Polling opens at 9am on Wednesday 2 March for the non-sabbatical positions on the SRC.
The Glasgow Guardian covered hustings for the non-sabbatical positions on the SRC, none of which saw more than one candidate standing. Positions up for grabs are undergraduate college convenors, school representatives and welfare and equal opportunity officers.
Undergraduate College of Social Sciences Convenor – Ross Whig
Third year accountancy student Ross has had a variety of experience working for the SRC, including as a freshers helper, being on the PR team and organising individual events such as the refreshers fair. The main focus of his campaign is on improving transparency in feedback, with the hope of implementing a target return date for feedback below the submission portal on moodle. Besides this, Ross’s main concerns look at taking stress off students on academic issues such as word limit policy, by making access to these more accessible and transparent.
Undergraduate College of Science and Engineering Convenor – Temisan Atsegoh
With previous experience in the SRC as race equality representative as well as having been a school rep, Temisan is familiar with how the student body works. In particular, she notably organised events for the SRC during Black History Month. She would ensure communication between class representatives to allow her to fulfil her role efficiently. While her answers were fairly brief, Temisan is clearly enthusiastic about the role and came across as an approachable and friendly person.
Business School Representative – Sahej Grover
Sahed sees it as very important to have passionate representatives, which he considers himself to be. Priorities included, supporting students through the transition back to in person exams, and keeping in touch with class representatives in order to be aware of issues faced by students in different subjects across the school. He summed up his campaign as “prioritising student welfare”.
Chemistry School Representative – Navneet Jhariya
Navneet showed enthusiasm for the role but struggled to clearly portray his intentions for the role. His speech was incoherent and when asked his main priority he did not give one, but said he would instead act as a go-between between students and the SRC to deliver ideas. Students facing personal issues was one area Navneet highlighted as being important to him.
Education School Representative – Ying Li
A PhD candidate in Education, Ying spoke about the importance of mental health. Communication between students was an area he highlighted as needing more work and as such he intends to organise activities both online and in person to allow students to mix more. When asked to sum up his campaign in five words, after some moments of hesitation Ying gave the answer of “safety and happiness”.
Engineering Representative – Hugh Southall
Hugh’s speech was short and to the point. He has experience of being an SRC freshers helper and committee member of the country dancing club. His points mainly focused on academic issues faced by engineering students, and he also notably mentioned accessibility issues with the Rankine Building.
Law School Representative – Isabelle John
Having been a class representative for two years, Isabelle has the appropriate experience to take on a school role and appeared organised and dedicated to the potential role. She considered the most important quality for a school representative to be an empathetic listener.
Medicine, Nursing and Dentistry School Representative – Mara Perras
A medicine student herself, Mara had specific ideas of what she would seek to do in the role. Hidden costs for medicine students such as cost of travel to compulsory placements and equipment like scrubs she would aim to have subsidised, as well as establishing clarity over exam formats with no more last minute changes. Although each of the three subjects covered by the role are very different, Mara says she would ensure she was equally clued up on all by checking in with the class representatives. She answered every question clearly and came across as informed and competent.
Physics and Astrophysics School Representative – Heri Busquier Cerdan
Through his previous experience as a class representative, Heri realised the importance of student politics and the change it can bring about, such as the change brought to the physics exam format this year. Another area important to Heri is an inclusive curriculum and representing international students and other underrepresented groups. When asked by SRC President Ella McCabe who would win if all the zodiac signs were to get in a fight, he was a good sport and responded “Libra”.
Social and Political Sciences Representative – Irene Libelli
Irene came across as passionate about both her subjects of International Relations and Sociology and student representation. Key interests include gender issues and continuing the work being done to decolonise the curriculum. Irene was enthusiastic and keen to take on the responsibility of the role.
Charity Officer – Lewis Trundle
Building on his previous in SRC Raising and Giving (RAG), Lewis was full of enthusiasm and new ideas to raise money for charities, including a drive for warm clothes in winter, litter picks in the local community and even a goat yoga session. When asked his favourite type of moustache for Movember, Lewis answered that he would love to grow one in a handlebar style. His performance was fun and he appeared genuinely passionate about the role.
International Student Officer – Xiya Zai
Xiya’s performance was fairly hesitant and lacking strong and clear ideas but seemed well intentioned despite the fact she did not give much detail on what she would do with the role. One area of focus was to increase socialising opportunities amongst international students and make them more aware of services the SRC has to offer.
Mental Health Officer – Tony Anderson
Having spent his first year serving as his year group’s representative, Tony has experience on the SRC. He spoke about the complexity of mental health and the importance of breaking the stigma surrounding discussing it, mentioning his own struggles with it. His ideas included hosting “brew and blether” sessions and giving training to people on the SRC in dealing with mental health. Tony comes across as approachable and friendly, with students’ best interests at heart. The final question of the entire hustings was what is Tony’s perfect sunday. The answer – waking up early, a cup of tea, re-reading Harry Potter before a roast dinner and watching netflix.
