SRC Non Sabbatical Heckling (As It Happened)

17.42

The Hustings will begin in 20 minutes in room 201 of the John Mac building.

18.22

SRC Hustings about to begin

18.23

Three candidates for Gender Equality Officer.

18.28

Morag Deans is running for re-election.

18.36

Morag Deans, current Gender Equality Officer:
“I feel like I finally have some momentum and some confidence in my role.”

She also said she wants to incorporate “trigger warnings, making students feel comfortable, combating mental health stigma equality” and diversity training as part of the freshers application process.

18.40

Morag Deans says that institutions which reinforce sexism are a major part of the problem, and are preventing a serious discussion about sexism and misogyny on campus.

18.47

School of Social and Politicsl Sciences Rep:

James Richardson says he has been campaigning against the way that the University treats first year students in halls, via a private company, and accused the University of being “a bit of a bully” on this issue.

He also wants to encourage the University to replace Turnitin as quickly as possible.

He says that the University is trying to make as much money as possible at the expense of student welfare.

18.47

Read more about sexism in institutions on our campus: https://glasgowguardian.co.uk/2014/05/04/1-in-5-students-witness-sexism-in-lectures/

18.58

Peter McCluskey, who is running for the School of Education Representative, says he wants to ensure that the SRC is more visible in the St. Andrews Building because, otherwise, the problems with placement will never be solved. He is running unopposed.

19.07

School of Geographical and Earth Sciences Representative:

Sarah Bacom says that she wants to promote the StudentVoice feature on MyCampus. “We’re all in this together so we may as well bloom together.”

Hannah Kay says that there are opportunities to make change that could really benefit GES student. She says that exam feedback is a problem, especially for essay-based exams,

“Puppies aren’t just for Christmas, and manifestos aren’t just for elections.”

19.12

Imran Hafeez is running unopposed for School of Engineering Representative. He says that he wants access to the Rankine Building to be limited to third, fourth and fifth year students after 5pm. He also says he wants the James Watt Building and the Rankine Building to be opened at weekends so that engineering students can work on their projects at weekends.

19.16

Glasgow Guardian apologises for the technical issues experienced with our live coverage. We are working to resolve these issues as quickly as possible. Many thanks for your patience.

19.18

Alex Pancheva is running unopposed for School of Computing Science Representative.

She says that there should be a change to the third year curriculum to make the course more “balanced.” She says that she SR should have a higher profile within the School of Computing Sciences.

“If I work hard enough, and people work with me, we can achieve this very soon.”

She says that she will promote the role of the Computing Science Society on campus.

19.20

Mihaela Dimitrova is running unopposed for Business School Representative. She says that she wants to incorporate a practical element into the Business School curriculum.

19.23

Cameron Hill is running unopposed for School of Life Sciences Representative. He intends to make sure that labs are inclusive environments for transgender students. He says that people are not told in advance that they have to reveal their gender identity for certain experiments within labs, which not everybody is comfortable with. Presumably he would have to work with the Gender Equality Officer and LGBTQ Equality Officer on this issue.

19.25

Erin Ross is running unopposed for School of Modern Languages and Cultures Representative. If elected, she intends to communicate more effectively with class representatives and students in general, and to improve the level of support for students who are going on their year abroad.

19.31

That’s the live recording back up and running again. Apologies once again for any difficulties experienced.

19.39

Elliot Porter, who is running for Mental Health Equality Officer, says he wants more representation for Mental Heath to sit on the Students with Disabilities Committee, and would like to see the creation of a separate Mental Heath Committee, promising to do the foundational work to make this happen. He must know that it will take more than one term in office to convince the University to do this. He also says that the University need to be made aware of the effects that cuts to the CAPS budget will have on students with mental health problems. CAPS are due to take on more staff, and Porter says that the SRC needs to have a greater influence within CAPS and there needs to be a concerted effort to cut down on bureaucracy to make the service more accessible. He commits to working with other student bodies, like GUSA, to promote the mental health and well-being services that they offer.

CAPS are beginning to gather data during their reorganisation, and Porter says that this will become more important year-on-year as budgets become more strained. He says he will do all be can to encourage CAPS to do that.

19.42

Luke Evens is standing for re-election as Environmental Officer. He says that senior management have not met frequently enough over this year. He says that there is a need for strong ethical leadership on environmental issues. The best way to get the University to listen, says Evens, is using established connections to affect change and not being afraid to be vocal when holding the University to account over environmental issues.

19.50

Mhairi Harris & Vicky Leigh running for Charities, Clubs and Societies Officer. Both candidates have lots of experience in different societies so both candidates could use their connections to make it clear what the SRC can do for charities, clubs and societies on campus.

Leigh says that a ‘welcome tent’ would be a good way for societies to welcome new members. Worth noting that the SRC cannot compel clubs and societies to do this.

