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| My manifesto I wrote back in May. |
Now I'm at the half way point of my term in office (time really flies!) I thought it'd be a good time to take a look back at those manifesto points I made back in May to see how many I'd actually been able to fulfil or at least make some progress on. So here's how I've done as of yet:
1. A Union of people, not place
This point has become somewhat derailed by the current plans to move the Students' Union to ATRiuM 2A. As there's the possibility of opening the Union later next year we have to be careful what external partners we forge now. However, engagement is one of my key priorities this year so I've been working hard to build up the 'people' side by supporting Course Reps and helping promote Student Council Elections.
2. On the ground support
Soon into my job, I realised that providing on-the-ground support was unrealistic. Since I have to attend many meetings and cannot commit myself to staying in Cardiff permanently in role. I have been looking to support Course Reps with issues they raise at our Course Rep Council meetings.
3. Campaign for what you want
I've actually managed to achieve something here (Whey!) albeit with the help of Jess Urch and her petition to increase opening hours. Opening hours at the ATRiuM have been restored to 8am to 10pm on weekdays and 9am to 5pm on weekends. For the other issues surrounding cash machines, there are major issues with this that we've come across. The main issue is that it costs the Union money to install a cash machine rather than make money out of the service. This is the reason there is currently no cash machine in Cardiff and also why they're being removed from Caerleon campus in Newport.
4. Society Encouragement
Just by having me in a more permanent position in Cardiff has certainly improved the amount of people we've had come forward with interest in starting a society. However we've found that there still seem to be a lot of barriers which mean some of our societies still haven't completed registration yet. I will to see how we can address this issue in the coming months.
5. Communication
I've been active on my Facebook and Twitter profile with disseminating information. I've also used various Facebook groups and email to tell people important info. This blog also helps anyone keep track every month of what I've been doing. Communication was a priority for all sabbs this year and is something we still have to work on. With the sites and campuses so spread out through South Wales, our internal communication suffers at times and coming up with a solution to this will be an interesting challenge in the coming months.
Hopefully that shows I've been making steps to achieving some of my manifesto points. However it's key to point out that my priorities have had to change somewhat especially over the last couple of months with the Union's current financial issues. What I'd really like to achieve by the end of June is to have a Strategic Plan for USWSU for 2014 to 2017 which helps build a Union that supports all regions and campuses of the University of South Wales. I'll be checking back on all this in June so stay tuned for that!
