Jephthah Ekogiawe has been elected the SU’s International and Community Officer for 2024/25.
He is the current LGBT+ Students’ part-time officer, and with this new role will be taking up a full-time position earning him a £22,291 salary.
He was elected with a total 1052 votes, and beat five other candidates to the role.
He spoke to Forge Radio after his election win…
How are you feeling right now?
I am very excited and very honoured. It’s a great privilege to represent the international community, and to know they’ve put their trust in me with this mandate.
How did the campaign go for you?
Everything just fell into place throughout the campaign. It felt very stressful, but it was the correct type of stress.
Do you think your time spent as LGBT+ Officer will help you in this new role, and what are your plans for the next year?
I think you need empathy to be a part-time officer, so that you can relate to other students who have different experiences than you. I promise to go into every conversation with an open heart.
We live in a troubling time and the strongest thing I’ll bring as an officer is empathising with those who campaign on all the different global causes.
I’m going to lobby the university to give international students a seat on the executive board, because that’s the highest form of representation we can get.