My first two posts in this series were about the Presidential and the Education candidates. This post is about the three students running for the position of VP Community, which is a wide-ranging role that includes work with societies, media and multiple standing committees. The current VP Community is Tom Peel, who is in his second and final term.

The level of interest in this position remains the same as last year, when there were also three candidates (Tom Peel, Dave Helsby and Michaela Powell).

Themes and issues

VP Community wordle

Words used in the nomination forms of the VP Community candidates

Some of the more prominent words in the graphic above (generated from the text in the nomination forms) are to be expected. The candidates are also taking a positive approach, using words such as ‘increase’, ‘better’ and ‘diversity’. Mentions of the Street reps is frequent and the consensus is that have been a success and that needs to carry on. The candidates also talk about use of media outlets, such as HUU:TV, which I will look at later on in this post.

Compared to last year, there are some similarities in the campaign themes. There was also plenty of mentions of media, RAG and there was a focus on Street Rep implementation by Tom Peel.

Benjamin Croft (Twitter – @benjisan90)

Ben’s nomination form can be found here.

Before I get onto Ben’s reasons for standing, I should point out an important difference between his nomination form this year and the one he used as part of his (successful) campaign to be elected as Chair of the Societies Executive last year. If you read this year’s form, you’ll note that there’s no mention of a political affiliation. However, on last year’s Societies Exec form, you’ll note that he states he’s a member of the Labour Party. Obviously, there’s a chance that he could have become disenchanted with the party, but there’s also a chance that he’s either still a member or agrees with many of their views. Ben – if you’re reading this, I would appreciate a response.

If he does retain Labour links, he might expect some support from Labour members on the campus.

Naturally, he lists his Community and Welfare related experience, which could help him. He’s also part of a large department (Politics) which will make him well-known amongst a large group of people. However, he neglects to mention any policies. He’s taken a similar approach to Victoria Winterton (a VP Education candidate) by putting most of the information on a Facebook group (click here). I wonder how well-advertised this group is, because a picture of one of his posters doesn’t have a link and it’s not on his nomination form either. How will people be able to find this (potentially) important group?

In his group, he has some interesting ideas about media, such as improving HUU:TV, but not mentioning specifics and increasing the coverage of JamRadio. That issue with Jam is long standing (I remember it from my time as a sabbatical officer). I believe there were concerns about quality in the past. I believe Jam is good enough for widespread broadcasting though. Why not make use of your own resources?

It’s also nice to see a focus on the Scarborough campus. He’d like Hullfire to be more visible on the campus, alongside ‘Scarborough Tide’. It’s odd that this hasn’t been addressed before. The only concern I’d have is about printing costs. Also, the popularity of Hullfire at Scarborough would need to be consistently monitored.

Other policies include better visa information for international students, a standard membership fee for Scarborough societies and an extension to the Safety Bus route (this is a policy shared by Jon Chambers, one of the Presidential candidates).

Maureen Wanjiku (Twitter – @MaureenVP_Comm)

Maureen’s nomination form can be found here and she also has a Facebook group, which is here.

Like Ben, Maureen has put most of her manifesto on Facebook. She hasn’t put a link on her poster (at least not on the one I’ve seen) or her nomination form, which makes it more difficult to find the group and creates extra steps for those wanting to find out more after seeing her form.

Being a member of a large group such as ISA definitely makes her well-known and she has an additional advantage of being a member of the Athletic Union. However, I don’t see any evidence of substantial Community Zone experience. There is the ISA membership, but I don’t know how involved he has been with that. Hullstudent.com doesn’t mention her (or any of the ISA exec for that matter – apart from Komal Tariq) and she doesn’t say anything on her form or Facebook group.

As for policies, she calls for increased circulation of Hullfire and Scarborough Tide, as well as improvements to HUU:TV. Mauren also wants more awareness of all areas of the Community Zone. I would like to know how she would increase awareness though.

In addition to this, Maureen wants to create an Accommodation rep system, which would allow her to be more aware of any housing issues. Information would be gathered via surveys. I would be interested in knowing how the surveys would be implemented. I also have a concern about ‘survey fatigue’. Students already have to respond to a variety of them and regular accommodation surveys could be too much. This problem could be solved by reviewing other surveys and not making any of them too long.

Pippa Eveleigh (Twitter – @pippaeveleigh)

Pippa’s nomination form can be found here.

Pippa has plenty of experience in the Community Zone, including being Vice-Char and Chair of RAG (consecutive years) and being Chair of the Zone. This is in addition to her membership of an AU club and her being well-known in a large department (Drama). That and her political independence could make her one of the favourites.

Her nomination form is the only one out of the three to contain a comprehensive list of her policies and ideas. There are four main areas:

  • Student Activities
  • Street Reps
  • Media
  • Accommodation
Like Maureen Wanjiku, many of the spefic points are about expansion and raising awareness (e.g. making HUU:TV more well-known). One of the ways she wants to raise awareness is by publishing regular reviews of each of the media outlets. This is a good idea and increases transparency.
One of the concerns I have is about some of her financial goals. For example, Pippa wants the Student Activities budget doubled and giving Street Reps a budget by making them a standing committee. Whilst I agree that giving them more money would be great, I’d like to know where this would come from. Has she been able to look at union finances recently in order to plan this and make it realistic?

Summary and Conclusion

An interesting thing worth noting is that while all of the candidates have plans for media, none of them list any experience with the likes of Jam, Hullfire or HUU:TV. Tom Peel held committee positions in both Jam and Hullfire when he was a student, which would gave him a greater understanding of their activities. It’ll be interesting to see if their lack of media experience is a factor in the future.

Even though their experience is varied, they have all clearly taken the time to formulate ideas for all parts of the Community Zone. This is good to see as not all candidates do this in their respective elections.

As usual, I welcome any comments – including those of candidates and supporters.

The next post will be about the candidates for VP Welfare.

So, what do you think?