John Parker is running to be the next President of the Students Union. His reasons for running for the role include wanting to eliminate the bullying within the union and win back the trust of students for the union. As Lancaster is rated 99th in terms of student satisfaction for the Student’s Union, John wants to change that.
John is the president of Edible Campus and has often worked closely with Green Lancaster, before and during the Coronavirus crisis in order to take care of the animals. He has had to make tough decisions in regards to his exec, and knows how to effectively lead, delegate tasks effectively and take the initiative, but also pick up the slack when needed.
John is confident that he will bring meaningful change to the university, and will not give up on changes if they do not work, and will consult with other members of the union to be able to effect meaningful change.
His priority is rooting out the bullying culture within the union to ensure that the union can once more work effectively together, so the university can make effective change. He would emphasise communication between the full-time officers and the part time officers, and would get HR and the university involved to emphasise how important the issue is. He would host various meetings and events to tackle it and increase the community feel of the union as well as develop ideas as to how to tackle the root of the issue and heal the rifts. His other priorities include mental health, especially during the current crisis.
Other issues that John would focus on would include bringing rec and C leagues back for students, as they contribute to both mental and physical wellbeing of students, as well as giving them social opportunities. He would also push to have another home Roses for Lancaster. He would also like to involve more societies in Roses, such as the Doctor Who society, as he stresses that it is an event for everyone to get involved in. He would also streamline bureaucracy so that it would be clearer to students exactly what would be occurring in the union, and would be open and honest in regards to circumstances that were out of his control, but would push for what the students wanted for them.
When asked how he would boost the visibility of the university, John stated that he would campaign and work with local businesses and utilise Lancaster campus’ in different cities and countries in order to promote the university and raise awareness of how good the university is.
With the possibility that classes might be online for the next academic year, John would prioritise making sure students can access resources such as university laptops, and that no one would be penalised for circumstances out of their control. He would also look at engagement for online lectures to ensure that students are getting the most out of their courses, as well as discussing slightly more lenient marking of assessments with department heads to reflect the difficult circumstances. As it is possible that full time officers will have to work remotely due to the pandemic, John would utilise Teams meetings and foster a team environment.
