The Gown (Election Edition): 3rd March 2015

Northern Ireland’s Only Independent Student Newspaper, Established 1955

3rd March 2015

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Conversation with Dominic Doherty, Deputy Director of QUBSU

Pete HodsonNews Editor@PeteHodson

(Continued on page 4)

SU Election Edition

As this year’s elections kicked off, The Gown spoke to Dominic Doherty, QUBSU veteran and returning officer for student elections since the late 1990s. Mr Doherty attended QUB during the 1980s, being elected as a student councillor, VP Clubs and Societies, and in 1989-90 SU President, before assuming a permanent administrative role at the Union. Mr Doherty ensures that the elections pan out smoothly and in accordance with the SU constitution. Along with voluntary assistance of Cas-par Love of QUB Information Services – “a true friend of the Students’ Union”, Mr Doherty plays a crucial behind the scenes role in the election process. The software developed for the online elections, which superseded paper votes and ballot box counting several years ago, prompted a significant rise in voter turnout from around 1800 in the Presidential elections to the current figure hovering around the 4000 mark. Mr Doherty did, however, express his disappointment that despite the leap in electoral participation several years ago, having roughly 80% of students abstain-ing “is obviously a matter of concern”. Discussing last year’s student of-ficer elections, Mr Doherty reflected on the fact that six (out of seven) VP posts went uncontested last year, despite a robust marketing strategy organised by the SU aimed at generating candidature. Mr Doherty remarked “for union democ-racy, last year’s situation wasn’t healthy”

15 CANDIDATES RUNNING BUT TWO POSITONS UNCONTESTED

Fifteen candidates are now standing for election in the SU Leader Elec-tions 2015, after current VP Welfare Patrick Sally withdrew from the race late last week. Sally had intended on running for the position of VP Com-munity. In a statement to The Gown, he commented on his reasons for withdrawal. “I decided to stand for the role of Student Officer Communi-ty as I am passionate about improv-ing life for all students at Queen’s. “Over the past number of days, I have taken some time to reflect on the year ahead and I have come to the conclusion that I would like to direct my focus on developing a career outside the student move-ment. I wish all the candidates the best of luck in the election and I am delighted that there are so many people strongly committed to mak-ing our Students’ Union stronger for all students.” 2015 sees a significant im-

provement in terms of the number of candidates running. Raymond Dillon, Caoímhe Mac Neill and Seán Searle are running for President. Mac Neill has been VP Equality & Diversity for two years, Searle is captain of the Hurling club and Dillon is a Computer Science student, who founded the Computer Society. In 2014 the only position contested was that of President with Ciarán Gallagher, Katie Matthews and Martin Lilly running. The remaining six positions were uncontested with all from the ‘Breakin’ Thru’ ticket nar-rowly beating RON (Reopen Nomina-tions). Seén Fearon, most known on campus for leading Sinn Féin activ-ism and Caitríona Keenan, captain of QUB Knights are running for VP Campaigns and Communications. The position of VP Community is contested by RAG chairman Con-nor Malone, 100 Help the Home-less co-founder Paul Loughran and Queen’s Radio’s Tori Watson.

VP Equality and Diversity also has strong interest. Mature postgrad and student mum Nicole Quinn, LGBTQ activist Dervla McGaughey and another candidate with a history of Sinn Féin activism, Oísin Hasson, are running. Current VP Community Chloe Patterson hopes to switch portfolio to VP Welfare and is contested by geography student Ellen Haveron.VP Clubs and Societies Niall McKen-na and VP Education Hannah Niblock run for the second year in a row, uncontested. The seven party ticket system does not present itself this year but looser tickets are present. Mac Neill, Hasson, Loughran and Fearon and Keenan, McKenna and Searle have banded together. Niblock and Patter-son have also united under the ‘We Deliver’ banner.

Polls open 7am today on QOL and will close on Thursday 4th March at 5pm.

Raymond Dillon Caoímhe Mac Neill Seán Searle

Page 2

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Editorial

Kylie NobleEditor@Noble_Kylie

The Hood is the Gown’s anonymous whistleblower cum satirist. Founded in 1976 by a generous donation from the Sir Humphrey Hood Foundation, the Hood has consistently broken news of wrongdoing in the elected offi-cials of the Students’ Union, as well as the wider student movement and the university itself. Loved by people who care too much about SU politics and despised by officers who should care more, the Hood delivers the news and the schmooze on those who waste your union dues. @upthehood

A friend once advised me that when cast-ing a wager, the optimum stake is between £5-10, it being enough to make things in-teresting, but not so much that the bowels are filled with squirty dread. In many ways, the SU Elections are similar. The office is an important enough bauble to be worth the interest (unlike NUS-USI rep elections), but the existence of a permanent and well staffed bureaucracy ensures that the role is not so important that the prospect of wasting it on an over-filled sports jersey is unthinkable. Although the elections are generally as formulaic as an Easter pageant, every so often a dab of mustard appears among the limp cabbage. Some of these dabs add delightful flavour, like electing a pirate, and others fly into the nostrils causing much agony, like the ‘Super Seven’ campaign of last year.

The first major change in electoral practice is the absence of seven person tickets. They had become a major part of the electoral landscape over the last number of years,

Elections are the holy grail of student jour-nalism and leading the election coverage is hard earned. By the time you get to lead coverage of the most important fixture in the SU calendar, you’ve spent several years caring far too much about the democratic (or more often undemocratic) workings of the Students Union. To most people, the SU is a place to get loaded on a Monday night and to buy cheap but fairly unpleas-ant sandwiches. To a newspaper editor, it’s the place you probably spend significantly more hours in than your student house and the McClay combined.

This is the third SU election I’ve covered in some extent (how long ago the days of creeping around Elms for several hours in the dark looking for candidates cheating

but the large number of RON votes and uncontested positions last year may have caused an epiphany among the incumbent officers that victory under such conditions is like a diet made exclusively of Easter Eggs, initially satisfying but ultimately hollow and certainly less than healthy. Hopefully, a few well placed toecaps could ensure that the beast remains dormant, but we daren’t hold our collective breath.

In place of the usual seven person behe-moths, two mid-sized tickets are intent on having a square go. The first might loosely be termed ‘the Nationalist Ticket’, consisting of incumbent VP Equality Caoimhe McNeill (for President), Chariteer Paul Loughran (for Community) and Sinn Fein mouthpieces Oisin Hassan and Sean Fearon (for Equality & Diversity and Campaigns, respectively). Although they’re well known among union hacks, one is left wondering to what extent they can rely on the famously quicksilver goodwill of the council, especially given the controversial nature of these menfolk on the ticket.

Incumbent officers Hannah Niblock and Chloe Patterson are also looking to stay in the glass office under the menacing

seem), and I feel an odd mixture of weari-ness and hopefulness for the whole busi-ness. Several people have asked me this year if I would not consider running and there was are times in the past that I have pondered it. I very nearly ran for Student Council last year.

Yet the honest truth is I’ve cared and writ-ten about the SU a heck of a lot, for nearly three years and I feel I’ve given all I can give. I am starting to look forward to not having to spend frequent week nights live tweeting the intricacies of SU Council. There are many great activists and much passion within SU circles but there’s also pettiness and egoism. Whether candidates win or lose, it needs to be remembered that the SU is not everything, it is not the be all and end all. God knows I’m guilty of think-ing the same of this paper. The SU is one small microcosm of democracy and there is a bigger, badder world beyond.

