Asked why the role of President is so important, he said: “I think for me it’s about empowering the societies we do have and making our Union a cheaper, more affordable place for all students.
“The first key tenet would be subsidising bus travel for our societies. It doesn’t matter if you’re creative, doesn’t matter if you’re sporty. I think at the bedrock of what makes university great is our societies. We wouldn’t have a university without it, there’d be no culture, there’d be nothing there.
“We need to really celebrate and empower them in order to do what they want to do.
“The second one is about the actual cost of living. Now there’s very little that I can do, I’m not the Prime Minister, or the Chancellor. But what I’d like to do is see the University partner with a local tech supplier and enable students, especially ones that aren’t eligible for bursaries but are still not financially sound, rent or buy tech equipment.”
“Obviously it has to be within reason but give them the opportunity to own a product or like a laptop or anything like that by the end of their time studying – and to reduce e-waste they can always give it back to the University for the same price they’ve paid at the end of it.”
On how to pay for this, he said: “I think it’s about fostering proper local commissions within the community. By cooperating with local companies as opposed to national conglomerates, we’ll be able to get better deals.
“Also I’ll take a very active role in fundraising myself to make sure that my policies can be enacted because that’s what I want and that’s what I believe people need.”
Continuing to speak on policy, Will added: “One of my key policy aspects is anti-spiking education. I’m in a privileged position as a man where I’ve not ever had to come across spiking personally, but my girlfriend got spiked about a year ago, and it shocked me.
I want to go in, like they do with the sexual conduct talks at the start of the year, and make sure we are having these firm conversations with people.
“Actually trying to educate people on it both preventatively and sort of just in terms of knowledge. I think with that we’ll get a safer University, it’s not going to cost a lot of money, I’d do it myself for free, and I think it would greatly increase safety and confidence on campus for our women students.
“I’m also looking at making sure that local landlords accommodate international students properly, and don’t give them false information.”
Asked why he’s best for the role, Will said: “We’ve got loads of fantastic candidates going and I think it’s self-indulgent to be like ‘I’m the best person for the job’, but I’m running for it for a reason.
“I’m studying my Masters in Politics and Policy at the minute, so that naturally kind of lends itself to the bureaucratic nature of running a student union.
“As a person… I’ve got management experience, I’m approaching my late 20s, I’m 26 right now if you can believe it, and I’m confident, I’m pragmatic and I’m kind to people. I think that is a combination which makes for an effective leader.
“I know this is well within my remit and that’s something that I won’t just do – but I’ll do well.”
