President: Gavin Jones

Education officer: Sarah Delli-Colli

Activities and participations officer: Kelly Burdett

Media officer: Andy Squire

Campaigns officer: Lee Bradshaw

The results seemed to go with ‘facebook form’ in that those with the largest group on facebook and online campaign seemed to end up winning. A trend for the future?

Why do you want to stand for the position?

Campaigns Officer is obviously a mix of welfare and the Equal op’s, I stand fully for both of them and even when it hadn’t been merged I was still thinking of running for them. I just want to make a difference about discrimination or things that hold students back within the SU.

Any campaigns that you feel strongly for?

I recently had an issue in the family where I had to look after my niece and my nephew, so I spent quite a lot of time looking after them. My niece is one and my nephew is seven, and just travelling around town with them and everything else. That was hard enough as it was and then realising that there are people out there that are studying and are at university and are looking after children. That struck me because I couldn’t even cope with two children on a week break so having to do it all, it just fascinates me, and I think they need as much help as possible. One of my friends has just had a baby; luckily she graduated just as the baby arrived.

It’s the support systems that need to be in place and some of them need to be improved upon as well because another friend of mine had a baby and the amount that the university were offering her for accommodation/rent, she could afford a mortgage rather than pay for the university accommodation. It was easier to afford a mortgage than pay the university. Obviously it’s just one of my things, and it’s going to be a big project but it’s still going to be one that’s going to have an impact on the student population.

Why should people vote for you over the other candidates?

I’m intent, I’ve definitely got an addictive personality, you can never say “can’t”.  Anything that I’ll do I’ll put my entire mind to it. Obviously I can’t turn round and say: “I’ll be better than them” but I’ll make the most of what I’m standing for and improve and take on everything else as well.

What relevant skills and experience have you had?

I’m chairlady of the white water kayaking and canoe club at uni, I’ve been treasurer and secretary of that. I’m also part of the playing cousin project, which helps out disabled children around the area and everything else, so I’ve got a lot of experience working with disability. It also deals with seclusion, so seclusion of race, gender, sexuality and everything else. I’m also secretary of the sports council. I’ve done loads of campaigning for everyone else, so I decided it was my turn.

How are you going to make your campaign different?

It’s going to be a rough ride!  It’s going to be a fun one though. Hopefully I’ve got friends behind me who will help me along the way. It’ll be different, we’ve got a lot planned and some of it maybe a bit shocking, but it’ll hopefully work. Obviously we’ve got the ideas of fancy dress and everything, we’re all going to be going round in jumpsuits, we’ve got a couple of people who are going to expose a little more than necessary, obviously no private parts.

What issues are most important to students?

Top-up fees, that’s being able to afford everything. There’s also the seclusion and dealing with everything. One of my main policies is going to be an open door policy whereby anyone can come in and let their feelings be heard at any time. No-one should be shot down for saying what they want. Obviously if you’re voted into a position, you’re voted in because of what you can do for them. I want to make sure that everyone gets their voices heard and make sure that you don’t feel you’re being discriminated against for age/gender/religion/sexuality/everything else. Taking care of what certain areas want and do, but other areas such as sexual health and parking around the university and just anything that students want to change.

As campaigns officer is a new position, how will it affect the SU?

I think the SU will change, obviously we all hope that things will change for the better. It’s taking the best parts of equal op’s and welfare and makes it worthwhile so it could go two ways, but hopefully I’m definitely going to work my hardest to make it for the better.

How will you cope with the responsibility?

Well you’re going to have a weight on your shoulders and you’re going to have the issue of the fact that you’re a guinea pig, it’s going to be a test run. But at the same time I think I’ll cope well. I think it’ll be a challenge and it’ll definitely be one that you can try.

You can view Sarah Wynn’s manifesto here

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.

You can view Meg Anderson’s manifesto here 

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.

You can view Lee Bradshaw’s manifesto here

Why did you decide to stand for this position?

