We asked every York SU candidate the same questions, and here’s what they said

Spring has officially sprung on campus, and along with the blooming daffodils bringing some colour back to campus, we also have the flurry of York SU election posters. If you’ve already voted, or maybe you’re just a bit behind on keeping up with the election news, we thought we’d ask every candidate a question to help you get to know them a little quicker.

We asked every SU officer position the same question, because who has the time to read their reading list and over 20 manifestos in a few days…

The candidates missing did not respond to the questions (sad times). See more about the candidates here.

Here’s what they said:

Academic Officer: How will your work ensure that the budget cuts being taken by the uni currently will not impact the quality of degrees offered to students at York?

Hannah: “If I’m elected as Academic Officer, I’d work to make sure students aren’t paying the price of budget cuts. I’d lobby for cuts on expenses that are not useful to students. I definitely think that library opening times should not be 24/7 as very few students actually use it during the night, and it’s very costly argument to make. I’d also ensure that students don’t suffer from hidden costs of studying; no one should have to stress over these. So, I’ll fight to keep essential resources like calculators, software, and learning materials affordable. I’ll also increase transparency, I want students to know where cuts are being made.

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“On top of that, I’ll work to expand funding for key services like career support and well being initiatives. I also think that balancing work and studies shouldn’t come at the cost of your grades, so I’ll push for fairer academic policies for working students. Most importantly, I’ll make sure students have a real say in financial decisions because cuts shouldn’t cut into our learning.”

Youssef El Sherif: “What I’ll do regarding that is to set priorities, understand the breakdown of this cut, how it impacts each degree program, then make sure we build strong connection with academic staff & uni leads to study this impact and find alternative ways that provides same original quality in bargained cost.”

Issac: “First, I’ll actively oppose cuts that threaten educational quality. Second, I’ll push for transparency—the current ambiguity around finances must end. After speaking with Coventry University’s Provost facing similar issues, I believe York must be honest with students about our financial situation. Most importantly, I’ll ensure students have a real voice in these decisions. Too many students remain unaware of how academic committees function, seeing them as resume builders rather than true advocates. As someone who was once outside this system, I’ll represent the majority who feel disconnected from these processes. My commitment is simple: when difficult choices must be made, students should determine priorities. Your education, your choice.”

Activities Officer: How do you plan to make the SU more active in student life?

Kaitlyn Beattie-Zarb: “One of my biggest goals this year was to get stuck in to as many societies as possible, and provide a more hands on approach to the activities Officer role. Having visited over 50 societies so far, and meeting with at least 100, I am incredibly glad to have made a step towards bridging that gap between the SU and the students on the ground! We’ve also been excited to launch new attempts at being open and available to students in a way we haven’t been before, moving to more accessible and relatable forms of social media activity, and setting up sabbs on the spot, a YSTV and URY show to give students as many chances as possible to talk to us.”

However more work is definitely needed to ensure that students feel engaged in the union, and vice versa. The tricky part is ultimately balancing time – for every minute we’re in a society event, we aren’t in a meeting with university staff making change happen. So it’s about finding that right balance… so that the union has the free time to get engaged in student life, but equally finding less burdensome ways to students to get involved in SU activity.”

James Taylor: “After consulting with many societies in the creation of my manifesto, it become apparent that there was a concerning lack of dialogue between societies and the SU. As activities officer, I would bridge this gap through making available one on one meetings with societies whenever they needed to ensure that their concerns are heard by the SU  and we can work together to find solutions. Furthermore, I would like the SU to take a more active role in encouraging and advising societies on hosting more events like taster and crossover sessions with other societies in order to create a more connected student body with the SU at its core.”

Community and Wellbeing Officer: In response to recent worries from students about safety on nights out, how do you intend to ensure student safety at York?

Freddy Russell: “I intend to improve safety on nights out with more effective and visible ways of reporting incidents, making us a more transparent and open SU when it comes to nightlife safety, and working directly with venues and bounder companies to make sure we’re keeping students safe.”

Sam: “The SU must be transparent about how it is safeguarding students. It’s anyone’s guess what they are saying to venues that have lost the confidence of students in terms of safety. For me, this is an issue that requires a holistic approach: there is a culture of bullying and misogyny and general disdain for students amongst bouncers. Everyone knows it, and everyone will have a bouncer story. It’s time for the SU to put front and centre that this will not be tolerated – and must use the leverage of commercial contracts to say enough is enough. If you don’t protect students, you lose the contract. And this must be communicated clearly and transparently to students.”

