‘I want to try and help in a big way’: Meet George Etherington, your new LSU President

In February the Exec Elections were back. George Etherington went up against George Swindells, Ashish Sharma, and Kyle Pyne-James, with him gaining 2356 votes to become the new Union President.

The Tab Loughborough caught up with George to discuss his policies and changes he wants to make on campus for the year ahead.

Why did you decide to run for President?

I decided to run for President because after being on Hall Committees and involved with the union through HSF I realised how much I enjoyed being a part of running the student experience here at Loughborough, and saw the potential of how much I could influence this as Union President. It’s also a really exciting opportunity to be leading the Union and be involved in lots of hugely important University events here and in London.

What are you most looking forward to about starting in July?

I’m most looking forward to just starting really. It’s easy to forget you still have the rest of the year doing your course after being elected as you’re already attending numerous events as an elect. The build up to freshers should be pretty hectic but at the same time quite exciting to organise and prepare for. Only thing I can think of that I’m not looking forward to too much for is the LSU song!

The uni’s Mental health services were a key part of your manifesto, why was this so important to you?

It’s always been a huge issue for me, with people really close to me suffering with issues and disorders surrounding mental health, and it’s always been something I’d said to myself I’d want to try to help in a big way with. I think it really hit home how much I did want to try to support and build mental health campaigns when being Hall Chair because you’re meeting people who are suffering, and to me mental health issues are often still so misunderstood as to what they actually are so there needs to be a huge push to educate and support people around the issues.

You aim to change JC’s, and this has been a big thing among students, what do you plan to do?

I was one of the students who did very much enjoy the ‘old JC’s’ and from people who I spoke to, so did a lot of others. What I really want to do is return to the students this sort of area where they can go down, watch sport, play some pool and chill out with mates. For me this year that area has been such a loss, and so I aim to try recover this area for students. If there’s any sort of scope to mould JC’s into this sort of atmosphere even for just evenings, that’ll be my immediate plans. If not I’d look at how we can recreate JC’s style in other bars such as Cogs or Victory Bar, because if there’s scope to change these areas they too could work well in providing this space for students.

What was the highlight of your campaign week?

The highlight I think of my campaign week was the night just after the bubble debate. It was quite a stressful event for me and all the other candidates, but immediately afterwards we met up as candidates and went for a meal and drink in town, which to me was so great. At the end of the day we were all great mates that were running and it was really good that even after probably the most stressful weeks of our lives we were still mates and could all still go and chill out together like that. Obviously then results night was incredible but that night is something I’d probably never want to go through again.

Photo Credit: LSU Media and Loughborough University