We spoke to the two main people running for EUSA President

With only a day to go in this year’s EUSA elections, we sat down with the two leading candidates and asked them what they would do if they got elected. Neither are giving out free VKs at Potterrow, but there are plenty of great ideas between the two of them.

Patrick Kilduff, 3rd Year, Politics

What made you run?

I saw a lot of my mates were getting let down by stuff. My friend who does History had three deadlines in for one day which essentially made it a dissertation. Someone who’s extremely close to me had a mental breakdown last semester and was just completely let down by the counselling system.

Also, I see my friends in some courses who struggle to buy the supplies that they need because there isn’t the funding there. So basically seeing obvious things that need to change that the university should have noticed by now but for whatever reason they haven’t. The only real position you can try to solve all of these and more is the President.

What are your big campaign policies?

Making uni more accessible. The online roadmap for course deadlines for example. So when you’re choosing your courses you can make sure you don’t pick three courses that have deadlines at the same time. With the EUSA app developing, there’s no reason why it can’t be more of a part of the app.

Earlier release for exam timetables, it’s pretty stupid that it’s not been done already. International students are really affected, my flatmate had to book flights that were basically a grand more expensive then they could have been just because of how late they released the timetable.

Also, I want to reduce food waste from EUSA. We should work with local homelessness charities to get the food out to people who need it.

Is it true you’re going to try to give people free Big Cheeses in the week of their birthday?

I think it’s symbolic of how the university should give back, and also it’d be a good way of getting people closer to EUSA and show how they can be relevant to people.

We’re able to give something back to students just as a nice gesture.

People want to celebrate their birthdays, do something nice so why not say come celebrate it with us?

Favourite night out in Edinburgh?

I’ve got to go with Creme Soda – they put on a great on show.

Beth Harris, 4th Year, Anthropology & Archaeology

What made you run?

It was one of those things where I was lying in my bed and I thought that I needed to do something to make a change and I was like, ‘I’m going to run for EUSA President, why not?’

I’ve not been involved with student politics before but I thought that I could get more people in having a say in what’s not working for them.

What are your main ideas?

A lot of my campaign is about making EUSA more accessible with updates on what EUSA are doing through online videos.

My main line is ‘make more noise’ and getting people more involved and giving them more of a say. Creating an online space where people can voice their concerns where you can see what people are frustrated by so the right issues are being addressed.

I think we should reflect the student population in the courses. I have a friend who does politics and they had less than half of a lecture on feminism in a course which really should have more on it.

Communication with the wider world. Employability is a bit taboo but we need to appreciate that we need to get jobs after we leave. The careers service is good but not enough people use it. It’d be nice to have at least one lecture on how to get a job with the degree you’ll have.

I think we should have community groups with people who’ve been through similar experiences before to add to the counselling services.

What do you do in your spare time?

I really like cooking and food. I was actually in the Come Dine With Me society in second year which I loved. Last place I went out to was Cab Vol, I like the music there.

Voting is open until 5pm on Thursday, click here to vote.