Hello! My name is Alex Poole and I believe no-one should have to apologise for who they are. I am running for VP Welfare and Diversity because I am passionate about helping my peers and want to ensure that no one ever feels unsafe or unheard. Many welfare issues have been overlooked for too long, and I intend to change this.
The first of my proposals is something I am already working on bringing to the university to address the lack of support for students who have been victims of sexual assault or rape. This will be a team of students styled in the same way as the Resident Support Advisors (now Hall-Life Assistants) who will have an emergency number for students to call. They will be trained in various areas such as medical, legal and mental health support. The key aspect of this student support network is to provide support specific to the individual students so that they can feel as though they, as an individual, are being listened to and heard. This is unlikely to be implemented before I graduate therefore if I am elected as VP Welfare and Diversity I hope to ensure this is implemented.
I also believe that a key issue at Universities everywhere, including here, is mental health. Despite this the overwhelming feedback from all the students I have spoken to is that they do not feel supported. I intend to address this by ensuring that those working closely with students (Hall-Life Assistants and Security Officers) have adequate mental health training. I also hope to address the long waiting times for counselling appointments.
In addition, I want to promote more crossovers between societies, there is an element of this already in place with the sporting societies however I think they should be more frequent to encourage diversification and integration. It has been drawn to my attention that many students, especially international students, who initially express interest in a society do not actually end up doing so. I hope by doing more society crossovers this may change. Finally, I think it’s time that LGBT nights came to the SU and they should be made bigger and better, I’m talking drag nights not just rainbows!
If anyone wants to know more about any of my proposals feel free to contact me and remember; Be Cool, Vote Poole!