Leigh concedes that she does not have much experience of Central Room Bookings, but commits to do all she can to improve the service for societies.

19.55

Elliot Napier, who is standing for re-election as Age Equality Officer, says that mature students need to have a more tailored system of support throughout their degree.

Going forward, he says he wants to continue with drop-in surgeries so that mature students know where to look for the support that they need. Not enough people speak up for mature students, says Napier, and the University needs to consider things like child care facilities and access to storage lockers for mature students who have full or part-time jobs in both the short-term and the long-term.

19.57

Milia Hau running unopposed for International Students Officer. She is passionately against attempts by the University to ban translation dictionaries in exam because only a “minority” of students use them to cheat. Says that she will do all she can to encourage a change of policy on the part of the University.

20.13

Three candidates for Race Equality Officer:

Tracy Duah says that she will work with all student bodies and external bodies to make sure that instances of racism are dealt with immediately, and organise workshops to deal with things like micro-aggressions and cultural appropriation.

Aurora Piergiacomi says that she too wants to use workshops to raise awareness, but also wants to campaign on campus to draw attention to racism and racial discrimination, by working closely with the University and other student Welfare Officers.

Lea Balint argues that racism and the deconstruction of democracy are interlinked, and that students need to fight against racism in all its forms. She proposes public awareness lectures and seminars, promoted via MyCampus, with the possibility of sharing best practice strategies for dealing with racism with other universities.

On the issue of cultural appropriation, Balint says it was not something she was aware of of, but agrees to continue working towards resolving the issue.

She says that the Race Equality Officer is in a position to represent students who feel that they are discriminated against on the basis of their religion, on the grounds that religious and racial discrimination are linked. There is a proposal to create an entirely new post of Religious Equality Officer on the SRC Council.

20.28

Iain French and Viljami Yli-Hemminki are running for Sexual Orientation Equality Officer. French says he wants to build upon the progress of the last year. He also says that he wants to create an LGBTQ space on campus so that LGBTQ people know where to go on campus for help and support. He concedes that space is limited on campus, but regardless, he believes that the space would be possible for this policy to be implemented.

Yli-Hemminki admits that he has less experience than his opponent in this election, but insists that he will adopt a more creative approach to addressing LGBTQ issues on campus. He says that he wants to start a lecture series in which experts and professionals address LGBTQ issues on campus, to ensure that the SRC and LGBTQ Society are not “preaching to the choir” on these issues.

20.32

Cathy Steeghs is running unopposed for College Convenor for Social Sciences. She promised to continue the good work of her predecessor.

20.40

Oscar Schafer and Adi Childs are running for College Convenor for Science and Engineering.

Oscar Schafer doesn’t “promise great things” because they are “not going to happen” but says that Honours students need to have access to buildings at weekends in order work on their projects. He promises to make sure that there are chairs outside labs so that people can eat without taking food into science labs.

Adi Childs believes that she can do as good, if not a better, job than her opponent despite her lack of Council experience. She says that the University need to do a better job of listening to students and student bodies. Raising the profile of the SRC amongst Science students is key to improving communication and effectiveness.

20.42

Adi Childs says that banning dictionaries is ‘ridiculous’ and would urge the University not to go through with this policy.

Oscar Schafer says it’s about communicating with the University and academics for a productive dialogue between students and staff on the issue of dictionaries.

20.46

Fergus Taylor and Marc Vives Enrich are running for College Convenor for MVLS.

Taylor says that momentum for change is hard to come by within the University, and that the Medical School is in the process of reforming its welfare practices. He says that raising the awareness of students on this issue is key to improving the quality of mental health provision within the College and across the University. He says that he will continue to push the University to fund the transport costs of Medicine students who have placements around the City.

20.48

Marc Vives Enrich says be “believes in big projects” and a longer-term vision for the SRC. He says that he intends to start working this year in the hope that his successors will build on his legacy.

20.53

Fergus Taylor says he wants to see training “for a handful of people in each year” so that they can recognise the signs of deteriorating mental health amongst their peers. He will have to work with the School of Medicine and CAPS to achieve this within one year.

Marc Vives Enrich says that he was intentionally not included everything he wants to achieve in his manifesto because he believes that to be a more effective way of being receptive to the ideas of students. He says that communicating with Vetinary students is can be done much more effectively through social media and emails to bridge the gap between them and the SRC.

20.59

Kate Powell, who is standing for re-election as College of Arts Convenor, says that she wants to be there to ensure the success of the changes being made to the College’s advising system. Having done the job for a year, she has finally got into her stride. This experience could prove to be essential in the coming year.

21.04

That concludes our coverage of SRC non-executive hustings. The coverage of Sabb hustings continues tomorrow at 6pm.