Issue 1464 Monday 3rd March 2025
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Vote in NUSU’s elections! Read the pledges on page 21
NUSU Elections: Meet your candidates The Courier spoke to candidates for 25/26 Officers at this year’s Candidates Rally.
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n January 24, The Courier had the opportunity to interview the candidates running for 25/26 Sabbatical and Liberation officers. President
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Sanya
Tayal
The President plays a pivotal role in both Union and University governance and ensures both stay relevant to students. Each candidate addressed various important issues within the university, proposing different initiatives to tackle them. Ilsa Hartley proposed a monthly culture-sharing club where students from all communities meet to share food, language, and traditions. This idea is inspired by her personal experience when she struggled to make new friends at the University. She believes it would be a good opportunity for students to branch out and make new friends. Aleks Frost, on the other hand, pledged to bring in more opportunities to assist students during the cost of living crisis. One of the initiatives he proposed is to bring free, affordable, and nutritious food to the University. He believed the student pantry plays an important role in bringing awareness and therefore believes it is essential to provide good-quality, affordable food in
Image Credit: Noelia Fernandez Perez
the university. He plans to accomplish his goal with the help of the student committees and local food shops. Leo David proposed to start a student-created Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) training and disability training for University staff and student well-being. He has created a completely student-led framework that would consist of student feedback and direct involvement of students. Through this, he aims to cover “common pitfalls” these students face, getting their issues to the staff. Afiya Ballard Debois proposed a People of Colour safe space by making the university space more diverse. In addition, she recommended expanding the university’s career opportunities and diversifying its industry. One of the industries she wants to concentrate on is the arts. According to her, the art business is the “most forgotten” and least amplified at universities. All of the candidates think that there is a need to improve student engagement within the student body and have proposed various strategies to achieve so. Isla believed it is critical for the Students’ Union to inform students about their democratic framework, and she intends to do so by establishing an open forum. Aleks, however, believes that boosting attendance at clubs and societies will enhance student interaction. In contrast, Leo disagrees, arguing that the University already has higher student participation in such activities compared to most universities in the country. According to him, the focus should be on democracy, student well-being, and support services. He also calls the NUSU system
“slightly archaic” and wants to make it more “21st century” suited by introducing more digital elements like the online element of voting ideas. Afiya, on the other hand, wants to increase student engagement by promoting and connecting digitally and finding NUSU across the university rather than just a building. Academic Officer by Timothy Daw This role plays a key role in developing and coordinating initiatives to improve academic experience of all students - both taught and research. Sohaila Marmoush’s main idea was focused around improving responsiveness to student feedback and accountability from academics. To do this, she pledges to introduce the “Rapid Response” motions for addressing urgent student issues that academic year, describing University responsiveness as “completely unacceptable”. Part of this framework would be to offer a single 12-hour academic extension for menstruating students annually. In terms of academia, Sohaila wishes to expand crossfaculty module choices for adaptable degrees, while increasing supervisor accountability and PGR inclusivity. Gina Tindale pledges to enhance student rep visibility while improving feedback mechanisms. This would involve electing student reps before summer for early idea development and ensure immediate availability for student support at the start of the year. Gina hopes to improve anonymous student feedback and lecturer accountability, partly by creating an anonymised essay bank for clarity of grading standards. Her final idea was to increase campus presence both through office hours for school reps, as well as supporting studentrun conferences for academic experiences. The main emphasis from Kieron Johnson was to increase academic engagement and employability through revamped support systems. This would involve remodelling SSCs into advisory committees to gather and share actionable feedback. To add, by enhancing office hours, Kieron hopes to encourage students to engage with academics beyond their modules and explore career opportunities.
These employability skills would be improved by launching monthly vocational workshops, featuring both staff and external professionals. For research students, Johnson hopes to create a mentorship scheme for research students, guiding them towards academic career paths. Jasmine McGee hopes to address the cost-of-living, expand academic support, and improve pastoral care. By funding research opportunities to tackle cost-of-living issues using the hardship funds and external sources, which are important following the recent announcement of 300 fulltime redundancies. McGee also hopes for greater support for those transitioning from UG to PG courses, and Stage 1 students via mentorship schemes. The final point Jasmine made, was to introduce standardised feedback rubrics for markers. Current Education Officer Jasmine Banks hopes to revitalise the rep systems, promoting inclusivity and alternative assessments. By revitalising the rep system with a streamlined feedback pathway that takes the following shape: SSCs → school reps → faculty reps → university management. Banks also hopes to reduce reliance on traditional exams, exploring alternative assessment methods, while fostering a sense of belonging to a broader student community. Wellbeing and Communities Officer by Amelie Baker The Wellbeing and Equality Officer is crucial to leading the Student Union’s support practices and choosing what student welfare topics are prioritised on campus. The Courier spoke to the Wellbeing and Equality candidates on what they plan to bring to the role. Julius Papong spoke of how University services, like the Neurodevelopmental Assessment Service and Neurodivergent Support Network (NeuSNet), had helped him out throughout their student experience. In their pledges, they speak about improving connections with external services, and in their interview, they expanded on raising awareness on the services that are offered by the University, encouraging inter-school communication between marginalised communities. Elijah Wright emphasised the need for the Student Union to provide more training surrounding consent and violence on campus. Although the University provides ‘compulsory’ canvas modules on consent, he said he would instigate an in-person compulsory workshop in freshers week to prepare the new student body on how to handle these issues. Erin Reid centred her new pledge on the need for more sustainability on campus to “bring a whole new
awareness” and “get people involved on campus”. Her pledge stated that she would reinstate sustainability week, talking about the importance of raising this issue amongst the student body to boost understanding and improve daily habits. Faraaz Ansari talked about how his proposal of a thrift shop on campus aimed to make clothing affordable for both students and the wider Newcastle community. He expanded how this “very collaborative product” would also help the University to “really work on sustainability”. Lily Allan said that she would take the fight against sexual stigma further. Although University “is meant to be a place for growth rather than a place of judgement”, her dissertation research had raised the issue of how “people are more likely to say nothing amid fear of saying something and receiving judgement for it”. Erin Robinson also reached out to share her pledges, centering on ensuring job security for students by improving the protection of 0-hour contracts on and off campus. She stated that she would complete this goal through introducing a Student Contract, available on the provision of a valid student ID. Opportunities Officer by Lily Stokes On Monday 24 February, Opportunities Officer Candidates launched their campaigns for the role. Opportunities Officer is the lead representative for student involvement in activities and opportunities other than Sport and Student Media. James Geary spoke about his plans for increasing the role of the SU to improve the student experience and make the SU into a better third space for students. Drawing on past international experiences, Abhilash Naidu wants to introduce a range of initiatives; he suggests a skill-sharing platform and better ways to recognise student success. Rhys Barnfather affirmed the need to optimise equipment and venues use across campus. Barnfather aims to give funding for affordable memberships. Ruaridh Lee wants to focus on publicity and support of societies, especially smaller ones. Better relations between societies and NUSU is also a priority. Anitya Jain aims to launch a ‘FirstTime Free Pass’ to allow students to join societies year-round. Jain also proposed a portal where students can suggest new ideas. Sophie Dixon-Youll pledges to find new places for students on campus, create new cultural events as well as weeks to promote different society types. Continue reading on Page 5