Milo Dack.

Candidate for NUS Delegate

Hello! My name is Milo Dack, and I am running in this election to be one of your representatives at the 2021 NUS Conference. Over the last twelve months, the NUS have been spearheading a campaign centered around the slogan #StudentsDeserveBetter, advocating for the better treatment of students during the pandemic. I want to take that conversation and frame it around the impact that the pandemic has had on our mental health and shine a spotlight at the national level on the much-needed discussion about the student mental health crisis.

Throughout this pandemic, we, as students, have been fundamentally let down by both our universities and by the Government; we’ve experienced an unprecedented disruption to our education and to our lives and yet, despite everything that has happened, we’ve been expected to keep calm and carry on.

Now I know that I can speak on a personal level when I say that this has led to a deterioration of student mental health, further exacerbated by the lack of academic certainty regarding degree progression and graduation arrangements, the financial burden arising from increased living costs, job insecurity and the scarcity of employment opportunities, on top of our personal health and wellbeing concerns amidst a global pandemic.

This attitude towards students must change.

I want to see greater support and resources across the country for students suffering from poor mental health. I want to see national recognition of the prevalence of mental health issues amongst students in higher and further education, and I want to see acknowledgment of the student mental health crisis. But this can only happen at the national level; we need to present a united voice that clammers from the roofs of every university that mental health matters and that the time for this discussion is NOW.

All of this can only happen if you decide to elect me come March 22. I want to be a part of the #StudentsDeserveBetter campaign because I absolutely believe that students deserve better: they deserve better mental health support, they deserve to have a voice, they deserve to not be let down by the very institutions that should be supporting them. I urge you to endorse me as your NUS candidate as I fight to make student mental health a priority for the National Union of Students.