‘I’d celebrate with a sarcastic speech, a couple of Jungle Birds (rum cocktails) and a three day sleep’: Meet Nik Mukherjee, running for Union President

Nik Mukherjee is a third year Psychology student. He's been active on campus, volunteering with Amnesty and FemSoc, and playing on the American Football team. He's one of the six candidates running to be Union President next year, and he spoke to the Soton Tab about why he thinks he's the best person for the job

Why do you think you’d be good in this role?

I have a clear vision of the goals I want to achieve as Union President, and I’m prepared to fight tooth and nail to achieve those goals. For me, the work doesn’t start in July. Should I be elected, the work begins on the 8th of March, raising awareness of the problems facing the Union and the ways in which we solve those issues.

What is the most important point in your manifesto?

Ensuring a protected base-funding from the University is the most important point. Last year, the University reduced its funding per student by 6.5%, which comes to about £157,500. That’s a significant amount of money to lose, and it’s us – the students – who suffer. The Union need to publicise this shaving of funds and get students invested, then we can push back against the Uni and continue to grow with them.

What is the first thing you’d change if you were elected?

I’d love it if I could just snap my fingers and implement all my manifesto points on day one, but making any changes is going to be a difficult process. I think the first thing that could be introduced is finding a dedicated work space for the Sabbatical officers at each of the University sites. This would mean that the Union would be within reach of students on every site.

That, and offering tea to visitors in my office.

What area of our Student Union do you think needs the greatest improvement?

It comes up a lot, but I think communication with the Students is not good enough. The easiest step toward improving communication is fixing the website. The SUSU website should be every student’s first port of call when they need information, and at the moment that’s simply not the case. If we can make the website user-friendly, intuitive and thorough, then students know exactly where they can find any and all answers they might be looking for. I want students to know exactly what the Union stands for.

What makes you different from the other candidates also running for the same position?

What sets me apart is that I recognise, and have laid out in my manifesto, that the key to success for the Union is that it is not impeded by the interference of the University. I took the time to pore through 10 years of University financial reports, and 4 years of Union ones. I even made graphs.

How would you celebrate if you won?

Provided I can get the election night off work, I would probably make some sarcastic speech, followed by a couple of Jungle birds (dark rum, pineapple juice, Campari bitters, simple syrup and lime juice) and to top it all off, fall into a three-day sleep. Or I may end up on a checkout at Sainsbury’s.

Any secret talents?

I’m really good at ‘Just Dance’

What is the maddest thing you’ve done since being at Uni?

Try to learn Chinese in first year. That was hard.

Favourite post-night-out food

I’m partial to a McDonald’s

What is your favourite Soton Tab meme?