In conversation with the Cambridge Students’ Union presidents

Elections for next year’s Cambridge SU Sabbatical Officers have just opened, and to find out more I sat down with current undergraduate and postgraduate SU Presidents, Sarah Anderson and Sumouli Bhattacharjee, to get their insight into the role, their achievements, and what the upcoming elections will look like.

What was your background before becoming SU President?

Sarah: “I did the four year Classics degree, and during my time as a student I was JCR Secretary, then I was academic rep, and then I was JCR President.”

Sumouli: “I graduated and did my MBA some time back, and I was a management consultant. For the best part of a decade I was working in sustainability, and then I came back [to Cambridge] to study another Masters.”

What motivated you to run for the SU Presidency?

Sarah: “I saw that elections were happening and thought why not do the thing that I’ve spent so much time in my undergrad doing, but do it full time and get paid for it, because that sounded pretty ideal.”

Sumouli: “The postgraduate experience is slightly different because essentially all of your teaching experience is in the departments, so representing that at the university is quite important.”

“[It’s a] really very diverse cohort [so the SU is the] one place to bring all of them together, so that’s what the motivation was for me.”

If you could describe the role of SU President in three words, what would they be?

Sarah: “Liminal, equipping and varied.”

Sumouli: “Complex, insightful and rewarding.”

What does an average day in your role look like?

Sarah: “There is no average day, but emails, meetings and graphics is a fairly decent summary.”

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Sumouli: “There are set patterns, such as checking your emails, trying to respond, going to all of the committees, [but it can vary].”

What is your favourite part of your role?

Sarah: “Meeting so many actually amazing people. I’m on I think 40 JCR meetings now, in that I’ve met every college apart from John’s and Corpus.”

“[It’s also] a development opportunity like no other.”

Sumouli: “Meeting quite varied people… and the learning.”

Least favourite part?

Sarah: “Sometimes it can feel a bit internal facing”

“There’s been a lot of getting our own house in order this year. Last year was a tricky year for the organisation.”

“That definitely was quite concentrated over the summer, and as the year has gone on we’ve had a lot more time to be more forward thinking which has been brilliant.”

Sumouli: “We do this role because we want to engage with the students and get the best outcome for them,” but “the structure of this role is that you also have to do some of the internal work.”

“As the year progresses I think we are focusing more on the outward-facing aspect of the role.”

Do you feel that you’ve been able to achieve the goals that you set out in your manifesto last year?

Sarah: “Resits was my headline policy, that’s been ticking away in the background [as the university is currently] exploring opportunities [for re-assessment].

“Workload has been another thing [as there are] some really exciting things hopefully around boundaries on teaching. Watch this space, because that should be coming out very soon.”

“[We’ve also] increased the amount that societies can apply for, [so now] the budget is around £10,000, where it was only £4,000 at the start of the year.

[I’ve further been] campaigning on a national level about maintenance loans, working with the NUS, [and have conducted] rent negotiation training [with JCRs across the university].

“[Additionally, focusing on] tutor training and access to counselling is more of my Easter Term plan.”

Sumouli: “Yes and no.

“[In terms of decarbonising,] we have made some progress, [but] Cambridge is still decarbonising, progress is really slow.

“[On accommodation, it’s] not a postgraduate specific problem, but postgraduates are disproportionately impacted. We would like to make more progress, but we haven’t made enough.

“Everything in Cambridge moves at Cambridge timeline.

“It’s a marathon…as opposed to a sprint [and] that’s how most of the changes happen in Cambridge.”

There have been a number of changes to the structure sabbatical team in this upcoming election, reducing the number of roles to be filled. Why have these changes been made? What will these changes mean for both candidates and students?

Sarah: “We have one of the largest sabb teams in the country currently [so] that means that the support per sabb is lower than it would be at other Students’ Unions.

“Five sabbs with remits will be able to work more effectively and work with the brilliant student activists that we have. This will allow people to find their niche more easily.

“It’s [also] new and it’s different and means that you have a lot of ability to shape the role.”

Sumouli: “If money was no object, if resource was no object, you can have as many elected officers as you can have and the support team. That’s not the reality.

“We are not saying this is the silver bullet, we’re saying that we’re trying a different thing, because something has to change.

“We are having fewer elected officers, but they are more facilitators, so we want to get the activism in the grassroots.”

More broadly, what can candidates (and students!) expect from the upcoming election?

Sarah: “Campaigning should be fun! Your captive audience here is 24,000 people, you’ve got to do something that’s going to get people interested. It’s about trying to convince someone you’re interesting and worth voting for.”

Sumouli: “I think there’ll be some interesting candidates! I think big ideas will be important [because] more and more students care about big ideas.”

Do you have any final words of wisdom for candidates?

Sarah: “Know when to take yourself seriously, and when not to.

“You can get a lot out of just the campaigning, even if you don’t get in the role, that can be a really cool experience. Enjoy the process!”

Sumouli: “Be original, just be authentic, be yourself.”

The polls are open now, and close at 5pm on Thursday 27th February.