In my time here I’ve seen two years of lacklustre Law/GAA student officer teams and with the election of the independent Gallagher to President last spring, the frac-turing of that system. Tickets may still exist this year but they are severely weakened and we are seeing several activists running. Candidate question time was a refreshing occurrence this year with all candidates’ ac-

title ‘We Deliver’, with Hannah seeking re-election and Patterson slinking out of Community and into Welfare. Although the girls from the office enjoy a good working relationship, they are not running along-side the others, possibly due to partisan disagreements with Hassan & Fearon, differences which came to the fore during their abortive October plebiscite. That said, the nationalist ticket aren’t putting up any rivals to the deliverance’s on any of their positions, and with good reason: If the tick-et candidates were to win, the atmosphere in the office would be comparable to a ura-nium sauna for the rest of the term, where-as if Niblock/Patterson were victorious, it would be so for the next year-and-some.

Opposing the ‘Nationalist Ticket’ is the ‘Sports Team’, a throwback to ancient electoral practices. This ticket boasts Hurler Sean Searle (President), incumbent Ni-all McKenna (Clubs & Socs), Cheerleader Catriona Keenan (Campaigns) and (until very recently) VP Patrick Sally (sublimating into VP Community). Sally, unfortunately, recently dropped out, but fair play to him, there’s many an officer stuck in for the sake of the CV and delivered a lacklustre

tually seeming quite on the ball and giving decent answers, which admittedly makes it a little less fun, without the mess ups.

It appears that our SU could truly be on the cusp of taking a much more activist and engaged direction and if so, despite my weariness, parts of me are sad that I won’t be here next year to see it all unfold. No doubt I will miss the SU bubble in many ways. I graduate in July and my time is up.

So if you will be at QUBSU next year, get involved in some way. Be that standing for Council, through clubs & societies or writ-ing for a certain newspaper because my best memories and everything truly worth learning, I’ve learnt within the SU or from the friends and activists I’ve met through it. At the very least use your vote in these elections. I hope this issue provides an informative aid in doing so.

The Hood

(Continued on page 3)

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THE GOWN

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performance. McKenna has proved very capable of holding his own in the inhospi-table environment of C & S, and between him and Searle they can certainly secure a lot of the GAA vote, but whether this can be leveraged when their traditional turf is uncontested is an unknown.

Which leaves the Independents; those essential folks at the bottom of the elector-al food chain on whom the eco-system of democracy is nevertheless dependent. En-gineer Raymond Dillon (President), LGBTQ* petitioner Dervla McGaughey (Equality and

Diversity), mature post-grad Nicole Quinn (Equality & Diversity), geographer Ellen Haveron (Welfare), Raggie Connor Malone (Community) and blogger Tori Watson (Community) all have a difficult fight on their hands, but thankfully not an impossi-ble one. Although independent candidates winning are as anomalous as albino crows, they do exist, as proven by incumbent and lame duck president Ciaran Gallagh-er (who is not seeking re-election, to the despair of the ground floor). Both Quinn and McGaughey would prove a welcome break from the usual rotation of ‘straight, undergrad, woman’ and ‘gay, undergrad, man’ Equality and Diversity incumbents, but the usual question involving the extent to which they can be truly ‘representative’ will surely raise its head.

Although nowhere near the abysses of apathy plumbed last year, there are still two uncontested positions: the ones occupied by Niblock and McKenna. Although this could be construed as a sign of their com-petence (they do the job so well that no-body is willing to put in the work to try to be better than them), their having served the maximum number of terms in office

without having had to compete an actu-al election shows what a trifle the whole game is. Interestingly, we are also faced with two candidates for VP Campaigns who have never actually won a political campaign at QUB, although the prospect of having a dyed-in-the-wool Shinner in office during the centenary of The Easter Rising might set a few nerves on edge.

With three candidates in the running, the post of VP Community is as hotly contested as the presidency: an interesting devel-opment given that the community role consists mostly of weathering the spittle of the residents. And an especially interesting idea in light of the council decision that it was better to throw the role under the bus than countenance a slight pay cut for the other officers (given the number of officer hopefuls in the room, this came as no sur-prise). Perhaps people want to be the last incumbent of the role, or maybe its near extermination brought the existence of the role to public attention, like a panda.

My only advice for vote casting is to ignore the manifesto pledges, they don’t mean a thing. Any policies which come to pass are

likely to have been under discussion for months before the incumbent takes office (especially those promises made by union insiders and hacks), and all the rest are suggestion box fodder and idle vapour. In any case, it’s not my place to tell you how to vote, other than advising you to vote cinematically: demand surprising results, vote for the plucky-yet-incompetent under-dogs, if you don’t like a candidate, tell them to re-open nominations, if you don’t like the results, throw cake at the winner until a new election is called: it’s your union too, by the gods!

The Hood

INTERVIEWS

Page 4

Conversation with Dominic Doherty, Deputy Director of QUBSUPete HodsonNews Editor@PeteHodson

(Continued from front page)

Caoímhe Mac Neill, SU President

and hoped that at least two candidates would put themselves forward to contest the positions in the forthcoming elec-tions. It is understood there has been considerable preliminary interest this year from across campus. Prior to last year, 16-20 candidates standing for the VP positions (which at present come with a £17.5k stipend) was the norm. Despite the growing lack of interest in standing for VP elections, Mr Doherty was of the opinion that “the quality of student officers gets better and better and better. The best part of my job is in July when a new team of officers arrives full of new ideas and enthusiasm…..we’re very respectful of their mandates”. Mr Doherty attributed the decline in interest to the growing disillusionment among young people towards politics

more generally, wryly noting that “we live in a world where Russell Brand has three times as many followers as all MPs combined”. Mr Doherty called for greater recognition of that fact that “students these days are activist in a different way.” He pointed to those quietly labouring away on committees and articulating grievances at student council sessions as evidence of a “redefined” student activ-ism. Mr Doherty argued the image of students holding a placard and causing disruption as the only form of activism is enduring, and that the work of members on the various committees defending student interests should attract similar levels of esteem. Reflecting on the student coun-cil, Mr Doherty recalled the situation in the 1980s and 1990s when council meet-ings sometimes had to be abandoned because of a lack of councillors present. “Council is a lot more respectful than it was in the 1980s….it is a different planet to my time when it was a talking shop for people having their particular rant on an aspect of Irish politics”. Mr Doherty judges the student council to be “much

more unified and focused” these days, “a body which is recognised as being representative of all students” whereas during the Troubles QUBSU was some-thing of a “cold house for certain sec-tions of the student body, who would have shunned the union”.The student council used to be dom-inated by student branches of local political parties, with the majority of councillors sharply divided along party-political lines. Numerous former QUBSU councillors have gone on to Stormont and high office, including Simon Hamilton and Arlene Foster. Most councillors today are nominally independent, with limited or no ties to political parties. Mr Doherty expressed his disappointment “that political parties haven’t put up candidates for March elections. Rightly or wrongly this happened in the 1980s. It all brings diversity and entertainment to the whole process if you have different candidates from different backgrounds with different ideas. It gives the elector-ate choices”. Mr Doherty was asked what the most challenging period was for QUB-

SU during his thirty years of experience, and replied with little hesitation “now, there’s no two ways about it.” Mr Doherty was at pains to stress that SU manage-ment will strive “to ensure our funding is allocated to the absolute core essence of what students want…..the bottom line is no matter what level of funding the Union has, we will use every single pound as sensibly as we can to bring the maximum benefit to students based on what they ask us to do with it”. On the forthcoming elections, Mr Doherty reminded students that “the officers chosen will be your voice for the year. They will be speaking in your behalf. Give them a proper mandate by finding out who they are and what they stand for, and above all stop these candidates and challenge them. Even if you don’t like any of the candidates, vote for reopen nominations just to show that you’ve engaged with the process. It’s very important we increase voter turnout, because low turnout affects the overall credibility of the Union”.


Why do you want to be President?

