SU elections candidates face questioning at first hustings event
Students’ Union officer candidates face questions from students before voting begins.
The first Q&A event is taking place tonight at Clifton, where students can ask the SU officer candidates questions about student related topics.
Students were able to find out about the candidates for the SU officer roles and what their priorities are at the Clifton Q&A event at The Point on Tuesday evening.
VP Education
Your candidates are: Ed Fearn, Jess Leonard, Mischa Dooley, Suraj Kumar Gupta and Zeynep Saner (Mischa Dooley was not present at the Clifton Q&A event).
The first question was what would you do to improve the academic rep system. Suraj said he would meet with them and discuss the difficulties of education and would reach out to students on social media, Ed said that he would push the regular course rep assemblies, Zeynep said she would implement every students’ issues and Jess said she would support and promote the course rep system
When asked if course reps should be appointed or elected, candidates had mixed views about whether the system should be democratic or voluntary.
A student asked what the candidates’ number one priority in the role would be. Suraj said he wants to bring in one international student course rep for each course, Ed said he would inform students of the resources available to them e.g. the course rep system, Zeynep said inclusivity is her main priority and that everyone should have an equal right to attend and access their lectures and Jess said that lectures should be recorded for all students and she would review the NEC system
Individual questions involved topics such as networking with schools, experience for the role and support services
When asked about working with academic staff and building relations with them, Suraj said he plans to meet with every school every fortnight, Ed said he would keep academic staff and students in the loop about what is happening, Zeynep said about being proactive with course leaders and treating every course as their own course and Jess said that she aims to tackle this with “openness, change, communication and trust”.
VP Opportunities
Your VP Opportunities candidates are Ben Parker, Cory de Ath and Eloise Paling.
The candidates were asked firstly about what they want to achieve in the role and they all responded similarly saying they want more collaborations between societies and the university.
How will you focus on all societies equally? Corey said he will do 1 on 1 meetings with each society, Eloise said she will create a society committee group chat and Ben said he will make a society spotlight on social media.
When asked what makes the candidates qualified, each candidate spoke about their involvement with various societies at the university and being a committee member.
All the candidates had similar responses to a question asking about what they would do to help society committees with inactive committee members. They answered that communication between active committee members and the SU will help to tackle this problem.
How will the candidates increase the accessibility of societies? Ben said that he would make freshers fairs more accessible, Eloise also had the same answer as Ben along with creating more outreach for societies and Corey said he wants to increase the support within societies by updating and delivering more training.
A student proposed the idea of a cultures carnival to showcase different cultures and societies representing these groups. The candidates all said that they liked the idea and would consider putting on this event.
Individual questions which related to what candidates had said in their manifestos or during their responses to the group questions included incentives for committee members, creating bigger events and supporting academic societies.
VP Sport
Your VP Sport candidates are Eva-Lily Ellingham and Jasmyn Smith. Jasmyn Smith is the current VP Sport for the 24/25 academic year.
The first question asked about how the candidates would support disability in sport. Jasmyn said that she would get direct feedback from students and Eva said she wants to raise awareness of disability sports.
A student asked how the candidates would encourage participation with sports clubs by postgraduate students. Eva said she would talk to postgrad students to find out what they want in terms of sports and Jasmyn said that she would work with the VP Postgraduate to communicate this.
The candidates were asked if they knew what the five core values of NTSU are and if they could name them. Jasmyn went first and named all of the core values.
What would you improve about the freshers team? Jasmyn said that she would review the freshers rep training, provide games for freshers and set a home time for sober reps. Eva said that she would collaborate with the other SU officers and talk to freshers.
The candidates were asked about if there should be more mixed teams in varsity and both candidates were in agreement about including more mixed teams.
A student highlighted about sports primarily being at Clifton campus and asked the candidates how they would encourage other campuses to get involved in these sports. Jasmyn said there is good engagement with sports at Clifton and she encourages people to watch sports there. Eva said that she thinks the sports should be spread out across campuses and would plan earlier and later buses.
When asked how the candidates would promote Give it a Go week, Eva said she would use social media as this is the main platform for freshers to see about university activities and Jasmyn said she has been trying to post on her social media every week and she wants to create more content for GIAG week and play for fun sessions.
Individual questions included about BUCS vs non-BUCS sports, and mental health and sport.
VP Postgraduate
Your VP Postgraduate candidates are Lottie Brown, Ryan Turner and Syed Mohsin
The first question asked about how the candidates would support postgrad students and international students. Syed said he will make sure that all of their voices are heard, Lottie said she would do surveys with these groups to get their feedback and Ryan said he would introduce a international course rep.
