union elections 2009

www.ueastudent.com/voteFOR MORE INFORMATION, LOG ON TO:

by-election special

24 March

By-election for INTERNATIONAL OFFICERSCI FACUTLY CONVENOR

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES CAMPAIGN CONVENOR

NUS DELEGATES

The DatesTuesday 17th MarchCampaigning begins

Tuesday 10th March Voting Day

9am - 7.00pm, Hive

TAKE CONTROLWelcome to your chance to take control of your Union and use the power you have. This guide will help you work out how, when and where to use the power you have and make the change you want to see at UEA.

Each year, real UEA students are elected to lead the Union and listen to what you - their bosses - want them to do. The Union of UEA Students is one of the biggest and best stu-dents’ unions in the country, which makes it all the more important that you choose care-fully who you want to lead the Union next year. Amongst the faces in this book are the people who will be speaking for you next year.

They’ll also be overseeing the running of the Union bars, shops and entertainments, will be organising campaigns, allocating clubs and societies budgets and running all the Union’s student support services.

Over the next few days make sure you take a few minutes to look through the candidates’ manifestoes in this guide and have a chat with any of the candidates who stops to talk to you during the campaign.

The Union ExecThe Union is a democratic organisation that is run for students by students.

Its chief decision making body, Union Council, is made up of representatives from all schools at UEA, as well as the Union’s clubs and so-cieties. Council makes Union policy, which is then implemented by the Executive Commit-tee.

The Executive Committee is made up of eleven officers - four full time, seven part time - who are elected by a cross-campus ballot of all stu-dents at UEA.

The Exec are in charge of executing policy made by Council and are held accountable by Council. In short, Union Coun-cil tells the Exec what to do and sacks them if they don’t do it.

STUDENTS

UNION COUNCIL

EXEC

Equal opportunities campaignsThe Union is a collective voice for all students, and ensures that everyone is treated fairly and in a non-discriminatory way. There are some groups of students who face discrimination on campus or in wider society based on their gender, disability, race or ethnic origin or their sexuality.

The Union recognises that these students deserve their own campaigns that they have control over and decide their own issues and ways to overcome the problems they face. New this year are four campaign convenors who will lead groups of students in the fight for equality.

These campaign convenors will be elected only by students who self-define as being part of the particular group that the campaign deals with. Ballot papers for these elections will be available with the other ballot sheets.

Faculty convenorsFaculty Convenors are four students who are elected to represent all the students in a partic-ular faculty, which itself is made up of groups of schools. Faculty Convenors co-ordinate groups of representatives in each school and ensure that the University is hearing students loud and clear!

You will only be eligible to vote in one Faculty Convenor election.

NUS ConferenceNUS Conference is the highest decision-mak-ing body of the National Union of Students, of which the Union of UEA Students is a member.

Every year the UEA Union sends ten delegates to Conference in Blackpool to help decide National Policy and elect the National Execu-tive Committee - the officers who represent all students in the UK.

NUS has a lot of power to change things on a national level.

How to voteVoting will take place on Tuesday 24th March 2009, in Union House in the Hive cafe, which faces the Square and the Library on the main campus, and will be open from 9am to 7pm.

All UEA Students are automatically members of the Union and can therefore vote in all Union elections simply by coming to Union House or with your campus card at the times specified.

If you are not here on the voting days you can still vote! If you’re not going to be on campus on the voting days, email elections@uea.ac.uk for an electronic ballot paper. You will need to include your full name, registration number, school and year, and email from your “@uea.ac.uk” email address, as well as the reason why you’re not able to vote in person (eg, you’re on placement etc). Once you’ve made your choices, you will need to email the ballot paper back to us and, provided you haven’t al-ready voted in person, you will have your vote added.

The deadline to apply for electronic ballots is 9am on Monday the 23rd March. You must return the ballot paper from your “@uea email address by 9am on Tuesday 24th March.

voting tacticsVoting in Union Elections is done ac-cording to the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system, full details of which can be found in the Elections minisite on www.ueastudent.com/vote.

STV allows you to vote preferentially in each election, so instead of marking your preferred candidate with an ‘X’ you rank the candidates 1,2,3,4 in your order of preference. Marking a rival candi-date ‘2’ will not harm your first choice candidate’s chances as the only time the second preference vote is taken into account is when your first candidate can no longer win.

the candidates

the jobLiaise with the University over matters affecting international students

Provide a link between international students and the Executive

Liaise with other organisations in the University or City of Norwich offering services to international students

Improve awareness of issues affecting international students and be responsible for relevant campaigns

TOM KIRKSABA POURSAEEDIRUBINA KALRACASPER PALMANO

RON

INTERNATIONAL

officer

“Re-Open Nominations” (RON) is a candidate in all Union elections.

