The Stirling Students’ Union’s new sabbatical team has officially taken office as of today, marking the end of the terms of Dave Keenan, Jess Logan and Jess Morris.
Matt Adie is the only member of the former Union team to be carrying on into 2017/18, with Logan and Keenan stepping aside after one year, and Morris having reached the end of the two-year maximum tenure.
After being elected in March, the new sabbatical team comprises Astrid Smallenbroek as President, Jamie Grant as VP Communities and Rebecca Blair as Sport President.
The new team will now work to find common ground in their manifestos to form a united front going into next year. In an interview for Mental Health May, Matt Adie said the team will work through summer after their first “war room” meeting this month.
Smallenbroek has made her manifesto focused on expanding the mental health facilities available to students, expanding on the work done by Dave Keenan’s “elephant in the room” campaign.
She raised the issue of there being one counsellor for every 6000 students, as opposed to the ideal one per 3000 students during her campaign. She also made commitments to protecting EU students’ rights in a post-Brexit era, and restructuring the ALS system.
Former PolSoc President Jamie Grant steps into Jess Logan’s shoes today, with promises to get better deals on accommodation, including the publication of a housing report for students to make informed choices about their housing opportunities.
Soon after the election in March, Grant was successful in having one of his priorities passed at the Union General Meeting: creating the role of Housing Officer.
He is also seeking to encourage financial transparency from the Union, and greater links with Stirling Council to assist in transport and accommodation.
As a continuing VP Education, Matt Adie will be seeking to build on connections and experiences he has made in his first year in office.
A new summer, a new Sabbatical team for @stirlingunion! Humbled to be part of it, and take forward plans for an amazing year! 😙
— Josh Muirhead VP Communities (@Stir_Community) June 1, 2017
In the same interview for Mental Health May, Adie said he was working to relieve the burden on facilities by evaluating the timetabling, to ensure students, staff and facilities like car parking are not stretched to their limits.
Staying with car parking, he also stressed the importance of finding a reasonable solution to problems facing students and staff with car parking, which is causing disruption to people’s timetables.
Ladies football captain Rebecca Blair steps into the shoes of two-time Sport President champion Jess Morris, and has made getting a fair deal for students in the upcoming sports centre redevelopment her number one target.
She also wants to see greater promotion of work done by smaller clubs, and give members of teams the opportunity to earn coaching badges for their sport.
The new team’s tenure will last until June next year.
“It is worth ascending unexiting heights if for nothing else than to see the big ones from nearer their own level.” - Nan Shepherd