Ever since I got here on Flying Start, I’ve really enjoyed the whole university experience, and it is a bit of a cliché, but I do want to give something back. I’ve had such a good experience, I want to make sure that people coming here have the same enjoyable experience. I think my personality quite fits the whole campaign – I’m quite open and I’d like to think I’m approachable. It’s just something that really interests me. I think it’s something I can definitely get my teeth into and I’ll really enjoy it.

Why should people vote for you?

In my manifesto I try and outline a set of core aspects that I want to campaign for – obviously things that I feel are a necessity, regardless of who’s at the university: student health and safety, the environment, diversity, obviously equal opportunities – but apart from that, really, I can’t impose what I think students want. I can’t say, ‘Well, I’m campaigning for this because this is what I think students want.’ I need to get out there and find out what students want, and I think I’m of that personality – I’m quite open, I can find out what students want, take that on board, and then campaign for that. I don’t think I should impose what I think students should mainly campaign for.

What makes you good for this position?

To be honest, once I do go for something I’m 100 per cent into it, I’m very committed, I like to be involved in stuff from the start to the end. My time management skills are very good – obviously at uni, with handing in essays and stuff, you have to meet deadlines! Like I say, I’m 100 per cent committed when I do something, and I think I can take that approach and just make sure that students  are getting the best deal they can while they’re at university… I get on with most people, and that’s what I really want to bring to the role, in that people can approach me. I mean, obviously, I’ll go out and speak to a lot of students and find out what they want to be campaigned for, but I want to be quite open and people can come to me as well, especially freshers, because obviously moving to university is such a big thing, moving away from home and away from your family and stuff like that. I want people to feel that they’re safe and that they can enjoy the same student experience that I’ve had.

Do you have any experience that will help you in this position?

I play rugby for the university and back home as well, so obviously, it’s a massive team sport, so you’ve got the whole teamwork mentality there. It’s also about personal leadership – I captain my side back home, so you’ve got that leadership aspect, taking a group of people forward. Also, on my year out, I went travelling for a year, so I’ve met lots of different people. I quite enjoyed it as well; everyone’s got a different story, everyone’s got a different point of view, and I found that I was quite able to take that all on board…It was something I really wanted to do – I took a year out because I wanted to go travelling and I do have the travel bug a bit now! I think I’ve definitely taken that kind of confidence from meeting new people – It has taken me forward, and also, I grew up. It sounds like a cliché, you know, you go away and ‘find yourself’ and stuff like that, but I’ve definitely grown up a lot more, and I’d like to think I’m a responsible adult now!

What do you plan to do to get people to vote for you?

Well, obviously you’ve got posters and stuff like that, but I don’t think they’re that important, because obviously so many other people are going to do it. Really, what I want to do is go out there and get talking to students, because that’s what I want to do when I’m in the role. I need to get talking to students, find out what they want, let them know that I am an approachable person so they can bring their points of view to me. So yeah, I really want to bring that in my campaign to try and show that if I do get the role, I can go out there and find out what students want and take that forward onto the role.

What issues do you think are most important to students?

Like I say, I’ve got a core set of issues that I want to campaign for – obviously student health and safety is massive thing. People are moving away from home, to usually a new place they’re not familiar with and they may not have many friends, that’s why it’s one of the key points. You’ve also got the environment and Fairtrade – obviously the university and Students’ Union have made leaps and bounds, they got the Silver Award for the environment last year, and apparently, we’re running for the Gold Award this year as well, so I see that as key. I think we can lead from the front with that, really. Also, diversity – we’ve got like, 30,000 students here from different backgrounds, different cultures. I think we can not only learn a lot from those people, but obviously it just brings in a better mix. You meet some many people from different countries and different backgrounds, and they need to be represented as well. Just because there might only be ten Polish students or something like that, they still deserve a say in the way the Students’ Union is run, so I’m hoping I can campaign for that.

Do you have any ideas yet for campaigns that you would like to run?

Well, one of the aspects I do want to look into is student accommodation. I stayed in the traditional halls in my first year, and I wasn’t too impressed with them, to be honest. I think that needs to be looked into – there’s a few issues that I’ve got with that, that I’d like to take on, if I do get into Campaign’s Officer. Like I said, I’m trying to go into it very open, I don’t want to go in with a mindset of ‘this is what I want to do’, because I think the role should be based on student views, not my views. There’s a couple of things that I want to push forward, but it’s going to be very student-based, so what the student issues are, will be what I’ll be campaigning for, rather than me coming in and imposing my points of view on them.