How will you ensure that postgraduate research students are represented? Ryan mentioned the global lounge and said that he would promote societies to these students to help them meet and network with people. Lottie said that she would put on events for these students and reinforce the safe spaces. Syed said that he would attend enrolment days to speak to these students and get their views on this.
A student highlighted the issue of postgraduate students often not getting involved in university sports and asked how they would work with VP Sport to combat this. Syed said he would put on sessions for postgraduate students in sports societies, Lottie said she would advertise the sports societies to postgrad students and encourage them to join these sports clubs and Ryan said he would work with timetabling to get Wednesday afternoons off for postgraduate students so they can take part in sports clubs.
The next question asked how the candidates would support new postgraduate students who haven’t previously attended the university. Ryan said that welcome packs are the best thing for this, Lottie suggested pre-arrival sessions and library workshops and Syed said that he would do more engagement sessions for them about assessments.
Individual questions asked candidates about a postgraduate group chat, self-study at a postgraduate level and cost of living.
VP Community and Welfare
Your VP Community and Welfare candidates are Annie Cross, Ellie Barletta, Freya Sims, Halle Shepherd, Joe Cormack and Ridil Uddowlla Swagoto.
The first question asked about what experience each candidate would bring to the role and there were various responses about being a committee member, putting on events and working with external groups.
A question was asked about how the candidates would combat fascism and far right views and the candidates all responded similarly about educating people about what these groups are and helping those affected by this.
When asked about how the candidates will ensure student safety at night, Ridil mentioned the taxi scheme, safe spaces and that he will work with university security and Nottingham City Council, Alex said he will signpost and increase the provision of safe spaces and the taxi scheme, Freya would like to introduce an online tool to contact the university security team, Ellie mentioned a welfare team, street pastors and working with taxi firms to promote the scheme, Halle wants to implement more charging spots and a wellbeing team and Joe agrees with the previous points and would work with staff at university affiliated clubs and bars to ensure student safety.
The next question asked about what each candidates main priority would be in the role that they would focus on first. Joe said improving and promoting everyday wellbeing services, Halle said expanding counselling access, Ellie said expanding wellbeing information and advice at the SU and getting student feedback on this, Freya said addressing the spiking issue in clubs and Ridil said he wants to eliminate misogyny which was later questioned by an audience member in which Ridil responded he will take small steps to achieve this and consider punishments for this.
Individual questions involved topics such as collaborating with VP sport, financial issues, improving counselling and new initiatives for student nights out.
SU President
Your president candidates are Alex Bell, Ben Kearney, Charlie Hindhaugh and Libby Sinclair. Libby Sinclair is the current VP education for the 24/25 year.
The first question from the audience asked how NTSU would work with NTU to improve accessibility at the university. Ben said that he would focus on ramps and infrastructure to help those with disabilities, Charlie said he will work with societies and communicate with the SU about these issues, Libby said she wants to focus on cross campus accessibility and Alex highlighted his struggle with getting his student card so he wants to make card services more efficient.
The next question asked about how the president candidate would help to advercate for students on financial issues including cost of living crisis and rent rises. Alex said he wants to promote schemes to help students pay for rent and shopping, Libby highlighted the university’s hardship fund and said she will work with the University of Nottingham SU to reduce accommodation prices, Charlie said he will work with other students’ unions across the UK to campaign about these issues to the UK government and Alex said he will pressure bus companies for student bus tickets. A challenge was raised by Alex against Charlie’s claim, saying that it was an ambitious goal take these issues to the UK government but Charlie responded that he has done demonstrations before and he has lobbied with MPs.
A student asked how the candidates would work with University of Nottingham SU as NTSU president to help solve problems Nottingham students face. Ben said he would regularly set up meetings with UoN, Charlie said he will meet up with MPs together with UoN to put pressure on, Libby repeated that she will work with UoN to lower rent and said that she has worked with UoN before in her current SU officer role and Alex highlighted the importance of collaboration between the two universities because both universities experience the same issues. Another challenge was raised by Charlie about how Libby would reduce rent for students in which Libby responded that most university accommodations are run by external companies so she would work with these companies to try and lower prices.
Individual questions asked the candidates about domestic and sexual violence, what policies they would like to change or implement and the NTSU budget to solve these issues.
Hear directly from your SU officer candidates live on Fly Live at the City Q&A event today at 6pm.
