This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Nottingham chapter.
This week we meet Abiodun (Michael), a second year Law student at the University Of Nottingham. He’s known both on and off campus by many students and he’s currently running for the Accommodation and Community Officer role within the SU Exec. He speaks to Leona about his involvement in the university community, his favourite nights out and reveals his opinion on the horsemeat scandal.
Michael, please tell us a little bit about yourself.
An interesting fact about me is that I actually have two first names. I’m comfortable being called Abiodun or Michael, but the latter has featured more frequently during my university career, so I use that. It’s commonly known that I love going out and I probably do so more often than my degree and bank balance would suggest is reasonable. Other miscellaneous facts about me are that I like to write poetry and make music when I have the time.
Which societies do you take part in here at the University of Nottingham?
I’m the President of the People and Planet Society, it’s the Nottingham chapter of the largest student organised Green and Environmental issue group in the UK. We campaign nationally and regionally on issues of importance and salience to Nottingham students.
Are there any other things that you are involved with on campus or within the SU?
As I have already alluded to, I’ve been involved in green and social justice issues for a while. I was the Social Justice and Environment rep on my JCR committee and have constantly campaigned to get concessions for our students from Nottingham City Council and housing agencies, such as the installation of Wi-fi at Raleigh Park and significant improvements to waste disposal. I’m currently running for the SU Exec role of Community Officer so that I can promote and help sustain this kind of positive change in this city for our students, something I passionately believe in. My favourite thing that I’ve done at this university so far, is being given the honour to be part of the WeekOne
experience as a rep for Raleigh Park Halls, giving a whole new intake of freshers the week of their lives.
What kind of activities did you organise for the freshers at Raleigh Park this year?
Firstly, we gave them their keys and were their first points of human contact they had at university. We had one of my friends DJ at an event on the Saturday of WeekOne, called Love Your Hall. We also conducted a talent competition that was won by an ingenious rap, people played pool in the new JCR throughout the day and we talked to them about our experiences at uni to inform them about what their first few weeks would be like – this is something I would like to make compulsory if elected Accommodation and Community Officer. We also took them to uni (it’s a half hour walk) for the football competition that the Athletic Union organised. We loved every second of it.
You previously said that you go out a lot, can you tell us what your perfect week would be, if you
were to go out each night?
My ideal week would start at Monday Oceana, I am a Student Clubber ticket seller and recently I’ve had some of the best nights of my life there. Next, I would go to Tuesday’s F*ck Hip-Hop at Market Bar. Their pitchers are simply divine and exactly what one needs to set the party off right. The music is decent and I can honestly say I have a lot of time for the establishment. Wednesday is, unfortunately, off limits for me as I have a two-hour compulsory Law and Economics seminar at 9am on Thursday. I lament that this has robbed me of the love of my life, Crisis. Thursday, by contrast, is the start of my weekend and I regularly tear up the dancefloor at Bodega (Swing is incredible) or if I’m going out with my fresher friends, the trend seems to be 4Play @ Forum this year. On Friday, a similar split happens and I attend Basslaced/Detonate with my older (22+) housemates friends or Ocean with my fresher friends. The live music at Stealth is the best one can hope to be entertained by in Nottingham, and the Big O is hilarious. The weekend is usually a less organised affair, but Saturday night Lenton house parties are, for me, as enjoyable as genuine nights out. It’s a chance to unwind/go insane with friends who could not otherwise go out in the week. In this hypothetical week, I would definitely have crashed by Sunday and I would seek the comfort of my bed, or probably Mother at that stage.
And finally, what’s your opinion on the recent findings of horse DNA in beef products in the UK
and Europe?
My initial reaction, one of only mild surprise, later turned to disgust when the full implications of this became clear… in establishments where food has religious significance, such as faith schools in Lancashire, meat packaged as halal meat which contained horsemeat subverted and disrespected the cultural choices of a substantive group of people. I truly believe that people in a democracy should have free and easy access to information, and that includes knowing exactly what is in the products we physically and financially consume. Information is the key to unlocking our society, and if we are living in a situation where up to 29% of the meat in a burger could potentially be from an old/ill animal, that is unaccounted for in meat registration systems, there is a serious moral problem that business leaders and politicians must act upon.