Lizzie Freitas Teixeira: “Partner with the Good Night Out Campaign; Join a national alliance of universities to put pressure on unethical venues; Push for our sponsor venues to have all security (in-house or contractors) and bar staff to undergo drinkaware and safeguarding training; We need to make spiking detection and prevention kits available to all students free of charge, both on-campus and at sponsor venues; If venues fail to adequately comply, we need to lobby MPs and Not just address the symptoms but try to treat some of the root causes of spiking.

“We need to have a zero tolerance policy on spiking and sexual violence. Spiking is barbaric, life-threatening and dehumanising. More and more students are pushing for venues that refuse to take accountability to be boycotted. The fact that student unions around the country rely on some of these venues for sponsorship, however, could potentially lead to a conflict of interest where money is placed above student safety, which is a betrayal and goes against the purpose of having a student union in the first place. Regardless of whether sponsor venues take action or not, the student union needs to explore other funding options that would make us freer to take firmer action against venues that put our students at risk.”

Equality and Inclusion Officer: How will you ensure that all students feel comfortable and integrated into the UOY community?

Abi Harrison: “Hi, I’m Abi and I’m running for Equality and Inclusion Officer in this year’s YorkSU Elections. To answer your question, I plan to have focus groups with students from marginalised communities bi-weekly to ensure any problems they have are dealt with quickly and efficiently, rather than waiting weeks for an unapproachable sabb to email them back! This will enable me to integrate students from marginalised communities in the ways they want- this will include running more inter-college mixers for marginalised groups, organising YorkSU led trips to conventions such as Naidex for disabled students, and ensuring International Students are given a proper welcome into our community here at York.”

Adeline Coupe: “I think transparency and communication is a big part of making students feel comfortable and interested. If they have the opportunity to voice their issues, not only will they actually be invested in helping making change, but it means we can identify more easily any barriers or dangers faced by students!! On top of that, if students feel like they can go to the SU if they have issues, it also puts them at ease generally knowing they have someone to turn to!”

Sports Officer: Many see university sports as reserved for skilled players. How do you intend to further promote inclusive sport at York?

Liv: “This is something I’m very passionate about as I think increased promotion and visibility for sports of all levels across the uni can help us to increase engagement and participation! I intend to do this by collaborating with student media societies to promote sport of all levels across campus, for example by streaming student sport in courtyard, the student sports bar. This specifically will help further promote student sport as by pushing and showing more than just the first teams to the student body, we are demonstrating that there is a place for all within university sports. Using my own sport for example, many people consider gymnastics too hard to join but if people can see someone competing a forward roll etc they might think oh I can do that, maybe I should give it a go. This would also apply to sports that are maybe lesser known about to increase there engagement.

Kim: “I want to promote college and social sport in particular! I have a lot of experience of both playing and running college sport and advertisement is key. Making sure that students know that these college clubs are made especially for inclusivity, friendly competition and wellbeing. Sport is about making friends and building your community of people and everyone deserves that!”

Sofia Gauntlett: “Before coming to York I was competing at national-level rowing events, so high performance sport is not unfamiliar to me. However when I started University I wanted to prioritise my degree so tried to find recreational alternatives. A current initiative I love is Social Sport. This offers ‘turn up and play’ sessions for free so I think it’s an absolutely fantastic way to make sport accessible- financially and in terms of time commitment- and a way to build skill before joining a college or uni club if you decide to. Social Sport currently runs dodgeball, volleyball, touch rugby, swimming, a women’s run club, and Postgraduate badminton. One of my manifesto promises is to expand the range of sports offered so there is something for everyone (sports requiring hand-eye coordination don’t suit me!). I also want to ensure we’re offering more than just badminton for postgrads, and including mature students in this, as this group is underrepresented in uni sports AND college sports.”

Millie Martin: “I firstly wanted to address that university sport has a place for everyone. Regardless of your previous experience with this sport, have the confidence to step forward and give it a go! – it may be the best decision you ever make at university (as it is for a lot of people – many of those without any previous experience).”

