Lewis Marriott is a third year Theatre and English Literature students running to become the next Vice President Campaigns and Communications. Throughout his time at University, he has been highly involved with County College and would like to further contribute to the Lancaster community undertaking this position within our Students’ Union. He believes his interest and skills would be vital for the role and is enthusiastic about potentially embarking on this new experience.
A real problem Lewis identifies with the Union is the lack of transparency and the inability to follow through the promises Full-Time Officers make during their campaigning period before being elected. If successful, he would like to bring back the “pop-up union” in the square initiative as he believes Officers should be present and engaging with students at all times. Despite Lancaster’s frequent unfavourable weather, in fact, Lewis stated that a couple of hours in the cold are worth spending because it gives students students the chance to ask questions and advance suggestions. Transparency is also a key point in Lewis’ manifesto. When asked what have been the main issues faced by the Union this year, he mentioned his disappointment in the lack of advertisement on the referendum’s result and how the white t-shirt social had been handled. Appreciating the confidentiality issues that the latter carried with itself, Lewis suggested that a quicker decision-making process should have been adopted as the delay in addressing the issue suggested carelessness from the Union’s point of view.
When asked about how would he make Student Media more accessible, he suggested introducing a student media tile on iLancaster and produce further advertisement which would attract students’ attention. Lewis also mentioned introducing a clearer and more structured process on how to join the Student Media groups as well as hosting more events where students can see what these groups do on campus. Finally, Lewis mentioned that getting involved with Student Media groups would give students the opportunity to learn further skills. As a result, he would like to ensure that students at Lancaster have the opportunity to get involved during the early stages of their degrees rather than when it might be relatively late. Lewis named all Student Media groups on campus and three out of the four heads of said groups, missing LA1 TV Station Manager.