Campaigns Officer is a new position this year; do you think it has been a good idea to combine Equal Opportunities Officer and Welfare Officer?

Yeah, definitely. I’ve been speaking to Chris [Lowden, current SU President] about it, and he seems to think that it’s a good idea and it will solidify the university and the student role in it. I think this year is massively important, being the first year that there’s a Campaign’s Officer. I think, because of that, if I do get the role, it needs to be taken on 100 per cent and solidify as a position- I need to take a stand and make sure that student lives aren’t affected by the fact that the two roles are being combined. So yeah, it’s a massive opportunity.

What is your position on top-up fees?

I think it’s a matter that needs to be addressed nationally, and I’m definitely 100 per cent behind a campaign to lower top-up fees. I don’t think it’s realistic to get rid of them completely, but the price they’ve gone up to now is obviously extortionate. I don’t think students can be expected to pay that back, and I think it will affect them later on, so it’s definitely something I’m very passionate about that needs to be campaigned for and it needs to be sorted out. I think we can make a difference – the whole point of a democracy is that people have their own voice and they can take that on, and I think that if we do something, both within UCLan, and nationally, we can take that on to the government, and hopefully we can make changes.

You can view David Watters’s manifesto here

You’ll be able to read details of candidates on your mobile and then make your decision. Technology eh?

Why do you want to stand for the position?

To change the Union I guess is the broadest answer. I’ve been around volunteering for several different roles for the past four and a half years and yeah it would be nice to actually get in because it is a full time position.

Why should people vote for you?

Because I care about the SU and the UCLan students. I’m passionate. I want to go out and talk to people and get people more interested in the SU even if I don’t get elected. Hopefully, at the end of the day it only happens once a year when people go out and talk to people. That’s sad, if I get in it won’t be just once a year. If I don’t get elected at least hopefully as a result of me going out and talking to people, people might take more of an interest in the SU. I’d like to move the Union on if you like, make it more democratic I mean not a lot of people know about the SU, why it exists, who the elected officers are, what they do, why should it be important to them?

How do you plan to improve the position?

For any elected officer here you’ve got three sort of strands to what you want to change. You want to change practises in the university, which is why we are a Student’s Union, to stand up for students and have a collected voice to be able to get strength in unity. We can put pressure on the university to make things better for the students whatever that might be. Make things better in the local community for the relationship that students have with Prestonians as well, we’re members of this area in Preston like everyone else is. We live in a big building but also change things, change aspects of the Union as well, so we’re able to do those things.

What relevant skills and experiences have you had?

In the terms of SU experience I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to look at my manifesto yet. I couldn’t resist putting on a little CV bit which had 13 roles listed on in the SU and hopefully that’ll show to potential voters that I’m not just coming out of the woodworks because I want £14,000 or whatever it is. I’ve done a lot of work for free in my own time doing my own little bit to try and improve the union. Like I said I was chairman of the drama society and chair of the societies council and vice-chair of student council – I’m currently chair. I’ve been on the executive before as part time I’ve got involved in media as well Pluto and Frequency in the past. I’m doing lots of random stuff hopefully that’ll show the passion, the dedication, the understanding of what the SU does, how it runs, how it should be a democracy. The fact that we’re not perhaps where we should be in terms of that and also I’m not just completely idealist I’ve done a business management course and hopefully that’ll get me a business sense, obviously we have great staff here who advise and run departments and things on behalf of what will be the student affairs committee, hopefully there’s a balance there of ability and sense of passion and dedication.

How do you think your campaign will be different to other candidates?

Well I don’t know what the other candidates are doing it would be nice to know. I don’t know, going out and talking to people that seems to be proven the best way. It’s playing it by ear to an extent because it’s the first time we’ve done e-voting here we don’t get a great turn out normally in comparison to percentage wise of our student population like 1100 out of 36000 students or whatever. It isn’t great hopefully it’ll go up. But yeah going out and talking to people, hopefully people will recognise me. I’ve been around long enough now but hopefully people will learn more about the SU so we’ll see.

