On 6 March, The Badger interviewed several candidates in the Sussex Student Unions’ Leadership Elections, including those for Diversity, Access and Participation Officer.
This role will involve working on issues regarding student mental health, wellbeing and safety. They will aim to ensure that each and every student has adequate support for issues that they might encounter as a student at Sussex.
Voting is open now on the Elections page of the Sussex Student Unions’ website until 5 pm on Friday 15 March. The results will be announced at 6 pm on Friday 15 March.
DISCLAIMER: The candidates featured in this article are the ones who attended The Badger’s media day on 6 March. You can see the full list of candidates and their manifestos on the Elections page of the Sussex Student Unions’ website.
Raheel Aslam
Raheel Aslam is a postgraduate Development Studies student at IDS. If elected, Aslam would like to implement a “multifaceted approach [that] aims to provide accessible and diverse resources for mental health support.” Through targeted initiatives, Aslam’s goal is to enhance affordability, mental health, and overall community wellbeing at Sussex. He would aim to ensure that “students’ needs and concerns are at the forefront of every decision and initiative.”
Isabella Roffey
Isabella Roffey is a second-year Politics student and a member of the slate ‘Strive’. Her primary policies include introducing a mid-term wellbeing check-in period, running wellbeing workshops during assessment periods, and making sexual health awareness more “engaging” and “proactive”. Roffey would also create the ‘The Trans+ Student Fund’ which would “aid students in accessing gender-affirming products in times of financial difficulty.”
Em Kershaw
Em Kershaw has been a part of the Students’ Union through different societies and opportunities during their three years at Sussex. If elected, the key issue they would like to tackle is to “reduce the burnout students feel.” They would do this by developing the ‘Free Wednesday’ scheme and setting up student-led support groups, particularly around topics such as being transgender, mental health, and balancing work.