I want to be President because I think I’ll be the best person for the job, quite frank-ly! I’ve been VP Equality and Diversity for two years now, which has been amazing, but it’s also been challenging to see all the problems faced by students, both on an individual level and what they’re facing as a whole. There’s cuts being made across the board that are detrimental to students. I feel that I have the experience and the knowledge to really tackle that, and to empower students to stand up for them-selves, and to make people see that we’re not going to be taken for granted. We’re not an easy cut to be made. Also, I love Queen’s, just the sense of community that the Students’ Union has. It’s for everybody, not just people on council or in clubs and societies, it’s for everyone.

What do you think needs to change?

I think engagement is something we defi-nitely need to improve on. I think there’s been a lot done this year with the likes of the SU Popups, and engagement has defi-nitely increased. We need to build on that and get out there. If I’m President next year we’re not going to be sat behind desks and wait for students to come to us, we’ll be out engaging with students. That’s my favourite part of the job, talking to people on campus and attending events.

What are your top three issues?

First, if I’m elected I’ll continue the Popups, they were incredible. I’d want to build on that, and also bring them up to the Ashby and School of Architecture. To comple-ment that I’d have ‘Sabbatical Surgeries,’ fortnightly sessions where all seven of us go somewhere like the Enterprise Unit, where students can come and chat to us. It’s the chance to raise any issues they want to raise, but are maybe afraid of find-ing the office, they know a time when they can call in. It just makes us more visible and approachable. Also, student poverty is an issue that’s been highlighted this year, which I’ve been aware of, having worked with student carers and international students. But it’s something that affects all students. I want to bring a café to the SU with not-for-profit food available, as well as a com-mon room area where students can bring a packed lunch. You can’t take a packed lunch into Clements, but you could bring your own there. Then the assembly elections. That’s going to be a massive thing for students. I want the student agenda to be a serious one that MLAs don’t take for granted. The student vote is a massive vote. I want to mobilise students with voter registration drives, loads of things to empower students. We need to be aware that the fees battle isn’t over. At the last general election the SU called for a mas-sive campaign for the cap to be main-tained – and it was. Students are a force to be reckoned with and we’re not going to be screwed over by the government.

At a recent USI council meeting, you

expressed frustration at the objection of ‘Ireland’ being used over ‘North-ern Ireland.’ Some Union-ist councillors didn’t take well to this. With the Sinn Féin referendum, do you feel that Unionists feel less welcome in the SU, and if so, how do you feel you could deal with that?

First, I’d like to clarify that I wasn’t trying to demean their objection. There was people from both sides making their argument on the names used. I had no intention of offending anybody. I was trying to refer to the island of Ire-land. We refer to the regions – the South, Dublin, Border-Mid-lands-Western, and the Northern Region. So whenever I bring the motion to con-gress they’ll and understand I’m talking about all the members USI have. I probably didn’t explain it very well, but it wasn’t political. I t would sadden me to think that people do feel excluded from the Union. I talked to a number of campaigners during the neutrality referendum about my experiences of feeling isolated from the Union, and I would never want any other student to feel that. I would like to think that, if I become President, students can bring their concerns to me or bring it up in council. That’s what it’s there for – to hold sabbatical officers to account if they’re being isolating to any student or group. The ‘engagement’ section of my manifes-

to states that every student is a member of their union, and the thought that any student feels isolated from the SU isn’t one I’d like to entertain.

If elected, you would be the first female President in over a decade. How did this impact your decision to run?

It’s definitely influenced my decision to run. I think it’s disgraceful that the last ten Presidents have been men. I’m not saying they’ve not been fit for the job, but there’s definitely something to be said, especial-ly when we’ve seen some great female candidates missing out on the presidency. I know of women sabbatical officers who wouldn’t run because they knew of other men that were running, which astounds me.

INTERVIEWS

Page 5

Raymond Dillon, SU President

Seán Searle, SU PresidentNiamh McGovernNews Editor @mcgovern_niamh

Why do you want to be President of the SU?

I can answer that in one very simple sentence: I want to help. Through my time at Queen’s I haven’t had a straightforward run through. I’ve had hiccups, academically and with differ-ent things, but because I had links in the SU, I knew what was available. I knew you had your education advisors, I knew what was there, and I experienced first-hand how good the services at the Students’ Union actually are. But my con-cern last year when I was School Rep was that students don’t know what the SU has to offer, and I plan to make it plain as day. What they have in terms of Clubs and Societies, Education, Welfare – the whole lot.

Is there anything you feel needs changed from how things happen at the moment?

One major criticism I have, and you’ll find it in my manifesto, is that response times to queries could be slightly better. I know from having set up the Computing Society and being involved in different things, sometimes you’re waiting two or three weeks for a simple answer to a question, and you’ll find some of my plans about that later on. Basically I intend to make the waiting time for queries as short as I can

Are there any particular community projects you’ve mentioned in the manifesto that you feel make you suitable for the role?

I have been a community activist for most of my adult life, campaigning for their rights and services. As stated in my manifesto, through my time at Queen’s I have developed a sense of community with the students here, and as President I will protect and fight for the rights of the student community.

A community project that I have mentioned in my manifesto that I feel makes me suitable for the role of President is that I plan to continue and expand the current resistance to educa-tional cuts. From listening to students, it is clear how much these cuts would affect their university life and our Union should be at the forefront fighting against these cuts.

Will you be working closely with VP Commu-nity, if elected, to support safe housing for students, and do you perhaps have some ideas to ensure students feel safe and valued within their residential areas?

Firstly, I would like to say that if elected I try and work as closely as possible with the entire VP team. As stated in my manifesto I want to reorganise and improve advice for students

because I feel that some students who make contact with the SU who mightn’t hear back for 2-3 weeks might think ‘well they’re not here for me.’ Like it’s been a false promise. Whereas I want, if they get in touch, within 24-48 hours they’ll get some sort of answer back, even if it’s just to say ‘look, we’ve got your query, we’re working on it.’ Just keep the communication open at all times.

What are your top three issues for your cam-paign?

Education, Clubs and Societies, and overall Student Union image – how it’s presented to students. In terms of marketing, general opinion to what they have to offer, where to go when things go wrong – or are going well, in terms of the SU Awards and Volunteering Awards. Let students know that the SU has so much to offer.

Could you expand on your first two points?

One of my major gripes with Clubs and So-cieties over the years is the financial system in place. From my background of computer science, I know of four or five ways it could be improved in a matter of weeks – bringing the finances online could be very easy to do. I know in terms of booking rooms there’s a pa-per-based form. It’d be nice if there were capa-bilities for clubs and societies to go on the SU website’s Clubs and Societies section and see what rooms are available. If it was in black and white, on the screen – finances, room bookings, it’s all explained in the manifesto.

who are attempting to secure safe accommo-dation in Belfast. If elected, I plan to relaunch the SU Lets service in a different format so that students can be protected and made aware of their rights when renting. I hope myself and the next VP Community will be able to work together to continue the brilliant work done by our current VP.

How would you encourage students to utilise the services available to them in the SU?

The Students’ Union currently offers some great services to our students, but in my opinion these are not communicated well enough to our students. Our VP team, along with the SU President and individual schools within the university, should be promoting SU services as

My thoughts on education are based around my time as course rep and school rep, and it’s basically to instil in students not to be afraid to admit when things aren’t going well and look for help. I know of students in the past that’ve had trouble at home, financially, or with a wide range of issues, and have been afraid to go to a personal tutor or advisor of studies to ask questions. I want to bring forward that students shouldn’t be afraid to ask, that there’s help there, and the likes of advi-sors in the union, financial advisors, and that, if worst comes to worst, they can appeal.

Next year we’ll likely see a lot more cuts to the university/union. This week we had a referen-dum from the Socialist Party on the union sup-porting strike action. Do you agree that a large part of the student body is apathetic, and do you think that more of an activist spirit needs brought back to the union?

