Label sat down with your Societies Chair candidate for the 2021 Exec Election!
Seth Johnson
What are the main points of your manifesto?
The main poins of my manifesto is that I want to go big or go home for Freshers and Refreshers. Abby started work on creating a bigger Refreshers period for us last year however, due to Covid we have not been able to work on that. But with Covid, it gives us an even better chance for us to open up our Freshers and Refreshers events and give societies that space to really jump back and show how good they are. I am also looking to work on London societies. So we have a London campus that has basically been neglected at this point. It is not practical for us to basically be societies for here and for London as we only have one staff member at London so, we want to work more as an advisory service because we’ve had student enquiries about setting up societies in London. I want to be able to give them that space whilst keeping something that’s maintainable. Whilst doing that I will be looking at our own processes as well so we can make it easier for people to get into societies and to start up those groups. I am looking at some more collaboration between our sections as well because right now, we are one big family here so, I want us to be able to get involved as easily as possible; I want us to make some formal routes for people. My last one is to be the shouting voice for societies and other sections because, I feel like we have been pretty ignored this year.For instance, the renovations that have gone on in the Volunteer Hub and everything so, we have basically been ignored as a voice. I want to be the shouting voice this year to not have us be ignored.
What previous experience do you have which is important to the role?
I got to uni in my first year and I was Chair of the Table Top Games Society. From there, I have worked my way up within the societies section. I worked as the General Interests Representative, which is basically overseeing the whole General Interests Section and helping them with queries and everything like that; answering questions, helping them develop and everything. I was also on the Societies Exec. From there, I went on to be the Treasurer of the Video Games Society along with continuing to be Chair of the Table Top Games Society, as I’ve done that for two years now. I have also continued on to be Vice Chair of the Societies Exec, contributing ideas as well as helping out as much as possible.
How important do you think societies are to the university experience?
I think they are completely integral to it honestly. I think the Union gives a grand offer for if you want to go out, have a drink and everything. You also have volunteering opportunities like Action and Rag which are really good to get involved with but, there needs to be the space for something which is kind of personal where you can meet more people and are basically like you because you share something in common. All of our societies have a core activity which make them what they are and that is a really easy way to find people who are similar to you. I know I came to university and I was lost, I didn’t actually know what I wanted and I think a lot us are like that when we get to uni so, finding societies and being able to find friends there and develop myself has really helped. I think without societies, you’ve basically only got half a university experience.
How will you promote and spread the message of all of the societies on offer?
This is a hard one everything as we have over one hundred societies at this point, it’s very hard to get them all out. I think the major thing is that we need to keep continuing on focussing on our media, I think it has been a bit weaker in the past few years. We need to look at it. We need to have a look at it again this year to how we can pump it out more but also, we need to make sure we are getting those events in like the Freshers and Refreshers Bazaar because, they are massive opportunities for societies to just get out there and show off what they are doing. Because they have not had this year it has been really disappointing for them and people are upset about it. Obviously we have tried to put the measures in place like an online bazaar but, for me my manifesto is getting out there again in both forms of online and in person. So, they can really shout about themselves.
Voting closes on Friday 14th May at 4pm!
Header image designed by Christos Alamaniotis.
