Forge sat down with Education Officer candidate Eva Beitia to discuss her campaign and manifesto.
Eva is currently the President of the Hispanic Society, and recalls facing challenges “in terms of getting the events put together, especially things that have to be run through by the SU, so I know that it’s very important to get the SU to listen to students and I feel like I know how to tackle that.
“So I thought I would be a good candidate for this role.”
Eva believes that industrial action and course cuts are the biggest issues affecting students right now.
She said: “People aren’t feeling secure in their degrees, and they don’t really feel that the thing they were sold at the start is kind of represented now.
“It’s very important to gain that security back to make sure students feel like this is worth their money and their time, and just to make sure we actually feel like we’re part of the community we came into.”
When asked to summarise the main three points of her manifesto, Eva said: “I want to make sure that we stop all further cuts, for staff and for courses.
“I also want to increase funding for societies and any sort of student communities, because I feel like they can bring a lot of support to students, perhaps support that they don’t get through their actual degree.
“I also want to feel any students within any underrepresented groups feel like they have access to voice their opinions but also to everything the university has to offer for them, because it’s not always an easy thing to go through, and also we’re not all always aware of the resources available to us, so it’s very important that we’re aware of them and that we use them, because that’s what we pay for.”
Eva wants to “get people thinking” during her campaign. She said: “I feel like, in terms of voting for example, I’ve never really been apart of this, i’ve never really understood how it works until this year, so I want to get people to understand why it’s important to vote, how they can make a difference just by voting for five minutes if that.
“I just want to get people thinking about what it is they want to change, what it is that would make them feel happier within their course, within the university, because sometimes we don’t really realise that there are things that we want to change and that we can actually change them, we just need to voice it to the right people.”
Eva also plans on talking to people and asking questions to receive feedback, to find out what people want to change and what they want to maintain.
If successful, the first thing she would do is thank people, and “build a list of all the ways we can help them. This can be done at any time, but I feel like having that point of contact when you first win where you say ‘look, these are all the things I can help you with, as long as you tell me what you need I’m going to help you do it,’
“All I can do is make a promise, and then prove afterwards that I will keep that promise, but I think that it’s very important to acknowledge everyone that’s been there for you and put all their trust in you.”
Finally, Eva went on to say that her favourite part of university has been being involved in societies. She said: “Whenever I have been part of a society I have felt so in my comfort zone, and like I actually belonged in the university, whereas when I haven’t I almost felt a bit on the margin.”