It’s getting better. I think the evidence of it is the amount of people who are running for Stu-dent Officer posts. The activism is improving. There’s a long way to go with it. I think part of the reason why it’s improving is that the SU is affecting a wider range of students now. Some-thing as simple as the cost of printing – I know

much as possible. I plan to encourage students to utilise the services that the SU has made available to them by working with the different schools within the university to inform and ed-ucate students about the services the SU offers. Are there any specific areas you feel lacking in terms of how the university accommodates disabled students?

I feel that the university is still developing and learning how to accommodate disabled students. This however does not mean that Disability Services itself is not working to try and accommodate students. I feel that the indi-vidual schools within the university are letting disabled students down. Schools need to take a more proactive approach to disabled students.

myself, I’ve had to spend £7 printing notes. It’s very dear, something that needs acted upon. With the poppy debate last year and the Irish Unity referendum last term, some Unionists feel a bit alienated from the SU. Do you see this as an issue, and how would you combat feelings of alienation from those students or any stu-dents in general?

It is a tough call. I can understand how any sec-tion of the community can feel alienated when certain contentious issues do come up, wheth-er it be in council or just amongst the student body, but I think at the very least the union can reiterate the same message, that we’re here for all students and to not be afraid or feel alienat-ed, and to get involved.

The Disability Officer within each School should make contact with a student two or three times a term to see if they are copying with both their studies and university life. Communication be-tween the university school, Disability Services and the student must be improved.

What do you think makes you stand out from the other candidates, as there seems to be a lot of enthusiasm for running this year?

There are a number of things that make me stand out from other candidates. However I would firstly like to say that it is brilliant to see so many committed and motivated people standing for this year’s election. I stand out from other candidates because I have been involved in numerous leadership roles during my time at university. This year, as chairman of the Hurling Club, I was the founding member of a GAA tournament, which was praised for its professionalism and success all over Ulster. I stand out from other candidates because of my leadership, organisa-tional and management skills gained from both sitting on the finance committee of the historic GAA festival and chairing the Hurling Club. I care about students, I want to try and make their time at university a positive influence on their lives and if elected I will work every day for this to become a reality.


Page 6

INTERVIEWS

Connor Malone, VP Community

Paul Loughran, VP Community

There is a lot of focus on the newly ratified Student Poverty Alliance in your manifesto, what are the most important issues and plans of action to prevent student poverty?

This originally started when a friend of mine, Kyle, had spoken to a number of students who hadn’t eaten in a few days, and we decided we had to start something to highlight this. A number of people got involved, and we decid-ed we needed to set up a food bank. This was put to council, and is going to be the first plan of action for the charity. One of the main things we’re trying to get students involved in is the cost of printing, because it’s something everyone can relate to, which is astronomical at Queen’s. At the minute, we have a full business plan awaiting approval by management at SU, which plans to set up printing costs at 1p. Also, talks at the minute have aimed at stopping cuts to tuition fees; we shouldn’t be trying to prevent higher tuition fees, we should be trying to eradicate fees altogether. We’re trying to start a massive student movement, getting students back on the streets fighting, as they were in 2010.

Could you define Time Banking for readers, and how students will get the most out of this?

Time banking is something I spotted a year ago, which has already taken off in the UK. Basically, people volunteer their skills, and in return they can redeem lessons or services from someone else. For example, if I volunteer teaching French for an hour, that student could volunteer to teach me Spanish. It basically removes the need for currency; a friend told me this would eradicate all the world’s problems! One of the ideas for this would be student time banking in the community, say if a student volunteers in the local community, he or she can redeem a cost- free lunch as reward, which would in turn limit the need for currency and student poverty.

You’ve mentioned strong working relationships with other officers. Do you plan to initiate any larger projects with a number of officers?

Yes, I think this has perhaps been a trick miss-ing in the past. While we all have our own re-mits, the role descriptions fit very well together. Seven officers on one project will ensure that project really takes off, as opposed to several personal projects.

You’ve mentioned a residential news letter in your manifesto, how will this serve to benefit students in the wider community?

I plan to highlight residential problems in these, say there is an extreme amount of litter

in one area, this will be highlighted in the newsletter, and recruit volunteers to help out. In return the residents will see how students are enriching the area, the kinds of volunteer-ing they are doing, and how they are making South Belfast a better place.

Given the fierce competition for VP Communi-ty, how do you stand out as a candidate?

I think if anyone looks at my CV, or manifesto, I have the most experience relevant to this post. I’ve co- founded a charity, I’ve been involved in and led several societies, fundraised thousands of pounds and have network contacts with non-profit organisations and political parties that could all get involved with the SU.

Your manifesto has a significant emphasis on volunteering. Will this include new volunteer-ing opportunities for students?

My plan would be to create new opportuni-ties and events that are more wide ranging, alongside volunteering events this year. I think if we can diversify, yes, we should add new opportunities, but I actually think there is a lot of volunteering opportunities that aren’t being currently subscribed to. I think we should try to make the volunteering opportunities that are there more widely available. A lot of students aren’t aware of what’s available to them. Only 50% of students volunteer, which is obviously good, but I think there needs to be more. My focus will be on those opportunities that aren’t currently being promoted properly, and any-thing else that diversifies this is definitely good.

You pledged to raise funds for projects in the SU, is there anything in particular that you want to invest in?

Yes, I mentioned a planned ‘Culture Day.’ I’ve been involved in the International Buddy Scheme for a few years, and I’ve met a lot of

interesting people with different areas of ex-pertise and talent, who talk about their various cultures. This is the main project I want to focus on, while taking on board extra student ideas; people on the community, equality and diver-sity committees come up with great ideas that aren’t taken forward, I want to take students on board with other projects.

On the topic of culture, you pledged to support students who come into difficulty with the university on residential issues. Should the SU become more involved with this problem?

I would say there is a minority of students who bring an issue to residents in the area, and the issue is wrongly associated with particular res-idential areas. I think the university took over this issue incorrectly, and don’t think it’s a uni-versity issue to get involved with, perhaps even illegal, for such a small segment of Queen’s students. Based on the statistics, Queen’s only owns around 1/3 of the population in problem areas, and this is an issue I wanted to tackle in my manifesto. I think it is a minority and gets blown out of proportion for students, and holidays can get ruined by outside agents who bring Queen’s reputation down.

As VP Community, how would you encourage students to bring these sensitive issues to you, and utilise the services available to them?

I’m quite a personal person, and I do have very good student engagement, this year the RAG has shown that. The most personal role I have

taken to date, for Marie Curie, quite often involved very emotional experi-ences with people affected by person-al issues. I would say I’ve always dealt with this well. By being known, and getting involved with all aspects of the Student Union, I can encourage all students to come to the office, and cre-ate co operations other sabbatical of-fices. The Student Union and Student Guidance Centre have great initiative to deal with these issues as well.

How do you, and your manifesto stand out from the other candidates, for such a highly coveted role this year?

Well, I would say - have you seen my posters? I’ve tried to be creative, I would say a lot of the Community role is about creativity, and coming up with creative initiatives. While it’s had good progress this year, budget constraints have held back projects. RAG is a creative institution, and I think my campaign shows how creative I

would try to be in the role, coming up with new angles for funds. So I’d say I stand out from a creative point of view. I also stand out, because of the nature of the role. One of Community’s mandated roles is to be involved with RAG - in lots of years, this hasn’t happened. I feel none of the other candidates can tap into this ele-ment of RAG involvement, which a Community officer is consciously mandated to do.

Niamh McGovernNews Editor @mcgovern_niamh


Page 7

INTERVIEWS

Tori Watson, VP Community

What’s your plan of action if you get a second term? What motivated you to stand for re-elec-tion?

