With Executive Elections little more than one month away and the Candidates’ Pack set to be presented to Union Council on January 20, Label Editor, Jago Pearson, caught up with Loughborough Student Union’s Vice President for Democracy & Communications, Peter Childs. In an unprecedented in-depth interview, Childs is pressed on Union Council, the state of Loughborough’s democratic processes and the imminent election process.
The Executive officer in charge of overseeing Union Council, he admits that it is currently “not fit for purpose” and promises a radical overhaul in the coming weeks and months. He also acknowledges that the Council Chair, James Carroll, has made some “fundamental” mistakes, while also accepting some of the blame for cancelled Council meetings at the end of 2011. [[videosmall|583]]
With regard to democracy as a whole on campus, Childs defends the Union editorially constraining their own media outlets but says that he would “love to see students rise up and start their own publication” to increase democratic accountability.
Childs went on to describe a “thrilling’ personal experience in running in the Executive Elections and encouraged anybody who was thinking of launching a candidacy to give it a go. He rejected any claim that you have to be a ‘Big Name On Campus’ to be successful and says that although a campaign can be financially expensive, “if you want it that bad you should go out and get it”.
Finally, Childs explains how he has reformed the election rules to avoid the controversy that dominated the 16 day campaign 11 months ago.
For Jago Pearson’s full analysis of his interview with Pete Childs, pick up Issue Seven of Label Magazine, which comes out on January 27. Keep your eyes peeled on both the magazine and Label Online for extensive elections build up all of the way up to launch night on February 20.
