Luke Chafer analyses Ruaridh Fleck’s manifesto for VPSA following their interview.
The next candidate to be interviewed for the Students’ Representative Council’s (SRC) Vice President for Student Activities role was Ruaridh Fleck. The experience he will bring to the role is incredibly diverse, with experience in events management for his political arts start-up “Goodbye Collective”, as well as founding the Alternative Arts society and the more typical experience of roles on union councils.
The stand out policies within Ruaridh’s manifesto are his environmental pledges. Ruaridh has a clear vision as to how his rhetoric of greater environmental awareness is going to transfer into student events on campus: a noticeable level of detail on this issue, specifically with his COP26 plans, that is not present in other candidates’ manifestos.
This undercurrent of student activism is present throughout his manifesto as he also promises to reevaluate the relationship between accommodation providers and the University, although in this case, the practicalities of this are unclear.
On the issue that all candidates have spoken about, cross-campus collaboration, the makings of a potentially successful plan involving “informal” events to improve societies’ connections. Whilst this seems promising, the formation of these events seems somewhat contradictory: are they organised dinners at the Hilton, which many would struggle to see as informal, or the occasional coffee? The particular role of the SRC in facilitating this is also unclear.
Overall, Ruaridh’s background in the events and activism are central to his manifesto with the strongest push on the environment out of the three candidates and the only one to mention the relationship between the University and private accommodation providers.
You can watch Luke’s interview with Ruaridh here. Ruaridh’s full manifesto is available here.
Voting opens at 9am on 3 March and closes at 5pm on 4 March. You can vote here or on the UofG Life app.