If you think none of the candidates deserves your vote, you can vote RON to have the election re-run at a later date.

Remember to vote preferentially 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. This cannot harm your first candidate’s chances.

I welcome all feedback and can be contacted at Thomas.Kirk@uea.ac.uk.

Tom KirkFor Internaonal

OfficerI have some experience on Union Council, having represented CMP 1st Years this year. I have a passion for travelling and learning about other cultures and have been fortunate enough to visit many countries including Australia, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan and Kenya to name but a few.

About Me

I believe that the Internaonal Officer should be the fiOfficer should be the first contact for all Internaonal students. They should feel that they can go to them with any issues, large or small. I will endeavor to help where I can or direct them to the right person where I can’t.

Approachability

From experience, I know that arriving in a different country for the first me can be very daunng and overwhelming. I want to review the introductory process to make sure the students are not overloaded witheextraneous informaon but provided with the informaon and support they need to sele into University life at the UEA.I also want to make sure that new Internaonal students are sufficientlyiinformed about the events in Fresher’s Week so that they can fully parcipate with other students.

Orientaon

I believe that the issue of iintegrang students is important. Not just integrang Internaonal students into UK culture, but also raising awareness of other cultures to home students. I want to work closely with the ISS and otheriinternaonal sociees to do this, and to help promote the various cultural events held by the socieites.

Integraon

+ Helping international students connect with UEA and get the most out of their experience  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

+ Guidelines to help students from abroad cope with a new academic environment. 

+ A better study abroad program for UEA students wanting to go abroad! 

   **Cultural Music festivals** **UEA Football World Cup** 

**Foods of the World Festival** **Celebrations of all our special days** 

+ Full backing and support with all problems and concerns 

Saba Poursaeedi is a candidate 

with...+ Dual citizenship and experience going to school in another country  

+ A full understanding of     what it’s like to adapt to a  l......new environment   + Respect for how an 

         international UEA is a better                   UEA.     +New and innovative

                  ideas to make UEA a                                 better place for                                    ALL students 

 SABA POURSAEEDIFor International 

Officer 

+ More cultural events!!! To raise cultural and international awareness and have fun doing it! I am open to hearing all ideas and doing what I can to facilitate them. Here are some of mine:      

        

  

I believe... 

... that UEA should reach out to the world! I will push for stronger relations with universities abroad.  Together, we can lead the way in fundraising and campaigning for international aid, peace and tolerance and making a stand against human rights abuses and violence.  

...every human being should help keep the planet green! Together we can help the Green Movement work for a sustainable campus and lead sustainable lives (which saves us lots of money!). 

   

...a more diverse and inclusive campus is a better campus! The more we all experience from each and learn about the world and the bigger our opportunities become! 

...we CAN WIN the fight against tuition fees! I will contribute all I can to the struggle and push for targeted, affective use of student strength to achieve our goal. 

Rubina Kalra (International officer)

“After schooling from an international school in Burma, I am currently studying Business Management at UEA. Spending half of my life in different countries and meeting different people, I always noticed the ones who led difficult lives because they could not accept and adjust to the changes around them. Living out of my country for about 5 years now and having faced cultural shocks myself, I completely understand homesickness. As an international officer, I aim to make every student here at UEA feel like they are at home.”

My Aims: -Organize suitable events for all kinds of international students. -Make sure that all halls of residence has an appropriate mix of

international and home students. -Encourage new international students to attend events that can help

them become familiar with the new culture and reduce cultural shock. -Create an online blog site where international student can: -meet people with similar backgrounds

-discuss issues ith the travel shop for booking flights -get in touch w -find quick and easy links for issues like visa extension etc. -Be approachable to solve any kinds of personal problems while keeping them confidential.

Casper Palmano –International Officer Manifesto As international officer I would aim to both promote the interests of international students at UEA on a university and national level, and to help work against a growing social separation between international and national students. Mandatory attendance of class has proved a problem with many international students country-wide, students losing marks and some even facing investigation by the UKBA for poor attendance. In some cases this is due to clerical errors rather than the student themselves, I would argue for a reviewing of the mandatory attendance system to make sure that said clerical errors are not occurring at UEA. The international student ID card that the UK government has proposed to introduce will increase the already astounding costs of overseas study that international students are forced to pay. I believe it is an unnecessary and invasive movement and would work to make the UEA a more vocal member of the NUS in combat against the introduction of these cards. The University is slowly separating into two groups, with the national students focussed around the centre of campus and the LCR and the international students focussed more at the edge of campus. This has become especially noticeable with the completion of the INTO building. I aim to find ways to make UEA events more inclusive to all cultures at the University.

the candidates

the jobRepresent the academic needs of the students in the relevant faculty

Liaise with the student representatives from all the schools in the relevant faculty

Provide a link between the school representatives and the Students’ Union

Represent students on faculty level committees

Liaise with the faculty staff on academic issues effecting students.

