Campaigning for the Students’ Union Full-Time Officer Elections began this past Friday, filling the campus with posters, flyers and buzzing excitement. On Monday evening, candidates and student audiences gathered in Margaret Fell Lecture Theatre (or tuned in via’s LA1TV’s livestream) for Candidate Questions. During this, we heard from candidates for the Students’ Union President, Education Officer, Wellbeing Officer and Activities Officer.

In this article I will cover standout moments from the Wellbeing Officer Candidate Questions. My next article will cover Education Officer Candidate Questions. For further details, you can watch LA1TV’s livestream here.

Structure of the night

Each candidate had up to two minutes to provide opening statements, followed by each candidate asking one group question to their other candidates. After that, candidates answered some attendee and pre-submitted questions.

Candidates had 30 seconds to respond to any and all questions asked of them this evening.

Wellbeing Officer Candidate Questions

The first candidate questions were of the role of Wellbeing Officer, chaired by Harrison Stewart and Ella Smith.

Candidates for this role are Eliza Young (they/them) and Leah Buttery (she/they).

Eliza started their speech advocating for more transparency in terms of reporting harassment. They went on to mention her extensive experience campaigning on issues such as Palestine and sexual consent.  Assuring the audience that their empathy is “not a finite resource”, they also want more accessibility in terms of financial aid, a point they made in their manifesto, where they “pledge to continue and expand free food access and emergency funding.”

You can read Eliza’s full manifesto here: Candidate_Manifestos_LUSU_Elections_2025.pdf

Following on from this, Leah started their speech reaffirming her intentions to work on period poverty. In her manifesto, she states “menstruators aged 18-24 are the most likely demographic to be impacted by period poverty.”

Through her experience working on a nationwide mental health campaign with Children In Need, they also hope to push for more proactive and accessible mental health services that are trauma informed rather than “a self-help-based system”, which she states in her manifesto “is difficult to find and largely ineffective”.

 Another issue Leah reflected upon is increasing town safety, stating that rates of violence and sexual offences in Lancaster are 2% higher than the national average

Lastly, she advocated for more structured support for student campaigns.

You can read Leah’s full manifesto here: Candidate_Manifestos_LUSU_Elections_2025.pdf

Question to the floor: This role is the least contested and there are no male candidates unlike other roles which are dominated by male candidates. Do you think this role is undervalued by some or all the student community and if so, why?

Eliza responded by stating that wellbeing is undervalued. Similarly to roles of caring it seen as traditionally female even though wellbeing issues impact all students. Echoing Eliza’s statement, Leah agreed that wellbeing is undervalued as many people are unsure of what the role is.  Expanding on this, she asserted that this role is “political rather than operational”, representing students on “social issues that matter to them”

Question to the floor: Do you think current LUSU investigation system works and if not, what are your plans to change this?

Admitting that they’re not too well-versed on the way the investigation system works when it comes to sexual misconduct, Leah revealed that it is an issue she is heavily invested in. However, from their discussions with the current Women’s + Liberation Campaign and Wellbeing Officers on potential policy changes, she sees face-to-face interactions with students as a fruitful path forward.

Responding to the question next Eliza acknowledges some of the problems in the way sexual assault is reported. After reporting their own reported a physical assault to the university, they were discouraged to go to police. Incidents like this is what they believe contributes to only “17% of rape victims going to police”.

To help combat this Eliza believes LUSU need to be clearer about their protocols so victims and survivors can access the support they need, stressing the importance of long-term support.

Question for Eliza: How would like to establish clear communication between students and yourself?

Eliza suggested starting bi-weekly drop-in clinics where students can come in to discuss their issues, concerns and plans. Additionally, they stated they would have a guide on how to raise concerns pinned to their Instagram profile.

Question for Leah: You mentioned pushing the university to offer more protections for students living in town.  How do you plan to do this when they’ve previously dismissed concerns about safety on their own campus?

Leah answered by stating it is important to establish a foundation of support for students on campus and in town. This ensures everyone feels safe.

The candidates on the growing drug culture.

Neither candidate believed that the university or FTOs needed to curb or support it, believing it is inevitable that students will partake in drug use. For Leah what is important is continuation of harm reduction polices as blanket bans are harmful and dangerous.

Eliza shared similar views, elaborating that “zero tolerance policies” are “great politics” but “not great for students”. Moreover, it is important to have drug safety talks for freshers, emphasising education over encouragement. Other topics discussed were online harassment, support for liberation forums, stigma around men+ seeking mental health resources. Those can all be found in the LA1TV livestream.

Voting is open now and closes tomorrow at 6PM Link to vote: Lancaster Students’ Union