Manifesto Points:
- Bring back the buzz’ – vibancy, amenities and employment.
- Use our financial resources effectively – take the Kaizen approach and minimise waste.
- Zero-tolerance approach to housing – create solutions and cheaper accommodation.
Hi! I’m Kate, a final-year law student ready to be your next Union Affairs Officer.
I have a unique perspective as I have held executive positions in both the York Law Society and Goodricke College and I am a trustee for the university.
We need solutions not statements. This is Your York.
My goals in office:
1. Make housing more accessible and affordable for students.
Being able to afford housing is the biggest step to helping you afford a better quality of life.
- Lobby the university not to go ahead with their proposed 9% increase on accommodation.
- Work and hold the council to account with their plans for cluster accommodation. This utilises more space and drives down prices.
- Ensure planning policy is in the interests of students. Developing more HMOs (multiple-occupancy accommodation) in town to serve the student population.
- Organise a new ‘How to deal with your landlord’ workshop.
2. ‘Bring back the buzz’
Soon to be a new department of Architecture on East Campus – Campus West does not have a Greggs or Papa Johns East has – adopt the ‘Kaizen’ approach
- Bolder nightlife on campus.
- Restructure the cafe system. A higher-end, ‘brew and brownie-esque’ style cafe to subsidise a cheaper ‘Greggs style cafe’; open on the weekend, which would provide more employment for students.
- These cafes would be green-friendly. I have looked into the possibility of working with ‘Too Good To Go’ to reduce potential food waste.
- Reduced-price yellow labels for food
- Regular food vendors and entertainment on campus.
- Buses to make trips past Lidl on the weekend, so students have a more accessible food shop.
- Re-evaluate the £13k of your funds about to be invested in the pantry. The pantry on West has already seen waste. Colleges have less financial support from the university than they did a year ago. If we divided this money up, then each college would be over £1,000 better off, meaning more free food events and more freedom for staff to accommodate the specific demands of each college. We need to better utilise our resources and bring back the buzz.
3. Make York the safest campus in the country
You should feel your Student Union is taking your safety seriously.
- Work with Campus Safety to engage in focus groups with students. Make the bike sheds more secure.
- Offer subsidised D-locks for bikes.
- Explore the usage of the ‘Epowar’ app, which would give students, especially women a safer means of going home at night.
- Understand and communicate the problems that have been occurring on club nights. The Student Union must have transparency and I would have office hours.
4. Improve ways of society and college support
Running societies and colleges can be a huge task, it is even harder when you have administrative issues taking up your time.
- Upgrade the Planon booking system
- Enable society’s access to more space, adding underutilised spaces.
- Create more study spaces during exam season.
I will listen to you. I will learn from you. Most importantly, I will fight for you.
The manifestos appear here exactly as they were submitted to us. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of York Vision.
Don’t get us wrong, the York SU elections are very important. But so much of the election process is formal and serious…which means it can also (at times) be a little bit dull.
But we don’t think it has to be like this. So alongside their manifesto, Vision asked each candidate a series of light-hearted, get-to-know-you type questions. This should give you a little dive into the individual personalities of the candidates:
What would be the theme song for your campaign?
Tubthumping by Chumbawamba
If your campaign had a mascot, what would it be?
My black lab Stan – he has big ears (I have photos to prove it), he’s friendly, loyal and always really happy to see people and always wants to share your food, just like me. Get yourself a Stanley.
Do you fit your college stereotype? (please provide your college)
The Goodricke College stereotype is that we don’t exist. I promise I do exist. I am not AI. If you had asked me in first year, I probably would have said you have a point. However, the past Presidents, George, Becky and Atharva have done an excellent job at rejuvenating college life. This was in conjunction with hard-working committees behind them. This revival coincided with the arrival of our then ‘new’ college manager Amy Perch. As are all the staff, Amy is fantastic. She is so supportive and truly has our best interests at heart. Now, the college has a new President and a newly organised committee, where roles were sought after. When I had my first role as Merchandise Officer, there were still roles which were not filled. Now, Goodricke is oversubscribed with applications and enquiries to be on their committee. This shows the progress that has been made over the last two years. With a team like this, there is no way our college does not exist. The Goodricke College stereotype should now be that we are ‘a big community where everyone belongs’.
We gave the candidate a word, and asked them to think of what the question would be:
Answer: Charlie Jeffery
Candidate Question: Who is the person that earns over £250,000 but we rarely see?