FACULTY

CONVENORS

SCI FACULTY ROSHAN WALKERLYRON

“Re-Open Nominations” (RON) is a candidate in all Union elections.

If you think none of the candidates deserves your vote, you can vote RON to have the election re-run at a later date.

Remember to vote preferentially 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. This cannot harm your first candidate’s chances.

the candidates

the jobRepresent the needs of the group of students in the relevant campaign.

Liaise with the members of the relevant clubs, societies or peer support groups

Represent students on the relevant Union or University Committees.

With the assistance of the Equal Opportunities Officer, and the Welfare Officer, liaise with University and Union staff on relevant issues relating to their constituents.

Meet with the Equal Opportunities Officer at least twice a semester to discuss relevant issues.

Be responsible for campaigns relating to their constituents and convene regular meetings between themselves and their constituents.

Equal Opportunies

Campaign CONVENORS

students with disabilities

campaign convenor

TOM FADDENRON

the candidates

the jobAttend the National Union of Students’ Annual Conference in April.

Vote on behalf of UEA students to influence national policies for all students in the UK.

Elect a new leadership of NUS. CHRIS CLARKESABA POURSAEEDI

RON

nus

delegation

“Re-Open Nominations” (RON) is a candidate in all Union elections.

If you think none of the candidates deserves your vote, you can vote RON to have the election re-run at a later date.

Remember to vote preferentially 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. This cannot harm your first candidate’s chances.

Chris Clarke For NUS Delegation

Who am I? I’m a first year Philosophy student and a Union Council Rep. I’m also involved in DebateSoc, as I am a keen public speaker and debater. I think this is important for our Delegates, as we aren’t just there to vote, but to express your views. What I stand for: I would vote in accordance with current Union policy on all of the main issues arising at the NUS Annual Conference, of course, but I would also vote in a way which represents what we, the students, want, and the Union needs, on all issues. What does this mean? I believe that Free Education For All is an important issue – keeping

the cap is not enough to ensure everyone can achieve what they are capable of. Funding (or lack of) holds a lot of young people back from applying to University. This has nothing to do with their ability to learn, and everything to do with their ability to pay. Is this what we want the NUS to stand for? Because even with Keep the Cap, this is the case.

I also support the policy of Ethical Labeling. I don’t think it is – or ever will be – the place of the Union to dictate what people can and can’t buy, but it is important that people understand what they are buying and the background of the product when they are there, deciding. I believe that, in fact, the Union should go one further, and, where possible, add a separate Carbon Footprint label to the things we sell in the UFO.

For me, and I’m sure many of you, No Platform is an NUS policy I feel strongly about. Free Speech is an essential part of not just the Union and the NUS, but student culture on the whole. While many of the people banned by No Platform are expressing views which many of us (myself included) think are wrong, and offensive, it is important that we listen to them, and then highlight why they are wrong, rather than making it look like we are wrong by not allowing them to speak.

If you have anymore questions or comments, email me: chrisclarkefornus@googlemail.com

SABA POURSAEEDI FOR YOUR NUS DELEGATE 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

+ Make the issues that cause discrimination on our campuses the most important to raise AWARENESS  

+Urge for more unity within the Union to make it better able to FOCUS on resolving issues 

+Make it clear that our campus is NOT for sale 

+Try to RESOLVE the problem that has caused legislation to restrict student housing 

+Push for more AFFORDABLE student housing 

+Fight the cause of students that need to work 

+Make decisions based on LOGIC, REASON and COMMON SENSE 

+Fight against tuition fees as a PRIORITY but no my only goal! 

+Get UEA students HEARD!   

+Push for ideas that make our campuses more SUSTAINABLE and environmentally friendly 

I intend to: 

+I understand the issues that affect all students, but I also know those which affect the minority and I will represent the students the ethnic minorities and students in work who find themselves in difficult positions.

+ I want university to be a place where we can focus on what we came here to do and want to stop the problems that stop us getting the most out of it. 

+I have EXPERIENCE as a Union councillor  

+I’m passionate about how GREAT our union can be and I will do what’s necessary to get our voice out there.  

+Will DELIVER on the policies that I to intend to achieve. 

Your vote will be in SAFE hands!  

+I was a delegate to NUS regional conference 2008