I intend to further promote inclusive sport at York through all three of my manifesto aims. I want to make sure that there are no barriers to participation and there is a place for everyone, be that in a university club, a college club or as part of social sport. I want to ensure that no discrimination exists in the sporting community at York. Coming from a background in Psychology, I believe in full equality, I am extremely passionate in advocating that regardless of your gender identification, your race, ethnicity, age, physique or disabilities, there will be a place where you feel valued.”

Union Affairs Officer: Cost of living is a major issue impacting all students nationally. How will you use your role to ensure that the Uni of York helps to relieve the financial burden on students?

Lewis Parrey: “I’ve spent a lot of my role over the last year working on tackling the cost of living, most recently successfully lobbying the university on rent increases saving students £1.7M. In terms of influencing the university’s support, after speaking to university leader over the past month they have finally accepted that their financial support for students is not good enough. There are thousands of pounds of support not accessible to students because it is locked behind long application processes and exclusionary criteria. I would continue to lobby the university to reform their financial support offer so that as many students as possible can easily access the support they desperately need. I will also continue to work with student unions and university’s across the country to lobby the government to improve maintenance support for students. We need a union affairs officer who has experience tackling these issues.”

Sharon Álvarez Pérez: “One of the incredible opportunities that a Union Affairs Officer has is to be connected to not just local organisations but Universities in the UK and government organs. Is the main representative of the Student’s Union therefore, the voice of the students. I am sure from what I have experienced as a student that we are not just the ones worried about the cost of living, we all are and as well the UoY! And of course, universities as well. So, I will be joining forces and strength contacts with other Officers of universities in the UK to fight together and towards a policy that freezes accommodation prices for the next two years on campus, during this term and the next one, if I am elected, so the next Sabbatical Officers to come can still fight for this policy or other agreements that might help the students. We have a lot to deal with in regards to tuition fees, we must fight for this so students can have all their minds in their studies and have the best student’s life possible! On the contrary, this will end up affecting education and it is our responsibility to promote it, not harm it.”

Simon Edwards: “As Union Affairs Officer, I will be pushing both the Union and the University hard to ensure costs are no barrier to any student’s University experience. I will lobby to ensure rents are kept as low as possible, and put safeguards in place (including student consultation at every stage) to ensure we are never again blinded by outrageous, sudden proposed cost increases. As well as this, I want to make better use of the existing cost-of-living arrangements, including more Fruit and Root bags, to ensure students have access to nutritious, healthy and balanced diets. I would also address the overpriced food in campus dining venues, ensuring a better choice for all, including better options for those with dietary requirements.”

Kate Collins: “I will use my role to re-distribute funds invested in the pantry into the hands of individual colleges who can decide what to do with these funds. It will give colleges more freedom to adhere to the needs of their specific students. I have asked students about the pantry this year and 95 per cent of them said they had not heard of it and would not know where to find it. It is underutilised and contributes to a way the uni has wasted money. Each college could have over £1000 back in bank in this was reversed.”

Union Development Officer: What particular area of the SU/university do you feel needs the most developing and why? 

Anna Lindberg: “I think the area of the SU that needs the most work development is communication and action between Sabbs and students. In every facet of the role I’m applying for (Union Development) there is a distinct lack of action from students ideas. This role is in charge of volunteering, sustainability and events. In volunteering there isn’t enough support for projects, they offer so many amazing opportunities for charity work but no students know about them.

“There isn’t enough agency given to students to voice how they want to ease those anxieties, and not enough done from Sabbs to action the ideas students have. In events, so often societies and projects book SU venues or events just for rapid response to never turn up with the equipment you need to hold the events, for SU staff to not have been told the event was being held, and all around complete stress of the staff and students. We need better and more direct communication between venues and students, so that both sides know and understand exactly what can be done with the event they wish to carry out.”

Joe Venables:”It’s definitely the quality of the SU venues. Anybody who’s been to other University’s SU bars can vouch for how disappointing our current situation is. Students deserve what they’re paying for and with the current attitude of the SU with nobody there to challenge them, that won’t change. What I want is to be your man in the room to fight back against the refusal to understand, and force the Union to work for you.”

We hope this Q&A gives you the confidence to know that you’re in good hands with whoever leads our SU next!

All candidates were contacted for comment, however not all responded before the time of publication.