Forge Press spoke to Anna James, current Sustainability and Development officer who is re-running for the role in this year’s Student Union Elections. We asked her about her motivations behind applying, her plans for campaigning, overall manifesto and more!
Anna’s motivation to re-run for the role mostly lies on “having such a great experience” this academic year and wanting to continue working on the initiatives she’s started and bring many more into action.
One of Anna’s main ideas in her manifesto is: “in the new year, there’d be like a free shop in the SU where people can come and take whatever they need, particularly people who might be coming for a semester, might be starting university, everything there is for them to take.”
When asking Anna about her plans for her campaign, she said “ my campaign definitely revolves around creativity and just chatting to people. I’m also going to do some t- shirt up cycling workshops and just some bits and bobs to try and get people engaged with sustainability in a really fun and accessible way.”
We asked Anna what would be the first thing she’d change if she was successful in getting the role. She told us “ I think it’s slightly different for me because I’m aware of the irritating things that prevent us from making change. There’s so many systems that are literally built to be irritating for officers. But for me, it would be definitely looking at that move in- move out period, seeing how we can make that better for students and also looking more at our sustainable careers. It’s always always going to come back to that for me and it’s a big fight.”
If the University gave Anna an unlimited budget, she would use it to “expand the community hub project to just give all students as much free food as we can, have them have tons of meals, sustainably sourced. Free clothing, just free basic provisions for students to make everything else in their lives easier.”
One of Anna’s favourite things about university are the sports clubs, especially korfball. “ It’s been such a highlight for me and I think sports is so important for everybody who’s part of it. It’s such a community building exercise even though I’m crap at sport. But I’ve just loved everyone I’ve met through it, so it’s always going to be my favourite.”
We asked Anna what celebrity she would choose to play her in a movie about her campaign. She said “I’d like to say someone cool like Jennifer Lawrence. But I feel like we’d end up with someone a bit dorky, like Joey King, in practice. So depends what lens you’re looking at me from. Someone between the two.”
Anna’s favourite train station in the UK is “Milton Keynes Central. It’s poo, it’s rubbish, but it’s my hometown and I feel very attached to it.”