There’s just so many things that are not tied up. I feel that I can’t wrap a bow around it and leave it. There are things that have been initi-ative this year that I’ve been working hard on, like the planned restructuring to the academic year. I am 100% in support of that. I’ve made sure that students are consulted, where they weren’t really being before. I was the only student involved in the process beforehand. All school reps have had a working group with David Jones, Pro-VC for Education. From what I can tell a lot of councillors are excited by it. It didn’t happen last year as council blocked it but that was because of misinformation, because certain individuals didn’t tell them what was going on. I’ve tried to make sure information is available, so at least people can have an in-formed opinion. There are certain things that are undecided yet, such as the three week Easter break. Catching problems at school level is important. I just wanted to make sure I was here to see the whole thing through. Queen’s also faces a higher education review next year, which is a document which explains how good it is – then the SU submits a further document highlighting areas of

good practice and where other things are not working. The University knows what problems that are out there, they just don’t want anyone else to know. I’ve been lucky having a Pro-Vice Chancellor for Education that is really student focused and honest.

Any new ideas in the pipeline?

A lot of continuation. Part of the reason why I want to stay on is to see things through. I’d like to push the University to create a few solid policies on things that are lacking at the min-ute. One particular is ‘fit to sit’. The idea is that if you go into an exam and sit it, even if you’ve had other issues, the fact that you’ve gone into the exam hall and sat it you’re saying “I’m okay to do this exam. I’m ready to accept these marks.” Students don’t really understand that and the University doesn’t actually have a policy on that – they just talk about it. It’s not really written down anywhere – apart from on a website where people go when they’ve al-ready got into trouble. It’s hard to get informa-tion out to students, but we’ve put it on QOL. There’s no money for anything. I spend a lot of my time trying to get money and sponsorship, whereas if you just had the money there you’d be able to get your head down and get on with it.

Are DEL cuts a source of concern?

People would probably be surprised that I would be against cuts, because I would probably vote Conservative. But I think high-er education is different. I think we need to fund it, particularly in Northern Ireland – we don’t have anything else. I found the thought process behind what they were doing bizarre, pumping money into enterprise and chipping

away at education. There’s only so much a Students’ Union can do. To be fair I think we did quite well with the first one [budget cut]. There really isn’t going to be much of a change in the University’s attitude towards cuts. It will have to cut plac-es, courses, depart-ments. Paddy’s [John-son] vision, as far as I can see it, is to create a university less de-pendent on funding. It could mean more private sector contri-bution, but then you have a University that is entirely driven by industry. I think that companies and big industry already have enough influence over society. Uni-versity is a place that you should come and be able and get an education, sit around and think about things.

This is the second year VP Education is uncon-tested. Why do you think VP Education has proved an unpopular portfolio for which to seek candidature?

It’s not very sexy is it? It’s hard work. I have to do kind of what the President does in the sense because I go to so many committee meetings.

At the minute I’m flat out going to various meetings, there’s so much to do. I know that a lot of people see that and rethink. As far as I’m aware there were a few people that looked at my role and switched to other things, because people have told them Hannah’s in here from 9 in the morning to 12 at night. Now that’s not every day, but it is a lot of the time. I could come in here at 10 and leave at 4 but there’d be a lot of unhappy people standing around. It’s not in me to do it half-assed. It’s the one that interests me. It’s my mission to have 4 people going for my role next year.

So you’ve advocated for “dog petting and bub-ble wrap popping”, but under the surface, how important is student relaxation?

So important. It becomes particularly crucial around exam time. It’s important for students to get out of the library, and for me personally the library canteen just isn’t big enough and doesn’t let me completely relax. I want to cre-ate a safe space, where students are transport-ed across to the Space and clear their minds. They have dog petting in Leicester, and there are studies that show this activity can calm you, it’s beneficial for rescue dogs and beneficial for students. In terms of the bubble popping, everyone loves it and to be honest, it is a stress reliever! It’s key we make sure mental health is monitored at these key times, like the exam period.

Is there demand for a campaign like ‘Dock and Lock’ from; does the university have a responsi-bility to keep campus environmentally effi-cient?

It’s a bit of both. I personally cycle in quite a lot

to university, as do many students. Sometimes I find there simply aren’t enough docks waiting for me. Also, there aren’t any lockers for cy-clers to use. Bringing in helmets - and we want students to wear helmets - can be cumbersome and we don’t want students to have the has-sle of carrying these all day. Great for student cyclists, and great for students who have thirty books to carry around. I imagine this working similarly to the PEC system, no costs to stu-dents but a vital necessity. In terms of expand-ing the Belfast Public Bike Scheme, I don’t see why our city can’t allow students to use this facility, and why there shouldn’t be a dock up at Elms, or on the Lisburn Road. It’s very clear not a lot of students have a car at their disposal, especially when doing a weekly shop!

In terms of ‘shoutout’, do you feel the radio needs to be diversified, for students at home, or studying off campus?

Completely. Queen’s Radio are trying to be-come more professional, and lobbying to broadcast in the SU shop. If the radio was played in Elms, in the MBC, in the SU, the radio itself would be forced to diversify even further. On similar terms, community radio Blast found that listeners wanted 90% of music; Q Radio needs to push surveys like this and also estab-lish a community show. Through my 6 month experience at the radio, I’ve found that people have been knocking down my door with op-portunities they want on air. Why aren’t we

showcasing this? It’s a diversity of events that need radio sup-port.

How would you en-courage students to utilise these new campaigns and ser-vices?

I think I’m a pretty open person, and easy to work with. I understand issues like noise complaints are within the Com-munity role, but there needs to be a balance, listening to both sides of the picture; it’s not a one way street. We need to demonstrate to residents that student give to the community. I would encourage people to knock down my door constantly, if elected. That’s what I’m there for, and I need to know how I can help you.

What can you exclusively offer as VP Commu-nity?

Community stuck out for me as one of the roles that faced cuts by the SU this year, I feel

this is the year for the role to prove itself and its necessity. I think the best thing I can offer something is something a bit different, and a bit wacky. Looking at the wider sphere and giving people a passion and a drive for their community.

Hannah Niblock, VP Education



Page 8

INTERVIEWS

Niall McKenna, VP Clubs & Societies

Dervla McGaughey, VP Equality and Diversity

Why do you want to run for the position of VP Equal-ity and Diversity Officer?

I want to see the improvement of the ‘Mind Your Mood’ and ‘Are Ye Well?’ campaigns, because stu-dents suffering from mental health issues have, to this point, been quite neglected. I also want to bring more awareness to conditions such as schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder - the less ‘me-dia-friendly’ ones - because they are equally as valid as the ‘safe’ ones. I myself suffer from severe anxiety, so I understand the difficulties these people face.

Another issue I wish to work towards is a cam-pus-wide integration of students of all backgrounds, regardless of their religion, or where they are from. I want to see a Queen’s where everyone feels wel-come. I would like to see a large event on campus celebrating equality and diversity, with a coopera-tion and input from a mixture of groups within the university.

The role of Equality and Diversity Officer fundamen-tally concerns representing marginalised groups. As a student, do you feel that you can relate to this aspect of the role?

I can definitely fit into this role. I am a member of the LGBT+ community, and I am part of the growing number of people that have suffered from mental health issues. I can never account for all groups; I can only empathise with them. It’s tough being a

student, and to have this burden upon you when you are studying, and will surely have an impact upon your university experience.

During your time thus far as a QUB student, what aspects of campaigning and activism can you say you’ve been involved in?

Most recently I have been the person to start a petition against the DUP’s conscience clause. I have pushed this case on social media as much as I can, and I am now happy to say that the petition has 20,821 signatures. I’ve talked at meetings and protests across Northern Ireland - it was scary stuff! It has prompted me to become more outspoken on certain issues such as sexism and abortion. I regularly attend a transgender and gender-variant meet up group called Gender Jam. It’s a community scheme where people who identify as being outside of gender roles. There is not a lot of education about these concepts, and this is something reflected in my manifesto that I would like to see changed. We need to see these grassroots campaign go higher than that - we need to see our aims reach Stormont. Students need to become more politically engaged, as Equality and Diversity Officer I would very much like to see that!