What changes, if any, would you like to make to the SU?

Within the Student’s Union I think there’s an awful lot of volunteers that don’t really know they are volunteers, they don’t really get recognition. People who volunteer like Pluto, Frequency or PSTV won’t be able to get employable skills and a lot of them are on journalism or media based courses, some of them aren’t. Same as clubs and society like I was chairman of drama society for two and half years so, it is hard.

I think clubs and societies are a huge part of the SU and certainly in terms of student involvement and when people come to university it’s a great social aspect, a chance to make a lot of friends. A lot of people I know are through my experience in the Students’ Union and I’m thankful for that but we’ve got to give other people the same opportunity, to do that as well. If you look at other Student Unions’, perhaps even smaller than ours, they have more clubs and societies, more activities going on with them, more members more facilities as well and it’s one of these things.

The facility down at PSA for team sports is absolutely fantastic but we need to spread out those resources as well. There are other smaller sports clubs that have higher expense per personas well, per head it costs more to do. Things like fencing for example they’ve just got new equipment, we want to give them the opportunity to grow and expand have more up to date facilities and things to give them even more space when it comes to a society’s and things; licenses for this, that and the other.

That is one of the things that give people employable skills as well so it helps them along because it’s difficult to put in the hours with the university work as well because we’re being shafted by the government, people will have to work on top of all that it’s a lot of hard work. And sometimes I get the feeling that people who do volunteer in the SU don’t feel like they get much out of it as they could. That’s got to change.

Thinking about university campus, car parking. Again, everyone comes up and says this year upon year upon year its got looked into though we can’t keep saying no, we can’t sort it out or we’ve tried that, obviously we’re not trying hard enough. We’re not going to find more car parking spaces so that’s a no before you start thinking I’m absolutely barmy and before I start living in a dream world that’s not going to happen. But whether we can work with the council and university to get discounted student parking spaces on the perhaps emptier car parks, car spaces in town, Hill Street, St Georges, Fishergate whatever. Or it’s been said before and they said they wouldn’t let them, the Park and Ride, getting them to come by this way maybe that’s something to go back and work on if not maybe our own like we run the safety bus we look at a lot of things get it sorted and finally get it sorted because you know at the AGM every year it’s always the same matter that keeps getting brought up. Especially with people who live off campus, people commuting and although you can get student train discounts and bus discounts it’s not the easiest thing all the time especially if you’re lugging loads of stuff around.

There was a lot of manifesto last year when I ran for President – yep I lost I’m back. Hopefully it shows I’m dedicated to get out there and do it seriously I didn’t just think you know I’d run away after defeat I’m really serious about what I can do in the SU in this role so I’m back doing it again.

What are your strengths and weaknesses?

My weaknesses is my personal organisation, if I’m honest, that’s why I need a good campaign team around me. That’s something I’ll have to do better if I get elected because of the sheer scale of what I want to achieve. I’m good at organising other people and organising other things but I need to slap myself on the wrist as well.
My strengths- my passion. I think is a great strength for here you know it’s not seen as a management position it isn’t really it’s almost a politician’s position. And I’m not necessarily one of those. I think it is about ideas, leadership, communication, hopefully.

How do you think you’ll cope with the responsibility, pressure and training you’ll have as President?

As I said we have staff here to advise us on things that we don’t know, that’s what they are paid a lot of money for. I’ve been around I’ve seen a lot of training sessions. I’m kind of involved with NUS as well this will be my third time going to annual conference, the NUS conference as they tend to do a lot of the training. I don’t think I’m scared I think I’m just relishing it, relishing the opportunity, I’ve wanted it for so long now, this position, of what I think I can bring to it, it’s not an opportunity I’m ready to waste. So I’ll roll my sleeves up and get stuck in.

You can view Christopher Ward’s manifesto here

Why do you want to stand for the position?

I’m very passionate about the university and I’m prepared to represent the university to the highest ability, meeting the needs of future students and primarily to make a rewarding difference to UCLan.

