Content Warning: mentions of spiking

On Saturday 12th February, three candidates for Guild President accepted the invitation from Burn FM to be interviewed by Ellen Knight and Dan Hunt about their campaigns. This is what they had to say. The candidates are listed in alphabetical order by their surnames.

Mikey Brown

The incumbent, Mikey Brown, was first asked about the similarities between his previous manifesto and his current one, with the suggestion that he had not achieved everything he had intended to in his first term as Guild President. Mikey emphasised his plans were adapted to ‘address the new challenges students have faced over the past seven months’ and acknowledged the fact that he ‘made some commitments and still have some improvements to make.’ He referenced the newly launched Renter’s Union (which was announced the week after the interview took place), which he claimed would ‘bring the battle to the bad apples in the rental market,’ and would continue with his ‘momentum’ of helping students during the remaining five months of his term.

One of the issues Mikey is determined to address is the cost of living crisis, as he argued it will have ‘an enormous impact on people’s ability to put themselves through university,’ and that therefore he would ‘make sure the university has specific funds in place to assist people with energy bills.’ He also pointed out that the council tax rebate does not help students because they do not pay council tax and that there ‘needs to be the same level of support for students.’

The interviewer, Ellen Knight, then challenged Mikey about his record tackling spikings at the Guild, asking him if he was happy with the way it was dealt with. The Guild President acknowledged ‘there are some things that we got wrong’ but that he was now ‘pretty happy with the situation,’ pointing to the £80,000 spent on ‘measures to prevent and mitigate against spiking’ following the ‘overhaul of the way our venues team operates.’ He also added there is ‘additional stuff in the pipeline’ to further address this issue. When asked by Ellen if he could pledge to keep the anti-spiking measures in place for next year, Mikey responded, ‘yeah absolutely – there is no turning back.’

Responding to the suggestion by some students that the Guild Officers have not done anything this year, Mikey said it was ‘absolutely right that students feel able to scrutinise their officers,’ and that the previously promised Manifesto Tracker was ‘firmly in development.’ He went on to say that he had ‘recalibrated the relationship with the university’ to make it more student focused, and although there were rent increases at University Accommodation, that his team had compromised to ‘secure a below inflation increase across the board’ which ‘protects the people who most need to be protected.’

With regards to the February UCU strikes, Mikey Brown said they were ‘desperately unfair’ for students and that he was making sure they ‘are not used as a political football’ during the war of words throughout the dispute. He claimed he was working towards ‘extensions as a matter of course on modules affected by a lack of teaching,’ and that he was in discussions with University leaders about ‘something to make up for it, either with additional educational resources, or even financially.’

Asked if he feels he’s done enough to be re-elected, Mikey said he had ‘worked his absolute arse off’ and ‘demonstrated strong leadership on a range of issues.’

Louise ‘the Lyon’ Lyons-Appiah

With a campaign heavily focused on mental health, Louise was first asked why she was standing for Guild President instead of Community and Welfare Officer. She claimed that although she did consider it, she is ‘not just focused on mental health, but also personal development and equality, diversity and inclusion.’ She pointed to her leadership skills that means she can ‘uplift other people in the team,’ but reiterated that her focus on mental health was relevant because it is ‘so crucial to everything about being a student – it affects academics, it affects your social life, everything,’ and said that good mental health is ‘really crucial to the whole of student wellbeing.’

When asked about her previous leadership experience, ‘the Lyon’ discussed her work at the Breathe Uni Society, which has since worked with other universities, and spoke of her ability to ‘bring together a group of people.’ She described herself as an ‘empathetic leader, I listen to people a lot.’

The topic then changed to her manifesto and what makes it unique. Louise claims she used her manifesto to ‘speak about her experience’ as well as the changes she would make at the Guild, and that she ‘acknowledges the collaborative aspects of everything’ when enacting her ‘innovative’ ideas.

‘Mikey’s performance has been good,’ she said when asked about the current incumbent, ‘he’s a very smart man and he cares a lot about the students.’ Despite this, she added ‘he doesn’t collaborate with the university as much as I think he could,’ arguing that ‘staff at the university have the expertise’ and can help the Guild with its aims.

Louise faced questions about her response to the Cost of Living Crisis which is affecting students at the university. She responded by saying she could instead focus on fighting for rebates for students whose learning has been disrupted by the pandemic. ‘I’m not an expert on that so that’s something I would have to look into.’