Your manifesto states your intent to educate the student body on LGBTQIA issues and promotion of relative causes. How, in practice, do you intend to do this?

In working with the LGBT Society at QUB I hope to bring their issues into the limelight. The pride flag wasn’t even hanging from the Students’ Union in February, I was very disappointed by that! February is LGBT History Month, and there was no representa-tion of this at Queens. University should be a place where you learn about different people,

and different cultures. We need to see this enact-ed in the Students’ Union! I want to promote ACE Awareness week, promoting awareness of people who do not feel assigned to any certain gender or sexuality - they feel like there is something deeply wrong with them, and we need to address this. I intend to campaign against the NI Blood Ban. We need to reduce stigma, and increase awareness.

Tell us about the ‘F-Word’ Campaign, and your desire to promote feminism & gender equality through that medium.

It is horrible to see how women are treated for simply wanting the same things that men have. You look at the satirical representations of feminists, and it is just so wrong. The name suits the campaign - to-day, people are more comfortable with saying “F***” than feminism. This is about reducing the unfair stigma feminism has placed upon it - we need to promote this ideology as a cross-gender concept. It is frankly ridiculous that we need to define someone as different for having a different set of organs - we need to address this issue at QUB.

Niall ColemanFeatures Editor

You’re the current VP for Clubs and Socie-ties. What made you decide to run again? I enjoyed the role. I felt that I was doing a good enough job and I am passionate about improving all the systems that are currently in place. I didn’t think there was anybody better in terms of experience to get real change to happen in the next year.

What has been your proudest achievement in the role this past year? I suppose maintaining the services we pro-vide even though there’s no staff member for clubs and societies. Obviously I’ve had help from a few interns but the large part of the work has fell to me. At least four days a week I look after all the clubs and socie-ties, you know any events that are coming up.

My biggest achievement was probably organising Refreshers’ Fair all by myself, and if I get elected I’ll probably be organ-ising Freshers’ Fair all by myself. Big events

like that would probably be my proudest achievement.

Is there anything you plan to change or improve about clubs and societies this upcoming year?

I think we need to take a real strong look at the subvention for societies. I’ve already started looking at different universities and looking at how they’re resourced, how much money they get, how many societies there are, you know. I’m drawing up a plan basically to bring across the university to get the subvention increased. Ultimately, they make the call on it, but having a qual-ity plan or report in place will be a big part of getting it increased.

Also probably the financial system will need looking at. I wrote that in my man-ifesto. I just think at the minute it needs cleaned up, some of the systems. It’s too hard for some of the societies to function in terms of getting finances out and buying things.

You mentioned subvention. Could you clarify that for anyone who doesn’t know what that is? There’s a clubs and societies subvention every year, money given from the universi-ty for all our societies but it’s never enough.

VP Clubs and Societies has been uncon-tested for two years running. Have you any thoughts as to why this might be an un-popular position to run for? I don’t know why it wasn’t contested last year, and I don’t know why it was uncon-tested this year either. I don’t really have an answer for that. Clubs and Societies is probably the thing that engages most

people within the Students’ Union, so I felt there was going to be a lot more competi-tion this year compared to last year, and I was surprised that there wasn’t. I think next year there’ll probably be a lot more running for it. I always thought it would be most contested.

Amy SlackFeatures Editor@amyizzylou

Page 9

INTERVIEWS

Nicole Quinn, VP Equality and Diversity

Oísin Hassan, VP Equality and Diversity

Why is it that you have decided to run for this particular position within the Students’ Union?

My main goal as Equality and Diversity Officer at Queen’s would be to see the creation of Liberation Officer roles within the Students’ Union. I realise that if I am elected, that I cannot personally represent everyone. You can’t be a voice for all groups; you can only facilitate these groups. There would be a representative member of staff to work on behalf of margin-alised groups. This would be on a part-time, voluntary basis - a post created to facilitate and organise these students. There are many uni-versities which have these officers, and I would very much like to see the same here at Queen’s. At the minute, I don’t think the Union is an ac-cessible and open place. A lot of students feel that there is no space for them where they feel comfortable.

The role of VP Equality and Diversity Officer fundamentally concerns representing margin-alised groups within the student community. To what extent to do you feel you can personal-ly relate to this aspect of the role?

As a white male, for a start, I would say not par-ticularly - not at all. This is something I am very conscious of, and I am very aware. I can relate

to these groups - with pressure from politicians on issues such as the DUP’s conscience clause, I understand that these issues have reverbera-tions across the student body. I can escalate the voices of these people who feel ostracised and marginalised - a microphone to their concerns.

As a student with an interest in the pursuit of equality and diversity, what campaigns thus far in your life as a QUB student can you say you have been involved in?

I suppose the first time I got involved in liber-ation issues was around two years ago, when I was involved in a demonstration on Interna-tional Human Rights Day. Council has been fantastic this year, and I have found it to be an incredibly humbling experience working with such a diverse group of people. I like to think that I have made a real difference during my time on council - all university forms, for example, now have provisions for transgender and gender variant members of the commu-nity. We discussed how to rephrase questions to reflect a diverse student body - that motion has passed, and I am really pleased about that. I would like to see gender-neutral bathrooms - I would like to look at the viability of such an idea, and I want to continue looking into this idea during my time on council.

As an active and prominent member of QUB Sinn Fein, do you feel that you can truly fulfil a balanced role as Equality and Diversity Officer?

Past sabbatical officers have been affiliated to political parties, and this is on a personal level. We are here to represent all students, regard-less of what background they come from,

r e g a r d l e s s of their own p o l i t i c a l views. I will never let any of that get in the way of fulfilling my role - if you’re good for the role; you won’t let that get in the way.

What meas-ures do you plan to take to create a more Equal and Diverse S t u d e n t s ’ Union?

In terms of students of faith, or of none, on that matter - I would like to see a provision of space for these groups to practice that. For example, we have the Catholic Chaplaincy - a lot of other faiths have nothing. We have a huge interna-tional community at Queens, across a whole range of ethnic groups. We need to recognise this diversity - we need to tie all of this togeth-er, and celebrate our university’s multicultural nature. We need to allow international students to integrate - they are under a lot of stress. They

need to be made to feel welcome at Queens! We need a visible celebration - a festival, per-haps! We need to look at this, not just on my remit, but anyone’s! I would love to see that - stalls, music, festivities and diversity. As Belfast continues to establish itself as a multicultural and diverse city, we must encourage that and develop that within our own union.

Why do you want to run for VP Equality & Diver-sity?

My experience as a postgraduate, a student parent and a student with a mental health disability, and as a student rep to the PG Forum, plus my school has taught me that certain cate-gories of students enjoy equality of opportuni-ty only on paper. At times, I have even doubted of the actual utility of the Students’ Union itself. Now, I believe it’s time to change things and it is time for the SU to take a more pro-active or even activist stance, on fighting the inequality of opportunity and of access to resources that exists for vulnerable students.

The role of Equality and Diversity Officer funda-mentally concerns representing marginalised groups. As a student, do you feel that you can relate to this aspect of the role?

Indeed. My experience as a student parent and as a student with an invisible disability taught me how hard it is to be a student and at the same time be ‘invisible’ within much of the student body. We risk lagging behind in our studies for reasons that are no fault of our own, or better, that should not be a fault. The Uni-versity should be for us a place of development and personal growth, not a nightmare or a very rocky road.

