We met with the delightful Chloe Averill on the first day of voting. The third-year Management Studies student from Birmingham was something of a small whirl of orange campaign T-Shirt and sore throat as she rushed in to our interview – I narrowly avoided the urge to insist she put her feet up for half an hour and have a nice cuppa and a speed-nap. Chloe filled us in on her policies, the work she’s done with Nottingham’s Green Light Project, and she even told us a cheeky kiss-and-tell from her past!
Tell us what’s involved in the role of Equal Opportunities & Welfare Officer, in your opinion.
There are two sides to it. The welfare side, which I believe is everything from mental to sexual health. It includes things like organising the HealthyU events and roadshows, especially raising awareness of these for First Years. At the moment there is a lot of focus on sexual health, which is obviously important but I think we need a bigger focus on mental health – so improving counselling services and mental health provisions is important.
Then there’s the safety aspect. Mike (the current EO&W Officer) has been working on getting better lighting on Station Road near Sutton Bonington; I want to extend this to better lighting on the Downs and Triumph Road near Jubilee.
The Equal Opportunities side of things involves working with the minority networks within the University (Women’s Network, LGBT, Disabled Students Network and BME), and working with the Officers of these to help them make changes within their Networks. You need to have an open mind and be able to prioritise the changes that are needed.
Talk us through the ‘best bits’ of your manifesto.
So my manifesto is split in to three parts, which were basically the three things I thought needed addressing and that I could apply myself best to.
The first thing is improving safety. I know a lot of older students will think this is something that can’t be achieved, but these are issues that really need to be raised. The Safety Bus is a key element of my manifesto. It will hopefully run from Crisis and Ocean every half hour; you’ll buy your ticket in advance from the SU box office for about £1.50 and that will be your taxi home for the night, dropping you straight at your door! There won’t be issues like drivers refusing to take you because they’re worried you’ll be sick in their vehicle – they’ll be drivers we know and trust.
I’ve spoken to Sheffield’s SU where they have this in place and they say that it’s really popular. I don’t see any reason we shouldn’t have the same service in Nottingham!
The second bit is sport, which is what makes my manifesto different from all the others. People are probably thinking “how the hell is sport relevant to welfare?” The thing is, if you’re not participating in physical activity, your health is affected.
The lecture recordings and moving labs from a Wednesday afternoon would help resolve the conflict of interest that sportspeople often feel: “do I go to my lectures or do I play a match?” This conflict results in stress and anxiety. It’d be very simple to move labs or record a lecture, so the problem is easily fixed. I also want to see medics and nurses included in sports. They don’t get Wednesday afternoons off, and I know nurses who were told at their University interview that if they came to Nottingham, they pretty much couldn’t do a sport! Exclusion contributes massively to mental health issues, and changing this could really improve a student’s quality of life.
Sexual health and mental health are third. These have already been improved significantly by Mike; I particularly want to focus on the mental health side of things. Calls to Nightline are increasing rapidly all the time and there needs to be something in place to stop that. It’s not on my manifesto because I don’t know the solution at the moment, but I think there needs to be an ‘in between’ option for students with mental health problems. At the moment, you either: do nothing, call Nightline or go to your GP.
I experienced this at one point – I couldn’t tell what was wrong but I wasn’t myself. I didn’t want to go to the doctor because I knew they’d prescribe me antidepressants, which I knew I didn’t need, and I didn’t want to call Nightline because, although they do an amazing job, I didn’t feel like it would help my situation at the time. It’s important that something is in place for those who don’t feel comfortable going to the doctor but do think their problem needs more direct help than Nightline can offer.
You’ve come up with some really straight forward solutions to common problems. But which of your policies do you think would be the most difficult to implement and why?
The issue with some of them is funding, but I think we have a strong argument for needing the money. Students’ safety should be the most important thing and money shouldn’t be a factor in it. Why are we spending on luxuries within the university like buildings we don’t really need when the money could be spent on improving safety?
The 24-hour exam Hopper Bus will be particularly tricky, as providing an extra service normally means cutting another somewhere else. I know 24-hour buses are promised every year, but I’m not arguing for one all the time – just through exams period when people are at the library late. Again, it’s a safety issue, and I think if there’s enough pressure from a welfare point of view then it is something we can achieve!
Tell us about your work with Enactus Nottingham’s Green Light project.
We worked with women from Nottingham who made a living from prostitution. Many of them were also drug abusers and had found themselves lost on the wrong path. They were such nice women! It was tough because some of them didn’t want a way out while some did but had so many underlying issues that it was very difficult.
The project began with things like arts and crafts activities, but when we didn’t get much of a response from that we changed our direction and decided to put together a book made up of stories about the women’s lives, written by them. (It’s called ‘Hello, I’m Here’ and is available on Amazon).
We gave the money from the books back to the women, to make up for funding that they had lost. This funding was really important as it paid for condoms and needle screenings which kept them safe from HIV and STIs.
What’s your opinion on the campaign to ban Page 3 from the SU shop?
I agree with it – I think Page 3 does represent women in a light that we should be trying to stop. The Uni’s Women’s Network is doing a lot of hard work to ensure women are treated the same as men, so it’s contradictory for the SU shop to be selling a newspaper that objectifies women.
If people do want to buy The Sun, they can get it in another shop. It would be different if it was an outside shop on campus, but the SU shop is representative of the Student Union so they shouldn’t be supporting something the Women’s Network stands against.
QUICKFIRE ROUND:
Ocean – yay or nay? Yay!
Dream job? SU Equal Opps and Welfare Officer, obviously!
Who was the last person you text? Probably someone on my campaign team, begging them for help!
Personal miracle hangover cure? Self-made McDonalds breakfast wrap.
Are you a spender or a saver? Neither, because I don’t have money to save and don’t have money to spend!
Snog, marry, avoid – Jamie from Made in Chelsea, Peter Andre, Justin Bieber? Snog Jamie, marry Peter and avoid Justin Bieber.
Got a fun fact about yourself, personal claim to fame or special talent? I got a kiss from Matt from Busted when I was 7!
WOW. He was my favourite… Yep, mine too! I didn’t wash my cheek for about a week! A fun fact about myself is that I’m an identical twin – does that count?
Yeah – I’ve always thought that would be fun. Oh, and my special talent is I can do this weird sort of gymnastics dance move. I basically balance on my chest with my legs in the air.
Anything you’d like to add?
Even if you don’t vote for me, make sure you DO vote – the student elections are your chance to have an input.
But if you want someone who’s going to be completely open-minded going in to the role, approachable and visible, then vote for me!
Check out Chloe’s manifesto here, and her campaign page here.