As part of our election series this year, we have created a rundown of all the key things you need to know about your candidates and potential SU officers for next year
As we head into election week, things often tend to get a bit confusing, especially with so many excellent candidates vying for your votes. So here at Bath Time, we thought we'd help you out, and as part of our election series this year we have created a rundown of all the key things you need to know about your candidates and potential SU officers for next year. To start the series, this first article will be all about the biggest role of all, the SU President, and this year it's a contested field with 5 candidates all presenting strong platforms. It goes without saying that these articles will serve as brief run-downs, and you should spend time looking at each candidate's manifesto. But that's enough chit chat, let's get into the details.
Angus Gueterbock
We will start with Angus Gueterbock, a name some may recognise as the current SU Sports Officer. Angus boasts his achievements in creating more storage space, recruiting more staff, securing toilets for remote parts of campus and saving “thousands of pounds in budget cuts", as signs of success and delivery as Sports Officer. What he also makes clear is that the role of Sports Officer has been more diverse than he expected and that it is from this experience that his manifesto has been developed around three ideals: 1. Accessibility and equity, 2. Affordable student living / the wellbeing crisis 3. Aligning the SU and University strategies with a set of policies he believes align with these values.
Firstly, Angus sets out to tackle accessibility, pledging to provide better information on AI usage by students and staff, as well as ensuring international students are provided with all the information necessary on policy and processes at the university. Moving on to affordability and wellbeing policies, include a stronger presence by the SU in the city centre and ensuring that the University travel plan 2025 – 2030 reflects the needs of students and recognises the cost of living, whilst also vitally lobbying BANES council to scrap the proposed HMO conversion ban.
Overall, Angus has focused here on change he believes he can deliver with few flashy policies or grand promises, drawing on his experience as Sports Officer. However, it could be argued that the manifesto lacks the detail compared to others, with broader statements of intent rather than policy. It will be curious to see if students are receptive to this kind of pragmatism or want greater change when they reach the Ballot box.
Joshua (Dennis) Woodbridge
The next candidate is Joshua (Dennis) Woodbridge, a SUmmit representative who has interacted with university life through his role as a treasurer and a student now in his final year. Dennis hopes to “make day-to-day life easier” and outlines a Top Four priorities to achieve this. These include ensuring course content is available outside of lectures, allowing wider access to society membership funds, stopping unannounced changes to the enforcement of SU policy, and expanding SU accessible space in the city.
Aside from these top four priorities, Dennis continues to outline more specific policies in a range of other areas, starting with Placements, work experience and graduation. He states that he would improve the University's reputation, making employment easier and build an inheritance system so that student-led projects such as FROOM can be maintained once developers leave. On societies and sports, Dennis hopes to stop clashes between the SU and societies, overhauling training and expanding resources, as well as merging and streamlining the events planning process. There is also a commitment to more specialised mental health support, building closer relationships with First Bus and the local MP, as well as greater internal accountability. Dennis would increase the role of SUmmit and ensure updates that your typical student requires are well publicised by reworking the SU’s online presence.
The manifesto put forward is wide-ranging and touches every aspect of student life. One notable aspect, however, is a lack of offerings for international students, a group of students towards whom other candidates have made pledges. Furthermore, it would be interesting to hear what greater responsibilities would be granted to SUmmit considering it is a group few students are aware of.
Leanardo Parrilli
Leanardo, our third candidate, makes the case for “new reforms to support your student experience” with a straight-to-the-point manifesto, immediately delving into the policy he would implement. Detailed policies on the cost-of-living include lobbying for 9 to 10-month housing contracts and ensuring house prices only increase year on year, whilst also continuing the distribution of renters' rights information. On the topic of buses, Leanardo would expand the use of interest-free bus loans, ensure advanced notice of bus price increases and survey for a return to the U2 to Oldfield. An area Leanardo talks about that other candidates have tended to miss is food on campus, committing to re-evaluate food prices and fight for cohesion between portion size and price. Mental health also makes a sizeable chunk of this manifesto with the aim of increasing the number of well-being staff, providing post–wellbeing feedback and the introduction of nap pods.
