2015 Union Executive elections: The candidates

Following the Student’s Union’s Hustings which was held last week, The Mancunion have profiled every candidate by their five-point manifestos submitted to the Student’s Union website. Make your decisions for voting before tomorrow from the profiles below:

General Secretary

Naa Acquah

1. Future of Union Expansion: Making sure students are behind every decision.

2. Introduce Gen Sec surgeries, a monthly meeting in different parts of campus to talk to me about any issues students have.

3. Co-ordinate a ‘Check Your Finances’ campaign: Budget workshops, a part-time job assessment centre, and more bursaries for postgraduates to cover living expenses.

4. Student safety workshops: Run more self-defence classes, every student given an attack alarm, and warn students not to rent houses without key safety features.

5. Make your extracurricular activities available on your transcript.

Joe Baines-Holmes

1. Promote the effective running of the Exec Team to ensure that we have the best possible engagement with students.

2. Improve and foster the campaigns for the liberation of BME, LGBT+, and women students.

3. Campaign and educate for the need for free and accessible education for all students.

4. Support and improve funding for student societies.

5. Ensure students have a democratic role in their courses, university and Union.

Tim Bradford

Slogan: “Vote for Tim, vote for good enough.”

Joseph ‘Eggs Eggs Eggs Eggs Eggs’ Clough

1. Fight my number 1 priority: Save the veggie café.

2. Union to have a pro-egg policy. Every student gets a free chocolate egg on their birthday.

3. Lobby Morrison’s to start selling Irn Bru again.

4. Lobby bus companies to be free between at least the city centre and Fallowfield.

5. Continue the fight for student-only ambulance services and astroturfs for all halls.

Tessy Maritim

1. Engage everyone through increasing our visibility across campus and creating a better understanding of the Union’s political role.

2. Challenge curriculum through lobbying the university to review course curriculums and allow students to have influence over what and how we learn.

3. STOP STUDENT SUFFERING through ensuring students are aware of available funds and addressing student poverty remains a priority of the university.

4. SECURING SPACE for students to be able to book rooms independently of societies, and amenities such as prayer and meditation rooms exist within the Union and wider campus.

Ellen ‘Mighty’ McLaughlin

1. Affordable accommodation

2. A robust and fair room booking system.

3. ‘Love to lobby’

4. Protection of bursaries and a more accessible hardship fund.

5. Budgeting advice and guidance.

Activities and Development Officer

Ramin Taghizada

Slogan: “you will never walk alone (Liverpool)”

Joel Smith

1. Student involvement in the Union extension, ensuring that it becomes the campus ‘living room’.

2. Ensuring Pangaea becomes more student-led and represents all students and that each event is totally unique.

3. New Union website and app with focus on creating a platform for societies and students that is unparalleled.

4. More events in the Union, continuing pushing external promoters and a graduation ball

5. Points-based Welcome Week to give more flexibility for people to go on day trips and other non-alcoholic activities and make friends from day one.

Peter Rwatschew

1. Ensure that the planned building work to the SU has a minimal impact on how it is used and the future Pangaea festivals.

2. Pursue a greater SU presence in Fallowfield.

3. Diversify the entertainment at Pangaea.

4. Create a platform for societies to advertise themselves to prospective students.

5. Develop a centralised calendar for societies, which would be available through MyManchester.

Astrid Kitchen

Slogan: “Especially in light of the increase in fees, getting the most out of university is more important than ever.”

Joseph ‘Eggs Eggs Eggs Eggs Eggs’ Clough

1. Fight my number 1 priority: Save the veggie café.

2. Union to have a pro-egg policy. Every student gets a free chocolate egg on their birthday.

3. Lobby Morrison’s to start selling Irn Bru again.

4. Lobby bus companies to be free between at least the city centre and Fallowfield.

5. Continue the fight for student-only ambulance services and astroturfs for all halls.

Campaigns and Citizenship Officer

Naomi Wilkins

1. Free Education—no ideas to bursaries or course closures, more support for international students, and end to the marketisation of education. No fees, no cuts, no debt.

2. Fossil Free—redirect university investment from fossil fuels to renewables for the sake of our futures, and more ethical employers at careers events.

3. Safer cycling—more segregated cycle paths so students can travel safer, healthier and cheaper.

4. Campaign networking—events for student campaigners to network with successful campaigns in other universities.

5. New campaigns, new campaigners—make student campaigns approachable to all, with better publicity around campus—campaigning is for everyone!

