I was extremely stuck as to what precisely I could write in this article, but the scenes on Friday night in the Sugarhouse for the election results for the new LUSU Full Time Officers showed me above all else, one key issue we have at Lancaster.
It is commonly said that students don’t care about elections or democratic processes, partly because they don’t want to know, partly because they feel they aren’t able to make a difference and partly because the communication channels between LUSU and its students are somewhat vague and underused.
However, the turnout for the elections this year have proved that students here do care about who represents them. And this was no clearer than in the results for Vice President (Activities).
The fact that there were so many people running for this role proved that it is a valued position in the Union, and the candidates I was against put up one hell of fight for the role. They engaged the masses, spoke to as many people as they could and more importantly, were there to answer questions whenever people had any. They proved that students care about their time here, and I will promise you now as current Vice President (Sports) and Vice President (Activities) Elect I will not let you down.
The next chance for our students to demonstrate how involved they wish to be is Campus Festival in Week Nine, and the Roses Rally on the Monday of Week 10. I hope to see as many people as possible attending both of these events, they should be absolutely fantastic and a great chance to demonstrate just how good the students are at Lancaster.
Thank you to all involved in my campaign, the cutters, the stickers, the talkers and the voters. But more importantly thank you to Dean Crabb, Ben Holden and Matt Neve for running; you guys were fantastic and the way you engaged students was something I admired greatly.
What was proven on Friday night is that the students here want their groups to be as good as they can be. What I will say to that is that I will ensure the upmost is done to not let you or my role down. Vice President (Activities) can work, and I will make sure it will. With the opportunities we have in the upcoming year it is crucial that we strive towards maximising the potential on campus, let’s do it together.
