During Media Week, Label interviewed Josh Hurrell, who will be campaigning to become our next Union President. With previous roles as Rag Rep and Hall Chair for Elvyn Richards Hall, his experience and awareness of Union proceedings shone through. He was confident in what he was saying and was smartly dressed for the occasion, which is always a bonus! Here are his responses to our final edition of the Label Big Five Questions:
1. What are the main reasons behind you running for Union President?
“Well at first it sort of started from Freshers this year and we had a girl in the hall that absolutely hated what was going on, like the drinking, the culture and she left after a day and to be honest she didn’t really give it enough time and it basically made me think that not everyone has the same experience that possibly I do and that there are so many different experiences that people take from it that it can be bad like you can go out hating Loughborough, like I’ll come out saying I had the best time of my life here but not everyone will so it’s basically I want to make sure that everyone does come out saying like I’ve at least had a good time not like the best time of their life but as long as there’s no one going out saying “oh I hated it was the worst three years of my life” or if we can just get that drop-out rate at the beginning of the term lower because of the things that the union is doing to incorporate everyone then that’s a good thing to me.
2. What do you think of the current Union President, Ellie Read, and is there anything you would plan to do differently if you were in that position next year?
“I think that she’s doing really well at the moment I mean like the We Are Here campaign is a good thing. My main point is to start expanding on what they are doing; I don’t believe that you can start fresh every year for the Union to progress any further so it’s about continuing on the strong campaigns like We Are Here especially with the university protocol about anything that affects students has to go through the students union, so all those sorts of things it’s about progressing them and continuing them so that they become stronger campaigns in people’s minds like Better Decisions, build on it make it stronger, make it a bigger thing so then it sort of just becomes a way of Loughborough life as opposed to something that is happening in the background.”
3. What is your one main manifesto point?
“My main manifesto point is that every student matters, engaging town students and expanding LSU’s reach, so that’s like expanding We Are Here and just getting out and talking to as many people as possible. Not just the Exec going out but making Union Councillors what they are meant to be again and going out and putting them in departments in We Are Here t-shirts because people don’t come to the union to tell them things you have to go to people to find out things, so that’s the sort of thing its about going out there, talking to everyone and then coming back and seeing what we can do to improve and what people need to do to improve.”
4. Why should students vote for you to be the next Union President over anyone else in Loughborough?
“I think I’ve got the experience, I’ve been involved in the Union since my beginning here. I’ve worked my way up from a Rag Rep to Hall Chair to Union Councillor and I’ve sat on a few of the committees within the union council so I’ve got the experience. And I’ve got the passion for it, like, I love Loughborough! And I want to see it thrive and I want this Union to be the best Union and I think it can be. There are a lot of things that we do better than others but there are more things that we can do better.”
5. In one sentence, can you sum up what you think the role of Union President involves?
“To lead, represent and foster relationships.”
All answers given are those of the candidates, recorded and transcribed word for word, and are not influenced by our writers.
Josh is running as "Josh Do It" Hurrell, uncontested for the position of Union President for next year's Union Executive. Make sure you check out the rest of our Elections coverage by clicking here.
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