Hannah ‘Han Solo’ McCarthy

1. Fighting cuts to bursaries and fighting for a Living Wage across campus and Greater Manchester.

2. Creating a network to fight for international students! Oppose the anti-immigration rhetoric that dominates society, as well as against PREVENT, uncapped international fees, current student Visa policy, and Non-EU NHS fees!

3. Hold a Campaigning and Volunteering Festival, get Skills for Change onto the curriculum, and create a new Campaigning and Volunteering MyManchester portal!

4. Working with the Community Officer to create a campaign across Greater Manchester to fight against students being charged rip-off rents!

5. Making the role of campaigning more visible: ‘Wake Up Manchester Uni’ events, promote campaigning with street art and and open mic night.

Joseph ‘Eggs Eggs Eggs Eggs Eggs’ Clough

1. Fight my number 1 priority: Save the veggie café.

2. Union to have a pro-egg policy. Every student gets a free chocolate egg on their birthday.

3. Lobby Morrison’s to start selling Irn Bru again.

4. Lobby bus companies to be free between at least the city centre and Fallowfield.

5. Continue the fight for student-only ambulance services and astroturfs for all halls.

Javairia A. Bilal

1. Be a lynchpin between students and Executive Office.

2. Working for a fair, impartial, and easily accessible education.

3. Increasing integration of international students to avoid marginalisation.

4. Make students aware of global issues that we need to tackle in the 21st century.

Community Officer

Joseph Clough

1. Fight my number 1 priority: Save the veggie café.

2. Union to have a pro-egg policy. Every student gets a free chocolate egg on their birthday.

3. Lobby Morrison’s to start selling Irn Bru again.

4. Lobby bus companies to be free between at least the city centre and Fallowfield.

5. Continue the fight for student-only ambulance services and astroturfs for all halls.

Russell Devine

1. Promoting the ‘Manchester as Home’ idea.

2. Encouraging engagement within Greater Manchester.

3. Creating community safety and harmony through student dialogue.

4. Helping you find a decent landlord.

5. Making sure every student, including those in halls, have a say in community matters.

Jazz Le Goff

1. Maintain Home Sweet Home campaign and try for houses to only be released after January exams.

2. Working closely with other Execs to ensure students feel safe. Workshops and awareness of assault and crimes for both students and residents.

3. Add victim support for those who have been burgled. Counselling, signposting, and insurance advice.

4. Enable more local voluntary work/experience, work with local businesses/charities to ensure our students receive better opportunities.

5. Make the SU more approachable and explain its roles. More opportunity to meet the Execs and encourage communication so that student ideas are considered and acted on.

Harriet ‘Ha Pee’ Pugh

1. Campaigning and liberation outreach with local schools, colleges and youth centres to foster a positive campaigning community.

2. More creative community events with local organisations and campaigning collectives.

3. More prayer space on campus and in the Students’ Union.

4. Support Women’s campaign, to improve policing strategy by tackling ongoing victim-blaming and ensuring our streets are safe for students.

5. Further our Union’s policy to oppose PREVENT by ensuring that our students are not criminalised for their religious or political expression.

Ed Sherriff

1. Pressuring police to increase patrols in student populated areas to reduce ridiculously high rape rates.

2. Promoting non-Oxford Road cycle routes for those that are worried about accidents.

3. Making it easier to report dodgy landlords so that they can’t keep providing a poor service.

4. Exec position-wide drop-in sessions for any issue that you feel needs dealing with.

5. Free workshops on how to find a good house for people (particularly 1st years) who are unsure of the process.

Diversity Officer

Natasha Maria Brooks

1. I would lobby the university to ensure that every student that enrols at the University of Manchester begins their journey here feeling included.

2. It’s important that we work together to celebrate our diversity.

3. One of our primary collaborative tasks of the diversity forum would be to create ‘Diversity Diary’, a monthly publication.

4. Campaigning will be fundamental within the role for Diversity Officer.

5. I would ensure that workshops and other events were held at appropriate times and published online to ensure they were accessible for all.

Claudia Carvell

1. Campaigning for recognition and respect for non-binary and trans* identities, including more gender-neutral toilets.

2. Maintaining and and creating specific safe spaces/discussion rooms/drop-in advice sessions for minority groups.

3. Working with the univeristy’s Equality and Diversity Department to ensure events across the year cater to the requests of students, are inclusive and accessible, and aim to create a unified student body.

