Meegan Clark is a postgraduate student of English Literary Studies, running for VP Union Development after completing her undergraduate degree in Berlin. In terms of her previous engagement with the Students’ Union, she is currently an academic rep and adds: “I’ve tried to set up a society and seen pitfalls there”. She values her unique perspective as a postgraduate and relates to international students who don’t have access to loans, adding “I feel at the moment that [postgraduates and EU students] are one big, big group that’s being neglected”.
When asked about how the Students’ Union could improve, Meegan said “Activities are really sports driven”. She adds: “Sports are massively important to the University culture as well as from a mental welfare point of view, getting out and doing things is something I’m very much for as well […] we have over 250 societies I believe and 40 that participate in Roses, that’s 210 societies that are not being addressed”. She also believes that “academic reps don’t get enough support and we don’t have enough funds to support department cohesion projects”.
On the topic of the Union’s transparency, she said “I’m a big fan of going out and talking, we need to be where students are, that includes being in town […] we need a sense of being approachable and being there to talk to, not just at times that suits you because you’re in an office from 10-5, sure it’s important to have a work-life balance but the truth is that student life doesn’t work like that. I’d like to have an open door policy alongside other VPs and if that means going to a bar on campus or in town once a week for an hour to just be there, I think that would help”.
Her manifesto shows Meegan’s intention to increase the visibility of smaller societies on campus. She elaborated: “I think we could do something like an alternative Roses or something in collaboration with Roses. […] Why are we saying ‘You need to be doing this’ when instead we need to be saying ‘How can we help?’. If we don’t have the funds, can we organise premises for you? Can we help organise media presence with you? What would help your society or campaign the most? Maybe having something in town would work, such as working with stores and establishing more Purple card discounts for society members”
When asked to name the 9 college Presidents, Meegan was unable to name them correctly.
