We spoke to the three candidates running for VP Opportunities ahead of the Nottingham Trent Students’ Union elections. As a result of the coronavirus, the process has been delayed and voting will now open on Monday 27 April. Here’s what the candidates had to say…
Cameron Sutton
Tell us a little bit about yourself?
I’m 22 and I’m currently a final year student at NTU. I have been involved with societies every year now at uni: The Coffee Club, boxing and The Cocktail Society. I study Media & Film, so I’m based at Clifton Campus and do a lot of travelling back and forth.
What sort of things would your role entail if you were to be elected?
I’d basically be looking after societies around each campus and I’d be doing volunteering as well, including sorting out raising and giving events.
What was it that attracted you to the role?
I feel like as good as the societies at NTU are at the moment, they can be improved and I think people could get more out of uni if they were improved. I think it’s important that people get the most out of their time at uni.
What would you do to improve societies at NTU?
One of my ideas is to introduce a points system so that societies can get rewarded for their hard work, for instance, if they take part in charity work or if they recruit new members throughout the year and not just during Freshers week. It would be quite a well-worked system so societies with the most points at the start of each term will get rewarded with an event or something paid for by the SU. One of my friends does the same role at a different uni and she says that system has been working really well.
I would also look to introduce a wall that displays each society and what they’ve achieved so that people can see what societies have done over the course of the year.
What do you think sets you apart from other candidates hoping to get the same position?
I’m passionate and I want these societies to do well. I want people to be volunteering because I think that’s really important. I just want people to be happy with their time at uni really so that they can look back and say “Oh I did this…”, which some people, unfortunately, can’t.
Ian Mitchell
Tell us a little bit about yourself?
I’m a final year student and I study History. In relation to societies, I’m a part of History Society, but then I also run my own inter-mural football team which is everything a society is but without the title. I set it up in first year and there are four teams at the moment. I suppose those are my two big links really in regards to societies.
What was it that attracted you to the role?
I felt like I was suited for it in the sense that what I’ve done with the inter-mural football team and my big role in the History Society means that I fully understand what the role is and the responsibilities that come with it. Looking at all the roles, VP Opportunities is the most powerful among groups of students in terms of influence, voice, being able to suit students’ needs and representing that was the most effective thing I felt I could do.
What would you do to improve societies at NTU?
I would make sure there is a wellbeing officer in every society as an extra port of call for students in all year groups and training for those officers, rather than just giving them the role. I would work with the VP Welfare to set up this training to make sure that the person in that position is well equipped to deal with any issues.
I would also like to help set up the charity Nightline. The University of Nottingham have it and there’s a group of students at Trent who want to set it up, but at the moment I don’t think they have the voice. The basic concept of Nightline is that it’s a student-run charity for students and all through the night every night there are volunteer students at the end of the phone to help with anything anyone is struggling with. It means that they can talk to a fellow student, rather than having to feel like they have to talk to a parent or the university.
What do you think sets you apart from other candidates hoping to get the same position?
I don’t feel like I have a direct affiliation to any one society, which some would say is a weakness but I would say it is a positive in the sense that there’s no one group that is specifically backing me and that I’m specifically backing. There’s no agenda in terms of if I get the position there will be no one society that I will be completely immersed in next year.
I think encouraging as much freedom for societies as possible is important. I think I have found the right balance between implementing new ideas to societies and trying to develop them as much as possible, but at the same time respecting that societies have built what they already have and to force too much on them wouldn’t be fair.
Joshua Whitehead
Tell us a little bit about yourself?
As you know, my name is Joshua Whitehead and I’m 25, so I’m a mature student as some might say. I’m very tenacious, I don’t like to lose and I love to argue my points. I mentor people a lot and I’m the president of the largest dance society at NTU, Funky Fresh Collective, so I’m already used to dealing with problems that students bring up.
What was it that attracted you to the role?
I’m practically already doing the job. I’ve already organised fundraising events and basically everything else that comes under the job title. I’m already working with societies and I’m currently working on founding my own community, Trent Carnival, which will be an interesting collaboration between both sports and societies. I also have raised over £50,000 for different causes. I don’t want to make empty promises; my whole premise is that this is what I’ve already been doing and I’ve shown I can do it.
What would you do to improve societies at NTU?
There’s a couple of things that I have ideas on, but my number one thing is that I want to make a pledge of just spending more time with students than with staff. I want to actively make my time at work revolve around students.
I also want to make more collaborative events between societies. We started an event called Funky Wonderland which is like a Christmas show for dancers in all dance societies and what’s happened as a result of that is that their exposure has increased, their money has increased and their membership has increased. I want to implement a similar idea for other societies that might have lower membership levels at the moment.
My big push is that we really need to re-assess the whole graduation costs situation. I didn’t get to go to my own graduation because of funds and I think that students shouldn’t have to miss the most important day of their university career because they can’t afford it.
I would also like to re-assess how we use resources and in particular, resource rooms. This is more to do with art students, however, this does affect all students. Resources as a whole are extortionately priced at NTU; students who are forced to print off their dissertations and art projects shouldn’t have to pay an arm and a leg for them as well. The situation needs to be reassessed so that the university is not making money off students as a primary, we should be supporting and facilitating students.
What do you think sets you apart from other candidates hoping to get the same position?
I’m a unique individual and I know that when I walk into a room, people’s heads turn and people’s mouths shut. That in itself is half the battle when it comes to dealing with situations and getting people to listen to you, whilst the other half of the battle is listening itself. Over the last couple of years, I have gotten incredibly good at saying what needs to be said rather than what I want to say and I have developed my communication skills to the point that I can still get things done. One thing I have been practising a lot is doing that in a way that at the end of that discussion, everyone feels respected so that the actual outcome happens.
Voting for the students’ union elections opens at 9am on the 27th April, and will close at 5pm on the 29th April.
By Jessica Goddard