4. Providing better support for new, international, and mature students, especially with regards to extra-curricular issues, such as setting up an English bank account, finding accommodation, sorting phone contracts and finding/accessing local services.

5. Working with the careers service to ensure they can provide specific advice, information and support regarding a more diverse range of careers.

Joseph Clough

1. Fight my number 1 priority: Save the veggie café.

2. Union to have a pro-egg policy. Every student gets a free chocolate egg on their birthday.

3. Lobby Morrison’s to start selling Irn Bru again.

4. Lobby bus companies to be free between at least the city centre and Fallowfield.

5. Continue the fight for student-only ambulance services and astroturfs for all halls.

Tanisha ‘Sharkisha’ Douglas

1. Diversity training for staff and students.

2. Regular liaison with all liberation reps to ensure they are supported and needs are met.

3. Let’s fête! Black History Month, LGBT+ History Month and Inter-Faith Month.

4. Work with other Exec to address concerns identified in student officer role, i.e. BME attainment gap and mental health.

5. Maintain community and inter-university connections.

Jenny Edem-Hotah

1. Raising awareness and celebrating diversity.

2. Networking for postgraduates within the Students’ Union.

3. Maximise the Manchester experience for international students.

4. Building on diversity campaigns.

Nadir Mohammad

1. Increase student activities for disabled students.

2. Ensure the SU acts as a voice for those disabled students who require extra support from the university in their studies.

3. Organise events that will promote cultural diversity and inter-faith/no-faith harmony on campus.

4. To make sure that the voices of each and every minority group is heard and work towards achieving their goals.

5. Dedicated campaigns in the calendar to celebrate cultural diversity.

Hasan Mumtaz

1. Ensuring every student have equal access to the placements.

2. Extra effort to provide disabled friendly accommodation for disabled students.

3. Organising cultural events in periodic intervals in order to ensure healthy interactions by promoting diverse cultures.

4. Developing systems for reporting any incidents of discrimination among students.

5. Organising free UK tours for international students to get an insight of British cultures.

HanSong Pang

Slogan: “Employing best staffs is what I committed.”

Education Officer

Sid Kanoija

1. Setting up an active placement cell emphasising more on international students.

2. An effort to subsidise the fees of every course.

3. Promoting the practical approaches to courses rather than theoretical approach.

4. Promoting well-equipped accommodation for students.

5. Promoting providing the digitisation of courses including podcasts of every lecture.

Ilyas Nagdee

1. Expand work on free education.

2. Stand up for international students.

3. Liberate our curriculum.

4. Close the BME gap.

5. Empower reps to hold their department to account.

Jordan Paterson

1. To take decisive but fair action regarding academic issues that students report.

2. To research what academic issues are relevant to students and to reach solutions.

3. Accurately and fairly report student opinions on academic issues.

4. Reinforce the importance of student and faculty representation.

5. Create a network for representatives to discuss academic issues, share ideas and support each other.

Joseph Clough

1. Fight my number 1 priority: Save the veggie café.

2. Union to have a pro-egg policy. Every student gets a free chocolate egg on their birthday.

3. Lobby Morrison’s to start selling Irn Bru again.

4. Lobby bus companies to be free between at least the city centre and Fallowfield.

5. Continue the fight for student-only ambulance services and astroturfs for all halls.

Abhay Sikri

Slogan: “I have always been always been a good listener and presenter.”

Andrew Robinson

1. I aim to reduce the amount of mistakes in examination questions.

2. I aim to make poor invigilator conduct, such as invigilators not following university exam regulations, a thing of the past.

