Campaigns officer interview: Meg Anderson
Events management student Meg Anderson is going for campaigns officer, and with the experience she’s gained for her degree she thinks she’s got what it takes to make the SU a strong and active campaign organisation, Laura Wood spoke to her.
Why do you want to stand for the position?
I’ve always felt that as a student at UCLan at some point I want to give something back. Given the course I do and putting on events for the community I wanted to get more involved with the SU and make a difference to the people around me.
Why should people vote for you?
I’ve got the experience with a three-year degree in events management and also lots of events outside. I just want to make a difference and get students more involved with the SU. It’s their union so I want them to be a part of it.
What relevant skills and experience have you had?
I’ve had 5/6 years of managing events and I’ve been involved in charity fundraising. I’ve done cancer research, fairtrade and all sorts of things like that. I’m a friendly person as well and I feel I’m approachable so that people can come and talk to me, give me ideas and suggestions as well as the more welfare side of the job.
What issues do you think are most important to students?
I think generally the ones that are becoming big in our society, especially the environment and fairtrade. I certainly noticed a difference in fairtrade this year from last year and people have been getting more involved and understanding what it’s about. More or less actually getting people involved and understanding them. Personally RAG wasn’t promoted enough and let people know more about.
What campaigns would you like to run?
Obviously all the ones that are going on already, like Safe Sex Week and anti-smoking. But also using my degree and experience I want to introduce in more, like Student Life Week which would help introduce students to all the matters relevant to students, not just the academic but the social side, so that for example if someone’s having a problem socialising we can help them become more involved and meet new people.
As campaigns officer is a new position, how do you think it will change/affect the SU?
I think it’s a really good position because it’s combining two other roles and it’s more of a wider role. It’ll be good because you can link all the other roles of the SU, like the APO on certain events. Hopefully it will get people more involved, especially with the lesser known areas of the SU.