During your time thus far as a QUB student, what aspects of campaigning and activism can

you say you’ve been involved in?As soon as I started my PhD in 2011, I became research cluster representative in my school. In 2012, I was chosen as school representative to the PG forum, but in September 2013 I stepped down from both roles due to personal and health reasons. I am not interested in university politics or in politics at all. Obviously I want to work for the representation of all students, in-cluding those who support same-sex marriage and those who are involved in the pro-choice/pro-life debate. You don’t need to be politically active – you just need to be human to under-stand respect for the opinions and feelings of all.

You state in your manifesto that students expe-rience prejudice due to their backgrounds. Can you expand on this, and give examples of what you would do to combat such incidents?As I have an international background (I’m half Italian, I grew up there and studied there), I tend to be friends with international students. I was very saddened to hear what a Chinese friend of mine went through during her first year in Belfast, going through discrimination of all kinds, due to her gender, her appearance and her race. Sometimes, not all students know how to interact with students from different cultures. Sometimes even those who do have prejudice don’t know they have it. What I would like to do to counter this would be to organ-ise a series of workshops in the schools about difference and diversity. I would like to help inspire students to think of themselves in other people’s shoes – people from other cultures, religious backgrounds and social classes.

You highlight in your manifesto that 80% of student parents and mature students and near-ly 70% of students from interface areas admit regularly worrying about not having enough money to meet basic living needs. How to do

you aim to decrease these worries? In an era of cuts, is it realistic to expand the student support and hard-ship funds?

Unfortunately, I alone cannot decrease these worries. If elected, I will fiercely campaign for these inequality issues to be addressed. I am aware we are experiencing an era of cuts, and also of cuts scare-mongering. Whilst funding cannot be created out of thin air, existing funding could be re-directed where there is more need.

You state you wish to see QUB promote a culture of the individual, does this jar with promoting commu-nity conclusion among a diverse student body?

I may not have phrased that very clearly, and I apologise for this. What I mean by ‘a culture of the individual’ is a communal culture where individual human beings are not labelled and ‘classified’ according to the group they fall into. And here I am referring to race, nationality, sex-ual orientation, gender, appearance, age and so on. I would like to see a student body where one is not described anymore as being part of a category, but as a human being, an individual as we all are.

You’re the only student with children running in the elections. Has there been any ways in which even the election system and culture is inaccessible and if elected would you work to

change any elements?

There are so many ways in which the whole university system, and the election process has been no exception, has proved difficult to access. The lack of childcare arrangements and help with childcare fees for postgraduate students makes it difficult for me to be on campus at all times, and it is very difficult to keep up with all that is happening in the Union. I believe things need to be changed and can be changed, and at the same time I believe that only a student who knows what it is like to go through anything like I have been go-ing through for the past three years would be knowledgeable and motivated enough to work towards a change in this direction.

Niall ColemanFeatures Editor


Page 10

INTERVIEWS

Ellen Haveron, VP Welfare

Given your current position as VP Community, why have you chosen to run for VP Welfare?

I’ve always been interested in welfare, but it re-ally came to light when I was at training down South with USI (Union of Students in Ireland) and as I am the only VP Community in Ireland, I always worked with the Welfare groups during training. Being surrounded by such inspiration-al and passionate people gave me a vision for what Queen’s could do. I feel we’ve lost our am-bition and our drive in recent years and we’re only seen for doing ‘Are Ye Well?’ and giving out tea and coffee. I really want to change that. Welfare is a role where you can do so many things and campaigns, and now students are becoming more vulnerable due to cuts, I really want to help those students.

You mention financial cuts, and it is clear from your manifesto and what you have said that you wish to establish more campaigns as VP Welfare; do you see any issues with funding?

Funding is a major issue for the Union. The of-ficers this year had no budgets for campaigns, and that is a major issue. I hope next year’s

President will address that to management that we need money to do things, if I can’t carry out campaigns, what’s the point? I like to think we’ve been very resourceful this year already, with SU Pop-Ups, Hey Neighbour and Pushing Boundaries, we’ve found ways around it [fund-ing issues]. Budgeting is always an issue, but it’s something I’ve fought for this year and will continue to fight for next year.

Are your aims achievable even with the chal-lenge of funding?

I know I have a lot of campaigns planned, and I know it’ll be a lot of work. But, I believe they are tangible goals and we can achieve them if we all work together.

Do you think your experience as VP Community gives you an advantage in this election cam-paign?

I would say yes, because this year with DEL cuts the officer board have been at the forefront of that campaign and it would provide a bit of continuity [if I were elected] because we know what’s going on. I can speak for myself and for Hannah [Niblock, current VP Education and running partner] that we have been very vocal in our opposition to these [cuts] and we will continue to do that. We will not be taken advantage of because we know how it commit-tees work and how to be heard.

You mention your campaign with Hannah Ni-

block, how did that come about?

In my opinion Welfare and Education go hand-in-hand, they’re intertwined – it didn’t make sense not to run with Hannah because our campaigns will work together and we will work together on disciplinary and appeals procedures. Hannah and I are very good friends outside the office as well so we work well together and provide drive for each other.

There is the chance that a lot of the current sab-batical officers will be re-elected, would that be something you look forward to?

Yeah the four of us [Caoímhe McNeill, Niall McKenna and Hannah] have all been here, and so it would provide continuity, and I think that continuity would be fabulous actually. But fresh faces are always welcome, I’ll work with anyone and the point is we are here for students, that’s it. We’ll get the job done.

Why should students vote for you?

I’m incredibly passionate and I think that has shown this year. I have such a vision for the Un-ion, I’ve been to other institutions and I’ve seen what they do and I know that welfare is such an important issue and that it needs to come to the forefront of what we do. Student welfare is paramount, and I feel I am the right person to drive that and to establish fun campaigns to get students to think about these issues.

Why have you decided to run for VP Wel-fare?

As a final year student, and coming towards the end of the year I was reflecting on my time at the university and as much as I’ve had a blast, there are parts when I have been severely stressed. And after talking to other students, I was like, oh my good-ness there are so many issues and stresses acting on us all the time, and if they weren’t there, life would be so much better. Being VP Welfare would give me the chance to change those things and help.

What would you bring to role of VP Wel-fare?

Well, I think I’ve had personal experience of all kinds of issues. For example I’m paying two rents for two places at the minute and have had horrible time with landlords, so I think I’ve got that basic experience. I work two jobs and manage my finances really well and still manage my time, studies and have a good social life.

So do you think you can share these experi-ences with students to perform the role of VP Welfare?

Yeah I feel like I represent your average student because I’ve dabbled in a lot of activities during my time in Queen’s and got involved with so much, and that’s all on my manifesto, so I think I can speak to stu-dents on more of an equal level. I suppose everyone’s kind of like ‘been there, done that’, but I think I can use my experience to represent students well.

Do you feel at a disadvantage given your opponent, Chloe Patterson’s experience of a year in office as VP Community?

Chloe maybe does have an advantage, but she was in a different role. Although she may have more of an understanding of the ins and outs of how things work in the union and policy at Queen’s, we’re both still going to need to train for the role of VP Welfare and be trained in the different disciplinary procedures for example. It’s a different role, so we’ll see. And as well, Chloe has had a year not living as a student so that would be my advantage I think.

There are a few current sabbatical officers running for election again; do you think freshness would be a good thing to bring in?

Yeah I think in an ideal situation, I’d like a bit of a balance. I feel like if you brought in a whole wave of new people it would be hard to build on what they’ve done, where-as if it were a bit of a mix then you’d have some fresh ideas that are coming in with new candidates to build on their work. Like this year with the campaigns against the [DEL] cuts, it would be good to have some people carrying on in office to next year.

Your ‘Contact Couch’ seems to be a key part of your manifesto, how do you hope to implement this around campus?