One of Louise’s main manifesto goals is to collaborate with charities and the NHS in order to boost the University’s mental health support. When asked if this was achievable, she said there are ‘lots of mental health charities that students may not have heard of who really want to give students their support,’ and claimed her experience in the charity sector can help make this a reality: ‘some previous Guild Presidents may not be affiliated with the third sector space.’ Louise then cited an example of a charity she had reached out to which was keen to offer ‘discounted training to students’ to help them deal with mental health issues.

In response to the claim that Guild Officers don’t do anything, Louise said her experience hosting a podcast demonstrates ‘I’m very transparent with my views,’ and suggested Weekly Q&As alongside her manifesto pledge of Wellbeing Wednesdays. Her manifesto is focused on ‘things that I know I can do’ that utilise her experience in the charity sector and the skills of the officers around her: ‘If I’m being honest I can’t promise you anything. I can try my hardest to achieve stuff but I’ve got to be realistic.’ She also reiterated ‘I work hard in everything I do.’

Finally when asked about her persona ‘Louise the Lyon’, she said ‘lions are protective and they’re very regal,’ and that she ‘feels like she embodies that as a person.’

Acacia Matthews

Acacia was first asked about what makes her stand-out as a candidate. When talking about her manifesto she said it has been ‘written from a point of experience’ and that her involvement with the Guild helped her to ‘make changes to the manifesto, alter it depending on what the Guild needs at the moment.’ With regards to her personal qualities, Acacia pointed to her role as President of Reclaim Campus, which means she ‘knows how societies work and what they need in terms of welfare and funding.’ She also claimed this role has meant she has gained experience working with the media after being interviewed for multiple media outlets, and her position as Chair of the All Student Meeting gives her a unique understanding of ‘how the democratic process of the Guild works.’

When questioned whether her manifesto is achievable, with the headline pledge of cutting the University’s emissions by 5%, Acacia responded ‘I have no doubt in my capabilities,’ adding ‘urgent change needs to happen and if you don’t have high aims you’re not going to achieve it.’ She pointed to the funds available to the University that can be used to make it work, saying if they ‘use their resources effectively then I definitely think it will be achievable.’

On the incumbent, Mikey Brown, Acacia said he has ‘done some really great things in his term,’ but the ‘spiking incident was one where there was a large lack of communication.’ She said there seems to be a ‘really big gap between the Guild and the student population’ and that she would address this with ‘weekly updates’ and ‘explanations as to why decisions are made.’

Acacia was then asked in more detail about the Guild’s response to spiking and what she would have done differently. She acknowledged that it was a ‘complicated situation’ and that Reclaim Campus ‘really pushed the Guild to make decisions that we thought were in the best interests of students.’ ‘If I had been a Guild Officer at the time I would have pushed more for the introduction of scanners,’ she said, ‘just to ensure there is a really clear list of everyone who’s in attendance and that way you can cut it down and work out who the perpetrators are.’ She also added that the backlash to the Guild decisions were because ‘people were not informed as to the reasoning why.’

One of her ideas to improve the Guild’s communication is to have a ‘Prime Minister’s Questions but with the Officers.’ This would be a chance ‘once a term when students can come in and be absolutely brutal, rip us apart if you want to. Ask us questions, ask why we make certain decisions, criticise us, tell us off, have a go if you need to, just to allow us to get aware of how students are feeling.’ She added that this will help students understand too that Guild Officers are ‘people rather than just faces on a wall.’ In addition to this, Acacia believes Guild Officers should be ‘held to a higher standard’ and ‘as President you have to uphold a certain level of behaviour,’ and as a result she wants Guild Officers to be ‘seen on campus a lot more.’

When asked if she was the person to finally force the University to announce a Climate Emergency, Acacia pointed to her ‘relationships with University management,’ and said she believed the new Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adam Tickell ‘is relatively pro-sustainability.’ She also argued that other candidates for the officer roles are ‘behind this as a manifesto point.’

Finally, when asked about why she wanted to be Guild President, Acacia spoke of her intention to give students the ‘safest but most fun student experience possible,’ and that she would be successful in the role because she has ‘heaps and heaps of experience, relationships with the university’ and is ‘passionate about enriching student experience.’ 

The other candidates running for the role who did not choose to undertake an interview are Shreeya Dhakal, Muhammed Shahabas Poomulla Kandy, the Ghost of Margaret Thatcher, Akshaya Priya Selvaperunthagai, Vijay Kalyanaraman and Anubhav Dawar. Voting opens on Monday 28th February at 10am on the Guild website and closes on Friday 4th March at 3pm.

Read more candidate interviews: