It’s begun.
That time of year when you receive 30 flyers in the five-minute ascent up the forum hill. That time of year when your fellow students run around in superman costumes and goat onesies. That time of year when people attempt to buy your loyalty with sweets and pots of honey. Yes, it’s Sabb election week! This year there’s been a huge increase in candidates, which means that working out who to vote for can be a little confusing. With five people competing for the top-dog spot of Guild President, we thought we’d provide you all with some information about each candidate and their campaign to help you along in the voting process.
Joel Smith – No Slogan, Just Sense.
If you were lucky enough to see West Side Story at the Northcott last week, you may recognise Joel as Diesel, Lieutenant of the infamous Jets.His manifesto focuses on three main areas: improving university resources, building a better relationship with the wider Exeter community, and ensuring that the Guild really works for the students. In terms of resources, Joel is particularly passionate about the library and the Wellbeing Centre, calling for more workspaces, free wi-fi printing and more funding to wellbeing services in order to cut waiting times and support more students. He also calls for the freezing of accommodation prices and support for students in disputes with private landlords. Having spent the last few weeks making contacts in the Exeter community, Joel hopes to improve the relationship between students and local residents. If successful, his unique angle could give students access to the plethora of resources and cultural events in the city, and maybe even open up the King Billy as a new drinking hole (we can always dream). Finally, Joel wants to make sure that the Sabbs are actually present on campus and in the lives of students. Most of us don’t really know what the Guild are doing every week, and how many of us can actually name all of the current Sabbs? He hopes to remedy this by creating a Sabb column in Exeposé, inserting ‘office hours’ into his work week and spending part of each day in the forum so students can approach him directly with their issues and views. It’s time to reconnect the Guild with the students.
He can sing, he can dance, and he can write a manifesto. With such straightforward yet unique policies, we think Joel is definitely a candidate to be considered. To read the rest of Joel’s manifesto and vote for him, click here.
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James ‘the goat’ Hitchings Hales – Vote Goat
The man behind the (goat) mask.
James’ key aim is to safeguard student interests by reclaiming the Guild. He plans on implementing a weekly ‘Sabb Station’ in the forum where students can speak to their Guild representatives directly, and creating Guild Information Points in every Residence Halls. James also wants to improve the ‘Sabb Times’ emails by making them more frequent and more personalised. James focuses strongly on physical and mental student safety. He wants to increase funding to the Wellbeing Centre in order to cut down the waiting times, and divert further funds to a ‘Night Watch’ program which would extend the responsibility of Estate Patrol officers to focus on student protection. Now this is where James’ manifesto gets interesting: he plans on replacing the banned SSB with a bigger, better, FREE event that combines music, drama, charity and media under one roof. Whilst some may call it ambitious, we call it exciting!
Check out the rest of James’ manifesto here and give him a vote if he’s the candidate that floats your goat (sorry).
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Ronnie Henderson – Stay Classy Exeter
He’s very important. He has many leather-bound books and his student house smells of rich mahogany. Ronnie’s manifesto aims to create the best environment for students and societies on campus. With the cost of living rising, we students have all been feeling the pinch. To help us out, Ronnie wants to create a student-run second-hand book shop and try to tackle the high prices of food and drink on campus. He also wants to increase employability opportunities in Exeter, working with the Career Zone to build connections with South West companies and secure term-time internships for students. Societies are a crucial feature of Ronnie’s campaign. He calls for more space on campus for societies and the allocation of Wednesday afternoon for sports and activities. The student experience is about more than just learning, and we’d love to see the importance of societies protected by the Guild. Like the other candidates, Ronnie wants to increase Sabb visibility on campus. If elected, he aims to run a weekly drop-in session for students to voice their opinions, and to relocate the Sabb offices to a more accessible place for students.
Hey everybody, look how good Ronnie’s manifesto looks!
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Rachel Gillies – Rach for the Stars
See. Live. Love. Your Guild.
Rach’s manifesto focuses on three areas: improved guild visibility (See), student wellbeing (Live), and increased student ownership of the Guild (Love). The Guild offers so much yet we rarely hear about it. Rach wants to change that by investigating the possibility of a Guild app and adding a Guild Tab to the MyExeter page. She also wants to improve transparency by encouraging the University to publish a Guild spending breakdown. Rach believes that the Sabbs should come to you, and plans on running interactive sessions in the Forum, as well as establishing ‘Pint with a Sabb’ gatherings in the Ram. Student wellbeing is an important issue for Rach, who wants to bring mental health back on to the agenda. She wants shorter waiting times at the Wellbeing Centre, the introduction of exam escape spaces equipped with sofas and free tea, and a Puppy Room. Yes, you read that correctly, a Puppy Room. Apparently they’re not just a girl’s best friend, but a girl’s best relaxation aide too. On top of all this, Rach wants to see free yoga classes and the introduction of healthier food on campus – salad bar, anyone? It seems this girl really has our welfare needs sussed! Finally, Rach wants to introduce a Loyalty Card Scheme that would give students discounts, as well as giving a percentage of the money spent at Guild outlets back to societies whose members are spending money there. She also wants a comprehensive guide for society committees so they are aware of the resources available to them.
So if university life has left you feeling blue, you can count on Rach, she will be there for you. Check out her full manifesto and give her your vote here.
Ajay Gaur
Unfortunately Ajay hasn’t submitted a manifesto, but if you want to know his policies, I’m sure you’ll find him on campus campaigning alongside the others!