SU Spring Elections 2026 Interviews: Dae Pomeroy, VP Welfare & Campaigns

In the run-up to the Warwick Students’ Union (SU) Spring Elections, The Boar offered all Full-Time Officer (FTO) candidates the opportunity to be interviewed.

Dae Pomeroy, one of the candidates running for Vice President for Welfare & Campaigns, spoke to The Boar about their manifesto, touching on mental health provisions on campus, the SU’s policies and provisions regarding welfare and campaigns, and the cost-of-living crisis.

Why did you decide to run for this position?

Pomeroy said that their interest in the role was shaped by negative personal experiences with housing and with the University’s welfare provisions at large. Further, they expressed an intention to change the current approach the University and SU take to Welfare & Campaigns, saying “there has to be a better way of doing this”.  They also shared that previous experience as a Welfare representative within student societies was another motivating factor for them to run.

Highlighting their draw towards the role, Pomeroy said: “I think it’s just something that I truly am passionate about and think that there can be significant amounts of change for.”

How will you seek to continue to improve mental health and wellbeing provision on campus? 

Pomeroy firstly stressed the need to “renegotiate what we think is welfare” in a holistic context.

Of the current status of mental health and wellbeing services, Pomeroy shared: “I think that there are a wonderful amount of wellbeing and mental health provisions on campus. But overall, our current understanding of holistic welfare is really not truly established.”

While noting the University and the SU’s wellbeing provisions, they criticised the efficacy of these services, with reference to waiting times, opening hours, and inclusivity across abilities, identities, and cultures. Using the SU Advice Centre as an example, they proposed “opening up SU advice hours to drop-ins, because [the SU] Advice Centre is an incredible resource that I feel like we aren’t using correctly.”

They also seek to integrate more sober events and spaces so as to improve student enjoyment and inclusion.

Report + Support disclosures rose for the fourth year running in 2024/25. Are you concerned about these figures, and what more can the SU do to support students? 

Addressing Report + Support, Pomeroy said: “I think Ollie Chapman’s work currently is really incredible for this”, alluding to a separation between the University’s Report + Support scheme and the SU’s provisions towards wellbeing and security.

They further criticised the viability and reception of Report + Support, stating: “I think it is incredible as a scheme, but I do think it definitely lets down students.”

Pomeroy also expressed concern regarding the prevalence of sexual misconduct and misogyny on campus in the context of the scheme. “It’s such a case where so many students don’t feel that they have the safe space to report these issues until they leave university”, they added.

They also mentioned “providing anonymity and support” to student reports as an important step towards improving current provisions.

The cost-of-living crisis is still affecting students on campus – even though the new Co-op replaced Rootes, prices didn’t dramatically fall for students. Across the SU-run outlets and the SU’s relationship with the University, what more would you do to support students with the cost-of-living crisis? 

Pomeroy revealed that addressing the cost-of-living crisis remains one of the “key aims” of Welfare & Campaigns currently. They also outlined the difficulties and challenges the SU faces against the University, saying that “even though every year we put pressure on [the University], the pressure doesn’t change anything.”

They criticised the affordability of food, specifically hot food provided by University and SU-run eating outlets. “I really want to add a price limit to hot food at university because the prices that we’re paying are outrageous”, Pomeroy emphasised.

They also stressed that first-year students should be allowed housing on-campus. To ensure this, Pomeroy wants to establish a guarantor scheme for students after first year.

“I think that a significant portion of students that are living on campus in second year and third year are there because they don’t have a guarantor. That was my case in second year. I had to live on campus, and I didn’t want to,” Pomeroy explained. Here, they touched upon the need to support international, estranged, and care-experienced students, as well as students from working-class backgrounds.

Other than the guarantor scheme, Pomeroy maintained that SU and University food prices continue to be a key concern. “It is just so far-fetched that they can charge so much at SU outlets”, Pomeroy said. They also compared food prices at Warwick to other campuses, such as University College London, sharing how the latter has price limits and is therefore more affordable.

Summing up their stance, Pomeroy would like to “lobby Warwick Food Group for what they’re doing and how much profit they’re making from us” and “continuously support [the relief of] the cost-of-living crisis through financial security”.

What campaigns would you seek to run over the next year? 

“I want a complete overhaul of the campaign system at the moment”, Pomeroy began. They shared their personal experience with seeing campaigns “flourish” and then “unexpectedly die” due to lack of support from the SU and University.

Firstly, they want to provide students with support and guidance with regards to campaigns at university. Further, they intend to increase pressure on the University to sever ties with BP, as well as arms-manufacturing companies and other organisations with colonial affiliations.

Pomeroy also wants to conduct a “full report on sexual misconduct and misogyny” on campus. They also intend to expand upon Tomi Amole’s work to provide “racial care and support for international students”. Amole was VP Welfare & Campaigns from 2022 to 2023.

If elected, Pomeroy shared that they would work closely with welfare execs in societies and liberation societies “to put forward constructs of what the campaigns with SU could look like”. They would also like to increase awareness regarding the SU’s Welfare & Campaign provisions through the SU website.

This interview, along with all other interviews for Full-Time Officer positions, can be watched in full using the link here.

You can also view a list of all candidates and their manifestos here.