Sullivan Reid is a fourth year psychology and biology student. He’s the Treasurer of the Fellowship of Stirling, has participated in the International and Nordic societies, and is a former member of the fencing club. He could also be your next Vice President of Communities. Here’s why he thinks he’s right for the job.
Q. Why are you running for this position?
A. “I’m running for a couple of reasons. Primarily, because as a student here, I’ve worked in accommodation for the past three years now.
“I’ve gotten to speak to a lot of students that live on campus, and even those who don’t, and personally, I’ve seen that there’s quite a bit of discontent with student voice when it comes to getting through to people that move money at this university, particularly with housing, and with prices of food throughout Campus Eats Venues.
“So, I was driven to run for this through a motivation to improve and focus on the cost of living for students and making it so that where there’s small prices and things where we can impact change, makes students’ time here, a bit more affordable.
“[While] working on things like freezing the rent, I’m also wanting to get more involved with things like having reduced food price hours for students around 12pm to 2pm. We’ve been working with Campus Eats to try to achieve that.
“Aside from that, the other thing that was really driving me to run is financial transparency. With all the recent cuts that have been going on, [like] the severance scheme, it’s affected my job, it’s affected students, [it’s affected] everybody here, whether it comes to your lectures, your TAs (teaching assistants), [or] the kind of facilities that you’re allowed to work in.
“I felt left in the dark, personally. I’m sure other students maybe feel the same, and I really want to try to organise some sort of open panel discussion with introducing students, and maybe staff, as well, who don’t know people who move money at this university. Education departments, funding, accommodation, or pricing accommodation – getting students to ask questions, or air their grievances, before any funding decisions are made [would be beneficial], so that there’s a bit more of a bridge between all of us studying here and the people moving money.
Q. If elected, what is the first thing you will do in the union?
A. “I think the first thing I want to do is push the accommodation for a rent freeze. I’d also want to start talking again, as I said, to Campus Eats about introducing hours over which we can have reduced prices for food, particularly over the hours where students are here the most, when traffic’s high, when you’ve got, not just end of the day £1 off [discounts], [but] something a bit more meaningful when there’s more students here, when most people are properly studying.
“In terms of the societies end of things, one of the first things I want to do is talk to committee members and general members of societies and compile a compendium of advice from students about how to run a society; what the day to day functions are like, setting it up. Obviously, we have those. I know through the Union that there are already those sorts of resources, but I want it to be more direct in terms of, ‘Here’s students’ advice for students’, and there’s a little bit less of a middleman there.
“Beyond [the] general meetings we already have, we want to introduce a biweekly or monthly check-ins with students, where we can discuss any sort of issues students are having in terms of cost of living, inclusivity, societies, and we can not only discuss those things together, but we can also come up with an action plan and develop that action plan throughout the year, so it can kind of be a living document that changes. I want to really broadly reflect what students want.
“I don’t really want to impose any of my personal beliefs into what my agenda become. I really want it directly to be what students want, and I think setting up those kind of discussions as soon as possible would be great, because I want that to guide our agenda and our policy in terms of housing, in terms of societies, in terms of promoting inclusivity on campus.
“I really just want to get everybody’s opinions, and then work to create some themes, and then from those themes, create actionable policy items.
Q. What are your long-term goals for the position?
A. “My long-term goals for this role are centred around delivering an agenda which is socially inclusive, and also economically inclusive. Because I feel like it’s – for international students, the cost of tuition – and for pretty much all students, it’s the cost of living, whether it comes to rent or your loan payments. And I want to really focus on how we can materially make students’ lives easier so that they can participate in university more broadly. Reducing financial stress so that even if they are here at the same hours as other students, they’re not necessarily plagued by as much stress as it relates to small fees, you know? Like, the price of food increasing, and maybe feeling guilty for going to NISA and paying almost £5 for a meal deal – having options that are just a bit cheaper.
“So, I guess my long-term goal is to promote an environment here that’s socially inclusive in societies, but also is focused on creating pointed material changes for students in terms of rent, in terms of food prices, and creating an environment of more financial accountability from the university.
“Whether it’s through our own independent kind of investigation through the Union, and maybe collaborating with other societies, producing a receipt of sorts for either your tuition or your rent which categorises what percentage of what you’re paying for rent is going to what faculty or going to certain staff. How much of it is lecturers, how much of it is going to facilities, how much it is going to the dean or the vice president?
“So, creating something students can look at, that’s online, that’s accessible, saying, ‘Here’s how much I’m paying for my tuition, here’s where it’s going. Here’s how much I’m paying for rent, how much of it is funding my accommodation. How much of it is paying for staff, for maintenance?’ Stuff like that.”
Q. What did the current person in this position do well? What did they do that you would like to emulate in your own work?
A. “I feel like communicating to society members what they need to do to run a function of society, and promoting an inclusive atmosphere. I want to emulate those things. I want to make sure that society members, committee members, everybody feels like the process for running a society, setting one up, and just going through the rigmarole is easy, and the resources are there for them to get everything done. And I feel like that’s been done extremely well over the past year. As a society member and as a community member, I’ve seen that.”
Q. What in the university inspired you to run?
A. “I feel like what’s inspired me has honestly been my conversations with students as a resident assistant at the university. I’ve spoken to, probably, over the past 3 years, hundreds of students in accommodation. I’ve also spoken to plenty of students more generally at our events, and the things that have inspired me the most about running for this role, is seeing students excited about events. Seeing students meet one another and make connections.
“On the other hand, there’s things I want to see done better at this university that I maybe complain too much about. Like financial transparency, wanting to know where my money is going when I’m paying the university and not feeling like it’s going into a black box, like feeling like there are ways we can make students’ lives easier in terms of finances and really pushing the university to put their money where their mouth is and support students, not only with small things, like food, but also recognising how expensive housing is and prioritising students over profit. So, I feel like it’s been [a] double-edged thing.”
Q. What makes you right for the position?
“Not to sound like a broken record, but I’ve been working as a resident assistant for the past three years now. My job has largely consisted of talking to students through flat visits, about what’s going on in their social lives, classes, and maybe what’s going well about their accommodation, what’s maybe not so good, and communicating that to staff members and higher-ups who actually can make actionable decisions and change student outcomes.
“So, I feel like what makes me good for this role is my ability to bridge the gap between student feedback and staff members who can actually make something happen.
“And really, I want to just be a kind of canvas where students can write everything they really like about uni, everything they maybe wish was different, and just present that in a coherent, articulate message to staff members who can do something about it.”
4th year Politics and Journalism student.
Secretary for Brig
The Herald Student Press Awards Columnist Of The Year 2024 (which sorry i’m still not over)
