Welfare and Community Officer: Candidates Reaching out to Students
Photo Courtesy: Mary Hinkley via UCL Imagestore
Student welfare is a concern to all students at UCL, as it is an issue that affects all student lives, across many different areas.
This year there are 9 candidates running for the position of Student Welfare & Community Officer. Our opinion editor, Lucy Reade, talked to 3 of the candidates who attended the Student Media Leadership Race about their campaign manifestos.
Rachel Lim, who is the current Welfare & Community Officer, wants to use her experience in the role to implement lasting change:
“My whole thing this year is that, you know, we should be going to students, not expecting students to come to us and expecting students to know how to find us. It’s really just about showing that this Union is on the student side.” For example, “We’re going to be releasing leaflets about your rights in halls and how to claim compensation correctly.”
“One thing I've actually really been hammering during our meetings is that when a student complaint about a staff member happens, that it actually goes straight to a UCL HR. And so there's no roundabout route: I've been really hammering back that we need to be establish a good practice and when we start to know what good practice looks like, because it's completely new, then we have to be showcasing that to students immediately.”
In response to how she feels about being the continuity candidate, she said “it’s [about] ensuring that the changes I’ve made and the suggestions I’ve made now actually stick. Having a second year means… six more months of me actually being able to implement actual change.”
Marius Bommeir said that “my policies revolve around prioritizing what's most important in welfare — meeting students’ basic needs. We have students being deported, we have homeless students, we have broke students. I think that's what we need to tackle.” Another key priority for Marius is improving the visa service. “We need a reachable visa service. I'm not sure if you've tried reaching it from abroad — impossible.”
They also want to address basic infrastructure issues. “We need the bare minimum — warm and free buildings. It sounds stupid, but we're not meeting the bare minimum at UCL at the minute.”
Marius also highlights the need for sustained mental health support. “We need long-term support after six initial counselling sessions with student support and wellbeing. One thing that works well with Student Support and Wellbeing is that everyone's heard of it. You go to the student centre, you see it, you have an attendance warning, you get an email.” They believe the SU should adopt a similar approach.
Asked how their policies would affect day-to-day student life, Marius stresses making support more accessible. “There would be less friction whenever support is needed. That will be easier to access for everyone.” They also aim to improve communication and response times: with “less waiting time for replies, making it easier to talk to a human being when necessary and more presence on campus when possible.”
Hany-Alexandru Radwan-Radulescu said that “my main aim is to make it so that the sabbatical officers themselves create a community where they can actually help and hold each other accountable.” He believes that internal dysfunction has harmed the SU’s effectiveness: “a lot of the issues that arose this year were due to them not working as a unit and as a team, which then affected the student union greatly as the day-to-day policies are implemented.”
Hany also wants to create more open dialogue within the student body. “My main one is to create spaces where people can give proper opinions that they wouldn’t otherwise say,” he stated. “A lot of people that I’ve encountered are not that open, even if you see UCL promoting a lot of diversity and a lot of welfare. I feel like there can be more done.” His goal is to “be that bridge between students, staff, and higher ups because a lot of the time that gap can really affect things running at UCL.” He highlights the consequences: “There’s a lot of miscommunication that’s happening, which is a really big issue.”
Accommodation is another major priority. “This is an ongoing issue,” Hany asserts. “One of the main ways I aim to tackle this is by collaborating with local communities and addressing issues with pricing — not only pricing, but there’s been a lot of scams happening lately as well.” They propose a vetting system to protect students. “Vet information as well as trying to find a better recommendation for people, both in terms of price but also in the quality that they’re getting.”
Please vote in the elections this year – student democracy is integral to student life at UCL.