Freya Vanevery has been elected as the Mature Students’ Part-Time Officer in a landslide victory.
They will take over from Tom Hill after he finishes his term at the end of June this year.
Vanevery secured their spot with 777 votes meeting the 699.5 vote threshold after only one round. Marcus Young came second with 321 votes – a 456 difference between first and second place.
At the stage, Vanevery said: “I’m really grateful. I’ve had so many people help me with this campaign. I’m in the department for lifelong learning and I just really appreciate all of my friends who have helped me with this and for everyone I know coming out and voting for me.”
Vanevery’s slogan ‘Make Every Student Matter’ is central to her manifesto, where she pledges to increase prioritisation of mature students.
Their main three key aims are (1) creating a space and community with running events catered towards mature students, (2) lobbying university management to widen admissions criteria for mature students and (3) improve support for disabled mature students alongside Disabled Students Officer
Aims to introduce specialised classes and implement community spaces were common among all the candidates’ manifestos.
They previously stood as the Department for Lifelong Learning Councillor and an Academic Representative. In these roles, they fought for increased accessibility of coursework and contributed to SU policy implementation.
During the 2022 SU Election period, they campaigned as part of the Solidarity candidate slate, alongside Ash Taylor, Charlie Thomas, Alexandra Hulme and Jo Faire.
