolSU and took on the role of Assistant general manager of membership services with Marc Ramsbottom as his manager. This was a very new role within student unions with LiverpoolSU being only the 2nd student union to introduce this system. Nick felt that it was considered the best old polytechnic SU because people felt they “belonged” and it was down to the SU being a real community as to why it was so successful. During Nick’s time at LSU the SU had a “real purpose and it knew what it was doing”. A job shop for students at LJMU was created and really helped students find work while they were studying, a real success from Nick’s time at the union. The student union engaged with a greater use of focus groups so they could understand students and try and benefit students in generally the best they could. The flipside of this being that while LSU from 96-99 was popular with most students, it seemed irrelevant to the different groups of students at LJMU. This drive for how to engage these students really kick-started the quest for equality and engagement with all that was so successful just a few years later at the start of the next decade. The fresher’s fair expanded in these few years too and became quite the occasion at St Georges Hall, setting a great precedent to the now super successful fresher’s fair at the Adelphi hotel. A graduation ball was also expanded and took place at Liverpool FC’s stadium Anfield with rave reviews. A successful partnership with the music company Cream also began when a fresher’s ball took place at nation nightclub in Liverpool city centre. Over 3000 new students attended and it created that great first memory that the student union wanted all students to have, it also promoted how great of a place Liverpool and LJMU was when fresher’s would send stories home of what University life was like.

1996 also included a number of different events such as in March 96 when LiverpoolSU was only the second student union to be officially recognised as an investor in people. After the yearly elections of sabbatical officers two of the officers had been re-elected due to excellent performance. They were Ed Burns as president and Tracey Evans as student affairs officer. Tracey herself helped to set up Shout FM with the help of Phil Redmond and in 96 produced really good advice relating to student help with housing. Other student unions, including Cardiff University visited LSU to pick up ideas of how to improve their own student unions. Suggestion boxes were situated around the union buildings so LSU would know how well their customers were being dealt with. The staff were a close and very cohesive unit and this was only helped when Nick Berg set up a fantasy football league and would send around weekly updates on which staff member was doing well. It really caught on and just made the working environment even more welcoming. By fresher’s 1996 the student union had great success with fresher’s week. With numbers increasing in all departments, the advice shop had dealt with over 400 enquires. The job shop had issued over 1000 application forms which practically doubled the previous year’s numbers for both shops. For the next few months the student union just carried on operating and operating well. Students would attend events and would always find help if they needed it.

In April 97 a new GM Mike Hunter took over from Marc Ramsbottom. Work continued around the campus and by May 97 new work on the venue was planned in and continued over the summer. It was not just the union that was strong as a unit but also the facilities available to students, the great commercial numbers allowed LSU to invest and build to an exciting future. Over the summer a new name for a bar that was close to completion, at the Haigh, the cooler was the name decided. Notice boards throughout university buildings were to start displaying important SU information. New phone booths able to accept cards were due to be set up by the Haigh shop. By Christmas 97 not only did staff get an update on their fantasy football league they also got feedback on LSU’s strategic vision towards 2000.

1998 looked like a tough year for students due to the introduction of tuition fees so LSU had to find ways to meet student needs and even though the task was hard they continued to complete their primary objective which was to help students and do so today exceptionally well. Paul Norman who joined LSU as a welfare advisor in January 1998 during the union’s heyday suggested that the student union was “vibrant and exciting” and “all of the bars were busy” even though the Haigh bar had been outsourced to Hardy’s on Hardman Street before his time there. Paul says that the student union was influential during the late 90s and focussed on students. It may have been a large commercial organisation but it helped students get back into courses they were struggling on and find the best possible education for every individual who needed it. There were “lots of things going on” and the whole success of the union was assisted by the passion of the people who worked for LSU including Nick Berg and Trisha O’Neill who were central to that success during Paul’s time at LSU. 1998 also included a successful assessment in the investors in people certificate and another honour of 100 years of service in advising people given to LSU. In 1999 the then LiverpoolSU student newspaper shout received the award for the best design of a publication at the guardian student media awards against all other universities, so a really prestigious award. At this time Scream the newspaper and Shout the newsletter were both really successful and their success attributed to the drive to form The Liverpool Student which was a joint publication for all Liverpool Universities. That was a highlight for the SU but 1999 was a really busy year.