SU 2023 elections: ‘Why should students vote for you?’

Voting to elect new presidents for The Falmouth and Exeter Students’ Union is well underway, and students at Falmouth and Exeter are now voting to choose who will represent them in the 2023/24 academic year.

The position of ‘Vice President’ is new for the 2023/24 academic year, and has been created from the President Welfare & Inclusivity and President Student Experience positions.

To help our readers in their decision-making process, we have examined the candidates’ manifestos and laid out their key policies if they were to be elected for the next academic year.

Some of the candidates also responded to questions from the Anchor, answering the important question: ‘why should students should vote for you?’

Here is what this year’s presidential candidates had to say.

Connie Chilcott

Running unopposed in the role of President Exeter, Connie has developed three “Pathways to Action” in her manifesto.

Some of the policies Connie would enact as President Exeter include updating courses to “be relevant to our lived reality”, increasing “modularity” with a “more fluid relationship between departments” and discussing knowledge “communally in seminars and applied to real life examples and issues.”

You can read Connie’s full manifesto here.

Alex Fish

A current MA business entrepreneur student, Alex’s manifesto highlights three areas of focus: “opportunity, purpose and values”, and hopes to champion these “through direct action.”

Some of the policies Alex would enact as President Falmouth include making “student needs and demands a priority”, conducting student reviews to “make course content more relevant and up to date” and “offering a greater variety of healthy and affordable food on campus.”

You can read Alex’s full manifesto here.

Grace Cummins

Grace told the Anchor: “I’m a passionate student that is extremely keen to make cross course collaboration a key feature of the university.”

“When I started three years ago at Falmouth this was a key feature that I was excited to explore, however my experience has been that it is extremely difficult to contact any department other than your own. Imagine the potential of all our projects if we could work together and connect our different skill sets.”

“Most importantly I feel confident that I can be the representative that makes all your voices as students heard at the meetings that matter and where the decisions are made.”

You can read Grace’s full manifesto here.

Hannah de Oliveira Whitlock

Hannah’s manifesto encompasses three key points: “collaboration, communication and community.”

Some of the policies Hannah would enact as President Falmouth include opportunities for “interdisciplinary collaboration”, “easy and regular access” to resources and opportunities that further the university experience and “regular drop-in sessions with the President of the SU to allow us to stay connected.”

You can read Hannah’s full manifesto here.

Mika Carney

Student rep and disabled students officer Mika Carney hopes to offer “better communication between the services you and future students will use throughout studying at Falmouth.”

Some of the policies Mika would enact as President Falmouth include the mobilisation of “a disabled student network across the SU”, better equipping the student mentor program “with appropriate resources” and a “deeper scrutiny of how [the university] utilises your information, for example in its Individual Learning Plan and Exceptional Circumstances systems.”

You can read Mika’s full manifesto here.

Jordan McClelland

School of Film and Television (SoFT) Department Rep Jordan McClelland hopes to focus on delivering “cost of living action now.”

Some of the policies Jordan would enact as Vice President include “[mobilising] the student body as Vice President”, helping to “create programmes focused on students’ capabilities to look after each other and themselves” and delivering action on the lack of mitigation “for the cost and quality of accommodation [and] on-campus catering.”

You can read Jordan’s full manifesto here.

Orestis Collins

Orestis told the Anchor: “Καλησπέρα, I am Orestis Collins a queer & international student from Greece with a strong passion for art, sociology and anthropology.”

“Since I started studying at Falmouth Uni I have felt that there is a lack of representation for the internationals and queer folks. Therefore, I will create a pop-up safe space on campus, where I’m going to host workshops looking into how everyone can be respectful towards the queer community & the importance of pronouns, how to find the confidence to speak up to bullying & racism and a lot more.”

“I’m also creating a 24/7 online platform that you can reach out if you ever need to speak to someone or raise an issue; i.e. ”the wellbeing team hasn’t responded to my email, can you follow up?”.”

“If you have any questions or want to find out more for my campaign message me on IG: @oryy_collins. I’ll be on both campuses the next few days, so don’t hesitate to say hi.”

You can read Orestis’ full manifesto here.

Phil Green

Third-year Marine and Natural History Photography student Phil Green encompasses three key areas in his manifesto: “community, ecology and democracy.”

Some of the policies Phil would enact as Vice President include encouraging “practical solidarity throughout the universities on a local and global level”, growing more food on campus by liaising with the Grounds team on the potential of a “food forest” on Tremough Campus and pressuring the universities into “being transparent with their decisions.”

You can read Phil’s full manifesto here.

Seb Ramdin

A third-year photography student at Falmouth, Seb organises small-scale events for people to share creativity and hopes to bring this to the role.

Some of the policies Seb would enact as Vice President include supporting “community based, inclusive events” like People’s Assemblies on Tremough Campus, standing with the university to help “create important environmental change” and “challenging the prices we pay across campus, from rent in student accommodation to the Stannary lunch menu.”

You can read Seb’s full manifesto here.

Voting for the next academic year’s SU presidents closes on Thursday 2nd March at 12 PM, with the results announced on Friday 3rd March in the Stannary Bar from 4 PM.