3. I aim to improve coursework feedback; ending the practice of it being copied and pasted between students.

4. I aim to ensure that personal tutors are able to provide better support on issues relating to student welfare.

5. To actively campaign against government policy regarding university tuition fees.

Michael Spence

1. Reverse cuts to bursaries at Manchester.

2. More study space and facilities.

3. Campaign against PREVENT

4. Campaign for the introduction of living grants.

5. Ending additional course costs.

Wellbeing Officer

Bis Choudhury

1. Work towards safety and security of our students and call for an enhanced university security policy.

2. Better quality of services provided in student halls. Value for money. Better wellbeing activities within halls.

3. Better food in campus cafeterias that is healthy, tasty and cheap.

4. Better advice and counselling services to provide support for financial, housing and wellbeing issues.

5. Promote a homely atmosphere within the Union and the university to encourage more student participation.

Joseph ‘Eggs Eggs Eggs Eggs Eggs’ Clough

1. Fight my number 1 priority: Save the veggie café.

2. Union to have a pro-egg policy. Every student gets a free chocolate egg on their birthday.

3. Lobby Morrison’s to start selling Irn Bru again.

4. Lobby bus companies to be free between at least the city centre and Fallowfield.

5. Continue the fight for student-only ambulance services and astroturfs for all halls.

Becky Fox

1. STUDENT SAFETY AT NIGHT! Volunteers to walk people home, attack alarms, police presence.

2. IMPROVE COUNSELLING SERVICE! Shorter waiting times, more staff training.

3. SMASH THE STIGMA AROUND MENTAL HEALTH! Time to talk, advertise support, buddy system.

4. SEXUAL HEALTH DROP-IN CLINIC! Free condoms, STD testing, femidoms, dental dams, the lot!

5. INCREDIBLE WELLBEING ROOMS! Relaxing, inviting, comfortable, with tea/coffee making facilities.

Lucy Hallam

1. Raising awareness of the support systems available and ensuring easy access.

2. Identifying areas where support is lacking, and improving or creating new initiatives where needed.

3. Improving student safety.

4. Cheaper food on campus and more healthy options.

5. Free exercise classes and cheaper gym memberships.

Chris Humba

1. Fight to maintain support for disabled students.

2. Work to shorten and improve the communication between the student support services.

3. Will organise a dry bar night event for students who don’t drink but would still like to socialise.

4. Set up a free shuttle service for students on a night out to get back safely.

5. Set up an anonymous reporting service for students to be able to report any hate crime incidents.

Hannah Jewell

1. Create a Wellbeing Forum to strengthen links between wellbeing services and students.

2. Fight cuts to bursaries and disabled students allowance.

3. Improve the counselling services by making it more accessible and shortening waiting times.

4. Introduce a second Global Week to welcome international students.

5. Bring in reimbursement for doctor’s notes costs for mitigating circumstances across all Schools.

Shourya Khanna

1. Create more learning spaces resembling the Alan Gilbert Learning Commons.

2. Encourage students to have a positive attitude.

3. Encourage students to have mentors.

4. Make student counselling more interactive and enjoyable.

5. Organise more social gatherings for students to connect more.

Women’s Officer

Jennifer Jones

1. Free sanitary products for all female students in campus toilets—condoms are free, tampons should be!

2. Sex support groups for pregnancy, contraceptive and peer pressure worries.

3. Support for student mothers, particularly mature students returning to education.

4. Further emphasise the ‘We Get It!’ pledge and take a stand against sexual harassment.

5. Lead campaign against government tax on sanitary products as ‘non-essential luxuries’. Periods are essential, drop the tax!

Jess Lishak

1. A subsidised  student shuttle bus throughout the night taking people from campus to their doors cheaply.

2. Promoting zero tolerance to sexual harassment in our local bars and clubs.

3. Fighting the cuts to women’s services (domestic and sexual violence services) and raising money through more productions of The Vagina Monologues.

4. Continue to make Manchester the home of the biggest (and best) Reclaim the Night march in the country and lobby the university for better support services for students who have experienced sexual violence.

5. Holding events to amplify women’s voices in arenas where we are underrepresented, with speaker events for careers and social nights with women performers (DJs, comedians, musicians, poets).

Ellis Quinn

1. RECLAIM OUR AREA—improve safety within the Fallowfield area.

2. MEN MATTER TOO—introduce events and campaigns that are entirely inclusive and give everyone a platform to speak out against gender inequality.

3. EMPOWERING THE NEXT GENERATION—develop gender equality workshops in schools and community groups to create a real social change.

4. SUPPORT OUR WOMEN—campaign and fundraise for vital local women’s charities which are being adversely affected by the cuts.

NB: Candidates are ordered in their respective sections by the randomised order on the University of Manchester Students’ Union website. Colours were chosen in keeping with the design of the page and candidates had no say in the choice. Candidates’ names and photos were those available on the Students’ Union website at the time. Other photos were not accepted. The Union asked all candidates for five main aims which are listed on the Students’ Union and used here. For those who did not submit this, the first five points from their manifesto were picked; and for those candidates without a manifesto, their campaign slogans were used instead.

Do you agree with the policies of the candidates? Comment below.