Aside from the main focuses in this manifesto, there are also pledges to create more study space in the city, routinely survey students, issue regular updates and host more events for international and postgraduate students. In terms of academic support Leanardo wants to see all lecturers aware of the guidelines on recorded lectures and advanced materials for students with a DAP.
This detailed manifesto does offer reforms that would aid students and touches on areas such as tenancies and food pricing, which other manifestos don't, with the potential to be excellent changes for students at Bath. The difficulties lie in the feasibility of the pledges, particularly with landlords and initiatives such as on-campus Nap Pods.
Rajeet Agarwal
Rajeet begins his manifesto with a simple statement, “Less pressure, less confusion, A Bath that works better.” A student frustrated with the overcrowded libraries and multiple platforms made the case for “structured change” to relieve pressures.
Beginning with the Bath Pressure Map, a system to identify where and when pressure increases, to then make available midnight study spaces, pop-up temporary spaces and protected quiet zones. A second similar system, Bath Connect, would be designed under Rajeet, being a central dashboard for communication, with the aim of reducing overload from multiple different platforms. Similarly, there is a commitment to a part-time Bath-specific jobs platform for local businesses to directly advertise jobs. This would also come with employer meet and greets, as well as an internship and opportunity dashboards. Also included in this array of new systems is a revamp of the Bath App, committing to add timetables, exam marks, fees, lecture materials and deadlines.
Other commitments range from more student travel experiences and reducing the cost of bus travel in Bath to freeing up study spaces on campus. It is clear that thought and attention have gone into this manifesto, with changes, if introduced, could really help make students' lives simpler. The hashtag Rajeet ends with is, “#SmallStepsBigWins”. The only issue with that is I'm not convinced many of the measures recommended are small steps with the implementation of multiple new systems. I would enjoy hearing more about how and when these things could be created.
Yitz Sheinfield
Our final candidate, Yitz, sets out three statements to begin their manifesto: better community, lower costs and more transparency. Stating their time as a SUmmit member, student ambassador and advising on SU policy as key achievements at Bath, Yitz wants to “use [their] experience to deliver real change.” On a common theme throughout these manifestos, housing and the cost of living, Yitz proposes an anonymous landlord rating platform and lobbying the council for rent caps. Furthermore, they include a pledge to cap circuit laundry prices and lobby First Bus to create a Hopper Fare, as well as restoring the U2 to Oldfield. In addition to this, Yitz has included a policy to make SAMIS more accessible through changes to the UI (User Interface?) and making previous results more accessible. There are further policies included in this manifesto based around academics, for example, working with the university to ensure coursework does not continue into the exam period, as well as a change to the retake policy allowing international students to retake online and students with IMC to retake, no matter their mark.
Moving on to sports and activities, Yitz commits to a new monthly gym membership with options to freeze your membership as well as increasing collaboration between sports societies and smoothing barriers for non-sports societies to rent equipment. Moving on to accountability, they would set up an Annual General Meeting and work more closely with Bath Spa SU and BANES council to improve student welfare.
Yitz’s manifesto reaches into areas other candidates don’t, especially around gym memberships and issues with SAMIS, which are concerns I personally have heard students consistently discuss in my two years at Bath. The issues once again come with how deliverable some of the other commitments are. Rent and price caps with the council and circuit laundry, and bold claims, which could greatly benefit students, but will be extremely difficult to implement.
Overall, all 5 candidates present appealing offers. Whether you are concerned about affordability or accountability, there is something to suit everyone's appetite. However, as previously mentioned, the reality of some policies put forward will be difficult for the candidates. Especially once elected, having to work with external stakeholders such as the council, local businesses and First Bus may be a greater challenge than anticipated. Despite this, it is clear that every candidate would bring a wealth of experience to the Presidency and Bath Time wishes them all the best in this competitive field.