Campaigns officer interview: Lee Bradshaw
Current part-time officer Lee Bradshaw spoke to Laura Wood about why he’s running for the newly created Campaigns officer.
Why do you want to stand for the position?
I’ve been actively involved with the Union for the past two years both on the students’ council and as a part-time executive and I just think I could do so much more with a full-time position. There’s so many things I’ve been involved with this year and I think I could do so much more if I was working full-time. It’s so frustrating sometimes when I’ve wanted to give so much more and I can’t commit because of my course and I want to be able to grow and develop from what I’ve done the past few years.
Why should people vote for you?
Because I’ve got the experience, I’ve been involved, I’m active within the Union. I did the Give it a Go and been on international trips. I helped write the governance review and also there are things I want to change, things I want to implement so that this time next year I’ll have helped the students and the Union.
What relevant skills and experience have you had?
I was on student’s council for two years, one year as a faculty rep and the other as a part-time exec. I’ve been a course rep for three years and before I came to university I was elected onto the UKYP (United Kingdom Youth Parliament), which is students from 13-19 working on a local and national level for student issues, and I also work with NUS and have contacts within them.
What issues do you think are most important to students?
I don’t want to blanket students as having the same issues because different students have different issues but one key issue that’s coming throughout different student groups is parking and transport to campus. There are no parking spaces and we can’t get anymore university spaces because there isn’t the capacity for them so I want to work with the council and university to try and secure either places with the park and ride scheme in Preston. I also want to speak to bus companies to try and get the prices lowered for people travelling in from local areas like Burnley, Morecambe and Chorley. We also have a large Muslim community and I want the Atrium to serve Halaal food. We do serve them in Source but because it’s an alcohol environment I do think it should be served in the restaurant area, allowing Muslim students a place to eat on-campus.
What campaigns would you like to run?
My main campaign is to do an SOS campaign, which is Stamp Out Stigma regarding mental health and also things like racism, homophobia and sexism. One in four people suffer from mental illness and because people don’t know how to deal with it and there’s a lot of stigma attached to it. There’s a lack of understanding and I want to try and solve that and so people understand when other people have problems but also when they have it themselves and that they shouldn’t be embarrassed or shy away from it. I want to get rid of that blanket that shrouds mental illness and the phobias that are out there.
As campaigns officer is a new position, how do you think it will change/affect the SU?
One of the key things that comes with being campaigns officer is setting up forums. They were brought in with the referendum and my idea is to have these as active campaigning groups that will involve students that don’t normally get involved and make them focus in on issue. For example one will be set up for LGBT so issues within that community will be tackled. Others will be set up for sexism, racism and child-care forums for those who need better child-care services. It lets people get involved with their union, this are their issues that can get sorted with my help. I plan to nurture them because these forums don’t work just yet and I need to set them up and establish them within the SU. They work in other unions but our union is a bit behind with that and that’s what I see to be the biggest change with this role; getting people to actively be involved with their issues with my help.
