On the 16^th of February the nominations for Strath Union’s Spring Elections opened, thus it made sense to write an article that might give potential nominees an insight into the role of the Elected Officers. My challenge was how do I approach this from a lifestyle perspective, well why not do a day in the life?

In Spring of 2025 Fraser Brown was elected Strathclyde’s Student Union President, on Friday the 6^th of February I got the chance to interview him and shadow him in couple meetings.

I met Fraser in Roasters during the drop-in session that he holds there weekly, from 9-10. Roasters has always been a place that Fraser is comfortable, having worked there throughout his time as a student. He greeted the staff, chatted a bit with other customers and got comfortable at the table he has obviously claimed.

Fraser is probably every interviewers dream, polite and chatty.

He told me that his average day is coming into the Union and working 9-5, the hours that he gets paid for, knowing that at home he won’t get anything done. Working the Union, in Roasters particularly, also helps him to be visible to students.

Unfortunately for Fraser, the union socials that he loves to attend don’t count as working and aren’t paid.

Fraser is passionate about his work, this is clear. He nominated himself for the role because he wanted to be involved in “political and charity operations” of the Union and effect governance policy.

Fraser’s role within the Union is very much about the representation of students at every level. Each officer is on 20 to 30 committees, and they are “responsible for overall financial and political management of the Union”, with Fraser, as the President, chairing the Board of Trustees.

And whilst Fraser was enthusiastic, he stressed to me that his role and those of the other officers are full time jobs with serious responsibilities. “You are dealing with people’s lives and beliefs,” he said. It’s more about “representing other people’s views” than pursuing your own ideologies, after all he is there to act for the students.

Often representing the students, it turns out, is simply bringing what students are doing to the university’s attention. Fraser said that the “university needs to be told” what issues matter to the student body, this includes Black Lives Matter, Palestine Solidarity, Pride Month, etc. With Fraser and the other officers acting as a link between the governing body of the university, the union and the students.

As one can imagine, Fraser is busy, though I managed to catch him on a Friday which is supposedly his quieter day. Having been given a sneak peek at his diary it was clear to see that his weeks vary greatly. With some meetings being weekly such as the Student Exec Meeting and the Trans Solidarity Staff Network Meetings happening bi-weekly. Others were more where necessary, such as one-on-ones with the principle.

Fraser said that he uses the gaps between meetings to work on the goals in his manifesto, with a guiding hand from the staff at the Student Union.

During the day I was able to follow him to a meeting with the President of the SNP society, Ava Birkett, and a meeting to co-ordinate events in LGBT+ history month.

What stood out to me greatly is how friendly and easy to talk to Fraser is, a quality that helps him bring people together and realise projects that rely on collaboration and good communication. His meeting with Ava aimed at involving students and societies in the 2026 Scottish Elections. As well as creating connections that would lead to the successful organisation of hustings at the union, where politicians of different parties would be give platform to talk to students about their manifestos.

Fraser is as passionate about all democracy initiatives as he is about LGBTQ+ history month projects. At his meeting with the LGBTQ history month committee, he talked, with great enthusiasm, about the Big Gay Quiz he was writing. He also discussed the LGBTQ+ workshop with the Equality and Diversity team. Although he wasn’t leading the meeting and participated as one of the committee members along with the LGBTQ+ rep, Disabilities rep, Campaigns coordinator and the President of the LGBTQ+ society, his link to the Union was helpful in setting up space for the events to take place.

After that meeting, we parted ways, with me going to write up my notes and Fraser going to answer emails in his office. I enjoyed my day, finding it inspiring, and it was more than clear to me that Fraser Brown has thrived in the role of Strathclyde’s Student Union President. What I hope anyone takes away from this article is that it his approachability and passion that I think makes him so good at it.

Good luck to all the nominees!