This year’s student elections are just around the corner and with all six positions of the executive up for election along with a long list of other reps a lot of students may be asking themselves the same thing: Who Cares? 

Well, in a nutshell every student, that’s who should care about the election. Our union is a powerful force at university with the ability to affect big changes across all of Strathclyde; not only that but it’s also there to support students during their time at university. This means that making sure your voice is heard is as important as ever. 

The Student exec is changing slightly this year and as part of this change the titles and remits of some of the positions up for election are different.

The six exec positions up for election are:

• President
• Vice President Community
• Vice President Education
• Vice President Inclusion
• Vice President Welfare
• Vice President Sport

Along with these six big positions there’s a whole host of other faculty and minority reps up for election who will represent you, so on the day of the election don’t stop voting after you’ve finished with the big six.

If you need any proof that the union is fighting for better conditions for every student just look at some of the most recent achievements. Only this month our President, Matt Crilly, secured a big win for everyone on campus: the abolition of graduation fees for all students.

The Vice president for Volunteering and Development, Sara Cowan, started a new movement aimed at forcing the university to divest from fossil fuels. Currently the university invests 9% of its investment budget in fossil fuel companies. Sara’s movement aims to force the university to end this investment practice within the next 5 years. 

John Agbonrofo, the Vice President for Support, founded the Smile project this year which aimed to improve student access to support services across a broad range of issues including personal, academic and Housing just to name a few. The project also aimed to foster a sense of community at Strathclyde through monthly birthday celebrations. 

These are just a few of the more noteworthy achievements our union has made this year but there have been countless others including free emergency housing and a campaign to have Wednesday afternoons off so students can have time to focus on sport and activity. 

These big achievements show how important our union is, it’s just as important every student makes their voice heard about how it’s run. Your vote will decide the direction the union takes for the next year, the policies they decide to campaign on and the change the union will push for.  Make sure you make it clear what you want. Vote.

By Archie Grant