During our Students’ Union Elections Media Day on Saturday 24th February, we chatted to the candidates who are running to be elected as your Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Officer for the 2018-19 academic year. Take a look at what they had to say.
Marvel Kalu
Marvel Kalu, a second-year International Media and Communications student, is running to be your next BME Officer.
Marvel wants to ensure the visibility of the BME Network: “My main policies surround online presence and presence on campus. We’re here to help, so it’s important that people we want to help know that we exist.”
She is also passionate about narrowing the attainment gap between BME and other students leaving the University: “I feel like that’s a really important policy, and I would like to keep going forward and develop it. At the same time, we need to think how we can tie that into our events and our media presence, so it looks more like a package than one thing.”
“I believe I have quite an active role on campus and in societies,” says Marvel. She’s a member of Impact’s news team, writing for both online and print.
She also has experience organising events for various youth clubs and even her local library. Marvel tells Impact: “I work mainly at a community level, so I know how to develop my ideas into an event. I feel like if I’m BME Officer I can develop my ideas into events that will help the students.“
Most importantly, Marvel knows what it’s like being a minority student: “From my first and second-year experience, I’m able to see where the University can get better at developing BME opportunities and representing us on campus. It’s important to have an officer there for students, to have someone there they can relate to and someone who represents them.”
Goda Naujokaityte
Malak Mayet
Note: Malak did not attend the Media Day on 24th February.
Malak is the second candidate running to be your next International Officer and summarises her manifesto as aiming to ‘put the voices of all BME students on the agenda.’
Malak’s experience includes the 2016/17 External Campaigns Manager for UoN Feminists in 2016/17 and the BME Women’s Officer for 2017/18.
In terms of what she is looking to change, Malak plans to continue the work ‘tackling the BME attainment gap’ and continue to ‘challenge the presence of PREVENT and Islamophobia on campus.’
Malak also hopes to build solidarity between ethnic minority groups if elected to International Officer; she also hopes to work with other libertarian officers to ensure all campaigns are intersectional.
Her final manifesto points involve working to ‘decolonise the syllabus’ and assess and improve mental health provisions for BME students.
Connor Higgs
To read the manifestos for your BME candidates, head to the Student Leader Elections website.
Featured image: Poppy Anne Malby
Article images courtesy of Impact Images.
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