That’s definitely one of my main points because [as a sabbatical officer] you need

to be way more accessible. So I need to make myself more available around cam-pus so students can recognise me and say, ‘oh, there’s that girl that can help me with this problem’. It’s slightly based on the idea of the Pop-Up SU campaign this year, I thought that was great because the sabbatical officers were out on campus all the time and moved around the key build-ings. If I do get elected I’ll make it a thing throughout the year, once a month, just to remind people, ‘I am you welfare officer and this is what I can do for you’. Pop-Up SU has been great this year at making the SU more accessible, I feel that needs to be done more and developed.

Liam Cassidy News Editor @casdee

Liam Cassidy News Editor @casdee

Chloe Patterson, VP Welfare

Page 11

INTERVIEWS

Séan Fearon, VP Campaigns and Communications

Caitríona Keenan, VP Campaigns and Communications

What’s your motivation for standing for VP Campaigns and Communications?

This year I led the girls through a battle against Queen’s Sports who pretty much denied us sports club status even though we do what Americans consider one of the most danger-ous sports. We weren’t getting the funding, I promised them that I would sort it out and I did. I launched a big campaign and got UTV, Sunday Life, Blast FM, Queen’s Radio and The Tab involved. I was determined that we were going to get sports club status and we did. A lot of petitioning and demonstrating around campus but we got there.

You’re not a student councillor. Do you consider this a problem, considering many standing are?

A lot of the other candidates maybe are (on stu-dent council), but I have skills that they don’t. I am very busy with the cheerleading team, we compete in Ireland, the UK and later this year in Spain for the European competitions. From that I’ve picked up a lot of people skills, rather than sitting on council I’m out there with the stu-dents working out what they want. I lead the biggest sports club at Queen’s – over 270 girls and boys. I’m working to do my best for them. I’m not just dealing with sport. I’m dealing with issues that they come to me with, personal issues. People come to me with a lot of issues, a lot of problems such as depression, which I’m

really passionate about.

Why exactly VP Campaigns and Communica-tions?

This year I’ve had to go through such a journey and it’s been absolutely crazy to get sports club status. We could do with a lot more funding for mental health. I worked at the Student Finance office late last year, it was absolutely shocking to find the number of students who just don’t know what financial support is out there for them. This year they were telling people about the Student Support Fund because no-one was applying for it. Students are crying out for money and support, and they just don’t know what money and support is there for them and the student officers need to do more to com-municate that to them. I’ve had the experience which puts me in a strong position to help the student body. People that have been on coun-cil may think they’re ideal for the job, but that doesn’t mean a thing. I’m a strong leader. I’ve taken leadership roles in my stride.

What’s your plan of action if elected?

First and foremost student leaders are there for the student body regardless of political background, race or gender and I feel that I’m the perfect candidate to represent them. A lot of different people are involved in societies and political parties, but I’m the captain of the biggest sports club in Queen’s. We have inter-national students and all political backgrounds and denominations. I want to represent them and not run the campaigns that I think are important. Every campaign has to be for the benefit of every student. Fair placements and more money and support for student nurses – that’s a big thing I want to address. I want to work with the VP C&S in order to get more sports made into clubs, that have been denied

it. I’d like to make the Are Ye Well campaign bigger and better, to show the students that there is support for them. Half of those bits in my manifesto are things that have come to light over the past year from sports clubs, being approached by peo-ple.

What’s your stance on DEL cuts?

One of the first issues on my manifesto is the DEL cuts. They were a massive scare this year for students, they affect everything, they affect the SU, they affect sports clubs. It will be the first and foremost thing that I will be campaigning about because it affects every student. I don’t think this year that stu-dents really appreciated how big of an impact that would have had, so I think one of my tasks this year would be getting that out and getting students to realise what DEL cuts are. A lot of students didn’t understand what DEL stood for or what it meant, or what the cuts would entail.

Do you think there’s a lack of engagement with students?

At the start of the year I’d like to run a meet your VP campaign. A lot of students don’t know who they are, what they do. Get our faces out in campus; let the students know we’re here to help them and making us more accessible through social media. The prospect of being a first year and emailing someone you don’t know is daunting. I want to get out there and

see what students want from their VP.

The position you’re running for is a two-horse race. Disappointed that you only have one rival?

You never really know what to expect. Take nothing for granted. I don’t assume anything. We’re two very different candidates so I think it’ll be interesting to see what comes of the election. I don’t come from a political back-ground, which is why I think I’m the perfect candidate for this position as I don’t think there’s room for party-politics or personal politics. It has to be a really neutral place where the candidate represents the student body as a whole. I hope many people will identify with me because of that.

Motivation for standing for VP Cam-paigns and Communication?

Campaigning is a passion. I have great faith in collectivism and an indescribable faith in humanity. The student body at QUB can be harnessed for unprecedent-ed change. It simply hasn’t been the last couple of years. Recent protests against DEL cuts simply weren’t good enough. Based on current political circumstances and what may exist after the next gener-al election – it could prove a very tough year for students and young people. Now more than ever we need a strong Campaigns officer. I’ve been campaign-ing since 16 or so. I’m 20 now, and there’s unprecedented potential here at Queen’s for the student body to collectivise.

Do you think there is a democratic deficit and/or lack of engagement with stu-dents?

I can understand how many people feel that after last year with 6 of the 7 positions being uncontested. Obviously there’s a much stronger field of candi-dates now. People don’t understand what the student council does - they see this random box on their QOL. As part of my manifesto I want to do simple things,

like a noticeboard and posters around campus saying this is what happening at the latest council meeting this is how it affects you. For every month of the academic term I’d showcase one theme in accordance with council or a survey, just find out what people are interested in. Student poverty would be of primary importance around Christmas and New Year. I’m only taking a living wage from the 17.5k stipend. I’ll be taking around £14.5-15k. The other £2.5 will be going towards hopefully setting up an emer-gency relief fund for students which will be operated through direct debit. That’s the idea at the moment.

Most people know you from the poppy motion and Irish unity referendum. Does this risk segments of the student body being unable to pledge their support for you?

Now more than ever is the time to get one voice that was not heard specifically with the poppy motion. I suffer from anxiety and I was not in the right place at the time of the poppy motion to voice my opinion. WIP (Washington Ireland Program for Service and Leadership) gave me confidence to speak my mind on the issue of the Irish unity referen-dum. The poppy debate was entirely blown out of proportion. I firmly believe in the idea of parity of esteem, neutrality and equality. No way would I want the Easter lily sold here and I’m an Irish Republican, because I know it would disillusion and disengage a lot of peo-ple. I recognise that the poppy had a similar effect on many students, and for that reason and that reason only I want-

ed a mature debate on it – of course we didn’t get that. We needed a secret ballot that night, there was security and there were death threats made to myself and oth-ers. With the Irish Unity referendum the effect was quite similar. It does affect us in this part of the world and there’s no point running away from it. Specifically for people with national aspirations within Northern Ireland, whether they’re British or Irish, let’s have a de-bate on it. If elected in no way will that be an issue. My national aspi-rations are private. They are of no concern to any students and the help they may need with campaigns or communications. To those hysterically calling me sectar-ian, they should take the time to get to know me personally.

What’s your plan of action if elected?

With the resources the position has, they simply aren’t being used for a network of volunteers. There are a lot of activists around Queen’s that want to be involved, to get those people involved together and actively resisting against cuts, any increase in student fees which may well come down the road, these are the things that are going to affect the fabric of society at Queen’s. If we don’t organise on that

basis there will be problems.

Message to the electorate?

Unite behind a candidate that is abso-lutely in this for political reasons and no personal gain. The student body is so overwhelmingly stronger than we realise and we can accomplish infinitely more than we have done, whenever we realise our similarities and not our differences. Unite under everything we can and resist everything that comes out way, be it a Tory or Labour govern-ment or whatever Stormont decides to do in the next couple of months of years. It’s the first port of call to protect every single student from those deci-sions if the negatively affect us.



Documents

The Gown (Election Edition): 3rd March 2015