Why should people vote for you?

I’m a very enthusiastic student, I’m very down to earth and I’m there for them basically. Because I’m passionate about the university I’m ready to work on what they want. I want to input student feelings, their opinions into the Union and make it a better place. Obviously I’ve got some campaigns I want to run for to make student life better in all aspects.

How do you plan to improve the position?

Well, by working alongside other committee members. Chris Lowden’s done some great work this year and he’s changed the SU vastly. I want to carry on with the work that he’s done and work on top of that as well. As President of the university I really want to make a difference and I really want to get everything I say out there. I want to campaign correctly, so that students are always aware of my activities and the committee activities as well.

What relevant skills and experience have you had?

Towards presidency, nothing. But as an enthusiastic student, I came to university on my own, without parents or anything, made hundreds and hundreds of friends. I’ve heard a lot of stuff about what people are saying about the university and it’s never been changed and I’ve been here for three years now and I think it’s about time that it needs to be changed and that’s the reason I’m mainly here for – to change that.

What changes would you like to make to the SU, if any?

As a student here I believe that the conservation for student health is extremely important. As the university is rapidly becoming one of the best universities offering sports courses and the sports facilities here at UCLan are really good. There should be good facilities for the students as well. The gym, yes it’s a cheap price, but say a little alteration, £20 on the joining fee, with 1,000 students, could create an extra £20,000, which you could put towards free weights and extra machines, so that’s one idea. Another one – the library is still a noisy place that needs to be addressed. Parking around the Students’ Union as well. Another one, you’ve got all the pasty shops and stuff, maybe like a sandwich outlet, stuff like that. A lot of students always need their hair cut, there’s opportunities for businesses like hair salons around the campus. Maybe a student hair salon that could bring money into the university as well. On top of that, as President I’m working alongside the committee members so they’ll be bringing up a lot of things as well so I’m there to campaign and go through their work as well, but that’s just a few of my ideas I have as well.

How do you think your campaign will be different to other candidates?

I don’t know really. I know the other people running for presidency. Confidence wise, I’m happy with it. The campaign will be different. I did have ideas of doing video inserts and stuff to put in clubs, but I’ve just been told that everyone has to have the fair resources, same resources available to one another. I don’t know. I need to think of a good slogan and once that’s put into action that should be good, I should be getting there. It’s just basically being happy and giving people what they want, listening to them. I think you need to listen more than talk to them. Listening is very important.

What do you think are your strengths and weaknesses?

Strengths, talking to people. It doesn’t put me off approaching anybody. It doesn’t matter what race they are, nationality they are or what they are in general. Weaknesses, I wouldn’t say there’s many weaknesses to be quite honest. I’m just prepared to go for it. Who knows? A weakness would be all these things, these by-laws, it’s sticking to them, it’s going to be hard for me to stick to them. Well it’s not hard to stick to them, but I have to stick them, it’s going to change the way I campaign a bit. It should be good. I’ve got the voice and I’m here to represent.

How do you think you’ll cope with the responsibility, pressure and training you’ll have as President?

One thing I’ve always enjoyed in life is the fact of learning new things and especially if it interests me, I spend a lot of time and effort and study into that area. One reason why I’m running for presidency is I was going to take a year out searching for a job that’s ideal for me, but as President here you learn a lot of stuff – the financial aspect of business, law aspects of business and business in general. That will give me the opportunity when going out into the wide world of jobs a better CV, more skills and that’s what I’m quite looking forward to, picking up these new skills and being able to use them later in life.

Any other comments you’d like to add?

The students of UCLan require a confident and outgoing President to act as Union’s spokesperson locally and nationally and I believe I am the perfect candidate.

You can view Gavin Jones’s manifesto here

In a message to her Facebook group she said: “Hi guys, Thanks for all your support so far. I have decided to withdraw from the elections due to a change in circumstances next year. Please remember to vote in the elections on Monday!”

This leaves Gavin Jones and Chris Ward to fight it out, for Chris Ward it’s the second time he’s been in a direct run-off for the position.