Olivia Conroy & Amelia Brookes
A team of Impact’s contributors came together to review candidate manifestos. The team, consisting of Sophie Robinson, Kit Sinclair, Olivia Hughes, Laura Scaife, Hannah Walton-Hughes, Lottie Murray, and Olivia Conroy have summarised the main manifesto points and given their opinions on the overall manifesto. Voting closes on Friday 17th at 1pm.
Poppy Read-Pitt
Main manifesto points:
- Reducing cost of student living
- Continuing the current community officer’s work
- Producing a zine to showcase Nottingham student communities
In their manifesto, Poppy holds a clear focus on cutting students’ cost of living, pledging to lobby the university to reduce rent in halls and to develop a student’s renters union and housing co-op.
Next, Poppy aims to continue to reduce the gender health gap and maintain availability of free period products, following on from our current officer’s hard work. She also pledges to ensure high quality, in person, and mandatory consent classes from the university. Poppy will also lobby the university to provide a bank of laptops available for long-term loan for students of low-income backgrounds. Additionally, they aim to produce a showcase zine, highlighting the ‘best bits’ of living in a Nottingham student community.
Building on existing services provided by the university would be a clear recognition that she is willing to work with the university
Poppy has undoubtedly listened to student concerns regarding cost of university and lobbying for a bank of laptops would break down some of the barriers which are currently preventing a more inclusive campus.
Despite this clarity of focus, there seems to be little concrete detail in her manifesto on how she plans to achieve this long list of goals. Lobbying for reduced rent is easier said than done, and whilst she would like to ‘work to reduce the cost of transport’, this is a vague promise. Building on existing services provided by the university – such as hopper buses and the current short-term laptop loan – would be a clear recognition that she is willing to work with the university, rather than against.
The continuation of current initiatives is crucial. When mentioning the consent classes in their manifesto, Poppy does not acknowledge how they will follow on from what has been achieved this year. Whilst pledging to provide free period products, there is no mention of maintaining the free condoms or other sexual health support – and no SHAG week. For Poppy, it may be challenging to get the university on board for all of these, so perhaps it is important to prioritise which she points she deems the most important.
Tarrveen Kaur Kohli:
Main manifesto points:
- Create a welcoming environment that promote social interaction
- Fostering open communication
- Providing access to resources
- Encouraging a sense of belonging among students
As Community Officer, Tarrveen, a psychology postgraduate student, would work with ResX and the the SU staff to ensure that student halls and accommodations are home-like, ensuring the student voice is heard and addressed in the decision-making process, and, in the current economic climate, ensuring easier access to essentials such as food and healthcare, and information on part-time and paid employment opportunities.
Tarrveen has experience in administrative positions, having completed an ambassadorship at Microsoft previously – she has also worked as a course representative, so she has learned and understood the problems and requirements of the students.
Tarrveen plans […] to ensure that students have easier access to food and healthcare
She also has quite a large interest in mental health awareness and plans to educate students on all the resources available.
I’m quite interested in what Tarrveen plans to do to ensure that students have easier access to food and healthcare, and how she will collate these part-time employment opportunities. Both seem like wonderful promises for students, but how will they be conducted?
Overall, I think there are a lot of questions left unanswered in this manifesto, and although the promises are great, it doesn’t seem like there’s much follow up on exactly how these are going to be achieved – maybe this is something to ask at the Q+As? I admire the dedication and the overall direction, though, and I think it’s positive that Tarrveen is a candidate with a lot of experience in student voice matters, having been a course representative previously.
Olivia Conroy & Amelia Brookes
Featured image courtesy of Lottie Murray. Permission to use granted to Impact. No changes were made to this image.
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