The new SU officers on their election, campaigning and the year ahead

Last Friday, the new Warwick Students’ Union officers for the next academic year were announced. On the night, The Boar interviewed each winner and future officer.

14 new officers were elected after close to 5000 students voted. Those elected will represent students on issues ranging from the environment to education.

The working week before election night had seen campaigning across campus, with posters springing up and social media accounts created.

The Boar asked the candidates how they felt to have won.

Newly-elected Warwick SU President Anna Taylor said: “I’m feeling good. It’s a little bit surreal. This is not how I thought the week would go, but I’m thrilled and very excited to crack on.”

Taylor said, of campaigning week: “I think I let go of the idea of winning being important, but the job being the most important thing.

Taylor added: “Tomi (Tomi Amole – Taylor’s opponent) is a phenomenal person, so I would have been happy with that outcome.”

Warwick’s new LGBTQUA+ officer, Dixon Gao-Cheung, said: “I will make sure that I take my part-time role very seriously and put in the maximum amount of effort.

“It’s a role that I’ve been looking to do for a while. I’m passionate about the community.”

Enaya Nihal, who was elected Welfare and Campaigns Officer, said: “I feel good. I feel great. My campaign team is here and in a really good environment. I’m super excited.”

Meanwhile, Emma Birch, who was re-elected for a second year as Sports Officer, said: “I’m very happy, but I was really tense all week and I had no idea what was going to happen. ”

All the candidates said campaigning was tough and demanding but were thankful for their campaign teams.

Mads Wilson, elected as the new Disability Students’ Officer, told The Boar: “I think the campaigning for me has been a really unique opportunity to see all of my friends come together to help support me, which I am so unbelievably thankful for.”

Holly Roffe, the new Education Officer for the SU, was equally proud of her team: “I was very lucky to have a very good support system around me. I’ve been ill this week, so I haven’t been very great myself.

“But my campaign manager, Ben, was doing a lot of work on the ground and I had many friends out there supporting me as well. So that was great.”

Max Pike, the new Societies Officer, wanted to centre his campaign around having fun: “I’ve been campaigning nonstop for a week, probably getting very, very little sleep.

“I wanted it to be fun. I wanted other people to engage and participate in the campaign as well. Some of that involved Instagram reels, weird funny skits, memes, and getting on Warwick Love.

“I was at Smack, I was at Pop, I was at pub quiz. I will probably be at T-Bar and then Skool Dayz tomorrow.”

New Ethnic Minorities Officer, Nia Marcus Taylor, summed up the pace of campaign week: “I just feel like I can breathe again. My lungs finally work again.”

The Boar also asked the new officers about the year ahead and what they plan to achieve at the SU.

Cheung said: “One key policy that I want to get done, is regarding the Gender Expression Fund. Finding funding has been quite difficult…there was a 400-pound shortfall we need to fill up.”

Incoming President Anna Taylor emphasised her wish to bring the new officers together: “It’s an amazing bunch of officers that I’m going to get to work with. I’m so excited to work with them.

“But I think it’s really important to recognize first and foremost that we’re all elected in different areas. We’re all going to have different agendas, and then focus on how can we bring that together cohesively.”

Asked whether this group of officers will be the year they improve the Leamington-to-campus bus service, Taylor replied: “Yes, I know we will be.”

Roffe raised the future of self-certification at Warwick: “I really think it should continue. I think it’s an accessibility issue. Everyone gets ill and has personal circumstances.”

Roffe also highlighted the importance of overcatting (taking more modules than required): “I understand that we need to have as much choice and control over our degrees as possible. I think that’s what’s most important.

“You should be able to mould your degree however you want and if you think you can overcat, then why should we stop people from doing that?”

Nihal said early priorities included tackling “rape culture” and making “ending period poverty a permanent thing with the University.”

Pike, meanwhile, said he was aiming to increase engagement with societies: “I mentioned in my speech (after winning the election), meeting and talking to every president in my first six months wasn’t a manifesto promise, but it’s something I realized I really want to do.”

Interviews conducted by Ben Morley and Cameron Roberts.