Forge Press sat down with the candidates who applied for officer roles to discuss their plans and goals if they were to become successful in their application.
Will Lovatt, who is running for Education officer told Forge that after two years of being at university, he has seen people struggling in various ways that affect their education. This is what motivated Will to ‘come into this role with the ability to make changes to that’.
He said: “I want to ensure that people can get a good job, people can get a good degree and that their mental health is the priority of that essentially and that that doesn’t affect their ability to do well.”
Will emphasised the importance of the Education officer role, especially at a time when ‘we’re seeing cuts left, right and centre to staff that are vital to students’ ability to succeed’, and told Forge that through this role he wants ‘to make sure that every single person has a voice here’.
Will’s manifesto covers three main things; sustainable careers, keeping lectures accessible and defending modules.
He began by explaining what he called ‘overhauling welfare’, he said: “at the moment, we’re facing wait times of almost two months for a DDSS appointment. With cuts coming through, I worry that that’s one of the services that’s going to see cuts.
“Nobody should be in a situation where they have to essentially struggle on their own.” This is why he pledges to offer mental health support within departments ‘mainly through training departmental staff in mental health first aid’.
Will explained how he has previously suffered with mental health problems himself, and so feels passionately about offering support.
He also plans to make sure students have access to support in times of need and mentioned the one area we miss are those who face academic misconduct or are in senate disciplinary panels.
He said: “As a student representative on behalf of the university, they’re bloody terrifying. I think it’s really important that people are offered support before that process and as they’re going through it, but also afterwards as well. It’s not really something we offer at the moment.”
In regards to his point about keeping lectures accessible, he told Forge there are currently a ‘number of lecture rooms where if you have reduced mobility, you actually can’t access them’.
He added: “It’s making sure that actual lecture rooms kind of have wheelchair spaces as well, instead of just rows and rows and rows of seats.”
Will made a point in his manifesto to ‘pressure the university to stop cuts’. He expressed his concern over the impact this has on lecturers and therefore students and said ‘nobody should be in that situation’.
Finally, he spoke about empowering sustainable careers. He said: “The university does a lot of dealings with defence companies. That concerns a lot of people. I know there will be candidates talking about that. And I’m very grateful that a lot of us are.
“What we often forget though is the meaning of sustainability and how that relates locally to people.”
He explained that not everyone will be entering those fields, what he wants to see is ‘for us to try and retain as many students as possible, people come to Sheffield for a reason’.
He added that ‘people want to stay here’ but often leave as ‘opportunities aren’t there for us to stay’.
Will said: “In order to try and basically promote that a little bit more, I’d like for us to basically offer incentives for Sheffield-based companies to take on students, whether that’s through graduate schemes or summer internships or placements.”
When asked to make any final comments in regards to his role, he said: “We need somebody rational, but somebody strong, somebody that is firm. And I think, personally, I think that I fit that bill.”
