3rd year Cartmel College student Joel Pullan cites his passion for all areas of the Students’ Union; “From LUSU Involve International Opportunities trips to on campus socials, events and campaigns on issues that matter”, as his motivation for running to be the next LUSU President.
His heavy involvement in the Union, as former Cartmel College President and current Cross Campus Officer for Education, has helped him realise that “it is LUSU which makes the biggest difference to students’ time at University.”
As well as this, he sits on University Council and the Senate, leaving him with an understanding of the University and the Union that is “unrivalled.”
“Without a good understanding of how LUSU works, I do not feel you can set the political direction of our Union… people must place their trust in the candidate they feel can best do the job. I feel that candidate is myself.”
If elected, Joel Pullan intends to place his focus on “3 strands of issues.” In particular, Pullan wishes to address campus accomodation rent inflation, and is resolved to ensure that students’ welfare is “paramount” as they face the burden of £30k+ debt and “huge rent bills.”
He also believes that LUSU must pay full attention to the University strategy, and keep “the best interests of our students” at the heart of any strategic movement by the University.
From a more personal perspective, Joel identifies the new structure of the Full Time Officer team as something of importance, and pledges to “support the officers…and ensure that any teething problems are dealt with effectively and with minimal disruption.”
When asked how LUSU could be better advertised as a body of student representation, Pullan praised the existing methods of communication but criticised LUSU as often being “too inward looking, without going out and speaking to students.
“We come out with our own opinions and our own facts that students aren’t aware of, and there does need to be quite a shift from that sort of mentality.”
With regards to dealing with the University on student issues, Pullan belives that the existing channels, such as University Council for “the big issues”, and the Senate for Academic issues, are the best forums to do so.
However, he stressed that students “should not be afraid to approach the university themselves without using these channels.” When asked to elaborate, he cited current Vice-President (Equality, Welfare and Diversity) Rosalia O’Reilly’s campaign to improve the University counselling service, which encouraged students to sign postcards to the University, as “an effective way of challenging the University from a grassroots level.”
Pullan emphasised his desire to “fight for students’ rights and wellbeing”, and cites the opportunity to “make a real difference to the students of Lancaster University” as his sole motivator.
